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Nancy Rexroth (American, b. 1946), Self-Portrait, Arms Crossed, Athens, Ohio, late May or early June 1970, gelatin silver print, The Nancy Rexroth Collection: Museum Purchase with funds provided by the Carl M. Jacobs Foundation, 2019.22, © The 1988 Rexroth Family Trust
Nancy Rexroth (American, b. 1946), Hand, My Mother’s Bed, Arlington, Virginia, Summer 1970, digitally processed from film negative 2025. © The 1988 Rexroth Family Trust
Nancy Rexroth (American, b. 1946), A Woman’s Bed, Logan, Ohio, 1970, gelatin silver print, The Nancy Rexroth Collection: Gift of The 1988 Rexroth Family Trust, 2021.186, © The 1988 Rexroth Family Trust
Nancy Rexroth (American, b. 1946), Trees Crossing, New Lexington, Ohio, 1974, gelatin silver print, selenium toned, The Nancy Rexroth Collection: Museum Purchase through the generosity of Betsy and Paul Sittenfeld in Memory of Dr. James M. Marrs, 2021.51, © The 1988 Rexroth Family Trust
Nancy Rexroth (American, b. 1946), White Hole, Athens, Ohio, 1971, gelatin silver print, toned, The Nancy Rexroth Collection: Gift of The 1988 Rexroth Family Trust, 2021.195, © The 1988 Rexroth Family Trust
Nancy Rexroth (American, b. 1946), detail, (Untitled sequential frame Diana self-portrait, Athens, Ohio), 1970, gelatin silver film positive, The Nancy Rexroth Collection: Museum Purchase with funds provided by FotoFocus Art Purchase Fund, 2019.264b, © The 1988 Rexroth Family Trust
Nancy Rexroth (American, b. 1946), Tony Dressing, Washington, D.C., 1972, platinum print, The Nancy Rexroth Collection: Museum Purchase with funds provided by the Carl M. Jacobs Foundation, 2019.17, © The 1988 Rexroth Family Trust
Nancy Rexroth (American, b. 1946), Wynell Jones – Southern Beauty, from the series Women of Yellow Springs, 1978, platinum print, Collection of Fern M. Schad, © The 1988 Rexroth Family Trust
Nancy Rexroth (American, b. 1946), Untitled, Yellow Springs, Ohio, #90, from the Cut Paper Series, April 1981, emulsion lift from internal dye diffusion print, The Nancy Rexroth Collection: Museum Purchase with funds provided by FotoFocus Art Purchase Fund, 2021.60, © The 1988 Rexroth Family Trust
Nancy Rexroth (American, b. 1946), Maze, Yellow Springs, Ohio, #112, from the Cut Paper Series, 1982, emulsion lift from internal dye diffusion print, The Nancy Rexroth Collection: Museum Purchase with funds provided by the Carl M. Jacobs Foundation, 2019.67, © The 1988 Rexroth Family Trust
Nancy Rexroth (American, b. 1946), Lascaux Cave Wall, from the House Series, 2002, inkjet print, The Nancy Rexroth Collection: Museum Purchase with funds provided by the Carl M. Jacobs Foundation, 2019.69, © The 1988 Rexroth Family Trust
Nancy Rexroth: Secrets of My Power
October 2, 2026– January 3, 2027
Free admission
Friends of Photography
Press Release
Nancy Rexroth: Secrets of My Power is the first career retrospective on the work of the American photographer revered for her singular and evocative 1977 photobook, IOWA. The exhibition and accompanying catalogue mark the public debut of The Nancy Rexroth Collection, an archive recently formed at the Cincinnati Art Museum that allows unprecedented and comprehensive insight into the artist’s life and work. Over 150 rare or unique photographs, personal effects, tools, and numerous previously unseen artworks tell a rich and surprising story of Rexroth’s powerful, unique, and steadfastly defiant vision, from the 1960s, 70s, and 80s to the early digital era.
Nancy Rexroth: Secrets of My Power is organized by the Cincinnati Art Museum. A fully illustrated exhibition catalogue is available for purchase beginning October 2026.
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Accessing the Exhibition
Elevators A and B provide the most direct access to this second-floor exhibition. Visitors enter and exit the exhibition via a ramp located in Gallery 234. Learn more about navigating to Gallery 234.
A touchable map is located inside the gallery to the left of the entryway; the map describes the exhibition layout and the locations of items to touch, smell, watch, or listen to. A Welcome Cart in the first room of exhibition offers many tools for your visit, including large-print label booklets. Seating is provided in the gallery. An accessible audio tour is available.
Featured Media
Exhibition Content
Meet the artist in a series of short documentary films.
Exhibition Content
Follow the exhibition via an accessible audio tour.
Exhibition Content
Download complete large print labels, optimized for screen reader. Large print labels are also available in print in the gallery.
Survey
The first major study of Nancy Rexroth, the richly illustrated, 224-page Secrets of My Power exhibition catalogue furnishes a missing account of Rexroth’s life, work, and career as she established her artistic voice in the experimental 1970s and challenged prevailing approaches to photographic image-making.
Tracing Rexroth’s career from her first photographs to her discovery of the Diana camera and through her exploration of digital tools in the early 2000s, the catalogue helps to distinguish and connect Rexroth to key artistic formations of the American photography world in the 1960s, 70s and 80s, including contested social and creative terrain around feminism and gender, technical experimentation, engagement with language, artistic networks, and photography’s emergence in universities, museums and the art market.
Edited by Nathaniel M. Stein, Curator of Photography, Cincinnati Art Museum.
Contributions by Molly Kalkstein, Gary and Ellen Davis Curator of Photography at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum, Cornell University, NY; Charlotte Ogorek, Rexroth Project Assistant, Cincinnati Art Museum; Nancy Rexroth, artist; John Rohrbach, Curator Emeritus, formerly Senior Curator of Photographs, Amon Carter Museum of American Art, TX; and Nathaniel M. Stein.
Nancy Rexroth: Secrets of My Power is a featured exhibition for the 2026 FotoFocus Biennial: The Long View. Now in its eighth iteration, the Biennial activates over 70 exhibitions at museums, galleries, universities, and public spaces throughout Greater Cincinnati, Dayton, Columbus, and Northern Kentucky in October 2026—the largest of its kind in America. The Long View theme considers aspects of time and perspective in photography and film, and how these mediums shape our understanding of the world.
Nancy Rexroth: Secrets of My Power is funded in part by the Millstone Fund, FotoFocus, and the America 250-Ohio Commission.
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Views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed do not necessarily represent those of the America 250-Ohio Commission.
Additional support provided by the Women’s Committee of the Cincinnati Art Museum, Phillip and Edith Leonian Foundation, and numerous individual donors.
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