ATHENS, GA.- Looking to escape to Paris this summer? The Georgia Museum of Art at the University of Georgia will let you do that without leaving the state, through the exhibition “Brilliant Exiles: American Women in Paris, 1900 – 1939.” This exhibition focuses on the impact of American women on Paris — and of Paris on American women — from the turn of the 20th century until the outbreak of World War II.

The exhibition chronicles the stories of more than 50 women who sought freedom from American prejudices based on gender, class, race and sexual orientation in Paris, the cradle of modern culture at the time, through portraits and biography. Abroad, they were able to pursue personal and professional aspirations that would have been impossible to achieve in the United States. “Brilliant Exiles: American Women in Paris, 1900 – 1939,” is curated by Robyn Asleson, curator of prints and drawings, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, and will be on display July 19 to November 2, 2025.

“We are thrilled to showcase works by and of these trailblazing women who took Paris by storm. These striking portraits capture their verve, ambition, tenacity and passion,” said Nelda Damiano, the Georgia Museum’s Pierre Daura Curator of European Art.

The exhibition includes more than 60 portraits of cultural influencers, such as Sylvia Beach, Josephine Baker, Natalie Clifford Barney, Elsie de Wolfe, Isadora Duncan, Zelda Fitzgerald and Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney. As foreigners in a cosmopolitan city, these “exiles” escaped the constraints that limited them at home. They used their newfound freedom to pursue experiments in a variety of fields, including art, literature, design, publishing, music, fashion, journalism, theater and dance. These women were able to fully embrace their multiply marginalized identities while in Paris. Their self-understanding and acceptance imbued their work with culture-shifting power, paving the way for modernist movements and expanding possibilities for women in the United States.

The exhibition reveals the dynamic role of portraiture in articulating the new identities that American women were at liberty to develop in Paris, with works by artists including Berenice Abbott, Louise Heron Blair, Tsuguharu Foujita, Anne Goldthwaite, Loïs Mailou Jones, Isamu Noguchi, Man Ray, Anne Estelle Rice, Augusta Savage and Edward Steichen.