Beverly Pepper: Land Art and Monumental Sculptures

Preview: written before the show opened

Pepper's biggest work in Washington isn't in the galleries. Ten of her weathering-steel sculptures stand in the medians of New York Avenue between 9th and 13th Streets until June 2027, among them Broken Circle and Todi Columns, directly outside the museum's front door.

Inside, the show is a small focus exhibition: five sculptures, two from NMWA's own collection, plus maquettes for her large-scale works and a new film about her monumental and land-art projects. Pepper worked for more than 70 years with iron, steel and earth, and helped pioneer Cor-ten steel for sculpture in the early 1970s. One collection piece is a cast-iron Untitled from 1993, under 30 inches tall.

Watch the film first, then you walk out the front door and her steel is standing in the traffic. It's a museum visit with a crosswalk in the middle. Admission is $16, free for visitors 21 and under, and free for everyone on the first Sunday and second Wednesday of each month.