The Magical World of Joan Danziger premieres Feb. 7th, 2026 at American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center in Washington, D.C. The exhibition is the first career retrospective for Danziger, who is actively producing art at the age of 91. The exhibition features six decades of art, from works on paper to sculptures. Concurrent exhibition Ravens: Spirits of the Sky features her most recent works, 24 large glass and metal raven sculptures.
Joan Danziger brings her magical art to the American University Museum in first career retrospective. Danziger has been a working artist since the 1960s. The retrospective traces her evolution from an abstract painter to a multimedia artist who transforms her creations into three-dimensional sculptures. More than 100 works, including 40 mixed media sculptures and 25 works on paper and canvas, show the breadth and depth of her artistic journey.
“Joan Danziger’s imagination inhabits a surreal world of myth and magic,” explained Jack Rasmussen, director and curator of the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center. “This retrospective invites us into her beguiling garden of delights, where her beautifully crafted imaginings are metaphors for our contemplation.”
Sculptor
Space Age, a 1963 work of ink on paper, is the earliest artwork in the exhibition and shows early influence by surrealists and 15th-century Dutch artist Hieronymus Bosch. Over the decades, she evolved into a sculptor and glass artist who imbues her work with secret meanings from world religions, history and mythology. Her works range from the life-sized, animal instrumentalists Sunshine Girl’s Love Band (2010) to an unsettling collection of 30 glass and wire frame beetles that crawl the walls of the gallery.
“I use the element of scale in my sculptures to give them an impact and presence that the three-dimensional figures are larger than life,” Danziger said.