Brief
Prune Nourry launches ‘Visionaries’ exhibition at Paris’s Petit Palais
The show features 18 new portraits of historic female sculptors alongside Nourry’s earlier works.
By Felo News Desk · Published
French sculptor Prune Nourry opened her exhibition “Visionaries” at the Petit Palais in Paris on October 20, 2026, according to Elle. The museum granted her carte blanche to create busts of 18 women sculptors who were largely omitted from art history.
What happened
“Visionaries” runs through January 24, 2027, and places the new busts amid the museum’s permanent collection. The works vary in height from 2.3 to 11.5 feet and sit alongside roughly 20 of Nourry’s earlier pieces. The exhibition includes portraits of Käthe Kollwitz, Camille Claudel, Nancy Elizabeth Prophet and Jane Poupelet, among others.
What the report adds
Elle notes that only four percent of the Petit Palais’s collection consists of works by women, and that just four female sculptors are currently represented. Nourry, 41, said she recognized only two of those women before the project began. She also recalled mistaking actress‑turned‑sculptor Sarah Bernhardt for an actress, highlighting the depth of the museum’s gender gap.
What was said
“How come I don’t know about them?” Nourry asked, as quoted by Elle. She explained her research method: “When I start a project, I always want to learn about my subject from experts who have been doing it all their lives—digest the facts, then transform them into something more poetic.”
How it came about
Nourry’s career has long examined how societies value the female body. Her 2009 piece “Holy Daughters” explored gender preference in India, and her 2015 “Terracotta Daughters” – an army of 108 life‑size girls inspired by China’s Terracotta Warriors – is slated to remain buried in mainland China until 2030. For “Visionaries,” she consulted three art historians specializing in women artists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, working with them for a year to compile dossiers on the subjects.
Key facts
- Prune Nourry’s “Visionaries” exhibition opened at the Petit Palais on Oct 20, 2026. (elle.com)
- The show features busts of 18 female sculptors, ranging from 2.3 to 11.5 feet tall. (elle.com)
- Only four percent of the Petit Palais collection is made by women, with four female sculptors currently represented. (elle.com)
Sources
- [1] elle.com — originally reported as “Prune Nourry’s 'Visionaries' at the Petit Palais: Inside the Exhibition”
