Quiet Reserve: Stitching an Ambitious New Woman

Newcomb Art Museum of Tulane University
New Orleans, Louisiana
August 21–December 4, 2026

Quiet Reserve: Stitching an Ambitious New Woman will examine embroidery’s role as a professional and artistic practice at H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College in the early 20th century. The college’s needlework curriculum encouraged students to see embroidery as both creative expression and viable career training, reshaping ideas about women’s labor and independence in the US South.

Students described their work as “art needlework,” producing handsewn textiles inspired by natural motifs and everyday life. Under the leadership of Ellsworth Woodward, the program cultivated a distinctive style marked by refined design and accessible techniques that allowed students to develop sophisticated, personal artistic voices. Woodward, the first director of Newcomb’s School of Art, noted that the students’ needlework conveyed a “quiet reserve in design.”

The exhibition highlights how Newcomb helped expand opportunities for Southern women in the decorative arts while promoting the ideals of the “New Woman”—college-educated, self-sufficient, and professionally trained. Curated by Sarah Brokenborough, a graduate curatorial assistant at the Newcomb Art Museum and PhD candidate at Tulane University, Quiet Reserve explores embroidery as both artistic practice and economic opportunity.

This exhibition is supported in part by the Decorative Arts Trust’s Dean F. Failey Grant.