Breaking the Mold focuses on paintings from a pivotal time, one of transition from postwar abstract expressionism to new artistic developments. It includes works on paper, paintings, and sculpture by fifty artists including Josef Albers, Richard Diebenkorn, Ellsworth Kelly, Morris Louis, and Marcel Duchamp.

The Washington Gallery of Modern Art (WGMA) was founded in Washington, DC, on October 28, 1961, to increase the national and international attention given to contemporary art in the nation's capital, with an expressed purpose to exhibit and collect contemporary works of...