Louise Nevelson a collagist was not given the respect she deserved because of her gender. In her first solo show in 1941 a critic wrote: "We learned the artist is a woman, in time to check our enthusiasm... otherwise we might have hailed these sculptural expressions as by surely a great figure among moderns." In 1950 however her work elevated to new heights with her talent in working with irregular shaped wood which she painted into a uniform color. Earning wide spread recognition and in 1959 she was featured in MOMA's landmark exhibition Sixteen Americans. In 1979 however, she made a long lasting imprint on New York by designing sculptures in Cor-Ten steel that appear to be floating like flag above a triangular plaza. On the 4th of September in 1978 a decade after her death, Mayor Ed Koch proclaimed the site the Louise Nevelson Plaza, which was the first public plaza in New York City to be named after an artist.