Women Artists: The National Museum of Women in the Arts (Tiny Folio, 27) - Hardcover

Sterling, Susan Fisher

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0789210533 ISBN 13: 9780789210531

Publisher: Abbeville Press, 2010

Synopsis

This compact and impressive little survey features art by women from around the world, from the Renaissance to the present, and in all media.

This handsome volume of works from the renowned collection of the National Museum of Women in the Arts—the best-known museum in the world dedicated to recognizing the achievements of women artists—is a fascinating record of women's diverse accomplishments from the Renaissance to the first decade of the twenty-first century. Prior to the establishment of the National Museum of Women in the Arts, the work of great women artists had been ignored, forgotten, or denied; they had been largely left out of museums and histories of art.

Founded in 1987 by Wilhelmina Cole Holladay in Washington, D.C., the National Museum of Women in the Arts boasts a growing membership that is among the top ten in the world. The museum's multifaceted treasures include paintings, sculpture, photographs, prints, and crafts produced over the past five centuries by an international array of women artists.

Included here, in full color, are works by Lavinia Fontana, Judith Leyster, Elisabeth-Louise Vigée-Lebrun, Hester Bateman, Rosa Bonheur, Berthe Morisot, Mary Cassatt, Camille Claudel, Berenice Abbott, Maria Montoya Martinez, Frida Kahlo, Georgia O'Keeffe, Lee Krasner, and many more.

About this title

About the Author:

Susan Fisher Sterling is the director of The National Museum of Women in the Arts

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

Excerpt from: Women Artists

Introduction

Women have created art since the earliest time. In the ancient world the Greeks celebrated the artworks of Asirtarete, Eirene, Kalypso and Thamyris. Iaia of Cyzincus, who lived in Rome around 100 B.C., was famed as a painter and engraver of ivories whose portraits were valued beyond price.

During the Middle Ages the women of the church, from Saint Hilda of England (610-680) to Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179), achieved renown for their learning, piety, and power. In the great abbeys they penned Latin verse, composed devotional music, and created illuminated manuscripts, vestments and other precious objects for both Church and state. Noblewomen, too, gained fame for their achievements as embroiderers and fine artisans. The Bayeux tapestry—the famous depiction of William the Conqueror's victory at the Battle of Hastings in 1066—is but one of many works created by women of the medieval court. Scores of ancient and medieval women remain unknown, and in many instances it may be true that "Anonymous" was a woman.

This volume of works from the National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA)—the only museum in the world dedicated to recognizing the achievements of women artists—is a record of women's accomplishments from the Renaissance to the present. Paging through the collection, one experiences a revised history of art. Many of the artists represented in this Tiny Folio (TM) may not be known to you, and you will be tempted to ask why you have never heard of them. The answers to that question have much to do with how women have been viewed and valued throughout the history of Western society.

In 1893, at the opening of the magnificent Woman's Building at the World's Columbian Exposition, Mrs. Potter Palmer and her board of lady managers expressed the hope that their greatly prized, if temporary, building—dedicated to art, education, home, charity, science, and every branch of human endeavor—would spur the creation of a permanent Woman's Memorial Building. Although this was not meant to be, one hundred years later that dream has been realized with the National Museum of Women in the Arts. The museum has the unique mission of bringing "recognition to the achievements of women artists of all periods and nationalities by exhibiting, preserving, acquiring, and researching art by women and by educating the public concerning their achievements." NWMA fulfills this mandate by maintaining and displaying a permanent collection, presenting special exhibitions and performances, conducting educational programs, supporting a library and research center, and serving a network of national and international chapters.

The National Museum of Women in the Arts became a reality through the dedication of Wilhelmina Cole Holladay, wit the help of countless individuals and organizations throughout the country. As collectors, Wilhelmina Cole Holladay and Wallace F. Holladay began to focus on art by women during the 1960s, when scholars were just beginning to uncover rich and varied aspects of that cultural heritage, From the 1960s though the mid–1980s the Holladays assembled a core collection of more that three hundred significant works by women artists.

In 1981 the National Museum of Women in the Arts was incorporated as a private, nonprofit institution. At the beginning it was a "museum without walls," offering docent–led tours of the collection at the Holladay residence. Then, in 1983, the museum purchased the landmark building—formerly the Masonic Temple of the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia—a few blocks from the White House in Washington. After four years of renovation, the museum opened to the public in 1987. THe groundbreaking inaugural exhibition American Women Artists, 1830–1930, demonstrated the contributions that women from Sarah Miriam Peale to Georgia O'Keeffe had made to the history of American art. It was at this time that the Holladays presented the majority of their collection as a seed donation to the museum. Many of the works from this core collection are reproduced within pages of this volume.

Just one year earlier, in 1986, women artists had been included for the very first time in H. W. Janson's History of Art, the standard textbook that has been used by generations of art history students. Women had at least been made part of the canon, although still in very small numbers: of the twenty–three hundred artists discussed in that massive tome, only nineteen were women. Conditions have improved since then, strengthened in part by the presence of NMWA, along with the burgeoning of feminist scholarship, greater opportunities for contemporary women artists in the marketplace, and a higher concentration of female professors and curators. Earlier artists such as Mary Cassatt, Camille Claudel, Frida Kahlo, and Georgia O'Keeffe have been the subject of major retrospectives, here and elsewhere. Contemporary artists—among them, Helen Frankenthaler, Nan Goldin, Elizabeth Murray, and Bridget Riley—have received significant attention as well. Women artists were formerly given exhibitions only late in life or posthumously, but now public recognition tends to come earlier. Still, there is much to be done.

Since its opening, the National Museum of Women in the Arts has acquired important works of art by Sofonisba Anguissola, Judith Leyster, Elizabeth Louis Vigée–Lebrun, Käthe Kollwitz, Frida Kahlo, Louise Dahl-Wolfe, Louise Nevelson, Judy Chicago, Magdalena Abakanowicz, and many others; it has also received collections of Georgian silver by British silversmiths, miniatures on ivory by Eulabee Dix, engravings by Grace Albee, and Letters and papers by Frida Kahlo. The collection now comprises more than four thousand paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, sculptures, artists' books, ceramics, and other decorative objects. The museum also houses a Library and Research Center well known for its resources on women in the arts, including materials on more than eighteen thousand women artists. Much of this archival information is available online through the Clara Database of Women Artists®. As the museum has grown, so has the range of its activities. Public programs for youth and adults highlights the work of women in a variety of creative disciplines. NMWA also serves students and teachers locally and nationally through its tours, outreach, and online educational resources such as Art, Books, and Creativity curriculum.

Noteworthy as well is the museum's grassroots support. Since its inauguration, more than 225,000 people have joined NMWA, Making it one of the largest museums in the United States in terms of membership. In response to this outpouring of interest, the museum has established a network of national and international chapters, whose purpose is to offer community–level educational events, research programs, and exhibitions, and to assist in the accumulation of resource materials for the library and research center. there are currently more than twenty chapters, with several more in formation.

The National Museum of Women in the Arts strives to integrate women into the historical mainstream of artistic achievement and to the foster the visibility of contemporary women artists working in diverse disciplines. The more we know about the art of women from all times, the greater the legacy will be for future generations to cherish.

About this edition

• Publisher: Abbeville Press
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0789210533
• ISBN 13: 9780789210531
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 320