It is an acknowledged fact
that the percentage of women artists who receive representation and
critical debate surrounding their works has always lagged behind the
actual number of women artists working across the world, through the
ages. Whether in the healthily funded environs of developed societies or
in the volatile and evolving art circuits of developing countries, women
artists across varied media and cultural contexts are inadequately
documented in art history. The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA),
Washington D.C., is a unique institution committed to correcting this
imbalance. Its mission is to excavate from the annals of the past as
well as from the less traversed territories of contemporary arts
practice, women artists whose work merits wider circulation and debate.
Located, ironically, in a classic building that was
originally the temple and headquarters for a Masonic
fraternal order open exclusively to men, the NMWA, now
in its 20th year, has been actively engaged in
bringing to the fore names nearly lost and works
perhaps not seen so widely before. From the grassroots
folk artist or performer to the renaissance painter
and sculptor to women working with contemporary media
such as film, installation and photography - the
NMWA's approach is wide and holistic.
The museum came about when an American art-collecting
couple, Wallace and Wilhelmina Cole Holloday, came
across two still-life paintings by Flemish Renaissance
painter Clara Peters. They were enchanted by the works
and sought to find out more on the artist. Surprised
by the near absence of any information in common art
reference texts they made it their mission to examine
art by women, collecting any materials they found by
women artists. At first they housed their collection
in their home. As word spread, interest and support
multiplied with patrons and collectors making
donations. Eventually the collection grew bigger,
necessitating a committed space. It took two years to
renovate and convert the Masonic temple into the
museum it is now.
The idea of a museum dedicated exclusively to women
artists has and continues to meet with opposition. Not
all criticism has been purely conservative. Some art
critics are skeptical about the gender differentiation
underpinning the museum's goals, holding that such a
disparity is counterproductive, provoking an
unnecessary ghetto mentality that conflicts with art's
universal appeal. This critique flags the risk of a
biological division. Aware of this, the museum's
think-tank has consistently qualified its commitments.
NMWA does not seek to perpetuate a false disparity
between men and women. Its project is historical -
identifying and correcting the blind-spots in art
history and circulation on account of which women
artists have previously been inadequately shown or
discussed. In the words of curator Dr Jordana Pomeroy,
the broad goal for the museum is; 'Where are the
women? Giving women a chance, those women who have
been off the grid because of gender.'
Pomeroy adds that interpreting this goal has been a
complex task for the museum staff and, in particular,
the curators. She holds that disadvantage on account
of gender is still valid, though the issues
confronting women today are different and more
complex, exceeding notions of inequality as based
solely on gender.
"The rise of women's history and literary studies has
alerted us to how complex women's positions in
different societies are. It gets more complicated for
us in the visual arts. We are working with multiple
parameters such as chronology, the subject of the art
work, the nexus of the dealers and patrons in the art
market of any society at any given time, and then its
cultural construction. This raises very difficult
questions of how a woman artist might work, survive
and circulate. We are seeking here to inject political
debate from their perspective; the issues that they
are confronted with - we aim our curatorial practices
to bring those to the fore. How gender is performed in
any society, at any given time is a complex register
of different forces, rather than just biological sex."
Very alert to social and cultural disparities within
and outside the US, the museum's functioning is
facilitated by a host of local committees set up in
different states of the US and countries around the
world. These committees include specialists that work
closely with local museums, curators, business
executives, legal advisors and arts and education
specialists to develop deeply researched programming
and links with the museum in Washington.
Specifically curated exhibitions that raise varied
issues of gender and the arts are organized
periodically. The latest on view is 'WACK! Art and the
Feminist Revolution', a comprehensive exhibition that
explores the formation, development, and impact of
feminism in post-war contemporary art from 1965 to
1980, with works of artists from around the globe,
which will be on till December this year. Then, the
museum also has a centre for performance; and it
fosters close links with the local community through
educational and public outreach programmes that create
awareness and better understanding of how women
artists have functioned in different societies in
different periods of history. The educational outreach
programmes target both institutions as well as
individuals and include a spread of activities such as
guided tours of the museum - the tours are tailored to
specific age groups and are free-of-charge for
elementary and secondary school students - seminars
and panel discussions, film screenings and
performances, lectures, book signings and any other
events to honor women artists.
Coinciding with its 20th anniversary, NMWA this year
launched Clara - a unique web-based database of women
artists. Clara will provide access to archival
materials and biographical information on close to
18,000 women artists. These materials are housed by
the NMWA's library and research centre that are open
for scholars, critics and researchers. Besides books
and periodicals, archives on women artists, an
audio-visual collection, collections of artist's books
and book plates among other material is also
available.
Over the years, the NMWA's collections have expanded
to over 3,000 materials and in the future it seeks to
reach out beyond America to countries such as India,
where a local committee is in the formation. Part of
the permanent collection are the works of Mexican
artist Frida Kahlo, the Renaissance paintings of
Elisabetta Sirani, modern photographs by Barbara
Morgan and sculptures by Louise Nevelson. NMWA is also
constantly faced with the challenge of adapting and
interpreting its own role as a museum dedicated
exclusively to women in the arts. The museum has
motivated new practices and thinking surrounding art
curation and documentation in which history and
women's positions within it are key.
While the challenges continue within the museum as
well as outside in terms of wider cultural
representation and gaining critical acceptance, NMWA
is a crucial space that explores and critically
documents how women artists through time have
expressed their creative energy.
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