More about National Museum of Women in the Arts
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Have you ever wondered why there are so many pieces of art depicting naked women in museums? The National Museum of Women in the Arts sure has.
After looking at the Met, for example, they found that less than 4% of the artists in the Modern Art sections are women, but 76% of the nudes are female. Which led some artists to ask: do women have to be naked to get into the Met?
These are the kinds of questions the National Museum of Women in the Arts (or NMWA) is asking all the time, and their 17,500-volume library and research center is finding the answers. NMWA is all about addressing the gender imbalance in museums, and one way they do this is by having their entire collection represent solely women artists, showcasing work ranging from the 16th century to the present day.
There are more than 1,000 artists represented here, including Mary Cassatt, Frida Kahlo, Niki de Saint Phalle, and Alma Thomas, as well a variety of styles and time periods with more than 5,000 pieces on display. Outside of that, NMWA started the New York Avenue Sculpture Project back in 2010, a project designed to spruce up a stretch of D.C. that badly needed some life outside its grim and drab historical statues by installing giant and colorful contemporary sculptures made by women.
Next time you’re in Washington D.C., please consider checking out this awesome and much-needed museum, which celebrated its 30th anniversary in April 2017.
Sources
Sources
- Washington DC Editors. “National Museum of Women in the Arts.” www.washington.org. Accessed November 26, 2017. https://washington.org/find-dc-listings/national-museum-women-arts.
- Trescott, Jacqueline. “National Museum of Women in the Arts to turn D.C. corridor into sculpture alley.” www.washingtonpost.com. Accessed November 26, 2017. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/23/AR20100….
- National Museum of Women in the Arts Editors. “National Museum of Women in the Arts.” www.nmwa.org. Accessed November 26, 2017. https://nmwa.org.
Sr. Editor
A museum dedicated to the fairer sex. No boys allowed. It was founded because art history has a bad habit of pretending female artists don’t exist. But we all really know that girls rule and guys drool.
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Here is what Wikipedia says about National Museum of Women in the Arts
The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA), located in Washington, D.C., is "the first museum in the world solely dedicated" to championing women through the arts. NMWA was incorporated in 1981 by Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay. Since opening in 1987, the museum has acquired a collection of more than 6,000 works by more than 1,000 artists, ranging from the 16th century to today. The collection includes works by Mary Cassatt, Alma Woodsey Thomas, Élisabeth Louise Vigée-LeBrun, and Amy Sherald. NMWA also holds the only painting by Frida Kahlo in Washington, D.C., Self-Portrait Dedicated to Leon Trotsky.
The museum occupies an old Masonic Temple, a building listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. In 2021 the museum temporarily closed to undergo a $66 million transformative renovation. The museum reopened to the public on October 21, 2023.
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