Wilhelmina Cole Holladay (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Cole; October 10, 1922 – March 6, 2021) was an American art collector and patron. She was the co-founder of the

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 openi ...

, and was awarded the

National Medal of Arts The National Medal of Arts is an award and title created by the United States Congress in 1984, for the purpose of honoring artists and patrons of the arts. A prestigious American honor, it is the highest honor given to artists and arts patrons ...

in 2006.

Early life

Holladay, known as "Billie", was born in

Elmira, New York Elmira () is a city and the county seat of Chemung County, New York, United States. It is the principal city of the Elmira, New York, metropolitan statistical area, which encompasses Chemung County. The population was 26,523 at the 2020 censu ...

, on October 10, 1922. Her father, Chauncey Cole, worked as a businessman; her mother, Claire Elisabeth née Strong, was a housewife. She was close to her maternal grandmother, whom she credits with inculcating a perception of beauty. Holladay graduated with a degree in art history from

Elmira College Elmira College is a private college in Elmira, New York. Founded as a college for women in 1855, it is the oldest existing college granting degrees to women that were the equivalent of those given to men. Elmira College became coeducational in a ...

in 1944. She went on to study art history at

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

, before undertaking further studies at the

University of Paris , image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of Arms , latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis , motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin) , mottoeng = Here and a ...

from 1953 to 1954. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, Holladay worked for the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Si ...

and the Embassy of

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

. In the latter capacity, she was employed as the social secretary of

Soong Mei-ling Soong Mei-ling (also spelled Soong May-ling, ; March 5, 1898 – October 23, 2003), also known as Madame Chiang Kai-shek or Madame Chiang, was a Chinese political figure who was First Lady of the Republic of China, the wife of Generalissimo a ...

, the wife of

Chiang Kai-shek Chiang Kai-shek (31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975), also known as Chiang Chung-cheng and Jiang Jieshi, was a Chinese Nationalist politician, revolutionary, and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 ...

. She met Wallace Holladay while he was a naval officer in Washington, and later married him.

Career

The Holladays began collecting art in the 1950s. On a trip to Europe during the 1970s, they saw and admired paintings by

Clara Peeters Clara Peeters (active 1607–1621) was a Flemish still-life painter from Antwerp who worked in both the Spanish Netherlands and Dutch Republic. Peeters is the best-known female Flemish artist of this era and one of the few women artists workin ...

at the

Kunsthistorisches Museum The Kunsthistorisches Museum ( "Museum of Art History", often referred to as the "Museum of Fine Arts") is an art museum in Vienna, Austria. Housed in its festive palatial building on the Vienna Ring Road, it is crowned with an octagonal d ...

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

and the

Museo del Prado The Prado Museum ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It is widely considered to house one of the world's finest collections of European art, dating from th ...

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

. They were dismayed to discover that neither Peeters nor any other female artist was mentioned in the leading art texts of the time. From that point, they began specializing in acquiring significant works by female artists such as Élisabeth-Louise Vigée Le Brun,

Artemisia Gentileschi Artemisia Lomi or Artemisia Gentileschi (, ; 8 July 1593) was an Italian Baroque painter. Gentileschi is considered among the most accomplished seventeenth-century artists, initially working in the style of Caravaggio. She was producing profess ...

, and

Angelica Kauffman Maria Anna Angelika Kauffmann ( ; 30 October 1741 – 5 November 1807), usually known in English as Angelica Kauffman, was a Swiss Neoclassical painter who had a successful career in London and Rome. Remembered primarily as a history painter, K ...

. They ended up collecting 500 works by 150 painters and sculptors.

The National Museum of Women in the Arts

Holladay and her husband founded the

in 1981, donating their collection of works by female artists. For the first few years, the collection was housed in the Holladays' home. She had consulted with the art historian

Ann Sutherland Harris Ann Birgitta Sutherland Harris (born 4 November 1937) is a British-American art historian specializing in Baroque art, Modern art, and in the history of women's art. Career Harris is an educator, having held her first position in 1965 as an As ...

regarding long-term placement of her private collection, and Harris suggested she found a museum dedicated to women's art. In 1987, the museum acquired a former

Masonic Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

temple in Washington, D.C. as its permanent facility. The museum houses a permanent collection of art, presents changing special exhibitions and performances, maintains a library and research center, publishes exhibition catalogues, and offers educational programming.

Personal life

Holladay married Wallace F. Holladay in 1945. They remained married until his death in 2012. Together, they had two children: Wallace “Hap” Jr. and Scott Cole, who predeceased her. Holladay died on March 6, 2021, at her home in Washington, D.C. She was 98; no cause of death was announced.

Honors and awards

Holladay was inducted into the

National Women's Hall of Fame The National Women's Hall of Fame (NWHF) is an American institution incorporated in 1969 by a group of men and women in Seneca Falls, New York, although it did not induct its first enshrinees until 1973. As of 2021, it had 303 inductees. Induc ...

in 1996. Five years later, she was conferred a Women's Caucus for Art Lifetime Achievement Award. She received a Visionary Woman Award from Moore College of Art & Design in 2005, before being conferred a

the following year. and a Foremother Award from the National Center for Health Research. Holladay also received two foreign honors: the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleo ...

from the French government and the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit.

Bibliography

Holladay authored the book ''A Museum of Their Own: National Museum of Women in the Arts'', published by Abbeville Press.

References

Sources

Celebrity Birthdays

External links

National Women's Hall of Fame biography
* ttp://smartwomanonline.com/feature/2009/01/a-museum-of-their-own/ 2009 Smart Woman Online Q&A with Wilhelmina Holladay {{DEFAULTSORT:Holladay, Wilhelmina 2021 deaths 1922 births American women philanthropists United States National Medal of Arts recipients Recipients of the Legion of Honour Elmira College alumni American art collectors Museum founders Women art collectors People from Elmira, New York Philanthropists from New York (state) American expatriates in France