The Woman's Art Club of New York was founded in
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
in 1889 and provided a means for social interaction and marketing of women's works of art. The club accepted members from the United States and abroad. In 1913, the group changed its name to the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors. The current name for the group is the
National Association of Women Artists
The National Association of Women Artists, Inc. (NAWA) is a United States organization, founded in 1889 to gain recognition for professional women fine artists in an era when that field was strongly male-oriented. It sponsors exhibitions, awards ...
, which was adopted in 1941.
History
The club was founded by the artists Anita C. Ashley, Adele Frances Bedell, Elizabeth S. Cheever,
Edith Mitchill Prellwitz
Edith Mitchill Prellwitz (1865–1944) was an American artist who is known for Impressionist and Tonalist studies of Peconic Bay, New York, as well as for figurative paintings with literary or mythical subjects.
Family and education
Prellwitz was ...
, and Grace Fitz-Randolph in Fritz-Randolph's studio on Washington Square in New York on January 31, 1889.
The purpose was for "social intercourse among art lovers, for exhibition and to further art interests."
More specifically, it aimed to provide a way in which women's works of art could be marketed that were otherwise limited to women at the time.
The group held annual
art exhibition
An art exhibition is traditionally the space in which art objects (in the most general sense) meet an audience. The exhibit is universally understood to be for some temporary period unless, as is occasionally true, it is stated to be a "permanen ...
s in which members could submit one art work for the exhibition. Any additional works were reviewed by the selection jury. Its members included non-exhibiting and exhibiting members.
The Woman's Art Club accepted members and exhibition contributions from women in the United States and abroad. For instance,
Mary Cassatt
Mary Stevenson Cassatt (; May 22, 1844June 14, 1926) was an American painter and printmaker. She was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania (now part of Pittsburgh's North Side (Pittsburgh), North Side), but lived much of her adult life in France, whe ...
, who lived in Paris, exhibited her works.
In 1892 there were about 300 works of art submitted, including watercolors, oils paintings, etchings, pastels and crayons.
Executive Committee members were elected at its November annual meeting.
It was located at 9-Tenth Street.
In 1913, its name was changed to the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors. It adopted the name
National Association of Women Artists
The National Association of Women Artists, Inc. (NAWA) is a United States organization, founded in 1889 to gain recognition for professional women fine artists in an era when that field was strongly male-oriented. It sponsors exhibitions, awards ...
in 1941.
Members
Some of its members were:
*
Ruth Payne Burgess
*
Emma Lampert Cooper[Rochester Art Club]
Biographies of Founders.
Rochester Art Club. Retrieved February 7, 2014.[John William Leonard; William Frederick Mohr; Frank R. Holmes. ]
Who's who in New York City and State
'. L.R. Hamersly Company; 1907. p. 329
*
Louise Cox[John Howard Brown. ]
Lamb's Biographical Dictionary of the United States: Chubb-Erich
'. James H. Lamb Company; 1900. p. 217.
*
Florence Ballin Cramer
*
Jenny Eakin Delony[''Who's Who in Illinois''.](_blank)
Chicago: Larkin, Roosevelt & Larkin, Ltd. 1947. p. 390.
*
Maria R. Dixon
*
Claude Raguet Hirst
*
M. Jean McLane
*
Rhoda Holmes Nicholls
*
Clara Weaver Parrish
Clara Minter Parrish ( Weaver; March 16, 1861 – November 11, 1925) was an American artist from Alabama. Although she produced a large amount of work in a wide array of media, she is best known for her paintings and stained glass window designs ...
*
Amanda Brewster Sewell
*
Isabelle Sprague Smith
Isabelle Sprague Smith, also Isabelle Dwight Sprague Smith (November 11, 1861 – December 28, 1950) was an American artist, teacher, and school principal until the mid-1920s. Her students donated the Isabelle D. Sprague Smith Studio to the MacDowe ...
*
Clara Welles Lathrop
*
Mary Rogers Williams
*
Shirley Williamson, she also served as president
*
Carol M. Albright
See also
*
Women artists
The absence of women from the canon of Western culture, Western Art history, art has been a subject of inquiry and reconsideration since the early 1970s. Linda Nochlin's influential 1971 essay, "Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?", e ...
Other turn of the century New York art organizations that exhibited women's work
*
MacDowell Club The MacDowell Clubs in the United States were established at the turn of the twentieth century to honor internationally recognized American composer Edward MacDowell. They became part of a broader social movement to promote music and other art forms ...
, New York, founded 1905
*
New York Watercolor Club, founded 1890
References
{{Feminist art movement in the United States
American artist groups and collectives
Women's organizations based in the United States
Art in New York City
Arts organizations based in New York City
1890 establishments in New York (state)
Arts organizations established in 1890