As we all know, March is Women’s History Month! Here we present, in more or less chronological order, an illustrated list of events having to do with women in art. Some of the events are free to attend; others are fee-based. If you are aware of any events not listed here, do email details to us (erika@artherstory.net) or comment below.
Throughout March
AARP New York presents The Rise of Women Artists in America, a 4-episode series of webinars on Wednesdays in March. The events are free but registration is required:
- March 6: Mary Cassatt: Subversive Beauty
- March 13: Finding Her Way: The Rise of Professionalism, 1840–1940
- March 20: Art of the Gilded Age: Beauty and Modernity Collide
- March 27: Georgia O’Keeffe: Invention and Reinvention
March 1–2
The symposium Challenging Empire: Women, Art, and the Global Early Modern World, an element of the project Global Makers: Women Artists in the Early Modern Courts of Europe and Asia, will take place online, as well as in person, at the University of Alabama and the Birmingham Museum of Art. Register here.
March 2 (and again March 8, 15 and 30)
The gallery talk Women Artists New to the National Gallery focuses on two new additions—by Lavinia Fontana and Luisa Roldán, respectively—to the collection of the Washington, DC museum.
March 3
- As part of the Jewish Literary Foundation’s Book Week, in association with the Ben Uri Gallery & Museum, Hettie Judah chairs a discussion with Lauren Elkin about her book Art Monsters: Unruly Bodies in Feminist Art.
- Saya Woolfalk delivers a Virtual Lecture on her artwork in the New Britain Museum of American Art’s special exhibition Women Reframe American Landscape.
- The International Society for the Study of Surrealism hosts a book launch for Exquisite Dreams: The Art and Life of Dorothea Tanning, by Amy Lyford, published by Reaction Books in December 2023.
March 5
The third annual Women in the Museum symposium, “Reclaiming and Reframing,” will take place at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. International speakers will discuss prevalent historiography as presented in books and museums. Sessions are: The Idea of the Great Artist, Reclaiming Heritage Spaces and Reframing Old Narratives.
March 7
In #5WomenArtists—New Narratives in the Americas Collection, Annelise K. Madsen, Gilda and Henry Buchbinder Associate Curator, Arts of the Americas at the Art Institute of Chicago, highlights historical women artists in the collection. Madsen will especially focus on recent acquisitions, including works by Julie Hart Beers, Theresa Bernstein, Abastenia St. Leger Eberle, Ellen Emmet Rand, Augusta Savage, and Lilly Martin Spencer.
March 8
- Join the National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) to celebrate International Women’s Day! NMWA will host both virtual and in-person programs—including a keynote with Ferren Gipson—that engage with, highlight, and celebrate women in the visual and performing arts.
- Surrealist Women: Online Panel for International Women’s Day celebrates with a panel featuring icons of Surrealism such as Penny Slinger and Penelope Rosemont. To register click here.
March 9
In the panel discussion Alma W. Thomas: Curatorial Perspectives, sponsored by the DC Public Library, three curators will discuss the different approaches they have pursued in their exhibitions featuring the remarkable Washington, DC artist and educator.
March 10
At the New Britain Museum of American Art, Nancy Siegel presents the lecture An Uphill Climb, from Mountain Tops to Critical Acclaim: The Artistry of Susie M. Barstow. Her talk examines the life and career of this fascinating artist through vast and previously unknown archival materials. Siegel is the author of Susie M. Barstow: Redefining the Hudson River School.
March 13
The National Arts Club (NAC) celebrates Women’s History Month and the NAC’s 125th Anniversary with world-renowned art historian Camille Morineau, who discusses her work with AWARE (Archives of Women Artists, Research and Exhibitions). Register here.
March 15
- Murray Edwards College, Cambridge, presents the academic conference The Women’s Art Collection: Artworks and Artists in Context. Register here for the conference.
- Tyler and Temple Contemporary hosts an alumni panel discussion entitled (im)positions—Women Portraying Women’s Bodies, featuring a conversation among visual artists Erin M. Riley (MFA ’09), Autumn Wallace (BFA ’18), and Chelsey Luster (BFA ’19), moderated by art historian and Tyler Professor Emerita Therese “Terry” Dolan, PhD.
March 19
Focusing predominantly on 18th-century women artists—such as Angelica Kauffman, Anne Damer and Katherine Read—Goodwood’s Curator Clementine de la Poer Beresford presents a talk about women artists at Goodwood, with a welcome by The Duchess of Richmond, and a champagne and canapé reception in the State Apartments of Goodwood House.
March 21
- Curator Alexandra Loske and artist Brece Honeycutt speak in Shades of HERstory: Exploring Women’s Influence on Colour Through History, sponsored by DFZ Colour Connections. After the presentations, questions can be asked in English or German.
- Linking histories of women, relationships to the natural environment, material culture and art, Andrea Pappas presents the Fireside Chat Embroidering the Landscape: Women, Art, and the Environment in British North America, 1740–1770, hosted by The Library Company of Philadelphia and sponsored by the Davida T. Deutsch Program in Women’s History.
March 22
Hosted by New York Adventure Club, the webinar Amalia Kussner: Leading Gilded Age Miniature Portrait Artist delves into the extraordinary life of miniaturist Amalia Kussner (1863–1932), a daring and talented artist who traveled extensively throughout the United States—and later the world—to do her commissions in the homes of the elite of that time.
March 23
In Women of 17th-Century Italy at the Hamilton Gallery in Victoria, Australia, the curators of Emerging From Darkness and fellow art historians will share insights into some of the leading women of that time. The subject matter is not restricted to women artists, but it does include Artemisia Gentileschi, Lavinia Fontana and Elisabetta Sirani.
March 24
Community Day at the Baltimore Museum of Art includes free access to Joyce J. Scott: Walk a Mile in My Dreams (no tickets required!) with a special in-gallery performance by Joyce J. Scott.
March 29
The Wende Museum presents an illustrated introduction to the life and work of the Holocaust Survivor, Roma artist and activist Ceija Stojka (1933–2013), as discussed in the newly released first monograph in English about her. Additionally, it will offer a discussion of important works currently displayed at the Wende Museum as part of the exhibition Ceija Stojka and Scenes of Roma Life.
March 30
Amanda Malmstrom, Associate Curator at the Thomas Cole National Historic Site, presents a special tour dedicated to the art of Emily Cole (1843–1913), which is not currently on view to the general public. Emily was a prolific painter of botanicals who glazed, fired, and exhibited her ceramic wares in the New Studio, and made a name for herself as “Catskill’s China Painter.”
And beyond…
April 8
Join presenter Linda Falcone on location in Forlì for Restoration Conversations: Women Artists and the Pre-Raphaelites; meet nineteenth-century artists Marie Spartali Stillman, Evelyn Pickering De Morgan and Elizabeth Siddal, during the online broadcast of the exhibition “Pre-Raphaelites: Modern Renaissance,” with co-curator Peter Trippi. The broadcast is sponsored by Calliope Arts in partnership with The Florentine, the De Morgan Foundation, Watts Gallery, the Fondazione Cassa dei Risparmi di Forlì and Grandi Mostre Fondazione Forlì.
April 11
The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art hosts the lecture Hair to There with Sonya Clark. The artist and educator, who often incorporates human hair, depictions of hair, and hair-styling tools to discuss race, identity, and visibility within her practice, returns to the Wadsworth to discuss her career and her exploration of hair as a symbol and medium.
April 16
The Schomburg Center hosts an afternoon screening of Searching for Augusta Savage, a 22-minute documentary from Charlotte Mangin and Sandra Rattley of Audacious Women Productions. Following the screening, filmmakers Charlotte Mangin and Sandra Rattley will join Tammi Lawson, Curator of the Schomburg Center’s Art & Artifacts Division, for a discussion about making the documentary, untold stories of Savage’s life, the multi-dimensionality of the Harlem Renaissance, and the educational resources being created to secure Savage’s legacy, to be discovered by younger generations.
April 18
The illustrated talk The American Feminist Art Movement and its Impact on Contemporary Art at Murray Edwards College will address the innovations of artists in the Femfolio portfolio including Mary Beth Edelson, Miriam Schapiro, Carolee Schneemann, Joyce Kozloff, Joan Semmel, and Faith Ringgold. It will also explore how feminist visual arts initiatives within established institutions contributed to the transformation of contemporary art to include women-identifying artists, gender non-conforming artists, and artists from the African and Asian diasporas.
April 23
- Paris Spies-Gans delivers the Zerner Lecture Imprints and Erasures: A New Story of Art at the Harvard Art Museums. Spies-Gans will share the troubling history of women’s erasure from the art historical record, and present a series of recent discoveries to challenge the powerful, gendered assumptions that continue to inflect our views of the past.
- The Gwillim Project, based at McGill University Library in Montreal, Canada, brought together an international multidisciplinary network to examine the watercolors and letters of two English sisters who arrived in Madras in 1801. The Linnean Society hosts Women, Environment and Networks of Empire: Elizabeth Gwillim and Mary Symonds, an online lecture by Anna Winterbottom and Victoria Dickenson, to present the findings of the members of the research network.
April 23–26
The goal of the 7th edition of Art, Power, and Gender Conference at the Universidad de Murcia is to evaluate the devotional mechanisms used by Renaissance women to construct their image of power.
April 24
Cooper Union hosts Searching for Augusta Savage: Screening and Panel. Following the screening of Searching for Augusta Savage, a new documentary about the acclaimed Harlem Renaissance sculptor, art educator, and Cooper Union School of Art alumna, the film’s creators, Charlotte Mangin and Sandra Rattley of Audacious Women Productions, are joined by curators Jeffreen M. Hayes and Tammi Lawson for a conversation about Savage’s life and work, including why many of her works of art have been lost or destroyed and why evidence of her accomplishments appears to have been erased.
April 25
- The Delaware Art Museum welcomes university students to experience the spring exhibitions and a keynote lecture by exhibiting artist Sonya Clark, organized in partnership with the University of Delaware. University Night with Artist Sonya Clark begins at 5:30pm, and registration is required to attend.
- The High Art Museum hosts the Driskell Conversation, a wide-ranging discussion between 2023 Prize winner and artist Ebony G. Patterson and curator Michael Rooks about Patterson’s creative practice. Together, the speakers will dive into Patterson’s multilayered art and consider her use of diverse materials to question relationships between race and class, violence and memory, and possibility.
- In the webinar Fruit of Friendship: Portraits by Mary Beale, Christopher Baker (The Burlington Magazine) will head a discussion between Lucy West (Assistant Curator at Dulwich Picture Gallery) and Ellie Smith (Researcher and Exhibition Coordinator at Philip Mould & Company) on the life, career and legacy of Mary Beale. Register here.
April 26
Performance artist Marisa Williamson delivers Lightbox: An Illuminated Lecture, engaging literally and conceptually with the form of the Lightbox in order to highlight the influence of artist Barbara Earl Thomas and others on what is visible to us today. The event responds to Thomas’ exhibition The Illuminated Body at Arthur Ross Gallery and Re(Focus), a multi-venue exhibition festival celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first major exhibition featuring American women artists mounted in 1974. For more information, see https://refocus2024.org/.
April 30
- Theresa Leininger-Miller, Professor of Art History at University of Cincinnati, delivers the Bernstingle Memorial Lecture at RISD Museum: Inner Intensity and Outer Calm: Figurative Sculpture by Nancy Elizabeth Prophet. Leininger-Miller will discuss Nancy Elizabeth Prophet’s life and art during the interwar period, when she created her well-known figurative sculptures.
- Artscapades presents the online talk Angelica Kauffman. Annette Wickham, Curator of Works on Paper at the Royal Academy, introduces the exhibition of Kauffman’s work currently at the Royal Academy. It will cover the artist’s training and early work in Italy, her rise to fame in London and her involvement in the founding of the Royal Academy itself in 1768. The exhibition Angelica Kauffman is at the Royal Academy from March 1 to June 30, 2024.
Throughout May
The Art Gallery of Ontario sponsors a series of in-depth conversations with art historians and creatives as they walk through the themes of Making Her Mark.
- May 4: Dr. Cristina Acidini, Italian Art Historian, President of the Casa Buonarroti Foundation (Florence, Italy) and Dr. Alexa Greist, AGO Curator and R. Fraser Elliott Chair
- May 11: Explore lacemaking with Lacemaker Elena Kanagy-Loux
- May 18: Dr. Ingrid Mida explores the lives of women makers across society and time, united by their artistry
May 2
Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library hosts the lecture Embroidering the Landscape: Women, Art and the Environment in British North America, 1740‒1770, by Santa Clara University art history professor Andrea Pappas, author of a new book of the same title. Discover how and why 18th-century American women depicted landscapes in their needlework and gain a fresh understanding of their lives and relationship to the natural world and culture around them.
May 6
The UCLA Art History Department’s 2024 Gretchen Taylor Millson Lecture features speaker Kellie Jones, Hans Hofmann Professor of Modern Art, Art History and Archeology, and Chair, African American and African Diaspora Studies at Columbia University. Jones’ talk Suzanne Jackson: Ecologies of Abstraction considers the creative practice of painter, poet, and dancer Suzanne Jackson and its imbrication in ecocritical, feminist, and Black arts discourses from the 1960s to the present.
May 7
The Women’s Art Collection presents The Goddess, the Deity and the Cyborg symposium, which complements an exhibition of the same title. In light of the planned train strike on Tuesday, 7 May, the symposium will now be both in-person and online. Presentations will be given by artists and academics that engage with a broad terrain of twentieth- and twenty-first century art, and visual and material culture associated with goddess feminism and feminist spirituality.
May 11
Beginning with the Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives Memorial, then progressing through more of her work, sculptor Morgan Faulds Pike will present an illustrated talk at Cape Ann Museum about the details and stages in building sculpture: design, materials, site contextualization, engineering, foundry techniques, and community participation.
May 17
- Art historian and RISD professor Suzanne Scanlan introduces her book Esther Pressoir: A Modern Woman’s Painter at The Providence Athenæum. In-person seats have sold out, but register here for virtual tickets.
- Self-taught artist Yvonne Wells (b. 1939) made her first quilts to keep her family warm, later turning to quilting as an artform to visually address her religious, historical, and sociopolitical experiences in the American South. In the Wadsworth Atheneum curator talk Yvonne Wells: Stitched Stories, Erin Monroe, Krieble Curator of American Paintings and Sculpture, and Laura Leonard, Art Bridges Project Coordinator, discuss Wells’s quilt “The Great American Pastime: The Negro Baseball League” (2009), on loan from the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts.
May 23
The National Gallery of Australia hosts The Story of Art Without Men: Katy Hessel, in which British curator and art historian Katy Hessel discusses her book The Story of Art Without Men. The conversation will be followed by a book signing in the Art Store. Copies of The Story of Art without Men will be available to purchase on the night.
May 26
Women in Art presents an Art, Tea and Talk event at Burgh House with its 2023 People’s Choice winner Sara Gregory, who will discuss her Menopause Portraits, as well as her influences, painting process and the thoughts and feelings behind her work.
May 28
Acclaimed by Sir Joseph Banks, personal friend of Queen Charlotte, and fellow “explorer” of botanical wonders with the Duchess of Portland, Mary Delany embarked, aged 72, on a fabulous Flora of paper portrayals of exotic plants. Botanists & Botanic Art–Mary Delany, a heavily illustrated talk by Twigs Way, draws on Mary Delany’s own words.
June 4
The pursuit of plants took Marianne North around the world, while her paintings were destined for Kew Gardens. The talk Botanists & Botanic Art–Marianne North explores North’s work, her social context and the eventual creation of her gallery at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. (There is a new book about the artist forthcoming in June 2024.)
June 7
The Royal Academy of Arts, in partnership with the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, hosts a one-day Angelica Kauffman symposium, featuring papers from scholars and academics on new research. Speakers include Emma Barker, Rosalind Polly Blakesley, Bettina Baumgartel, Rebecca Cypess, Ellen Hanspach-Bernal, Yuriko Jackall, Chi-Chi Nwanoku CBE, Wendy Wassyng Roworth, Jane Simpkiss and Annette Wickham. The day will conclude with a special artist in-conversation between Sutapa Biswas and Professor Griselda Pollock. Book here.
June 26
The National Gallery, generously supported by the Diane Apostolos-Cappadona Trust in honor of Stacia Apostolos, between May 2024 and May 2025 celebrates the presence and contribution of women at the National Gallery over its 200-year history with two one-day complementary conferences. This first conference will focus on women artists in the collection, women copyists and artists-in-residence, and the role of women donors in the Gallery’s history. Details on how to sign up will be posted closer to the date of the event.
More Art Herstory posts:
Museum Exhibitions about Historic Women Artists: 2024
New Books about Women Artists | Oct–Dec 2023
New Books about Women Artists | Jul–Sept 2023
Ten Intriguing Books About Remarkable Women Artists, a guest post by Carol M. Cram