Woman's World, 1880-1920: from Object to Subject

Reynolda House Museum of American Art

Winston-Salem, NC

336-725-5325

http://www.ols.net/users/rh/index.htm

Woman's World, 1880-1920: from Object to Subject

September 22 - November 26, 2000

Pictures of and about women have Long been an essential subject of art. In the late nineteenth century there was a resurgent interest in the subject of women and the worlds they inhabited. Images of women were vested with iconic importance even though they were generally without religious significance. Women were viewed as the keepers of the domestic sphere while their husbands or fathers exerted control over the business, social, and civic world. As women's roles changed within late nineteenth and early twentieth century society, so too did the ways they were portrayed. During this period women's concerns began to extend past the doors of their homes into questions of cultural, civic, and societal rights. Among their charitable activities some sought to provide training for those less fortunate women so that they might earn their living in an honorable way. Others devoted themselves to literary or artistic careers, making well-respected names for themselves in their chosen fields. By 1920, with the passage of the 19th Amendment confirming women's right to vote, the changes in expectations of women's place in American life had irrevocably changed.

This special exhibition will focus on a range of image types in paintings, prints and sculpture of women and explore their shifting meanings. Twenty-one confirmed objects include:

John White Alexander (1856-1915), Alethea, 1895, Private Collection

Will H. Bradley (1868-1962) Victor Bicycles / Overman Wheel Co., 1896, Lent by The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Mary Cassatt (1844-1926), Madame Gaillard and Her Daughter, 1897, Reynolda House, Museum of American Art

William Merritt Chase (1849-1916), In the Studio, c. 1884, Reynolda House, Museum of American Art (see left)

Arthur Bowen Davies (1862-1928), The Pool, c..1908-10, Private Collection

Charles Dana Gibson (1867-1944), The Princess Sonia / A Romance of Girl Art Life in Paris, 1895, Lent by The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Charles Dana Gibson (1867-1944), That Delicious Moment, 1894, Library Collection, Reynolda House, Museum of American Art

G. Howard Hilder (1866-1935), Cover, Vogue, June 24, 1909, Private Collection

Frances Benjamin Johnston (1864-1952), Self-Portrait, c. 1896, Library of Congress, Negative Number LC-J698-100011

George Lepape (1887-1971), Cover, Vogue, June 15, 1920, Private Collection

George Lepape (1887-1971), Cover, Vogue, January 15, 19371 Private Collection

Frank X. Leyendecker (1877-1924), Cover, Leslie's (September 15th, 1917), 'The Angel," Library Collection, Reynolda House, Museum of American Art

Gari Melchers (1860-1932), The China Closet, 1904-05, Belmont, The Gari Melchers Estate and Memorial Gallery

Albert Morrow (1863-1927), The New Woman, 1897, Lent Anonymously

Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848-1907), Mrs. Schuyler (Mariana Griswold) Van Renssellaer, 1888, Private Collection

John Singer Sargent (1856-1925), Portrait of Countess Laura Spinola Nunez del Castillo, 1896, Private Collection (see left)

John Sloan (1871-1951), Turning Out the Light; 1905, from the New York City Life series, Reynolda House, Museum of American Art

John Sloan (1871-1951), The Women's Page, 1905, from the New York City Life series, Reynolda House, Museum of American Art

John Henry Twachtman (1853-1902), The Damnation of Theron Ware / Or Illumination, 1896, Lent by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum Accession, 1957 57.627.10(22)

Bessie Potter Vonnoh 1872-1955), Enthroned, 1902, Private Collection

Abraham Walkowitz (1880-1965), Isadora Duncan, 1916, Reynolda House, Museum of American Art

Please click on thumbnail images bordered by a red line to see enlargements.

For further biographical information on selected artists cited above please see America's Distinguished Artists, a national registry of historic artists.

This page was originally published in Resource Library Magazine. Please see Resource Library's Overview section for more information. rev. 3/18/11

Search Resource Library for thousands of articles and essays on American art.