Movies, Masons, and More: The Peculiar Past of NMWA’s Building

NMWA is one of 25 sites in D.C. with the chance to win up to $100,000 from Partners in Preservation (PiP), an initiative of American Express and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Funds from this grant would help finance much-needed roof repairs—not so glamorous-sounding, but necessary—so that NMWA can stay focused on its mission of presenting and promoting fantastic women in the arts!

With a history as varied as the museum’s collection, NMWA’s building is a work of art in itself. Designed in a Renaissance-revival style, the six-story structure embodies orderliness and civic grandeur. Constructed by one of D.C.’s most prominent architectural firms (and famed architect Waddy Wood), the building was received landmark status in 1984. Purchased by NMWA in 1983, the building opened as a museum in 1987 after extensive renovations.

Ironically, the building was originally constructed as a Masonic Temple—women were not allowed entry.  Masonic symbols, such as carved squares and compasses, can still be seen in the museum’s architecture. The clearest symbols are on the building’s façade, particularly those in a frieze above the fourth floor. Visitors may spot some vestiges within the walls as well.

Before showing art, the building showed movies. In 1916, a first-floor theater began showing silent films. In the 1940s and early 1950s the Pix Theater ran racy “exploitation films” until resulting controversies caused their lease not to be renewed. Seven years later, the Town Theatre opened and played blockbuster films like Hitchcock’s Psycho until its closing in 1983.

The wedge-shaped building was also home to several small offices and shops during its first 20 years. A dentist, an insurance agent, and a uniform supply outfitter all operated on the second floor above the movie theater. From 1910 through ’21, the upper floors contained George Washington University’s law library, and a USO canteen was housed in the basement during World War II.

NMWA today

In 1997, the museum incorporated an adjacent property to create the Elisabeth A. Kasser Wing. The space now houses NMWA’s gift shop and sculpture gallery—more palatable uses than its past function as the “D.C. Pleasure Parlor.”

Although visitors can’t take advantage of the building’s previous functions by watching movies or getting their teeth cleaned, they can enjoy NMWA’s collection of art by many of the world’s most significant women artists. The building itself is seen as an embodiment of the museum’s mission—it is a place for women artists—and funds for vital roof repairs will ensure the continued integrity of its structure.

Popular votes on social media will determine some of the grants. Voters can chime in for NMWA once every day by registering on the PiP website or logging in on PiP’s Facebook page. By using the hashtag #NMWA in Twitter or Instagram posts, and by checking in on Foursquare, voters can help NMWA earn extra points!

Also, save the date! Drop by on May 5 for an open house and “Raise the Roof” with GirlsRock! DC!

NMWA Internships–Engaging and Educational

Have you ever wondered about interning at the National Museum of Women in the Arts? Interns at NMWA gain experience in a museum setting, learning and advancing their careers while helping departments from education to curatorial to finance.

Kristie Landing, college senior and NMWA publications/communications intern, summer 2012:

• Why were you interested in a NMWA internship?
• I was doubly interested by the fact that NMWA is an acclaimed arts institution and an advocate of women’s rights and equality.
• Can you describe your job?
• My main job is researching artists and works in our collection and writing for NMWA’s Broad Strokes blog. I also contribute to other social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook, write book reviews, and compile a daily email about current art news for the office.
• What has been your favorite part of working at NMWA?
• My favorite part of working at NMWA was getting to research artists. I learned so much about the artists in the collection and exhibitions and even studied artists of other genres, like dancer Isadora Duncan. Having great works of art at my fingertips was terrific and really gave my research an extra layer. It was amazing to just go downstairs and have art by Frida Kahlo or Georgia O’Keeffe right in front of me to study.

Ashley Harris, museum studies graduate student and NMWA education department intern, summer 2012:

• What has been your favorite part of working at NMWA?
• My favorite part has been helping with the Summer Teacher Institute and collecting/organizing data from the evaluations. Speaking to the participants, reading their feedback, and using that information to see the impact this program has on the schools represented—this process really made me feel part of something meaningful.
• Would you recommend a NMWA internship?
• Yes! I have learned a lot, and I have been able to contribute to the department in substantial ways.

Erika Berg, college junior and NMWA member relations intern, summer 2012:

• Was this your first experience working in a museum?
• Yes, this was my first experience working in a museum, and I think it helped me to gain a general understanding of the internal workings of a museum.
• What has been your favorite part of working at NMWA?
• Easily my favorite part was administering the visitor surveys on the weekends and getting to talk with visitors as they filled out the survey. I think my best interaction with a visitor was one weekend there was a man visiting with his two young daughters (they must have been 4–6 years old) and getting to listen to them tell me all about what they saw on their visit as their dad filled out the survey.

Interested in learning more? Click here to see which departments are currently accepting applications!

Teaming Up with Girls Rock! DC and the Arena Stage!

This fall, in the spirit of NMWA’s upcoming exhibition, Women Who Rock: Vision, Passion, Power, we will be teaming up with Girls Rock! DC to help our visitors find their inner rock star. With the musicians featured in Women Who Rock as inspiration, Girls Rock! volunteers and NMWA educators will work together on events and workshops that will support aspiring musicians of all ages and experience levels.

Lady Gaga’s childhood piano in Women Who Rock; Photo courtesy of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum

Girls Rock! DC, a member of the Girls Rock Camp Alliance, holds a one-week day camp for girls ages 8–18, culminating in a performance showcase of the campers’ music. Campers receive instruction on electric guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, vocals, turntables and digital music production from a volunteer-only staff of educators, musicians, artists and community organizers. Campers form bands, and they are coached by volunteer musicians to write and perform original songs and DJ sets. The camp gives young women a supportive environment to create both music and a healthy self-image.

NMWA’s programming with Girls Rock! DC will include:
• 9/9   2 p.m.: CONCERT. Girls Rock! DC: Campers and Volunteers
• 9/29   10 a.m.: YOUTH WORKSHOP. So You Wanna Be a Rock Star?
• 9/29   12:30 p.m.: TEEN WORKSHOP. Rock 101.
• 10/2   1 p.m.: FILM. Girls Rock! The Movie
• 10/20   10 a.m.: YOUTH WORKSHOP. It’s Amaze-’Zine
• 10/20   12:30 p.m.: TEEN WORKSHOP. ’Zine-Making: DIY Media
• 11/10   10 a.m.: ADULT WORKSHOP. Two Turntables and a Microphone

Another exciting collaborative event NMWA has planned in conjunction with Women Who Rock will feature performers from Arena Stage’s One Night with Janis Joplin (September 28–November 4 at Arena Stage). The October 22 event at NMWA, Bringing to Life a Woman Who Rocks, will give viewers a behind the scenes look at how the show’s cast members and Arena Stage’s artistic team bring Joplin’s story to life night after night.

Our first Women Who Rock event is a free concert showcasing the talent of youth and adult musicians affiliated with Girls Rock! DC. For more information about this and other upcoming events please visit NMWA’s events calendar. We hope to see you here!

—Ashley Harris is the education intern at the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

Education programming for Women Who Rock: Vision, Passion, Power is made possible by an anonymous donor, Cigna, and the Carstens Family Fund with additional funding provided by the Massachusetts State Committee of NMWA and the New Mexico State Committee of NMWA. Further support is provided by Washington Marriott at Metro Center.

Summer Recap: NMWA’s YPF

It has been a busy summer for NMWA’s Young Professionals’ Forum (YPF). Founded more than six years ago by co-chairs Meredith Harman and Jessica Sterchi, the YPF’s mission is to bring together, mentor, and provide leadership for young female professionals from the D.C. metro area through networking and social events. This summer, the YPF has partnered with other women-focused associations in the area for some exciting events.

Members of Women in Government Relations and NMWA’s YPF at the Experience the Arts event

On June 12, 2012, NMWA welcomed members of Women in Government Relations for their annual event, Experience the Arts. Co-hosted by the YPF, this event recognized the Duke Ellington School of the Arts and the Maryland Writing Project for their commitment to arts education in the D.C. community. In addition to hearing from the leaders of both organizations, guests enjoyed a performance of Catalyst, a one-woman docudrama created and performed by Brooke Haycock depicting the important role of educators in the lives of students.

In July, the YPF teamed up with the American Women’s Society of Certified Public Accountants to bring life and career coach Hilaire Henthorne to NMWA. Hilaire spoke on the topic “From Distressed to De-stressed: Wellness Wisdom for Women” and gave members of both organizations helpful tips for keeping work, family, and relationships in balance while maintaining our own mental and physical health. As most female professionals admit that they are consistently stressed and take very little time for themselves, the topic of this presentation was very apropos for the YPF.

On August 14, members of the YPF convened at i Ricchi in Dupont Circle for a happy hour featuring complimentary appetizers and half-price beverages. This was a great opportunity for members to network with one another and celebrate the final month of summer.

If you live in the D.C. metro area and would like more information about YPF membership or events, email ypf@nmwa.org. Join us for more fun social events and networking!

Committee News: Friends of NMWA, U.K., Celebrates the 25th Anniversary

To celebrate the global mission of the National Museum of Women in the Arts, the museum’s London committee, formally known as Friends of the National Museum of Women in the Arts, U.K., staged a series of events. In London and then in New York, the museum’s extended community united behind the goal of acquiring a significant sculpture, New Bird II by Dame Elisabeth Frink, RA, to donate to NMWA.

Elisabeth Frink, New Bird II, 1965

In February, Friends of NMWA, U.K., held a spectacular event to kick off these celebrations—a gala and sale of work by seventeen women artists working in silver. More than 100 people gathered for the gala evening event, and a steady stream of visitors came to the London West Bank Gallery for the following day’s sale. Two of the silver artists gave talks and demonstrations: Ndidi Ekubia on “Traditional Silversmithing Techniques” and Kathryn Hinton on “The Craft of Digital Tooling.” Under Beth Colocci’s leadership, the artists had been carefully selected to represent diverse design styles, price points, and object types. There was something for everyone, from whimsical silver straws by Rebecca Joselyn to fluidly shaped candlesticks by Ekubia, to architectural jewelry by Ute Decker.

The Silver by Women artists generously gave 25 percent of their proceeds to the London committee’s Silver Anniversary Campaign, intended to purchase the sculpture by Frink, an important British woman artist who is not currently represented in NMWA’s collection.

But the gap would not be completely filled without additional funding support. Silver by Women donations raised about two-thirds of the amount needed to acquire New Bird II. Much of the balance has come from two sources: the many individuals who understand the importance of British women artists receiving greater recognition outside the U.K., and the cross-border cooperation with Kentshire Galleries in New York City. (If you would like to support this gift, as well as future acquisitions of art by British women for the Women’s Museum, please donate here: https://mydonate.bt.com/events/silverbywomen/54934.)

When they learned that participating silver artist Ute Decker had an upcoming exhibition in New York at Kentshire Galleries, Patti White, a member of the London committee, reached out to Sarah Bucknell Treco, a New York-based member of NMWA’s National Advisory Board, and they collaborated to plan an opening reception on April 18. The U.S. opening reception for the artist’s work was collaboratively planned as a celebration of NMWA’s 25th anniversary year. Kentshire generously donated 10 percent of the evening’s proceeds to the campaign, assisting in the acquisition of the Frink sculpture.

Kentshire Galleries co-owners Marcie Imberman and Ellen Israel, artist Ute Decker, and NMWA Deputy Director Ilene Gutman at the April 18 event

The exhibition opening at the Kentshire Gallery was both an intimate experience and an inspirational success. Kentshire principals Ellen Israel and Marcie Imberman greeted the evening’s crowd with lovely refreshments and a warm welcome. Then, NMWA Deputy Director Ilene Gutman spoke about the museum’s founding and the celebrations planned for this anniversary year, including the stunning exhibition of Revolution-era French paintings, Royalists to Romantics: Women Artists from the Louvre, Versailles, and Other French National Collections. Gutman also brought greetings from NMWA Founder Wilhelmina Holladay, who was being honored that same evening at the Brooklyn Museum’s Elizabeth A. Sackler Center, receiving a First Award for being an extraordinary woman and first in her field.

Artist Ute Decker described the conceptual origins and material selection process behind her distinctive architectural jewelry—each unique piece is made from Fair Trade gold or recycled silver. Her compelling vision fascinated the audience.

The successful events surrounding the Silver Anniversary Campaign organized by Friends of NMWA, U.K., underscore the common goals, strong ties, and tremendous cooperation of NMWA’s committees and friends in supporting the museum’s mission.

For their generosity in this campaign, Friends of NMWA, U.K., particularly wishes to recognize Farah and Hassan Alaghband, Monique Bahadur, Penny Baylis, Nancy Broadbent Casserley, Michele and Beth Colocci, Sarah Cooke, Belinda de Gaudemar, Clara Freeman, Lisa Garrison, Mercedes Hoffman, Hans and Jayne Hufschmid, Karen and Tom Kalaris, Evi Kaplanis, Janet Martin, Cassie Murray, Janice Sacher, Dasha Shenkman, Julie Skattum, Cornelia von Rittberg, George and Patti White, and Susan Zimny.

Friends of NMWA, U.K., would also like to thank the artists that particpated in Silver by Women: Susan Beale, Abigail Brown, Angela Cork, Ute Decker, Ndidi Ekubia, Shelby Fitzpatrick, Karina Gill, Jo Hayes Ward, Kathryn Hinton, Polly Horwich, Rebecca Joselyn, Marion Kane, Nan Nan Liu, Jane MacIntosh, Susan May, Emily Nixon, and Maya Selway.

Art Lover No. 9: Chakaia Booker

Art Lover No. 9 of NMWA’s “25 Art Lovers” campaign, sculptor Chakaia Booker, is both a patron of the museum and featured artist in the collection. Her abstract tire creations have recently been installed in conjunction with the New York Avenue Sculpture Project, the only public art space featuring changing installations of contemporary works by women artists.

Join “Art Lover” Chakaia Booker and share one of your favorite works of art in NMWA’s collection or your experience visiting the New York Avenue Sculpture Project. What are your thoughts on public art? How do Chakaia Booker’s sculptures transform its surroundings? How do her sculptures differ from other public art in the DC-area? Feel free to share your thoughts and experiences. We are all ears!

Calling All Art Lovers

If you ask art lovers, they will tell you that their relationship with a work of art reaches beyond the frame:

“The painting makes me stand tall, which in turn makes me feel strong. For me, this painting is about power and grace.”

That is how art lover and DC chef, Carla Hall described Snake Man by Alison Saar (1994) when asked to participate in NMWA’s “25 Art Lovers” campaign.

The “25 Art Lovers” campaign is in conjunction with NMWA’s 25^th anniversary and features local residents, patrons of the arts and Washington, DC area leaders. The campaign exhibits the breadth and depth of NMWA’s collection and its impact on patrons in the metropolitan DC area. The first 10 of 25 individuals profiled are popping up on the DC Metro, in print, and online, sharing one of their favorite art works from the collection and encouraging others to do the same. Patrons featured include:

Leah Bassett: makeup artist, painter
Chakaia Booker: sculptor in the collection of NMWA; currently has her work on the New York Avenue Sculpture Project
Warren Brown: owner of CakeLove; entrepreneur
Carla Hall: Chef (contestant on several seasons of Top Chef), TV Host (ABC’s The Chew)
Bonnie McElveen-Hunter: Founder/CEO of Pace Communications, Diplomat, Humanitarian
Gina Lewis: Systems Engineer
Heather & Tony Podesta: Art Collectors, Lobbyists
Andrea Roane: TV News Anchor (WUSA 9)
Trevor Young: Visual artist

Join the “25 Art Lovers” and share one of your favorite works of art in NMWA’s collection. Why does that particular artwork move you?  How long have you been visiting NMWA? Do you have a story about how a work of art has inspired you? Feel free to share your thoughts and experiences. We are all ears!

Women’s History Month—and NMWA—after 25 Years

Women of Protest: Photographs from the Records of the National Woman's Party, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Every month is spent celebrating women’s history at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, but this year’s annual celebration takes on special importance. This March marks the 25th anniversary of Women’s History Month and coincides with NMWA’s own 25th anniversary celebration. It is no coincidence that these two landmark occasions were conceived in the same year. By 1987, the debate over women’s rights had reached a critical level of acceptance. The establishment of NMWA and Women’s History Month responded to the political conversations of the day, reflecting the widespread desire to recognize women in history and culture.

Barbara Bush and Wilhelmina Cole Holladay at the 1987 NMWA opening.

In 1978, the Education Task Force of the Sonoma County (California) Commission on the Status of Women sought to remedy the lack of public consciousness surrounding women’s history. They established the week of March 8 as the first annual “Women’s History Week.” The celebration was met by enthusiasm and by 1979, the seeds for a national decree were planted.

In February 1980, the groups of women working toward national recognition realized their dream with President Jimmy Carter’s Presidential Proclamation declaring the week of March 8, 1980 as National Women’s History Week:

“From the first settlers who came to our shores, from the first American Indian families who befriended them, men and women have worked together to build this nation. Too often the women were unsung and sometimes their contributions went unnoticed. But the achievements, leadership, courage, strength and love of the women who built America was as vital as that of the men whose names we know so well.”

The movement gradually gained momentum and by 1986, 14 states had dedicated March to Women’s History Month, prompting the 1987 congressional decision to establish the celebration in perpetuity.

Installation of Chakaia Booker's sculpture in the New York Avenue Sculpture Project.

This year’s theme, “Women’s Education—Women’s Empowerment,” is near to NMWA’s cause and heart. NMWA’s 25th anniversary exhibition, Royalists to Romantics: Women Artists from the Louvre, Versailles, and Other French National Collections, explores the role of women’s education in great depth. The female artists featured were not granted the same arts education as their male counterparts. They were barred from studying the nude figure, which inhibited them from taking on history painting, then considered the highest genre. The exhibition explores the alternative avenues women in the 18th and 19th centuries travelled while refining their artistic skills and building audiences for their work.

Take part in Women’s History Month this March with a visit to the National Museum of Women in the Arts. Royalists to Romantics: Women Artists from the Louvre, Versailles, and Other French National Collections is on view through July 29, 2012. Also join us on March 8, widely celebrated as International Women’s Day, 10 a.m.–3 p.m. for the New York Avenue Sculpture Project Dedication and March 9 for the opening of R(ad)ical Love: Sister Mary Corita on view through July 15, 2012. For more information, visit www.nmwa.org. To learn more about Women’s History Month, visit www.nwhp.org.

—Chelsea Beroza is the publications and communications intern at the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

Artist-in-Residence: Royal Dressmakers & Haute Couture

In NMWA’s galleries during Royalists to Romantics, visitors will be treated to a novel program that will bring to life the fashions in the portraiture on view. Womenswear designer and artist-in-residence Celia Reyer will be on site on selected dates throughout the exhibition, at work on a garment inspired by, and created through, historically accurate production processes. Reyer’s process involves extensive curatorial research of fashion collections and artwork, tracing haute couture’s history. She developed her concept for the piece by examining images, such as Marie-Victoire Lemoine’s self-portrait, that showcase generous period costumes.

Marie-Victoire Lemoine, Portrait of the artist, ca. 1780/90; Oil on canvas, 114.5 x 87.5 cm.; Musee des beaux-arts, Orleans

During her residency, Reyer will create a Brunswick traveling coat with assistance from patternmaker Andrea Shewe. A hooded coat, the Brunswick (or riding habit) was originally a working-class costume. The original French design consisted of a hip-length, split-sleeve jacket, a hood, and a petticoat. By the second half of the eighteenth century, Brunswicks had evolved into fashionable daywear. Stylistically, the coats mimicked men’s clothing, a sign of the new political era in France that had weakened gender and class barriers. Through this garment, its wearer was making a subtle, significant statement about her gender and evolving role in society. The Brunswick, like the common white-cotton dresses made fashionable by the upper class in the late-eighteenth century, also paid homage to fashion trends that traversed economic class.

Celia Reyer styles a 2010 exhibition, The Pleasure Garden, at the Museum of London

Reyer, who holds degrees in fine arts and fashion design, has blazed a new path in design using old-world techniques to complement her professional experience in high fashion, fine art, and museum collections. The Prelle & Cie company, a fabric manufacturer established in 1752, and one of the oldest silk-furnishing fabric manufacturers in existence, donated fabric to this project. The company meticulously reproduces eighteenth-century fabrics from an archive of original samples. Through this exciting project, NMWA members and visitors are invited to watch as Reyer’s Brunswick takes form and look more deeply into the portraits featured in Royalists to Romantics.

Reyer will be at work in the galleries on February 23 and 26; March 4, 11, 18, and 25; and April 1 and 8. Her work-in-progress will be on view throughout the exhibition.

Royalists to Romantics: Women Artists from the Louvre, Versailles, and Other French National Collections

Opening next Friday, February 24, Royalists to Romantics: Women Artists from the Louvre, Versailles, and Other French National Collections features 77 paintings, prints, and sculptural works from 1750 to 1850—many of which have never been seen outside of France. In keeping with NMWA’s mission to rediscover and celebrate women artists of the past and demonstrate their continued relevance, the museum’s curators spent months scouring the collections of dozens of French museums and libraries to cull rarely-seen works by women artists. Royalists to Romantics showcases these exceptional works and reveals how the tumultuous period—which saw the flowering of the court of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, the terrors of the French revolution, the rise and fall of Napoleon, and the restoration of the monarchy—affected the lives and careers of women artists. The exhibition will be on view through July 29, 2012.

Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, Portrait of a Woman, 1787; Oil on canvas, 39 ⅞ x 32 in.; Musée des beaux-arts, Quimper

“Royalists to Romantics is the first exhibition to focus on women artists of this time period in France and demonstrate how they navigated a highly gendered world that presented different opportunities for education and patronage than for their male counterparts,” said NMWA Chief Curator Dr. Jordana Pomeroy. “The exhibition and catalogue for Royalists to Romantics will help to banish the obscurity that has veiled the legacy of many 18^th-century French women artists.”

Featuring 35 artists, including Marguerite Gérard, Antoine Cecile Haudebourt-Lescot, Adélaïde Labille-Guillard, Sophie Rude, Anne Vallayer-Coster, and Élisabeth Louise Vigée-LeBrun, the exhibition explores the political and social dynamics that shaped their world and influenced their work. Some of these artists flourished with support of such aristocratic patrons as Marie Antoinette, who not only appointed her favorite female artists Élisabeth Louise Vigée-LeBrun and Anne Vallayer-Coster to court, but advocated their acceptance into the Académie Royale de peinture et de sculpture—an official seal of approval that could establish an artist’s career. The political upheavals of the French Revolution and the following decades brought a new set of challenges for women artists.

Adrienne Marie Louise Grandpierre-Deverzy, The Studio of Abel de Pujol, 1822; Oil on canvas, 37 7/8 x 50 7/8 in.; Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris

“In celebration of the National Museum of Women in the Arts’ 25th anniversary, we are delighted to present Royalists to Romantics, an exhibition dedicated to a group of extraordinary 18th-century women artists that inspired our founder, Wilhelmina Cole Holladay,” said NMWA Alice West Director, Dr. Susan Fisher Sterling. “Like other important historical surveys NMWA has organized, including An Imperial Collection: Women Artists from the State Hermitage Museum and Italian Women Artists: From Renaissance to Baroque, bringing this great art to the U.S. from the Louvre, Versailles and other French national collections demonstrates our continued commitment to new scholarship about exceptional women artists over the centuries.”

Antoine Cecile Hortense Haudebourt-Lescot, The Capture of Thionville, 1837; Oil on canvas, 34 ¼ x 46 in.; Musée national des châteaux de Versailles et de Trianon; Image: Franck Raux; Courtesy of Réunion des Musées Nationaux / Art Resource, NY

NMWA members are invited to a special Member Preview Day, 10 a.m.–3 p.m. on Thursday, February 23, 2012, featuring:

• A noon lecture by New School Professor Laura Auricchio: “Royalists to Revolutionaries: Women Artists in the French Revolution”
• Staff-led gallery tours throughout the day
• An opportunity to see NMWA’s artist-in-residence and womenswear designer Celia Reyer begin work on the Brunswick traveling coat, inspired by and created through historically accurate production processes, that will bring to life the fashions in the portraiture on view.

For information about the day, or about becoming a NMWA member, visit www.nmwa.org or call toll-free 866-875-4627.

The 135-page, fully-illustrated exhibition catalogue has been published by Scala Publishers, with essays by Pomeroy and other noted scholars in the field. (To purchase the catalogue, call the Museum Shop toll-free at 877-226-5294. $45/Member $40.50; Item #3500.)

 

Royalists to Romantics: Women Artists from the Louvre, Versailles, and Other French National Collections has been organized by the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C., with logistical support from sVo Art, Versailles.

The exhibition is made possible by the Annenberg Foundation, the Florence Gould Foundation, Hermès, Teresa L. and Joe R. Long, and Jacqueline Badger Mars, with additional funding provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, an Anonymous Donor, the Robert Lehman Foundation, and the Samuel H. Kress Foundation. Further support is provided by Air France and Sofitel Washington DC Lafayette Square.