by Isabelle Esteves

Created on: June 24, 2010

The National Museum of Women in the Arts is the only museum in the world dedicated only to female artists. About time wouldn’t you say? Collectors Wilhelmina and Wallace Holladay began collecting art in the 1960’s. By the 1980’s Wilhelmina began pushing to create a museum dedicated to woman artists. It was the Holladay’s collection that formed the core of the current museum. From incorporation in 1981 to the opening of the current museum space was six years of working out of small spaces and temporary homes.

 The building itself is a beautiful structure with a wonderful open and light feeling.  Ironically, the Renaissance Revival building was originally the Washington Masonic Temple-certainly not somewhere women would have been welcomed, let alone showcased. The permanent collection consists of over three thousand works spanning 500 years of art and women artists.

The collection includes works by Mary Cassatt, Elizabeth Louise Vigee Lebrun, and Camille Claudel, just to name a few. The placement of the works is very attractive. One more modern artists who I really enjoyed was Judy Chicago. I loved her colorful works and was disappointed by the gift shop's lack of prints.

We particularly liked the silver collection. It was all pieces of work by female silversmiths, or at least from the workshop of female silversmiths. Somehow, silversmithing is not thought of as a craft practiced by women, especially during the time period of the pieces in the collection. It was however, many of them began as the wives or daughters of silversmiths and came into the profession after the deaths of their husbands or fathers. Others just owned the businesses but never did the work themselves. The silver is mostly Irish and English though no doubt there were American woman who also followed the same path.  

In addition to the permanent collections there are always additional exhibitions going on. To find out what will be happening when you are in Washington DC, go to their website and check for the current exhibits.

The gift shop is exceptional. They have some lovely jewelry and craft items. It is worth a visit even if you don’t want to spend the $10 that it costs to visit the museum.

There is a Mezzanine Café where you can enjoy lunch and on the first Sunday of the month Brunch is served from 11am to 2pm. You will enjoy dining surrounded by the permanent collection and for the $25 brunch price you also get free entrance to the museum which makes it a very good deal indeed.

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