Who’s Who among women in the arts is judiciously exemplified and honored by the National Museum of Women.

It’s modest but impressive beginnings can be traced back to the 1960s, well remembered for the tidal wave of women’s issues that engulfed the country. Simultaneous and in harmony with that cultural phenomenon, Wilhelmina Cole Holladay and Wallace F. Holladay began their collection.

“Wilhelmina Cole Holladay and Wallace F. Holladay began collecting art in the 1960s, just as scholars and art historians were beginning to discuss the under representation of women and various racial and ethnic groups in museum collections and major art exhibitions. Among the first to apply this revisionist approach to collecting, the Holladays committed themselves for over 20 years to assembling art by women. By 1980, Wilhelmina Cole Holladay began to devote her energies and resources to creating a museum that would showcase women artists, and the Holladay Collection became the core of the institution’s permanent collection.”
from MNW history

20th Anniversary

In commemoration of their 20th anniversary, two decades that have translated for greater recognition of women in art, the museum is presenting an exhibition of “Italian women artists during the Renaissance and Baroque eras because that extended period represents “the first time in Western history where you can attach women’s names to particular works [of art],” said White. “For the first time, women artists were competing with men and achieving individual recognition.”

There are those that question the need for gender focused art, but the perceived lack of progress in recognizing past and current women artists supports the value of having a gender specific museum.

“Although circumstances have improved, “it’s still harder for women to get commissions, and they still face a little bit of an artistic glass ceiling,” he said.”
(Source)