Women in Motion: 150 Years of Women's Artistic Networks at PAFA 

July 9, 2021–July 24, 2022

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts 

Curated by Dr. Anna Marley, Kenneth R. Woodcock Curator of Historical American Art

Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986), Coxcomb, 1931, Oil on canvas. 20 x 17 in. © Georgia O’Keeffe Museum/ Laura Wheeler Waring (1887-1948), The Study of a Student, c. 1940, Oil on canvas board, 20 x 16 in., Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts

This exhibition explores the artistic networks of women artists exhibiting, studying, and teaching at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts from its founding in 1805 to the end of World War II.

PAFA has the remarkable distinction of actively promoting women artists since its first annual exhibition in 1811. At the turn of the 20th century Cecilia Beaux (1855–1942), the first full-time female professor of painting at PAFA, expressed the hope that the hour was near “when the term ‘Women in Art’ will be as strange-sounding a topic as ‘Men in Art’ would be now.” While this quote reveals much about the exciting developments of the professional ambitions and accomplishment of women artists in the late-19th and early-20th centuries, Beaux’s quote, and indeed her very artistic reputation—nowhere near as well-known as her contemporary and rival Mary Cassatt (1844–1926)—reveal how far scholarship has yet to advance in the study of American women artists. This exhibition and its accompanying catalog will introduce PAFA’s audiences to the networks of talented women artists and will include more than 80 works of art by more than 50 women artists working professionally in the American art world from PAFA’s founding in 1805 to the end of World War II.

The majority of the work will be from PAFA’s remarkable permanent collection, including many recent acquisitions, which has been lauded by The New York Times and other notable publications for its pioneering leadership in collecting art by women. Complementing works from the permanent collection will be a selection of loans from local private and institutional collections. Many works are by women who were renowned in their time, but have since been supplanted by better-known male colleagues. A significant goal of this exhibition is to inspire a new generation of visitors, scholars, and collectors to appreciate women artists. PAFA is particularly proud to feature paintings and sculptures by Laura Wheeler Waring (1887–1948) and May Howard Jackson (1877–1931), two of the first African American women to study at PAFA, and whose works have recently entered the permanent collection.

Women in Motion: 150 Years of Women’s Artistic Networks at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts is made possible by the Mr. and Mrs. Raymond J. Horowitz Foundation for the Arts, Inc., and the Richard C. von Hess Foundation. Generous support is provided by Dorothy J. del Bueno, the Wyeth Foundation for American Art, the Terra Foundation for American Art on behalf of its board member Charles Harper, the Newington-Cropsey Foundation, Dorothy and Ken Woodcock, and Kevin and Betsy Donohoe. 

Generous support is provided by the Fund for Women and Art at PAFA: Championing Women Artists Since 1810: Emily and Mike Cavanagh, Ro and Martin King; the Alice L. Walton Foundation, Ralph Citino and Lawrence Taylor, Amy and R. Putnam Coes III, Marilyn Fishman and James MacElderry, Jules and Connie Kay, Sueyun and Gene Locks, John and Leigh Middleton, the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation, Maggie and Brien Murphy, Donna Ostroff and Carl Capista, P. J. Rosenau, Howard Sacks and Vesna Todorović Sacks; Linda Lee Alter, Jane and Casey Brandt, Isabel S. Wilcox, and an anonymous donor. Honorary members: Rina Banerjee, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Audrey L. Flack, Marguerite Lenfest, Anne E. McCollum, Sarah McEneaney, and Marsha and Jeffrey Perelman.

Special exhibitions at PAFA are generously supported by Bill and Laura Buck, Robert E. Kohler and Frances Coulborn Kohler, the Lau Longsworth Charitable Fund, Dorothy and Ken Woodcock; Jonathan L. Cohen, Anne E. McCollum, Sandra Norcross, Linda Seyda and Robert Boris, and donors to the PAFA Annual Exhibition Fund.