A Parallel Presence: National Association of Women Artists, 1889-2009

Founded in 1889 as the Woman’s Art Club, the National Association of Women Artists (N.A.W.A.) is the oldest American women’s art organization in continuing existence, with thousands of artists having been members. This exhibition illustrates the ongoing engagement of N.A.W.A. members—and, by extension, women artists in general—with the many stylistic innovations and variations that have occurred within American art since 1889. 

One of many women’s cultural organizations formed in the nineteenth century, N.A.W.A.’s purpose was to help women artists counter the difficulties they faced in gaining recognition and equity with men in professional training, exhibition opportunities, and the marketplace. Significantly, the founding statement insisted that art by women was equal in creative achievement to the work of men. One of the motives behind the group’s founding was to benefit all women artists (even non-members) by showing work in sufficient quantity to disprove the idea that women’s art was inferior to that of men. 

The exhibition includes work by approximately 80 artists. Among the artists included are Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, Theresa Bernstein, Bessie Potter Vonnoh, Blanche Lazzell, Dorothy Dehner, Louise Nevelson, June Wayne, Pat Adams, Faith Ringgold, Idelle Weber, and Martha Walker. Another component of the exhibition comprises documentary materials from the N.A.W.A. archives that are indicative of the organization’s activities over the years.

The exhibition includes significant works drawn from various public and private collections, with a major component derived from the N.A.W.A. Collection at Rutgers. In 1992, the Zimmerli received this collection, which has steadily grown through donations from artists, collectors, and estates to over 200 objects. 

On view at the UBS Art Gallery in New York from May 14 to July 31, 2009