PREVIOUS EVENTS
2010 - 2009 - 2008 - 2007 - 2006
Tuesday 8th December 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
Women Artists in the West End
Gallery Crawl
Meet at Timothy Taylor Gallery
15 Carlos Place
London W1K 2EX
A visit to the West End Gallery Crawl to see some current shows of great women artists including Bridget Riley, Barbara Kruger, Charlotte Hodes, Elisabeth Frink and a group show including Louise Bourgeois and Lynda Benglis.
Tuesday, November 24th at 9:30 a.m.
Breakfast Talk and Studio Visit
Eliza Bonham Carter
Women at the Royal AcademyRoyal Academy of Arts
Life Drawing Room
Piccadilly, London, W1J0BD
Eliza Bonham Carter, Curator of the Royal Academy Schools, discussed the role of women in the Schools historically and in the present. The talk took place in the atmospheric Life Drawing Room and was followed by a tour of the studios of current RA Schools students.
This event is part of a series of breakfast talks about the role of women at the Royal Academy. Friends of NMWA, UK has kindly been invited to participate in this series in collaboration with the Contemporary Circle of the Royal Academy.
Tuesday, 17th November at 6.30 – 8.30 p.m.
Book Launch and Reception
Angels of Anarchy & Forbidden Fruit published by PrestelAuthors Patricia Allmer & Christiane Inmann speaking on their latest publications
Boston University,
43 Harrington Gardens,
London SW7 4RJ
Cited in The Guardian as one of the Top Ten Things to do in the UK this Autumn and receiving rave reviews throughout the press, Angels of Anarchy: Women Artists and Surrealism is currently on display at Manchester Art Gallery. We were most fortunate to welcome Patricia Allmer, the exhibition’s curator and editor of the stunning accompanying catalogue to talk to the NMWA. She is Research Fellow in Art History at the Manchester Institute for Research and Innovation in Art and Design (MIRIAD) at Manchester Metropolitan University and has published widely on different aspects of surrealism and art theory. Angels of Anarchy contains over 100 full colour illustrations of many rare and never-before-seen works of women Surrealists. It reconsiders the art historical tradition of women Surrealists and is the most comprehensive study yet of the artists who contributed so much to this fascinating movement.
Reading has been a forbidden fruit for women throughout much of history. Patriarchal societies of all ages kept the knowledge within books locked away from women. Social, economic and cultural historian Christiane Inmann has worked for the last twenty years as an international art advisor to private and institutional art collectors and as a consultant to exhibitions all over the world. Her painstakingly researched new book Forbidden Fruit: A History of Women and Books in Art was inspired by her keen interest in works of art from all ages and her own passion for reading. She divides her time between Vienna and New York.
Signed and dedicated copies of these two beautiful art books were on sale at the event at a special discount price to attendees.
Wednesday, 4th November at 6:30 – 8:00 p
Anne Connell
Artist’s Talk and Private ViewStephen Ongpin Fine Art
Riverwide House
6 Mason’s Yard
Duke Street St James’s
London SW1Y 6BU
www.stephenongpin.comAnne Connell talked to us about her recent work on display. Anne Connell lives and works in Portland, Oregon, and has exhibited widely in America over the past two decades, but this was her first exhibition in London. She has lived for several years in Italy, and her paintings seem to conduct a conversation with the art of the Renaissance. Her exquisitely rendered fragments of Italian Renaissance paintings reveal both a knowledge of and a fascination with that period’s values, symbols and its conventions of illusion. As The New York Times has noted of her work, ‘Borrowing patterns and fragmentary images from Italian Renaissance painting Connell creates small, lovingly made panel paintings that seem as once antique and post-modern.’ Meticulously and densely composed, Connell’s small paintings invite us to explore and enjoy the details; her work demands, and ultimately rewards, the quiet contemplation of the viewer.
Monday, 12th October at 10:30 am
Curators/Artists Talk:Young Masters
Sphinx Fine Art
125 Kensington Church Street
London W8A talk by the curators, Beth Colocci and Constance Slaughter (both Friends of NMWA UK subscribers) and two of the 13 female artists showing in Young Masters, Charlotte Bracegirdle and Lauren Was.
Young Masters, presented by The Cynthia Corbett Gallery, features emerging and newly established artists whose work is inspired by Old Masters. Through painting, photography, sculpture, and installation, each of the artists references an element of the established art historical canon, whilst establishing an undeniably contemporary spin on highly revered paintings. This ambitious show is in two locations: Sphinx Fine Arts – where work is co-hung with Brueghel, Fragonard and many other Masters – and at the Old Truman Brewery, off Brick Lane. The show continued through October. www.young-masters.co.uk
Tuesday, 6th October
10:30 am to 12:30 pmVisit to Private Apartment
and Chapel in Kensington PalaceExclusive visit and an opportunity to purchase fabulous silk flower arrangements to benefit Friends of NMWA, UK. Our hostess, wife of the Deputy Head of the Queen’s Household, makes silk flower arrangements which were on sale in time for Christmas presents, etc. In addition to seeing her grace and favour apartment, we also visited the private chapel which is for the use of Kensington Palace residents. Numbers are strictly limited and we can only reserve places upon receipt of payment.
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Monday, 5th October at
6:30 to 8:30 p.m.Subscribers’ Reception
For subscribers and their guests onlyA social occasion to meet the Trustees, Working Committee and fellow subscribers and to hear about our exciting program for the forthcoming year.
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Thursday, 1st October at 9:30 am
Breakfast TalkKathleen Soriano
Women at the Royal AcademyRoyal Academy of Arts
Piccadilly, London, W1J0BD
It is the first of a series of breakfast talks examining the role of women at the Royal Academy and in the art world at large, Kathleen Soriano spoke about the consideration of women artists in the curatorial process, her experiences working in the art world, and her role as a member of the Steering Group of the Women Leaders in Museums Network.
Kathleen is Director of Exhibitions at the Royal Academy. She has previously held roles as Director of Compton Verney, and Head of Exhibitions and Collection Management at the National Portrait Gallery.
Friends of NMWA, UK has kindly been invited to participate in this series organized by the Contemporary Patrons Group of the Royal Academy.______________________
Tuesday, 22nd September at 10:30 am
Sadie Murdoch – Artist’s Talk
at The Agencyfollowed by
Hannah Rickards - winner of the Max Mara Prize for Women
Curator’s TalkWhitechapel Gallery
www.theagency.co.uk/
www.whitechapelgallery.org
Sadie Murdoch talked to us about her new series of photographs derived from a costume – “The Electric Fairy” – worn by Josephine Baker, muse and lover for several modernist artists and architects. This series is a development of a number of previous works that elaborate the contradictions and complexities of modernism and often focus on the “forgotten” women of Modernism. In these “elegant, mesmerising and large scale photographs Murdoch takes her cue from early 20th century culture and transforms historical references with her own unique and performative language.” Sadie Murdoch, who completed the Whitney Independent Study Program in New York in 2004, presented a solo project at the Henry Moore Institute in 2007 and exhibited in the Incheon International Women’s Biennale in South Korea in 2008.
We did then visit the MaxMara Art Prize for Women exhibition at Whitechapel with curator Bina von Stauffenberg. The MaxMara Art Prize for Women is a biennial award recognising the achievements of a UK-based artist who has not yet had a major solo exhibition. This exhibition celebrates the work of 2007–09 award winner, Hannah Rickards. The exhibition, entitled “No, there was no red,” premieres a new screen-based work based on spoken accounts of the image of a city seen over Lake Michigan, the result of rare temperature inversion mirages.______________________
Tuesday, 15th September
6:30 for 7:00 p.m.Women to Watch : The Figure Re-Figured
Reception and Panel DiscussionExhibition September 14th to 17th
Christie’s King Street
North Room
St. James, London SW1Y 6QT
A reception offered the chance to meet the artists and hear a thought-provoking
panel discussion on the role of the figure in painting today. The panel was moderated by independent curator and Friends of NMWA UK Trustee Sarah Elson and our distinguished panelists were:
- Cornelia Grassi, Director, greengrassi
- Alison Greene, Senior Lecturer, Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design
- Francis Outred, International Director and European Head of Post-war and Contemporary Art
- Ralph Rugoff, Director, Hayward Gallery
Kathryn Wat, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) and Ilene Gutman, Deputy Director of NMWA, joined us from Washington D.C. The five artists shortlisted for the Women to Watch exhibition to be held at NMWA in Washington in 2010 were: Anna Bjerger, Kaye Donachie, Chantal Joffe, Veronica Smirnoff and Rose Wylie. The finalist selected to have her work exhibited in Washington in July 2010 is Rose Wylie. (For more information, see Women to Watch)
Women to Watch is a biennial exhibition developed by NMWA Washington in partnership with its national and international committees and features emerging and underrepresented women artists. Each committee works closely with museum and gallery curators to nominate five contemporary artists in a defined medium for consideration. This year Sheena Wagstaff, Chief Curator at Tate Modern, assisted the committee in its selection process.
The proceeds from this reception and panel discussion are going towards the transport and hanging costs of the UK finalist's work being exhibited at NMWA in Washington, D.C. in 2010.______________________
Wednesday, 9th September
4:00 – 6:00pmCurator-led Visit
Beyond Bloomsbury:
Designs of the Omega WorkshopThe Courtauld Institute of Art
Somerset House
Strand, London WC2R 0RThe exhibition Beyond Bloomsbury “unites the Courtauld’s collection of Omega working drawings with the finest examples of the Workshop’s printed fabrics, Cubist inspired rugs and splendidly painted textiles, as well as ceramics and furniture to explore the Omega Workshop’s radical approach to modern design.” Especially interesting for Friends of NMWA are Winifred Gill’s prints and toy designs. The display presents rarely seen works on paper by Winifred Gill (1891-1981), the unsung heroine of the Omega Workshops.
Other women artists including Vanessa Bell will also be represented.
Dr. Alexandra Gerstein, Curator of Sculpture and Decorative Arts at the Courtauld and curator of this exhibition toured the works on show, paying special attention to women artists. The tour followed by a glass of wine when we heard more about the academic side of the Courtauld Institute.______________________
Monday, June 1st at 6:00 pm
Susan Derges in conversation with Martin Barnes
Pre-Opening Private View and receptionPurdy Hicks Gallery
65 Hopton Street
Bankside, London SE1 9GZ
www.purdyhicks.com
Susan Derges, Equinox, 2008, unique ilfochrome print
An exclusive preview of work by critically-acclaimed photographer Susan Derges. Susan was a finalist for the Prix Pictet photography prize in 2008 and she is to be included in a major show of camera-less photography at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2010. “Susan is best known for her pioneering technique of capturing the continuous movement of water by immersing photographic paper directly into rivers or shorelines. Her practice reflects the work of the earliest pioneers of photography but is also very contemporary in its awareness of environmental issues and the complexity of its conceptual meanings.” Susan is presenting a new body of work at Purdy Hicks and will be in conversation with Martin Barnes, Senior Curator of Photographs at the Victoria and Albert Museum. The exhibition is open from June 3rd to July 4th.
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Alice Neel – Works on Paper at Victoria Miro Gallery
Isa Genzken: Open, Sesame! at Whitechapel Art GalleryMeet at Victoria Miro Gallery,
16 Wharf Road,
London N1 7RW
www.victoria-miro.com
www.whitechapelgallery.orgGuided visit of this first exhibition of works on paper in the UK by the acclaimed figurative painter Alice Neel. “Renowned for her portraits of friends, family, acquaintances, fellow artists and critics....Neel’s pencil, ink and gouache compositions from the 1930s – 1960s reveal a distinct practice counterpart to her paintings in the verity of their stark graphic forms and delineations.” We were also taken through the gallery’s private viewing rooms to see other works of art by women, including numerous works by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama. Kusama, who first came to prominence in the 1960s, continues to produce a significant body of work more than four decades on, instantly recognisable for her signature use of obsessively repeated forms.
We then visited the newly-renovated Whitechapel Art Gallery to view the exhibition of Isa Genzken. This is “the first retrospective of a major European artist whose fusion of photography, paint, architecture and found objects into the realm of sculpture has influenced generations of younger artists.” Isa Genzken represented Germany at the Venice Biennale in 2007.
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Friday, May 8th at 9:15 am
Flora and Fauna:
Drawings by Maria Sybilla Merian and her Daughters
British Museum, Prints and Drawings Gallery
Private visit before museum opening hours with the curator Giulia Bartrum.
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Friday, 24th April 2009, 6:30 pm
The UK preview of Transformations :
A Portrait of Maria Sibylla Merian.The British Museum. BP Lecture Theatre
Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717)Plate 2 (from "Dissertation in Insect Generations and Metamorphosis in Surinam ") 1719
Bound volume of seventy-two hand-coloured engravings (second edition),
Gift of Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay: NMWA
In conjunction with Flare Films, Friends of NMWA UK presented a documentary film about the extraordinary life of Maria Sibylla Merian, a 17th century artist, scientist, natural historian, entrepreneur, adventurer, explorer, publisher, mother and grandmother. Her superbly rendered drawings of plants and insects documented metamorphosis and helped to lay the foundation for modern day biological science. In her fifties, she made the arduous journey across the Atlantic into the interior of Surinam to study its animals, insects and plants. Her Surinam Journal was part of the founding collection of the British Museum. Her work was also recently featured in the exhibit “Amazing Rare Things” at The Queen’s Gallery.
Following the film, the film’s producers joined us for a reception.
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Thursday, 19th March 2009 - 9.30
Private Collection Visit
London SW1
SUBSCRIBERS ONLY
Friends of NMWA, UK have been invited to visit an important contemporary art collection featuring several female artists, including Rebecca Stevenson, Veronica Smirnoff and Cathy de Monchaux. Some of the artists may be in attendance.
The Contemporary Art Society is the national non-profit agency that supports contemporary artists through the promotion of collecting and commissioning by individuals and public and private bodies across the UK. www.contempart.org.uk
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Monday, 9th March - 8.30pm
The Friends of NMWA UK invite you to attend
the London Premiere of
The Art Star and the Sudanese Twins
Director: Pietra Brettkelly
Featuring: Vanessa Beecroft
ICA Cinema 1
As part of the Birds Eye View Women’s Film Festival which takes place in London each year, this award winning film, directed by Pietra Brettkelly, follows internationally acclaimed New York conceptual artist Vanessa Beecroft's attempt to adopt orphaned Sudanese twins, Madit and Mongor Akot, and how this impacts her art and her personal life. "Brutally honest, remarkably self-critical" (LA Times), the film expertly reveals her creative process, struggle with depression, volatile relationship with her husband, and her love for the twins. "Pietra Brettkelly's enigmatic rendering is not a straightforward artist's profile, political commentary or domestic drama but a poetic fusion of the three" (Variety). Birds Eye View celebrates international women filmmakers with its fifth London film festival from 5-13 March. www.birds-eye-view.co.uk
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February 19th – 22nd
20/21 International Art Fair
Royal College of Art
Kensington Gore, SW7
Vernissage gallery has offered Friends of NMWA, UK free entry tickets (admit two) to the 20/21 International Art Fair, a fair featuring modern and contemporary art from 1900 to the present.
www.20-21intartfair.com
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Tuesday, 10th February 2009 – 10:30 am
A Private Tour of
Between the Covers
The Women's Library
London Metropolitan University
Old Castle Street
London E1 7NT
Gail Cameron, the Curator and Director of The Woman's Library, lead a tour of the exhibition Between the Covers, a look at women's magazines and their readers from the 18th century to the present day. Ms. Cameron also provided insights into the library itself, and its role in documenting and exploring women's lives in Britain, past, present and future. The library houses the most extensive resource for women's history in the UK, and contains a section on British Women Artists.
www.londonmet.ac.uk/thewomenslibrary
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Tuesday, 3rd February 2009 - 6:00 pm
Margaret Michel and Claire Morgan at Rollo Contemporary Art
plus Simon Gillespie Studio – Conservation and Restoration
51 Cleveland Street
London W1T 4JH
A talk by Rollo Contemporary Art Director Philippa Found about the show of kinetic works by American artist Margaret Michel and sculpture installations from award winning British artist Claire Morgan.
Then a visit to the adjacent studio of art restorer Simon Gillespie for a fascinating presentation on restoration and conservation of both historical and modern/contemporary art.
www.rolloart.com
www.simongillespie.com
