Grab your girls and head down to the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC. This stunning museum a few blocks from the White House is the only museum in the world dedicated to the art work of women.
The museum began when Wilhelmina Cole Holladay and her husband, Wallace F. Holladay, were traveling in the 1960s and admired a 17th century still life painting by Clara Peeters. When they returned home they tried to find out more information about Peeters but discovered that neither she nor any other female painters were discussed in art history text books. The Holladays decided to collect works by women. Orienting their art collection to women artists proved to be a shrewd investment decision as the works of women were undervalued by art auctioneers.
The Holladays amassed a large collection. Word of their innovative art collection spread and interest in art work by women grew. The Hollidays donated their works in 1981 to become the core collection that began the National Museum of Women in the Arts.
Today the museum sits in the heart of the nation’s capital in an elegant, historic building renovated to become the museum. The museum currently owns about 4,000 works of art by more than 800 women.
The National Museum of Women in the Arts is located at 1250 New York Avenue, NW, Washington, DC, in a landmark building near the White House. The museum is open Monday through Saturday from 10 am to 5 pm and on Sunday from noon to 5 pm. The admission fee is $10.00 for adults, $8.00 for senior citizens aged 65 and over and free for students and children aged 18 and younger. The museum invites the community to visit the museum for free on the first Sunday of every month.
Photo: Clara Peeters (Flemish, 1594- ca. 1657) Still Life of Fish and Cat
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