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The National Museum of Women in the Arts gives an unseen group a home.
As with so many art collections, this one begins with a story.
American collectors Wilhelmina Cole Holladay and her husband, Wallace, discovered 17th century Flemish artist Clara Peeters on a 1960s trip to Europe. When they returned to the States they could find no references to her - or hardly any other female artist - in any respected art history book.
So the Holladays began to purchase works by female artists, which eventually became the nucleus of the collection at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C.
More than 800 artists are represented in the museum's permanent collection of 3,200-plus works, although space allows less than 10 percent to be displayed at any given time. For variety, the collection is rotated regularly.
Museum director Susan Fisher Sterling says many visitors are surprised at the number of artists represented.
"A common response is, 'This is a revelation. I didn't know there were so many trained women artists,' " she says. Others wonder why haven't there been more?
"Historically, it was difficult for women to devote their lives to art," Sterling said. "They had an assigned role of wife and mother."
It was also considered inappropriate for women to hire models. Most, like impressionist Mary Cassatt, used relatives or girls to fill that role.
Sterling adds that many female artists have never been properly credited, at least not by traditional art historians. She notes that nuns in the Renaissance painted. As for even earlier work, Sterling notes,...