An illustration of Agaricus muscarius from Illustrations of British mycology by Anna Maria Hussey

The Fungi-Mad Ladies of Long Ago

In mycology’s early days, botanical drawing was, for some women, a calling. Their mushroom renderings were key to establishing this new field.
Libyan Sibyles by Michelangeo

Delts Don’t Lie

Renaissance artists routinely used men as models for their depictions of female subjects, yet only the musculatures of Michelangelo tell that story.
A rendering of Van Gogh's Sunflowers vandalized with an orange liquid

Masterpiece Theater

Climate activist attacks on works by van Gogh, Vermeer, and other art world titans are the latest in a tradition of destruction that hearkens to the early Christian zealots.
Intricate Paper cutting of a hunting scene by Dutch artist Joanna Koerten

Joanna Koerten’s Scissor-Cut Works Were Compared to Michelangelo

And then, snip by snip, she was cut out of the frame of Renaissance art history.
The front page of the exhibition catalog for "Womanhouse" (January 30 – February 28, 1972), feminist art exhibition organized by Judy Chicago and Miriam Schapiro, co-founders of the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) Feminist Art Program.

The Origins of the Feminist Art Movement

Before the Guerrilla Girls, Women Artists in Revolution pressured institutions to include women artists, inspiring similar groups around the U.S.
Francesca Woodman, Untitled photograph, circa 1975-1978. Gelatin silver print.

Photographer Francesca Woodman’s Haunting Dissolutions

Woodman's imagery engaged with architectural and natural landscapes that were themselves in a state of change and decay.
Berthe Morisot, “Woman at Her Toilette”

How Impressionist Berthe Morisot Painted Women’s Lives

Berthe Morisot never became as famous as her counterparts Claude Monet and Édouard Manet, but her work has an important place in art history.
Me and My Parrots by Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo’s Forgotten Politics

Museum exhibitions of Frida Kahlo's work tend to focus on her personal style and persona. But Kahlo was intensely political, as were her paintings.
georgia o'keeffe

When Dole Sent Georgia O’Keeffe to Hawaii

In 1939, Dole Pineapple Company sent Georgia O’Keeffe to Hawaii for three months in order to produce works that could be used in their advertisements.
Women House

How 1971’s Womanhouse Shaped Today’s Feminist Art

The National Museum of Women in the Arts exhibit “Women House” pays tribute to the foundational 1972 project of Judy Chicago and Miriam Schapiro’s “Womanhouse.”