Breaking All Bounds: American Women Artists (1825-1945)
The majority of the works from this show date from the period in the nineteenth century when academic training was primarily for men. Beginning in the Gilded Age, during the rise of artists like Mary Cassatt (1844-1926) and Cecilia Beaux (1855-1942), women artists became increasingly active participants in the American art scene. As art historian Laura Prieto writes in her book on professional women artists, women eventually gained access to commissions and education because “American art schools simply could not afford to bar women students from attending classes.” Thus by 1844, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts was accepting female students, signaling the “beginning of women artists’ access to indispensable professional credentials.” This exhibition brings together artworks that demonstrate the range of academic subjects mastered by many of these female artists.
