Washington, D.C. - The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) will present the exhibition An Imperial Collection: Women Artists from the State Hermitage Museum from February 14 through June 18, 2003. It will focus on 18th- and 19th-century women who, as both patrons and painters, made major contributions to Russian imperial, social, and cultural history. The exhibition will feature the work of 15 artists with 49 extraordinary paintings, sculptures, and watercolors that once adorned the walls of Russian palaces and reflect the collecting tastes of royal, noble, and wealthy industrial families.

In 1764, Catherine the Great purchased an important and large collection of Western European paintings that became the core of the Hermitage collection, securing her reputation as a patron of the arts for the new capital city. It was during her reign that art collecting became an avid pursuit of the nobility, attracting to Russia such important artists as Marie-Anne Collot and Marie Louise Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun from France and Christina Robertson from Scotland. The exhibition explores how these and other women artists benefited from their Russian experiences, adapted to St. Petersburg life, and offered distinctive responses to their adopted home.

Sculptor Collot (1748-1842) followed her mentor, Etienne-Maurice Falconet, to St. Petersburg to assist with a 1766 commission from Catherine the Great to create a sculpture of Peter the Great, now one of the landmarks of St. Petersburg. When Falconet failed to produce a satisfactory design of Peter's head for the Empress, Collot created one that met with Catherine's approval. She then went on to sculpt regal marble portrait busts for St. Petersburg's noble and hermitage diplomatic society, including an elegant bust of Catherine the Great (1769). In 1767, Collot became the first woman artist in Russia to be named a member of the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg. Her beautifully executed marble busts were so admired that they were used as models for students at the Academy to copy.

Vigée-Lebrun (1755-1842) was painter to French Empress Marie Antoinette and was later elected to one of the four places available to women in the Académie des Beaux-Arts. She fled Paris to escape the Revolution, and eventually moved to St. Petersburg, where she lived from 1795 to 1801. Vigée-Lebrun won the patronage of some of the wealthiest and highest-ranking nobles in Russia. She was very attuned to the aesthetic tastes of the time that prized idealized beauty, as seen in her technically brilliant portrait Baroness Anna Stroganova with her Son (ca. 1795-1801). During her time in Russia, Vigée-Lebrun painted more than 48 life-sized portraits, eight of which are in the exhibition. Her popularity and success led to her induction into the Imperial Academy of Arts in 1800. Vigée-Lebrun repaid the honor later that year with a gift of her self-portrait to the institution, in which she portrayed herself at work on a portrait of the Empress Maria Fedorovna, daughter-in-law of Catherine the Great. To depict herself working on such a prestigious project sent a clear message of her importance within the royal family.

Scotswoman Christina Robertson (1796-1854) lived in Russia for two periods: 1839-41 and 1847 until she died in 1854. She earned a reputation as a fashionable portrait painter in England and Scotland, and was inundated with similar commissions in Russia. She developed close ties with the family of Nicholas I, and defied the typically formal portrait prototype by painting his wife and daughters in compositions that emphasized their beauty, artistic accomplishments, and happy family life. Her eight large portraits in oil and three small watercolor paintings in An Imperial Collection capture this mid-Victorian portraiture aesthetic. Robertson's acceptance into the Russian royal court provided her with an opportunity to expand her career by readily obtaining highly paid and prestigious work. She was also honored with membership in St. Petersburg's Imperial Academy of Arts.

Other artists whose work is presented in the exhibition never lived in Russia; the nobility traveling abroad discovered their work and offered them commissions. One of the finest neo-classical history painters of the 18th century, celebrated Swiss artist Angelica Kauffman (1741-1807) who lived in Italy, received a commission from Prince Yusupov for Venus Persuading Helen to Accept the Love of Paris (1790) following his visit to her studio. Nine of her paintings are in the exhibition. Anna Dorothea Therbusch-Lisiewska (1721-1782), a native of Berlin who worked in Paris, was singled out by Catherine the Great's envoy to Paris as an artist to commission. Her grand Portrait of Princess Anna Elisabetha Luisa Ferdinanda of Prussia (1773) illustrates her talent for rendering fine fabrics and sparkling jewels.

NMWA Director Judy L. Larson commented, "An Imperial Collection is important to the National Museum of Women in the Arts' mission as it showcases not only great women artists, but notable female patrons as well. Scholarly research associated with the catalogue offers insights into the careers of women artists working in Russia, many of whom were nearly forgotten. Finally, our partnership with the Hermitage Museum enabled them to do conservation on several paintings in the exhibition."

An Imperial Collection: Women Artists from the State Hermitage Museum is organized in association with the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia. It coincides with the 300th anniversary of the founding of St. Petersburg. One of the great museums of the world, the Hermitage opened to the public in 1922; among the thousands of paintings and sculptures in the permanent collection are many noteworthy works by women artists. According to Jordana Pomeroy, NMWA curator of painting and sculpture before 1900 and exhibition curator, "Our partnership with the Hermitage has resulted in a re-examination of their vast holdings in a new, thematic way - art created by women across four centuries. The approach that we have taken in creating this exhibition showcases the tremendous influence that certain women painters had within Russian court society and the ways in which Russian aristocracy supported the reputations of women artists."

Admission to the museum while An Imperial Collection: Women Artists from the State Hermitage Museum is on view is $8 for adults, $6 for students and people 60 and over, and free for NMWA members and youth 18 and under. Free Community Days are the first Sunday and Wednesday of each month.

The exhibition will travel to the Frye Art Museum in Seattle, Washington, July 26 - November 30, 2003.

Funding for this exhibition was generously provided by John F. and Adrienne B. Mars, with additional support from The Samuel Freeman Charitable Trust, Trust for Mutual Understanding, and the Samuel H. Kress Foundation. This exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities. The museum extends special thanks to Patti Cadby Birch and Kathleen Elizabeth Springhorn, and is grateful for hospitality from St. Regis Hotels and Resorts, Marriott Wardman Park, and the Embassy of the Russian Federation.

A fully illustrated catalogue, co-published by NMWA and Merrell Publishers, London, in association with the State Hermitage Museum, accompanies the exhibition. It emphasizes new scholarship on Russian patronage of women artists and has entries on each work along with five essays on aspects of patronage and collecting. The catalogue is available in hardcover ($50) or softcover ($30) from the NMWA Museum Shop.

Public Programs and Education Gallery

NMWA has scheduled a diverse array of programs in conjunction with the exhibition. On April 6 from noon to 4 p.m., "Tales, Traditions, and Tsarinas: A Celebration of Russian Arts," a free family festival that is the museum's largest public event of the year, will feature Russian folk tales, music, and crafts. Other programs include a screening of the film Russian Ark, filmed on location in the Hermitage, and weekend family programs with hands-on arts activities for children. A lecture series, in collaboration with Hillwood Museum and Gardens, will present noted scholars from Europe and the U.S. discussing the changes in the social and political climate of Russia from the 17th through the 19th centuries, and the effects these shifts had on patronage of the arts. Call 202.783.7370 for a complete schedule of these and other programs.

Catherine the Great and Maria Fedorovna: Acquisition and Artistry at the Russian Court, on view in the museum's Education Gallery Feb. 14 - May 18, highlights the many contributions of these two powerful rulers as artists and collectors. It contrasts the collecting philosophies of the two women: Catherine acquired art prodigiously to signify her nation's, and her own, power, while Maria Fedorovna, Catherine's daughter-in-law, assembled a collection that represented her devotion to her husband and family. The installation was developed by NMWA in collaboration with Hillwood Museum and Gardens.

Palaces and Personages of St. Petersburg, in the museum's Library and Research Center Feb. 14 - June 18, 2003, will feature rare books and works on paper that center on the interaction between Russia and Western Europe. A highlight is NMWA's sketchbook by Vigée-Lebrun. Kept by the artist during her stay in St. Petersburg, it comprises 38 portrait drawings of members of the Russian nobility and aristocracy, and testifies to Vigée-Lebrun's favorable view of the city and its people. Other works include reproductions of 19th-century watercolors of the Winter Palace and Pavlovsk, and a portrait of Pavlovsk's creator, Maria Fedorovna.

About the museum

The National Museum of Women in the Arts, founded in 1981 and opened in 1987, is the only museum dedicated solely to celebrating the achievements of women in the visual, performing, and literary arts. Its permanent collection contains works by more than 800 artists, including Judith Leyster, Maria Sibylla Merian, Mary Cassatt, Camille Claudel, Georgia O'Keeffe, Frida Kahlo, Elizabeth Catlett, Lee Krasner, Helen Frankenthaler, Magdalena Abakanowicz, and Louise Bourgeois. The museum also conducts multidisciplinary programs for diverse audiences, maintains a Library and Research Center, publishes a quarterly magazine, and has organized 27 state committees. Nearly 120,000 people visit the museum each year, including thousands of young people who come with schools and scouting groups. NMWA's national membership of nearly 40,000 is among the top ten percent of museum memberships nationwide. The museum is located at 1250 New York Avenue, NW, Washington, DC, in a landmark building near the White House. It is open Monday-Saturday 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. and Sunday noon - 5 p.m. For information call 202.783.5000 or visit the museum's website, www.nmwa.org.