Anni Albers

Anni Albers, the most influential 20th-century textile designer, fearlessly experimented and blurred traditional boundaries between art and craft.

Black-and-white photograph of a light-skinned adult woman looking slightly to her right against a white background. Her dark, curly hair is styled neatly away from her face, and she wears a white collared button-up shirt.

Alice Bailly

Alice Bailly was one of Switzerland’s most radical painters in the early decades of the 20th century. By 1906, Bailly had settled in Paris, where she became friends with many avant-gard

A black-and-white photograph of a light-skinned, adult woman looking head-on at the viewer. She has short, dark hair that reaches just past her ears, and wears round, thick glasses.

Cecilia Beaux

Sought-after portraitist Cecilia Beaux created paintings that were favorably compared with those of John Singer Sargent.

A painting of a light-skinned adult woman gazing to her right against a brown background. Her brown hair is neatly pulled back and she wears a voluminous white top with puffy sleeves and a high brown collar. The top is rendered in thick brush strokes, while her face is finely detailed.

Rosa Bonheur

Rosa Bonheur, a 19th-century woman who achieved a successful career, served as a role model for future generations of women artists.

Painting of a light-skinned, adult woman with alert eyes and light illuminating her silvery hair. She wears purple clothing over a white blouse and holds a pencil and a white sheet of paper. A palette rests on a table at her side, in front of a painting of horses.

Elizabeth Jane Gardner Bouguereau

Elizabeth Jane Gardner Bouguereau was among the first wave of Americans who sought art training in Paris after the Civil War.

A painting of a light-skinned woman with short, dark, curly hair and light grey eyes. She is depicted against a solid, dark grey background from the chest up, and wears a dark green coat over a white lace shirt with a ruffled collar and a sapphire and pearl brooch.

Jennie Augusta Brownscombe

Jennie Augusta Brownscombe’s sentimental oil paintings celebrating rural family life and events from American history appealed to popular Victorian tastes in England and the United Stat

A black-and-white soft-focus studio portrait photograph of an older light-skinned woman with white hair pulled back. She wears rimless glasses, three strands of pearls around her neck, and a fur wrap over her shoulders.

Leonora Carrington

Through her paintings and sculptures, Leonora Carrington often explored notions of femininity in the whimsical, dreamlike style of Surrealism.

Mary Cassatt

Recognized as one of the foremost 19th-century American painters and printmakers, Mary Cassatt is known for her prolific career and Impressionist artwork.

Black-and-white photograph of a seated older woman with light skin. She wears a dark dress with a fur stole and long necklace. Her dark hat is adorned with a group of large, wispy feathers and covers her hair. Her expression is open and calm.

Camille Claudel

Renowned for her ability to communicate narrative in sculpture, Camille Claudel is also remembered for her personal and professional relationship with Auguste Rodin.

A black-and-white photograph of a light-skinned adult woman with dark, disheveled hair. She gazes straight-faced at the viewer and wears a top with multiple layers of translucent, lace-like material around the collar.

Dorothy Dehner

Award-winning sculptor Dorothy Dehner produced abstract works in various mediums.

A black-and-white photograph of a light-skinned older woman with short hair stands looking at a black rectangular sculpture. She wears a dark long sleeved shirt and several beaded necklaces. Both her arms are outstretched as she touches other black sculptures beside her.

Elaine de Kooning

Though associated with the Abstract Expressionists, Elaine de Kooning created figurative works, including portraits, for much of her career.

A black-and-white photograph of a light-skinned older woman. She has closed cropped light hair and is shown from the chest up. She wears a long sleeved shirt with a ruffled collar and sleeves and a large silver necklace. In one hand she holds a lit cigarette.

Lavinia Fontana

Renaissance painter Lavinia Fontana was commissioned to make not only portraits, the typical subject matter for women painters, but also religious and mythological themes, which sometim

Painting of a light-skinned adult woman sitting at a keyboard. Her dark hair is pulled back. She wears an ornate dress with long sleeves and white lace collar. Behind her, a light-skinned woman holds open a book of sheet music. In the background, an easel stands by a window.

Helen Frankenthaler

Helen Frankenthaler, a second-generation Abstract Expressionist painter, pioneered a stain technique that influenced Color Field painters like Morris Louis and Kenneth Noland.

A light-skinned older woman with short, wavy, red hair and brown eyes stands with her arms crossed. She leans against a white wall with part of a blue abstract painting behind her. She wears round silver-color earrings and a blue denim long-sleeve button-up shirt.

Eva Hesse

Eva Hesse’s use of unconventional materials, such as rubber, cord, translucent fiberglass, and latex, made her one of the most original and influential sculptors of the 1960s.

A black-and-white photograph of a light-skinned young woman with medium-length dark hair. She wears a black long-sleeved shirt, and is seated. She is covered in transluscent, thin, sheets of plastic, which she holds above her head and in her lap.

Ellen Day Hale

Ellen Day Hale was among the wave of American artists, both men and women, who traveled to Europe for training in the last quarter of the 19th century.

A painting of a light skinned, older woman who is seated on a black chair. She wears a large, black hat, and a white turtleneck that is barely visible beneath a black coat and black feathered shawl. The background, rendered in visible, thin painstrokes, is grey and brown.

Georgia Mills Jessup

Washington, D.C.-native Georgia Mills Jessup demonstrated diverse talent as a painter, sculptor, ceramicist, muralist, and collage artist.

A black-and-white photograph of an adult woman with long dark hair in a braid. She wears a plaid shirt, jacket, large belt and hoop earrings. Her hand is touching her braid. She stands next to a painting which depicts an abstract street scene.

Frida Kahlo

Mexican painter Frida Kahlo is known for creating striking, often shocking, self-portraits that reflected her political ideology, cultural identity, and her turbulent personal life.

The artist stands in a stage-like space framed by white curtains. Beneath black hair woven with red yarn and flowers, heavy brows accent her dark-eyed gaze. Clad in a fringed, honey-toned shawl; long, pink skirt; and gold jewelry, she holds a bouquet and a handwritten letter.

Angelica Kauffman

Angelica Kauffman was a founding member of the Royal Academy of Arts and one of London’s most sought-after portraitists.

A painting of a light-skinned adult woman delicately holding a paintbrush and small canvas. Her brown hair is piled carefully in large curls atop her head, and she wears a flowing, billowy yellow and white dress.

Käthe Kollwitz

German-born Käthe Kollwitz used her prints and sculptures to confront social injustice and suffering.

Black ink drawing on yellow-beige ground of the head and shoulders of an adult woman. She frowns, looks to her left, and holds her right hand up to her right temple. Her hair is pulled back and she wears a dark garment.

Lee Krasner

Lee Krasner was one of the first generation Abstract Expressionist painters. Through six decades devoted to art, she continually explored innovative approaches to painting and collage.

Black-and-white photograph of an older light-skinned woman with short grey and white hair. She stands in a doorway, and rests her right hand against the door frame to her left and her left hand on her right forearm. She wears a dark blouse and shawl.

Adélaïde Labille-Guiard

Adélaïde Labille-Guiard was lauded for her skillfully crafted portraits by her early 20s, and she advanced to become a respected member of the French Royal Academy.

A painting of a light-skinned adult woman sitting in a plush, luxurious chair at an easel. She holds a painting palette and paintbrushes, and wears an extravagant, pale blue and white gown and a large, wide-brimmed hat adorned with fluffy white feathers and matching blue ribbon.

Lotte Laserstein

Painter Lotte Laserstein, who moved to Sweden when her career in Germany was thwarted by Nazism, gained prominence in the European art world for her realist portraiture style.

Doris Lee

Throughout her career, Doris Lee sought to portray everyday, contemporary American life in a style that that was easily understandable to viewers.

A black-and-white photograph of a light-skinned adult woman, shown from her chest up. Her head rests against her fist. She wears a floral, collared shirt and has dark hair that is pinned back from her face. She is slightly smiling and looking away from the viewer.

Agnes Martin

Agnes Martin’s paintings balance rigid, geometric grids with subtle washes of color. Their formal severity seems to belie their intended spiritual quality.

A black-and-white photograph of a light-skinned, older woman gazing head-on at the viewer. She has short, light colored hair; wears a dark, buttoned-up cardigan with the wings of a white collar peeking out, and the high-backed chair she sits in is decorated with leaf patterns.

Maria Sibylla Merian

Using her keen observational skills, Maria Sibylla Merian revolutionized both botany and zoology. From early childhood, she was interested in drawing insects and plants surrounding her.

Etching of a woman holding the stem of a flower in her left land. Her white hair is short and curled to show an earring in her right ear. Her dress, with its lace collar and voluminous sleeves, looks like it is made from expensive fabrics. Her expresssion is open and frank.

Joan Mitchell

An important member of Abstract Expressionism’s second generation, Joan Mitchell executed large, highly stylized abstractions of the landscape.

A black-and-white studio portrait of a light-skinned older woman with dark bobbed hair. She wears sunglasses, a light-colored turtleneck sweater, a striped scarf, and a watch. She stands with arms folded and holding a lit cigarette between her left index and middle fingers.

Berthe Morisot

Berthe Morisot, associated with Monet, Renoir, Pissarro, and Degas, was included in seven of the eight Impressionist group exhibitions held between 1874 and 1886.

A black-and-white photograph of a light-skinned adult woman sitting upright in a luxurious velvet chair. Her dark hair is meticulously curled, and she wears a fascinator, a collar necklace with a bow, long gloves, and a long, sleeveless dress embellished with many frills.

Gabriele Münter

Artist Gabriele Münter, together with Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc, was a founding member of Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider), an influential group of German Expressionists.

A black-and-white photograph of a light-skinned adult woman with dark hair pulled back from her face. She is seated with her arm on her leg and face resting on her fist. She wears a dark collared dress with puffed sleeves and a long necklace, and makes eye contact with the viewer.

Grandma Moses (Anna Mary Robertson Moses)

Paintings by Grandma Moses provide nostalgic glimpses of daily life in rural New York and Virginia. A self-taught artist, she did not begin painting until her late 70s.

A black-and-white photograph of an older woman sitting at a table in front of floral wallpaper and a window with lace curtains. She holds up a canvas depicting houses and snow in her left hand. In her right hand, she holds a small paintbrush to the canvas.

Alice Neel

In her portraits, Alice Neel sought to reveal the inner lives of her sitters, who included relatives, neighbors, and art-world celebrities.

Georgia O’Keeffe

Georgia O’Keeffe was an American painter whose drawings and paintings of abstract forms, flowers, bones, and the New Mexico landscape mark her as a significant modernist painter.

Clara Peeters

A pioneer in the field of still-life painting, Clara Peeters is the only Flemish woman known to have specialized in such pictures as early as the first decade of the 17th century.

Bridget Riley

London native Bridget Riley was a founding artist of the Op art movement, in which artists explored the perceptual processes of sight.

A black-and-white photograph of a light-skinned adult woman with dark, short-cropped hair. She is smiling slightly and is wearing a baggy sweater over a white collared shirt.

Dorothea Rockburne

Contemporary artist Dorothea Rockburne, part of an influential 1960s circle of artists and performers, became known for austere, yet complex and referential works.

A light-skinned older woman stands in the middle of an art studio. She has short, light colored hair and wears a long blue cardigan. Next to her is a table with paint bottles on it. Behind her are carts with paint brushes and art supplies, and a large abstract red and black painting on an easel.

Rachel Ruysch

Rachel Ruysch was successful for nearly 70 years as a specialist in flower paintings.

Drawing of an older light-skinned woman in an oval frame. She wears a white bonnet and scarf and stares directly at the viewer. Surrounding the frame sit various objects such as fruit, coins, and paint brushes and a palette.

Miriam Schapiro

Miriam Schapiro challenged the dichotomy of “high” art, denoting the works of known, predominantly male artists, and “decorative” art, a term then used to relegate women to anonymity.