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National Museum of Women in the Arts

Élisabeth Louise Vigée-Lebrun

View of the museum from outside showing the Neoclassical building from one corner. The building is a tan-colored stone with an arched doorway, long vertical windows, and detailed molding around the roof.
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Wilhelmina Cole Holladay’s #5WomenArtists
Posted: March 17, 2021
Category: Élisabeth Louise Vigée-Lebrun
NMWA founder Wilhelmina Cole Holladay (1922–2021) was a visionary collector of great art by women. Get to know five of her favorite historical artists from the museum’s collection.
Wilhelmina Cole Holladay leans against a railing with a slight smile. She is a light-skinned, older woman with short, gray hair, and she wears a collared white shirt and black cardigan. Ornate chandeliers can be seen behind her.

Get to Know NMWA’s Director: Part 1
Posted: July 9, 2018
Category: Élisabeth Louise Vigée-Lebrun
NMWA Director Susan Fisher Sterling answers questions about art, equity, and travel. This is part two of a two-part questionnaire.

The Legacy of Élisabeth Louise Vigée-LeBrun
Posted: March 17, 2016
Category: Élisabeth Louise Vigée-Lebrun
Salon Style: French Portraits from the Collection presents portraiture by 18th-century French women artists, who struggled past a lack of training, negative opinion, and political turmoil to attain professional success.
A portrait of a light-skinned woman with powdered brown hair tucked under a white wrap with a golden border. She is wearing a blue jacket with a red sash tied around her waist.

Venetian Virtuoso: Rosalba Carriera
Posted: October 6, 2015
Category: Élisabeth Louise Vigée-Lebrun
Born in Venice, Rosalba Carriera (1675–1757) was the daughter of a clerk and a lace-maker. Largely self-taught, she began her artistic career painting miniature portraits. Carriera employed ivory as the...
A woman with light-skin and brown hair stands slightly angled and stares straight out to the viewer. In her right hand, she holds an upward-pointing arrow and carries a quill of bows on her back. She wears light feathers in her hair and a delicate jeweled crown.

Art Fix Friday: September 25, 2015
Posted: September 25, 2015
Category: Élisabeth Louise Vigée-Lebrun
View of the museum from outside showing the Neoclassical building from one corner. The building is a tan-colored stone with an arched doorway, long vertical windows, and detailed molding around the roof.

Art Fix Friday: September 18, 2015
Posted: September 18, 2015
Category: Élisabeth Louise Vigée-Lebrun
View of the museum from outside showing the Neoclassical building from one corner. The building is a tan-colored stone with an arched doorway, long vertical windows, and detailed molding around the roof.

Art Fix Friday: September 11, 2015
Posted: September 11, 2015
Category: Élisabeth Louise Vigée-Lebrun
View of the museum from outside showing the Neoclassical building from one corner. The building is a tan-colored stone with an arched doorway, long vertical windows, and detailed molding around the roof.

Art Fix Friday: September 4, 2015
Posted: September 4, 2015
Category: Élisabeth Louise Vigée-Lebrun
View of the museum from outside showing the Neoclassical building from one corner. The building is a tan-colored stone with an arched doorway, long vertical windows, and detailed molding around the roof.

Catherine the Great, or Catherine the Glutton?
Posted: June 4, 2014
Category: Élisabeth Louise Vigée-Lebrun
The National Museum of Women in the Arts, founded by Wilhelmina and Wallace Holladay, serves as one example of women’s influence on art patronage and collecting.
Realistically rendered half-portrait of a light-skinned young woman, gazing directly at the viewer with a faint smile on her lips. Her dark, curly hair is attractively tousled, secured under a turban-like headdress which matches her gold and blue draped ensemble.

18th- and 19th-century Jet-setters
Posted: July 24, 2012
Category: Élisabeth Louise Vigée-Lebrun
Traveling was as much an obstacle for French women in the 18th and 19th centuries as was professional painting. While today’s Europe is stitched with high-speed rail and affordable flight...
View of a gallery space with red walls. A golden mirror with plenty of ornaments is hanging to the left, large historical portraits of women are hanging to the right.