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National Museum of Women in the Arts

Lavinia Fontana

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: Lavinia Fontana
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.

Director’s Desk: Rebels with a Cause
Posted: April 11, 2019
Category: Lavinia Fontana
Explore the themes featured in NMWA's most recent collection installation with NMWA director Susan Fisher Sterling.
Eight diverse women museum visitors are scattered throughout the NMWA collection galleries browsing the art on the walls.

Connecting the Threads: Amy Lamb and Rodarte
Posted: February 7, 2019
Category: Lavinia Fontana
A colorful portrait of a lush arrangement of flowers including poppies, peonies, roses, carnations, and more. Some flowers have small water drpolets on them and a butterfly and bee are perched on others. The image is a still life photograph, though it looks like a painting.

Connecting the Threads: Joan Mitchell and Rodarte
Posted: January 23, 2019
Category: Lavinia Fontana
A vertical, abstraction features broadly painted strokes of pale gray, lavender, and cobalt in the upper two-thirds of the canvas. The colors continue in the lower third, along with touches of green, black, and other hues, but the expressive brushwork becomes denser and chaotic.

Renaissance Rebel: Lavinia Fontana
Posted: August 24, 2017
Category: Lavinia Fontana
Considered the first professional woman artist, Lavinia Fontana worked within the same sphere as her male counterparts. She earned a living through her art and broke barriers.
A woman stands in a richly brocaded red dress, her right hand reaching down to pet a small, white dog. Adorned in jewelry, she wears flowers in her hair, parted in the center. The pelt of a small mammal, its head encased in a jeweled holder, hangs from her heavily decorated belt.

Challenge Accepted: Can You Name Five Women Artists?
Posted: February 27, 2017
Category: Lavinia Fontana
Back by popular demand this March, the National Museum of Women in the Arts continues to ask, “Can you name five women artists?” This simple question calls attention to the...

New Ground: Maria Martinez
Posted: February 22, 2017
Category: Lavinia Fontana
Contemporaries and friends, potter Maria Martinez (ca. 1887–1980) and photographer Laura Gilpin (1891–1979) brought the American Southwest into focus as a culturally rich region that fostered artistic expression. The exhibition...
Blackware jar made of clay and volcanic ash. A painted, matte design adorns the upper half of the jar.

Opening Tomorrow: Border Crossing and New Ground
Posted: February 16, 2017
Category: Lavinia Fontana
On Friday, February 17th, NMWA will open two exhibitions featuring women artists of the Southwest. In Border Crossing: Jami Porter Lara, Albuquerque-based artist Jami Porter Lara (b. 1969) uses a...
Shelves of small misshapen bottles in various shapes with the name of the exhibition above: Border Crossing: Jami Porter Lara above

She Who Tells a Story: Lalla Essaydi
Posted: May 9, 2016
Category: Lavinia Fontana
In Arabic, the word rawiya means “she who tells a story.” Each artist in NMWA’s summer exhibition She Who Tells a Story: Women Photographers from Iran and the Arab World...
A gallery view of a black wall with a large photograph of a woman. The woman is wearing a long black dress and a head scarf. She is standing in the ocean, surrounded by waves. On the right wall is a text that says "She who tells a story".

Art Fix Friday: May 6, 2016
Posted: May 6, 2016
Category: Lavinia Fontana
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.