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Articles

Women In Art

Angelica Kauffman RA, Design (detail)

Inside the Academy

7 months ago

A “female invasion” 250 years in the making

The RA started out with two female Academicians, then took over a century to elect any more. As we celebrate our 250th anniversary, we take a look back at the women who fought the odds to be a part of our history – and the ones helping to secure our future.

Cornelia Parker RA, Cold Dark Matter, An Exploded View

Artists

< 2 years ago

The International Women’s Day art quiz

Know your O‘Keeffe from your Kahlo? For International Women’s Day, we’re celebrating a few of the great female artists who deserve a wider audience. Take the quiz and let’s see how much you know.
Peter Norton photographed by Ida Kar in the mid-1950s

RA Recommends

2 years ago

Three female gallerists who changed the course of British art

Despite the image of art dealing as a man’s world, women played a crucial role in the display, promotion and sale of 20th-century British art. Gill Hedley profiles three female gallerists who promoted British artists.
Johann Zoffany RA, The Academicians of the Royal Academy

Opinion

> 2 years ago

Hidden from history: the Royal Academy’s female founders

While the past decade has seen more female artists becoming Academicians, they have been a rare sight for much of the RA’s existence, and were even excluded from Zoffany’s famed painting of the Academy’s founders. Historian Amanda Vickery delves into the archives to discover the pioneering women who wielded the brush.
Josie Cockram, Wanting 1

Opinion

> 2 years ago

Podcast: Women in focus

Does being a female artist influence how a work is created and perceived? Our panel discuss.
Clockwise from left: Rose Wylie RA, Gillian Wearing RA, Iwona Blazwick, Eileen Cooper RA, vPPR, Ann Dumas, Charlotte Mullins, Valeria Napoleone, Cornelia Parker RA, Rebecca Ackroyd

Opinion

< 3 years ago

10 inspirational women in the arts

To mark International Women’s Day, we asked some of the great women in the UK art world, from artists to editors, where things stand when it comes to equality. Here’s what they said.
Russell Westwood, Sir Henry Rushbury R.A. with students in the Life Room in the Royal Academy Schools

Opinion

> 3 years ago

Podcast: Women in today’s art world

At an event celebrating International Women’s Day, a panel of female Academicians and students discuss their experience as 21st-century artists.
Russell Westwood, Sir Henry Rushbury R.A. with students in the Life Room in the Royal Academy Schools

Our Collection

< 4 years ago

Naked truth: the story of female life models at the RA

What does a 230-year-old household bill tell us about life modelling in the 18th-century? Find out in this article exploring the historical role of the female nude life model at the RA.
Alfred Ansell, Life drawing of a reclining male nude. This drawing was produced by Alfred Ansell while he was a student at the Royal Academy Schools.

Our Collection

< 4 years ago

“Striving after excellence”: Victorian women and the fight for arts training

Amy Bluett discovers how 19th-century women aspiring to be artists had an uphill struggle to get equal access to training at the Royal Academy Schools.

After Johann Zoffany RA, The Royal Academy of Arts

Our Collection

< 4 years ago

Mary Moser and Angelica Kauffman: the RA’s founding women

Amy Bluett discovers how women at the Royal Academy have fought for equality from 1768 up to the present, beginning with a closer look at founding Members Angelica Kauffman and Mary Moser.
Illustration by Maria Corte

Opinion

> 4 years ago

Should there be positive discrimination towards female artists?

Eileen Cooper RA and Helena Morrissey discuss whether art institutions need to prioritise women to achieve gender equality or whether positive discrimination is counter-productive.