Modern British Women

About

The Fine Art Society is delighted to present a group exhibition of work by Modern British women artists. Featuring works by 14 artists, the exhibition seeks to uncover and emblazon the work of both celebrated and lesser-known artists working throughout the twentieth century.

With a diverse range of mediums, subjects and artistic styles represented, the broad scope of this exhibition provides an insight into how women artists worked throughout the century: starting and following trends, experimenting, innovating, teaching and debating. 

Artists in the exhibition include: Vanessa Bell, Winifred Nicholson, Elisabeth Frink, Mary Adshead, Gillian Ayres, Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, Sandra Blow, Dora Carrington, Prunella Clough, Alice Fanner, Gertrude Hermes, Mary Potter, Anne Redpath and Muriel Wheeler. 

Modern British Women runs concurrently with two other exhibitions of work by women artists at the Fine Art Society. Gluck, in Gallery 1, will be a monographic exhibition of work by a pioneering painter, who first exhibited at the gallery in 1926. In Gallery 2, a group of contemporary women artists have been invited to respond to Gluck’s paintings and legacy with their own original works. 

Modern British Women provides a link between these exhibitions: giving historical context to Gluck’s paintings by showing the work of her contemporaries and setting the stage for the future generations of women artists that followed. The three shows i n v e s t i g a t e h o w women have navigated the role of ‘woman artist’ and whether the term and the accompanying issues of representation, narrative and equality still bear relevance today. 

Rowena Morgan-Cox, Associate Director of the Fine Art Society, said: “The lives and careers of Dora Carrington, Vanessa Bell, Anne Redpath and, later, Elisabeth Frink, are already firmly embedded in the narrative of Modern British art. Yet it is clear from this exhibition that there are many other artists that deserve more attention for their contribution to Modern British art.”