National Museum of Women in the Arts Features
Painters Lilla Cabot Perry, Jennie Brownscombe and Alice Bailly
© Meg Nola
Aug 23, 2008
When prompted to name a woman artist, most people generally give the answer of Georgia O’Keeffe or Frida Kahlo, or perhaps American-born French Impressionist Mary Cassatt. But would the names Lilla Cabot Perry, Jennie Augusta Brownscombe or Alice Bailly immediately come to mind? Most likely not at present, though the National Museum of Women in the Arts of Washington, D.C. strives to change that.
NMWA Founding and Collections
Founded in 1981 by Wilhelmina Cole Holladay, the National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) is the only world museum devoted solely to showcasing female artists. Wilhelmina and Wallace F. Holladay began collecting in the 1960s, agreeing that the artwork of women was seriously overlooked and neglected. Today, in its architecturally praised space not far from The White House, the NMWA hosts a wonderful range of paintings, drawings, photography, sculpture, quiltwork, textiles and silversmith pieces. The museum’s website also offers profiles of its artists and the historical context of their lives, such as the following three painters: Lilla Cabot Perry, Jennie Augusta Brownscombe and Alice Bailly.
Lilla Cabot Perry
Daughter of a prominent Boston family, Lilla Cabot Perry was born in 1848, got married as she was expected to, and had three children. She began to formally study art at the age of 36 in Paris, and when she encountered Claude Monet's paintings five years later, she was transfixed. She befriended the Impressionist, and while Monet was not fond of officially teaching, he did help to guide Perry along in her work. Perry’s next significant influence came when her professor husband took a job in Japan. The beauty of Japanese design was greatly inspiring to her, and while in Tokyo she began to paint large numbers of works every year, a rate of productivity that would continue for the rest of her life. Perry exhibited at major showings and was also a poet and arts advocate. Lilla Cabot Perry died in 1933.
Jennie Augusta Brownscombe
Brought up in a Pennsylvania log cabin, by the time she reached 18, Jennie Augusta Brownscombe had begun a career of creating paintings and book illustrations, then selling the rights for mass printings. Her sentimental style went well with the contemporary Victorian times, but Brownscombe was also a skilled teacher and founding member of New York’s Art Students League. She exhibited throughout the United States and in Europe, and died in 1936 at the age of 81 – after finishing one last major oil work.
Alice Bailly
Born in Switzerland in 1872, Alice Bailly studied in Geneva and Munich and ultimately made her way to Paris. Falling in with a modernist circle of painters, Bailly soon became intrigued by the Fauves and their strong use of color and form. She exhibited two years later along with the Fauves, then moved toward Cubism and Dada in her own style. She also created a form known as “wool paintings,” using multicolored strands of yarn to give the effect of a painted work. Alice's devotion to completing a major theater mural commission back in Switzerland wore down her health, however, and she eventually succumbed to tuberculosis in 1938.
Clara and Her Database
The NMWA’s website includes the CLARA database, a reference tool providing pertinent information for 18,000 women visual artists. The database is named for Clara Peeters (1589-1657, approx.), a 17th century Flemish painter of exquisite still-lifes.
Learn more about and view the works of Lilla, Jennie, Alice, Clara and many other unsung women artists by visiting the NMWA on-line or planning a trip in person. And of course paintings by the aforementioned popular Georgia, Frida and Mary can be found at the NMWA, adding to the fullness of the collection.
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