Maria Cosway, Georgiana as Cynthia from Spenser's 'Faerie Queene', 1781-82. Reproduced by permission of Chatsworth Settlement Trustees / Bridgeman Images
Tate Britain presents Now You See Us: Women Artists in Britain 1520-1920. This ambitious group show charts women’s road to being recognised as professional artists, a 400-year journey which paved the way for future generations and established what it meant to be a woman in the British art world. The exhibition covers the period in which women were visibly working as professional artists, but went against societal expectations to do so.
Featuring over 100 artists, the exhibition celebrates well-known names such as Artemisia Gentileschi, Angelica Kauffman, Julia Margaret Cameron and Gwen John, alongside many others who are only now being rediscovered. Their careers were as varied as the works they produced: some prevailed over genres deemed suitable for women like watercolour landscapes and domestic scenes. Others dared to take on subjects dominated by men like battle scenes and the nude, or campaigned for equal access to training and membership of professional institutions. Tate Britain’s exhibition showcases over 200 works, including oil painting, watercolour, pastel, sculpture, photography and ‘needlepainting’ to tell the story of these trailblazing artists.
Now You See Us begins at the Tudor court with Levina Teerlinc, many of whose miniatures will be brought together for the first time in four decades, and Esther Inglis, whose manuscripts contain Britain’s earliest known self-portraits by a woman artist. Focus will be given to the 17th century and one of art history’s most celebrated women artists, Artemisia Gentileschi, who created major works in London at the court of Charles I, including the recently rediscovered Susanna and the Elders 1638-40, on loan from the Royal Collection for the very first time. The exhibition also looks to women such as Mary Beale, Joan Carlile and Maria Verelst who broke new ground as professional portrait painters in oil.
In the 18th century, women artists took part in Britain’s first public art exhibitions, including overlooked figures such as Katherine Read and Mary Black, the sculptor Anne Seymour Damer, and Margaret Sarah Carpenter, a leading figure in her day but little heard of now. The show looks at Angelica Kauffman and Mary Moser, the only women included among the Founder Members of the Royal Academy of Arts; it took 160 years for membership to be granted to another woman. Women artists of this era are often dismissed as amateurs pursuing ‘feminine’ occupations like watercolour and flower painting, but many worked in these genres professionally: needlewoman Mary Linwood, whose gallery was a major tourist attraction; miniaturist Sarah Biffin, who painted with her mouth, having been born without arms; and Augusta Withers, a botanical illustrator employed by the Horticultural Society.
The Victorian period saw a vast expansion in public exhibition venues. Now You See Us showcases major works by critically appraised artists of this period, including Elizabeth Butler (née Thompson)’s monumental The Roll Call 1874 (Butler’s work prompted critic John Ruskin to retract his statement that ‘no women could paint’), and nudes by Henrietta Rae and Annie Swynnerton, which sparked both debate and celebration. The exhibition also looks at women’s connection to activism, including Florence Claxton’s satirical ‘Woman’s Work’: A Medley 1861 which is on public display for the first time since it was painted; and an exploration of the life of Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon, an early member of the Society of Female Artists who is credited with the campaign for women to be admitted to the Royal Academy Schools. On show is the work of students finally admitted to art schools, as well as their petitions for equal access to life drawing classes.
The exhibition ends in the early 20th century with women’s suffrage and the First World War. Women artists like Gwen John, Vanessa Bell and Helen Saunders played an important role in the emergence of modernism, abstraction and vorticism, but others, such as Anna Airy, who also worked as a war artist, continued to excel in conventional traditions. The final artists in the show, Laura Knight and Ethel Walker, offer powerful examples of ambitious, independent, confident professionals who achieved critical acclaim and – finally – membership of the Royal Academy.
Now You See Us: Women Artists in Britain 1520-1920 is in partnership with Lockton. Also supported by Julia and Hans Rausing and the Christian Levett Collection with additional support from the Now You See Us Exhibition Supporters Circle, Tate Americas Foundation and Tate Members. The exhibition is curated by Tabitha Barber, Curator, British Art 1550-1750, with Tim Batchelor, Assistant Curator, British Art 1550-1750, Tate Britain.
Tate Members get unlimited free entry to all Tate exhibitions. Become a Member at tate.org.uk/members. Everyone aged 16-25 can visit all Tate exhibitions for £5 by joining Tate Collective. To join for free, visit tate.org.uk/tate-collective.
For press requests, email pressoffice@tate.org.uk or call +44(0)20 7887 8730.
To download press images, visit Tate’s Dropbox.
Listings information
Now You See Us: Women Artists in Britain 1520-1920
16 May – 13 October 2024
Tate Britain, Millbank, London SW1P 4RG
Open daily 10.00–18.00
Tickets available at tate.org.uk and +44(0)20 7887 8888
Free for Members. Join at tate.org.uk/members
Follow @Tate #NowYouSeeUs
List of artists
Sarah Angelina Acland; Elinor Proby Adams; Anna Airy; Helen Allingham; Laura Alma-Tadema, Helen Cordelia Angell; Clare Atwood; Emma Barton; Rose Barton; Mary Beale; Vanessa Bell; Mary Benwell; Zaida Ben-Yusuf; Sarah Biffin; Mary Black; Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon; Rosa Bonheur; Rosa Brett; Anne Brigman; Elizabeth Butler; Carine Cadby; Julia Margaret Cameron; Anna Maria Carew; Joan Carlile; Margaret Sarah Carpenter; Penelope Carwardine; Florence Claxton; Maria Cosway; Dolores Courtney; Catherine da Costa; Anne Seymour Damer; Evelyn De Morgan; Mary Delany; Sarah Anne Drake; Una Dugdale Duval; Susan Durant; Olive Edis; Maria Flaxman; Anne Forbes; Elizabeth Forbes; Eleanor Fortescue- Brickdale; Mary Gartside; Artemisia Gentileschi; Sylvia Gosse; Harriet Gouldsmith; Mary Grace; Nina Hamnett; Minnie Jane Hardman; Clementina Hawarden; Diana Hill; Harriet Hosmer; Anna Hope Hudson; Esther Inglis; Frances Elizabeth Jocelyn; Gwen John; Charlotte Jones; Mary Ann Jones; Louise Jopling; Gertrude Kasebier; Angelica Kauffman; Minna Keene; Lucy Kemp-Welch; Emma Kendrick; Anne Killigrew; Laura Knight; Mary Knowles; L.A. (Ida) Knox; Edmonia Lewis; Mary Linwood; Mathilda Lowry; Anne Mee; Margaret Meen; Anna Lea Merritt; Evelyn Meyers; Clara Montalba; Henrietta Montalba; Mary Moser; Olive Mudie-Cooke; Annie Feray Mutrie; Martha Darley Mutrie; Eveleen Myers; Caroline Emily Nevill; Emily Mary Osborn; Emily Pitchford; Clara Maria Pope; Henrietta Rae; Katherine Read; Frances Reynolds; Christina Robertson; Susannah Penelope Rosse; Ethel Sands; Helen Saunders; Sarah Setchel; Kate Smith; Rebecca Solomon; Marie Spartali Stillman; Maria Spilsbury; Jane Steele; Marianne Stokes; Sarah Stone; Annie Louisa Swynnerton; Levina Teerlinc; Mary Thornycroft; Maria Verelst; Ethel Walker; Agnes Warburg; Henrietta Ward; Joanna Mary Wells; Augusta Withers; Ethel Wright.
About Lockton
Clarissa Franks, Head of UK P&C Retail, Lockton, said “Lockton is proud to support Now You See Us, a ground-breaking exhibition which demonstrates the importance of art and how it can challenge and guide us in making the effort to ensure that women are truly seen. At Lockton, we are honoured to champion art that aligns with our values of independence, diversity and inclusion. We aim to cultivate an inclusive working environment where every Lockton associate, regardless of gender, can reach their full potential.”
As the world’s largest independent insurance brokerage, Lockton is committed to service and empowered with a single-minded focus on delivering results for clients. Over 11,500 Associates across 140 locations provide 65,000 clients globally with creative solutions in risk management, insurance and employee benefits consulting. Lockton prides itself on being purposely unconventional, insatiably curious and uncommonly independent. Lockton is proud to support the arts and through a multi-year partnership with Tate, exhibition and community programme which champions these qualities. The Lockton Tate Partnership is demonstrable of shared values and a commitment to supporting Tate’s mission of providing access to art for all. For more information, please visit global.lockton.com/gb/en/tate or LinkedIn.
Related publications
Now You See Us: Women Artists in Britain 1520-1920
Edited by Tabitha Barber
Published May 2024, hardback £40, paperback £32
Spanning four hundred years and featuring over a hundred and fifty works, this book dismantles the stereotypes surrounding women artists in history, who are often thought of as amateurs. Determined to succeed and refusing to be boxed in, they dared to paint subjects considered the territory of male artists: history pieces, battle scenes and the nude. They challenged what it meant to be a working woman of the time by going against society’s expectations, taking part in public exhibitions and having commercial careers as artists. New texts shed light on how these artists championed equal access to art training and academy membership, breaking boundaries and overcoming many obstacles to shape their identities as women in the art world.
Related digital content
Tate Story Player: 7 Firsts by Women Artists
A multi-chapter online audio series from Tate bringing to life seven firsts from across Tate Britain’s new exhibition Now You See Us. From the first-known self-portrait created by a woman artist in Britain, to the first art school in England to allow women to learn from life models, hear art history brought to life.
Available on Tate’s website from 16 May. Press preview available via Dropbox. Digital Content supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies