New Exhibition at Fenimore Tells a Story of Collaboration and Connection Among Women Artists from the 19th, 20th, and 21st Centuries

Exhibition:
As They Saw It: Women Artists Then & Now
April 2 – September 2, 2024

Cooperstown, New York — Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown presents As They Saw It: Women Artists Then & Now opening April 2—one of four new exhibitions kicking-off the museum’s 2024 season.

About women, by women, and curated by women

About women, by women, and curated by women, As They Saw It celebrates the vision and creativity of American women artists working across three centuries. The exhibition emphasizes varied experiences and approaches to artmaking, while pushing back against the underrepresentation of women in the arts. The 60+ works showcase how women—despite social, economic, and cultural barriers—express their identities and shape their “herstories” through artistic expression.

Drawn from the collections of three partner museums—Fenimore Art Museum; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; and the Springfield Museums—and organized by an all-women curatorial team, As They Saw It tells a story of collaboration and connection among women artists from the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. Many of the works were pulled from storage and can be seen, in this unique arrangement, for the first time.

“In most museum collections, women artists are underrepresented,” said Julia Madore, Associate Curator of American Art at Fenimore Art Museum. “With this exhibition, we’re thrilled to bring women to the forefront, to tell their unique stories and to share their individual perspectives with museum visitors,” added Associate Curator of American Art, Ann Cannon. Both assisted in the curation of the exhibit. Other co-curators include Maggie North and Sophie Combs from Springfield Museums, and Martina Tanga and Erica Hirshler from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

The paintings, drawings, photographs, textiles, and sculptures are in dialogue across three thematic sections. The first features self-portraits and explorations of identity by artists including Kyra Hicks. In the second, the powerful bonds of sisterhood and community are conveyed through artworks such as “Dancing on the George Washington Bridge II” by Faith Ringgold. The third section calls attention to the importance of multi-generational relationships and highlights women’s roles as stewards of knowledge, creative practices, and artistic techniques; a 19th-century Diné Women’s Dress with a contemporary Sash by D. Y. Begay is an excellent representation of this theme.

As They Saw It: Women Artists Then & Now

Showcasing how women artists have defined, supported, and sustained one another, As They Saw It: Women Artists Then & Now sheds light on the essential contributions of American women artists. In an era of debate about women’s rights and when museums are striving to increase representation in their collections, the exhibition embraces conversations about contemporary issues related to the arts, advocacy, and gender.

As They Saw It: Women Artists Then & Now is on view through September 2, 2024.

This is one in a series of American art exhibitions created through a multi-year, multi-institutional partnership formed by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, as part of the Art Bridges Initiative.

RELATED PROGRAMS

Several related programs are scheduled for the spring and summer months. Please visit FenimoreArt.org for more information. Generous support for this project provided by Art Bridges.

ADDITIONAL EXHIBITIONS OPENING APRIL 2

American Masterworks
April 2 – December 29, 2024

50-Pound Blanket: Photographs by Joshua Ives
April 2 – May 12, 2024

Stitched in Time
April 2 – May 12, 2024

EXHIBITIONS OPENING IN MAY

Banksy: The Haight Street Rat
May 18 – September 8, 2024

Bob Dylan Remastered: Drawings from the Road
May 25 – September 15, 2024

Marc Hom: Re-Framed
May 25 – September 2, 2024

For more information, visit FenimoreArt.org.

About Fenimore Art Museum

Fenimore Art Museum, located on the shores of Otsego Lake—James Fenimore Cooper’s “Glimmerglass”—in historic Cooperstown, New York, features a wide-ranging collection of American art including folk art; important American 18th- and 19th-century landscape, genre, and portrait paintings; more than 125,000 historic photographs representing the technical developments made in photography and providing extensive visual documentation of the region’s unique history; and the renowned Eugene and Clare Thaw Collection of American Indian Art comprised of nearly 900 art objects representative of a broad geographic range of North American Indian cultures, from the Northwest Coast, Eastern Woodlands, Plains, Southwest, Great Lakes, and Prairie regions. Visit FenimoreArt.org.

About Art Bridges Foundation

Art Bridges Foundation is the vision of philanthropist and arts patron Alice Walton. The mission of Art Bridges is to expand access to American art in all regions across the United States. Founded in 2017, Art Bridges creates and supports programs that bring outstanding works of American art out of storage and into communities. Art Bridges partners with a growing network of more than 230 museums to provide financial and strategic support for exhibition development, loans from the Art Bridges Permanent Collection, and programs designed to educate, inspire, and deepen engagement with local audiences. The Art Bridges Permanent Collection represents an expanding vision of American art from the 19th century to present day and encompasses multiple media and voices. For more information, visit artbridgesfoundation.org.