Artfully Dressed: 

Women in the Art World

"It's great to see more women involved in senior positions, as museum directors, fair directors and curators of major artistic events, but as a black woman myself, I have to ask: where are the women of colour? The struggle for gender equality in the arts, like in other professions, must be intersectional: it's also about race, about class, sexuality, disability..."

Eva Langret (b. 1983, Paris, France) is the Artistic Director of Frieze London. Prior to this, she was a Director for the London–based gallery Tiwani Contemporary and  held curatorial positions at the Delfina Foundation, the Wapping Project and 198 Gallery. Eva also regularly organizes exhibitions as a freelance curator. Exhibitions she curated include KIN at HANGAR Centro de Investigação Artística in Lisbon (2016) and The Zone, Basel Abbas & Ruanne Abou-Rahme at the New Art Exchange (2011). She holds an M.A. in Art History from SOAS, London,  a post-graduate Diploma in Art Market studies from IESA, Paris and a B.A. in Economics & Business Management from Université Paris Dauphine. 

"I feel lucky to be living in a time where the work of women artists increasingly has the profile it deserves and am glad to be part of ensuring that the extraordinary creativity of women and men is celebrated."

Maria Balshaw CBE (b. 1970, Birmingham, UK) is Director of Tate, a role she has held since June 2017. She has overall responsibility for Tate’s strategic direction and day to day operations. As Director, Maria is also the Accounting Officer appointed by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). Previously, she was the Director of the Whitworth, University of Manchester, Manchester City Galleries and the Director of Culture for Manchester City Council from 2013 to 2017. Maria holds a B.A. in English Literature and Cultural Studies from the University of Liverpool, and an M.A. in Critical Theory and a D.Phil. in African American Visual and Literary Culture from the University of Sussex. Maria is a Board Member of The Clore Leadership Programme and Manchester International Festival. Maria was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to the arts in June 2015. 

This portrait has been acquired by the National Portrait Gallery, London, and is on permanent display in the museum.

"As we are currently seeing new waves of women appointed in many sectors, I actually have a new optimism that things are indeed changing and that women will have even greater opportunities for leadership in the future."

 Kaywin Feldman (b. 1966, Boston, MA, US) has an M.A. in Art History from the Courtauld Institute of Art, an M.A. in Museum Studies from the Institute of Archaeology at the University of London, and a B.A. Summa cum laude, in Classical Archaeology from the University of Michigan. In March 2019 she became Director of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. She is the fifth director in the Gallery’s history, and the first woman to hold this important national position. Prior to joining the Gallery, Kaywin led the Minneapolis Institute of Art. During that time, she doubled attendance, expanded the collection, launched and completed visionary strategic plans. She is a trustee of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the White House Historical Association, and the Chipstone Foundation and was president of the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) and chair of the American Alliance of Museums (AAM). She has lectured widely and published numerous articles on many aspects of museums in the twenty-first century. 

“Your ego can become an obstacle to your work. If you start believing in your greatness, it is the death of your creativity.”

Marina Abramović (b. 1946, Belgrade, then Yugoslavia) is a conceptual and performance artist. Her work explores endurance art, feminist art, body art, the relationship between the performer and the audience, the limits of the body, and the possibilities of the mind. She studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Belgrade from 1965 to 1970 and finished her post-graduate study at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb in 1972. From 1973 to 1975, she taught at the Academy of Fine Arts at Novi Sad while doing her first solo performances. In 1976, Marina went to Amsterdam to perform a piece and then decided to move there permanently. There, she met the German performance artist Uwe Laysiepen, with whom she lived and performed until they broke up in 1988. In 2007, she founded the Marina Abramović Institute (MAI). During her retrospective at MoMA in 2010 she performed The Artist Is Present , a 736-hour and 30-minute static, silent piece. In 2020 her opera project 7-deaths of Maria Callas premiered at Munich's Bayerische Staatsoper and was performed in 2022 at The Royal Theatre Carré in Amsterdam.

“To me, this project represents the growing power of women in the art world; Carla’s photographs are a physical manifestation of a changing of the tides.”

Aoife Brady (b. Dublin, 1990) is Curator of Italian and Spanish art at the National Gallery of Ireland. A specialist in Bolognese painting, she was awarded a doctorate in the History of Art from Trinity College Dublin in 2017, and has held curatorial roles with The National Gallery, London, and the Paintings Department of The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles. Aoife is a member of the Old Masters vetting committee for TEFAF, Maastricht. Her curatorial projects have included an exhibition of Bartolomé Esteban Murillo’s series of paintings depicting the parable of the Prodigal Son, in collaboration with the Museo del Prado, Madrid, and the Meadows Museum, Dallas, and an in-focus display of sixteenth-century Florentine paintings representing the Christ Child and Saint John the Baptist. More recently, Aoife Brady curated a large-scale monographic exhibition examining the life and work of Lavinia Fontana (National Gallery of Ireland, 6 May–27 August 2023).

"The session with Carla made me feel like one of Sir Joshua Reynold’s sitters, for she engaged me in an interesting conversation and I was fascinated  by her professionalism – her study of the  light, the experimenting with different poses, the exemplary patience. " 

Diana Scarisbrick, MA, FSA (b. 1928, Echuca, Australia) studied at Oxford University (1947-1950). She enjoys using her training as a historian to explain the cultural, social and political significance of jewellery and engraved gems. Over a 50-year career, she has written over 20 books and catalogues, including Rings: Jewelry of Power, Love and Loyalty and Portrait Jewels: Opulence and Intimacy from the Medici to the Romanovs, as well as mounting  exhibitions at home and abroad, and engagements with museums, auctioneers, collectors and the Parisian jeweller, Chaumet, for whom she wrote the monograph.

This portrait has been acquired by the National Portrait Gallery, London

“I admire Carla’s perseverance and her very critical eye to create the perfect portrait.”

Hildegard Van de Velde (b. 1960, Ghent, Belgium) studied Art History and Archaeology at the University of Ghent and Library and Documentation Science at the University of Antwerp. Since 1995 she has been curator of the modern art collection of KBC and in 2001 she also became curator of the Museum Rockox House in Antwerp, also part of the KBC art collection. She has organized several exhibitions at the Rockox House, as well as abroad with artworks KBC's modern art collection. The Golden Cabinet, the Royal Museum at Rockox guest, is the last project she curated with Dr. Nico van Hout (2013-2017), before the renovation of the museum Rockox House. In 2018, the Rockox House expanded to include the Snijders House, the 17th-century patrician dwelling of still-life and animal painter Frans Snijders, and became the Snijders&Rockox House museum of which Hildegard continues to curate.

"It's Up To Me."

Nancy Lee Lane (1933, Boston, MA-2022, New York, NY, US) received her B.S. degree in public relations and journalism from Boston University in 1962 and M.P.A. at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public and International Affairs. In 1975, Nancy completed the Program for Management Development at Harvard Business School. Throughout a distinguished business career, she held senior leadership positions at Westinghouse Broadcasting Company, Chase Manhattan Bank in New York, New York Off-Track Betting Corporation and finally Johnson & Johnson Products, where she was the first female vice president and first African American to sit on the company’s management board. Nancy was on the boards at Rutgers University, the National Board of Directors for the NAACP, Bloomfield College, Freedom House, the SEED Foundation and at the Studio Museum in Harlem for most of its existence. She was an advisor for The International Review of African American Art, as well as a co-chair of the Stieglitz Society at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 1987, Nancy Lane received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Boston University, the highest honor bestowed upon an alumnus. Since her retirement in 2000, Nancy devoted much of her focus to the arts. She completed an M.A. from Christie’s Education in modern art, connoisseurship and the history of the art market. Her extensive collection of paintings, sculpture and photography focused on mostly black artists.

“It is great that there are many women in art and I would like to see more diversity in the art world and the wider society.”

Sook-Kyung Lee (b. 1969 Seoul, Korea) has been Director of the Whitworth and Professor of Curatorial Practices of the University of Manchester since 2023. She was previously Senior Curator, International Art at Tate Modern and Curator, Exhibitions & Displays at Tate Liverpool. Lee also headed Hyundai Tate Research Centre: Transnational at Tate. She holds a BA and MA in Art History & Theory from Hong-ik University, Korea, an MA in Arts Criticism from the City, University of London, and a PhD in Art History & Theory from the University of Essex, UK. Lee served as Artistic Director of the 14th Gwangju Biennale, Commissioner & Curator of Korea Pavilion of the 56th Venice Biennale, and Curator of Japan Pavilion of the 60th Venice Biennale.

"Women in the art business started to make their mark in Modern and Contemporary. I was right on time for that. They are barely beginning to be recognised in the world of Old Masters. It’s about time!"

Hester Diamond (1928-2020, New York, NY, US) was a true New Yorker, with all that implies, despite having spent extended periods of time in London in the late 1950s and 1960s, in Shanghai between 2000 and 2012, and in Italy all her life, always in the major art cities, especially Florence. She wass proudest of having been the founding president of two non-profits: The Medici Archive Project, a valuable tool for scholars and students of Renaissance and Baroque art, and Vistas, a series publishing books of new scholarship on old sculpture. But most of all, she has been a passionate collector, starting from her first pay-check in 1950 and continuing through her death in January 2020, in her tenth decade.

Haute Couture: Han Feng

“I think we have a responsibility to support and uplift one another.”

Alexandra Libby (b. 1981, New York, NY ) is Senior Administrator for Collections and Initiatives and a Curator of Northern Baroque Paintings at the National Gallery of Art, Washington. She has (co-) curated several exhibitions, including Water, Wind, and Waves: Marine Painting from the Dutch Golden Age (2018); Vermeer’s Secrets (2022); and Little Beasts: Art, Wonder, and the Natural World (2025). Prior to joining the National Gallery in 2014, she was Assistant Curator of European art at the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, and had also held various fellowship and research positions at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and Colby College Museum of Art. She received her B.A. from Colby College (2003), her M.A. from Boston University (2007), and her Ph.D. from the University of Maryland (2014).

“I have enjoyed working with contemporary women artists, as their work often grapples with what it means to be a woman today.”

Amy Orrock (b. 1980, London, UK) is a National Curator for the National Trust. She has published and lectured widely on Northern European art and has co-curated the exhibitions Rubens & Women  (Dulwich Picture Gallery, 2023) and Bruegel: Defining a Dynasty  (The Holburne Museum, 2017). As the Senior Curator at Compton Verney from 2017 to 2023 she worked with contemporary artists on commissions, exhibitions and collection redisplays that highlighted the dialogue between the past and the present, including Sensing Naples (2023), Cranach: Artist and Innovator   (2020) and Painting Childhood   (2019). Prior to that, she contributed to curatorial projects at The Royal Collection and the National Portrait Gallery, London. Amy holds a B.A. in History and History of Art from University College London and completed her Masters and Ph.D. at the University of Edinburgh, with a dissertation on Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s Children’s Games.

“The world is more welcoming to women than it was when I began my studies in the 1960s … but it still has a way to go. Every woman in the art world should trust in themselves, set their own goals, and move forward purposefully with courage and confidence.”

Sandra Hindman (b. 1944, Chicago, US) is a professor, dealer, and collector. After teaching medieval art history at The Johns Hopkins University, she became Chair of Art History at Northwestern University and is proud of her many doctoral students, who now in turn occupy positions in the art world. She continues to engage in research and publish extensively in her field. In 1991, she founded her business Les Enluminures in Paris and subsequently opened galleries in Chicago and New York.  Les Enluminures deals in manuscripts, miniatures, and historic rings and jewelry from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Sandra Hindman collects 20th century art by women artists, especially Dora Maar and Alicia Halicka.

'I hope that my peers and I will contribute to more positive structures and systems as we move forward.'

Anne Daffertshofer (b. 1995, Neuss, Germany) is a contemporary art researcher, writer and curator based in Fife. Before obtaining her postgraduate degree in Modern and Contemporary Art History at ECA in 2020, she studied Art & Visual History at Humboldt University in Berlin. Anne has previously worked for contemporary artists and commercial galleries, and more recently taught undergraduate tutorials. Currently, she is the Art Curator at the St Andrews Botanic Garden and is completing her doctoral thesis at the University of St Andrews. Her research explores the meanings of movement in times of ecological crisis in and through contemporary art by working with the term 'Anthropocene Mobilities'. Anne is interested in ecocritical ways of writing art history and holistic approaches to art and life. She has presented her work at national and international conferences. Inspired by her research, Anne founded and directed Looking North, a series of events with artists, writers and ecological conservation projects in Scotland and beyond.

"The art world is progressively dealing with the issue head-on: at the National Gallery of Ireland we recently welcomed our first woman director in the Gallery’s 158-year history"

Lizzie Marx (b. 1992, London, England) is the Curator of Dutch and Flemish Art at the National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin. She received her doctorate from the University of Cambridge with her thesis titled Visualising, Perceiving, and Interpreting Smell in Seventeenth-Century Dutch Art. She also holds a B.A. and M.Phil in the History of Art and Architecture from the University of Cambridge. Lizzie was the 2018-19 Andrew W. Mellon Fellow at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. She has worked on various exhibition projects of Dutch and Flemish art, including the 2021 exhibition Fleeting – Scents in Colour, at the Mauritshuis, The Hague, and exhibitions at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, and the University Library, Cambridge. Before joining the Gallery in 2022, she was a post-doctoral researcher on the Horizon 2020 Odeuropa project. She currently sits on the Board of the Historians of Netherlandish Art (HNA). 

"There are certainly many more women in leadership positions in the art world than before, but there is still much work to be done. One important element to making this happen is that women need to support and foster other women."

Melissa Chiu (b. 1972, Darwin, Australia) was appointed Director of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, DC, a part of the Smithsonian Institution, in 2014. In 2004, she was named Museum Director of Asia Society Museum in New York, a position she held for over a decade; prior to that she served as the first curator of Asian contemporary art in a US museum. She holds a Ph.D. in Chinese contemporary art from the University of Western Sydney. Melissa has curated over 30 international exhibitions mainly focused on the art and artists of Asia. Her major curatorial credits include Zhang Huan: Altered States (2006), Art and China's Revolution (2008) with Zheng Shengtian, one of the first historical appraisals of Chinese art from the 1950s to the 1970s, and Nobody's Fool: Yoshitomo Nara  (2010, with Miwako Tezuka). 

"I like to think about human beings in the art world rather than of men and women."

Lisanne Wepler (b. 1980, Bad Hersfeld, Germany) is Curator of seventeenth-century Dutch Painting at the Rijksmuseum  since 2023. She studied art history and German philology in Kassel, Germany. She completed her dissertation Bilderzählungen in der Vogelmalerei des niederländischen Barocks, at the University of Bonn, Germany, in 2013 (published in 2014, by Imhof, Peterberg). Subsequently she worked as junior curator at the Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum in Braunschweig (2013-2015). From 2015 to 2020 she did research on animal fables in art as a postdoc at Leiden University. This research resulted in a book, entitled Tierfabeln von Äsop bis La Fontaine in Gemäldeserien seit 1600(Imhof, Petersberg, 2021). Presently, her work involves both Contemporary Art as well as works by the Old Masters. As a research assistant, she is involved in the second edition of the Rijksmuseum's catalogue of paintings, first published in 2007. In addition to her academic work, since two years, Lisanne has also been engaged in print making. Since February 2021 she runs her company drukdrukpaint, which is also the name of an artists’ collective Lisanne is part of.

Haute Couture dress: Claes Iversen

“As an artist, I work with the themes of boundaries and respect them. Both — personal and countries”

Elena Anosova (b. 1983, Russia) is a visual artist and researcher working with documentary and art photography, video, archive, and installations. Originally hailing from the region of  Baikal (Russia, Siberia), she is currently based in Moscow, Lake Baikal (Irkutsk), and the Baltic Sea (Kaliningrad). The most important part of her professional activities is devoted to personal, long-term projects that are centred around lives in closed institutions, small communities, and isolation. The impulse of research of such themes arose in a reflection of her teenage period spent at the closed rehabilitation boarding school. Elena Anosova works with subjects of borders, identity, and collective memory in the territory of Siberia, Far North, Russian Far East, and Baltic Sea borderlands. She has been a winner of various competitions and is a recipient of The Aaron Siskind Foundation, Garage Museum’s Grant Program, World Press Photo, LensCulture, and others. Her works have been published around the world including National Geographic (USA), Stern, Marie Claire, Guardian, New Yorker, Washington Post and others.

"We should keep celebrating women in the art world. "

Sebia Plantefève-Castryck (b. 2002, Adama, Ethiopia) is a professional ballet dancer with the Dutch National Ballet. She was adopted by her Belgian family when she was four. At the age of six Sebia started taking ballet classes in her local dance school, and at the age of 10 she started to enter into big competitions like Youth America Grand Prix. Eventually, Sebia went to the professional Tanz Akademie Zurich in Switzerland where she graduated after three years. Later, an additional year of study followed at the European School of Ballet in Amsterdam, where she had the opportunity to perform at galas in Italy and Germany. 

Fabrics: Rubelli

"Personally, I never really saw a difference between men and women in the art world and their roles, and I was also given leading positions early on."

Hana Seifertová, née Korecká (b. 12 May 1934, Tabor, Czech Republic), is a Czech art historian, curator and  former museum director. After graduating from Prague's Charles University in 1958, specialising in Old Master painting, particularly still life, Hana became the director of the Oblastni Gallery in Liberec at a young age, turning it among other activities into a centre for non-conformist contemporary art. A courageous opponent of the communist regime, she was dismissed for political reasons in 1970 and moved with her family - daughter Barbora (1962-2024) and husband Jiri Seifert (1932-1999), an eminent Czech sculptor - to Řevnice near Prague. From 1971 until her retirement in 2012, she worked as curator and head of the Collection of Old European  Art at the National Gallery in Prague as curator and director, producing a rich portfolio of publications and exhibitions, mainly in the field of Dutch, Flemish, German and Czech Baroque. An inspiring mentor and enthusiastic researcher and colleague, she has left an indelible mark on the world of art history and curating.

"Women have too long been overlooked! My professional mission is to bring greater equality into our museum collections, exhibitions and art historical writing, telling the stories of female artists who have been marginalised or forgotten."

Joanna (Jo) Meacock (b. 1975, Bolton, UK) is Curator of British Art at Glasgow Life Museums, responsible for paintings, sculpture, prints and drawings, 1600-1960. She gained an MA History of Art at the University of Glasgow in 1997, followed by a PhD there in 2001 examining D.G. Rossetti’s secularisation of religious iconography. Formerly the Scottish Regional Research Manager for the Public Catalogue Foundation, Jo has also worked as Data Editing Manager for the National Inventory Research Project, Research Associate for James McNeill Whistler: The Etchings: A Catalogue Raisonné and Editor for Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951. A Trustee of the Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Trust and member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of the Scottish Society for Art History, Jo is passionate about inclusion and art for everyone. She has published on Pre-Raphaelitism and Aestheticism, Scottish 19th and early 20th-century art and women artists, and is currently working on a book on the Pre-Raphaelites and Scotland. 

"I believe women in the art world have the power to affect change in society as a whole and promote gender equality on a local and global scale."

Kirstin Mackinnon (b. 1995, Scotland) is a figurative painter from Glasgow. She is particularly interested in portraiture, painted from life, in oils. Kirstin studies gender representation in contemporary art. The work of female painters is currently valued at a tenth of their male contemporaries, so Kirstin questions why the art world is slow to progress towards equality. She encourages the viewer to question the way genders are viewed, represented and portrayed in art and why society values their works differently. Kirstin often uses humour as a tool to communicate her research findings. Since graduating from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design in 2023 with a First-Class Honours in Fine Art, Kirstin has won several awards. She has exhibited in prominent shows including the RSA New Contemporaries 2024. Kirstin’s paintings have been acquired for public and private collections. Her publications include Art World Gender Equality: UK and Scotland Today (2024). 

“More and more women are running major fairs and are active in all sectors of culture and the art world: galleries, museums, the theatre... These women often possess a great organizational capacity, good interpersonal skills, a constantly renewed faculty for reinvention, together with a real vision.”

Beatrix Bourdon (b. 1965, Knokke, Belgium) has a licence in History, a graduate in American Studies and a master in East-European Studies. Initially attracted by the journalistic profession, it was her passion for art that ultimately proved decisive. She began her career in 1990 with various auction houses before in 1992 joining the ASBL Foire des Antiquaires de Belgique, which organizes BRAFA, of which she was appointed Managing Director in 1999. Beatrix Bourdon coordinates all aspects of the organization of the international event, such as the search for new exhibitors, the setting up of the stands, the printing, the advertising, the sponsorship, the monitoring of expertise and the catering. Beatrix is a keen sportswoman. In the city, visiting exhibitions as well as concerts, occupies her free time. She likes to travel the world in the aisles of BRAFA with presentations of pieces from different times, styles and civilizations.

Fabrics: Rubelli

"I greatly admire women who have achieved their success from within but now I see more and more women abandoning the strictures of traditional structures to forge their own paths and redefine the rules and I find this very exciting."

Teresa Krasny (b. 1969, Dublin, Ireland) has been the curator of a private collection since 2011. Prior to that, she was a Head of Sale at Christie’s Impressionist & Modern department in London and held specialist positions in the Post-war department and Old Master Drawings department at Christie’s, Paris. Teresa holds a B.A. in Applied Languages from the University of Ulster, an MBA from the University of Florida and a MPhil in Art History from the University of Glasgow. She is a founder of the International Catalogue Raisonné Association (ICRA), a board member of the Association of Professional Art Advisors (APAA) and a director of the Artists’ Collecting Society (ACS).

“I don’t know if I have a role in the art world. I am happy to have a podium to show my work at interesting venues so that I can share my opinion and ideas through my work.”

Hellen van Meene (b. 1972, Alkmaar, The Netherlands) studied photography at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam. Over the last two decades, Hellen has produced a complex body of work, offering a contemporary take on photographic portraiture, characterized by her exquisite use of light, formal elegance and palpable psychological tension, her depictions of girls and boys on the cusp of adulthood demonstrate a clear aesthetic lineage to seventeenth-century Dutch painting. Hellen’s work captures the intimacy in the photographer/ subject relationship, bringing out a sense of honesty and vulnerability from within her models and highlighting the beauty of imperfection. Her work has been exhibited internationally and is in the collections of major museums around the world, including the Guggenheim Museum, New York, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, Art Institute of Chicago, Brooklyn Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

'I am grateful Carla took my portrait when I was pregnant, portraying me both as an art professional and a mother."

Marleen Ram (b. 1988, Hilversum, The Netherlands) is Curator of Art Collections at Teylers Museum, Haarlem. Before that, she worked as Junior Curator of Prints and Drawings at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, and the Fondation Custodia, Paris. She holds an MA in Renaissance Studies from Utrecht University and specializes in Old Master drawings. She has collaborated on several exhibitions, including Home and Abroad: Dutch and Flemish Landscape Drawings from the John and Marine van Vlissingen Art Foundation  Rijksmuseum/Fondation Custodia, 2015-2016), Frans Post: Animals in Brazil (Rijksmuseum, 2016-2017), John Constable  (Teylers Museum, 2020-2021) and Hockney’s Eye (Fitzwilliam Museum/Teylers Museum, 2022-2023).

"I firmly believe that women possess the same capabilities as men."

 Francesca Baldassari (b. 1963, Sarzana, La Spezia, Italy) distinguished herself academically by graduading from the University of Florence in 1986-1987 with highest honours. She was awarded scholarships for two consecutive years at the Roberto Longhi Foundation in Florence. Her esteemed scholarly contributions began with her first monograph on Carlo Dolci, published in 1995, and later revised for an English edition in 2015, followed by her curating the related exhibition 2017 in the United States. Since then, her scholarly contributions expanded to include significant monographs on Cristoforo Munari (1998), Giovan Domenico Ferretti (2002), and Simone Pignoni (2008). While her extensive body of work encompasses numerous books, articles, and exhibition catalogues, a noteworthy highlight is the 2017 exhibition at Palazzo Braschi in Rome, dedicated to “Artemisia Gentileschi and her time”.

"One of my favorite artists is Anna Maria van Schurman (1607-1678), because she is so versatile and unique as a female artist in her century. She made fantastic paintings, woodcarvings, drawings, glass engravings, cuttings and sculptures, all in miniature format."

Marjan Brouwer (b. 1979, Groningen, The Netherlands) is Director of Museum Klooster Ter Apel. When this portrait was made, she was curator of Museum Martena and the Eise Eisinga Planetarium in Franeker. She holds an MA in History from the University of Groningen, and has a preference for the sixteenth and seventeenth century. Marjan has been working in Museum Martena since 2005 and has made various exhibitions about Frisian (art) history, such as Pjutten en beukers. Frisian children's portraits 1550-1800. Marjan is also curator of the important collection of works of art and manuscripts by the artist and scholar Anna Maria van Schurman (1607-1678). Since 2019, Marjan has been enthusiastic about a multi-sensory approach to make the museum tangible and lively. She strives for an accessible and, above all, fun museum visit for everyone.

Clothes: SeeFeel

"I enjoyed Carla's generosity of spirit in celebrating the achievements of women in the art world and her inclusive approach to image-making."

Alice Strang (b. 1973, Leicester, England, United Kingdom) is an Associate Director and Senior Specialist in Modern and Contemporary Art at Lyon & Turnbull, Scotland's oldest auction house. She joined L&T after twenty-two years as a Senior Curator at the National Galleries of Scotland. She holds a B.A. Hons and M.A. Cantab in Art History from Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge. Her publications include Modern Scottish Women: Painters and Sculptors 1885-1965 and the Scottish Colourist Series of books about F.C.B. Cadell, J.D. Fergusson and S.J. Peploe. She is part of the team who are the market leaders in Scottish Art auctions, including establishing world record prices for artists such as Joan Eardley, Bessie MacNicol and William Strang.

"Why is it so rigid what is considered masculine and feminine? Can we think beyond the gender binary?"

Imara Limon (b. 1988, Leiden, The Netherlands) is curator of modern and contemporary art at the Amsterdam Museum since 2016. She holds a B.A. in history of art, an M.A. in heritage studies and an M.A. in cultural analysis from the University of Amsterdam. Her exhibitions include Black Amsterdam (2016) and Black & Revolutionary: The Story of Hermine & Otto Huiswoud (2017), an initiative of The Black Archives. Limon developed the multi-year research program New Narratives that is aimed at making the museum more inclusive. She has an advisory position in arts funds and serves on the board of Kunsten ’92. In 2017 she was awarded the National Museum Talent Prize. In the summer of 2018, she was curator-in-residence at the International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP) in New York.

Haute Couture: Marga Weimans

"Throughout all of history - and certainly not only in the art world - women have been underrepresented. I agree that the art world needs to open up a lot more to women artists although, throughout my career, I have never felt the need to participate in exhibitions that were specifically labeled as being 'women’s'."

Marie-Jo Lafontaine (b. 1950, Antwerp, Belgium), lives in Brussels. From 1975 to 1979, she studied at l’Ecole nationale d’architecture et des arts visuels La Cambre, Brussels. Since the mid-seventies, Marie-Jo Lafontaine has been clearing a path of a demanding nature vis-à-vis the changing fashions and predominant tendencies of the contemporary art world. Her work reveals critical observations about our society, its confusion and pending mayhem. The world and its excesses, or fault lines, are the inspiration for her aesthetic creations. Marie-Jo burst onto the art scene with her textile canvases, black monochromes infused with striking rhythms, or as Henri Michaux put it: ‘composed upon a minimalist repetitiveness that liberates the space within’. Although her creative work suggests an X-ray image - a kind of oscillography - of our times, it goes beyond being a mirror image of the past, present or future.

Fabrics: Rubelli

"I am happy to see that more women artists are finally getting the recognition they were denied in the past."

Kathy Ryan (b. New Brunswick, US) grew up in Bound Brook, NJ. She has been the long-time Director of Photography at the New York Times Magazine, a pioneer of combining fine-art photography with photojournalism. She is known for placing the work of new talent alongside that of renowned photographers, and oversees the magazine's video productions. During her tenure, the magazine’s photography and videos received numerous awards, including two Emmys. Kathy was recognized by the Royal Photographic Society, London with their Outstanding Service to Photography award (2012) and honoured with the Center for Photography at Woodstock Vision Award (2014). She was chosen by Creative Review Magazine for their Outstanding Contribution to Photography recognition in 2016. In 2007 she was given a lifetime achievement award from the Griffin Museum of Photography. Kathy edited The New York Times Magazine Photographs book (Aperture, 2011). Kathy has also curated exhibitions at museums and photography festivals. A book of her photographs, Office Romance was published by Aperture (2014). 

“I feel part of a community of incredible women united by their commitment to the arts. A community brought together and created by Carla with loving attention and extraordinary skill.”

Alessandra Laitempergher (b. 1971, Bolzano, Italy) is a curator and creative producer based in Amsterdam. After her curatorial studies, with a focus on film and photography, she completed a Master's degree in museum studies, specialising in museum education and participation. She joined Museum Beelden aan Zee in 2003, where she held various positions for almost two decades, the longest as Head of Presentation and Education. Since 2020 she has been working as a freelance curator and creative producer, focusing on contemporary social art practice.

"I don't think in terms of gender when I think about art or the art world. As a human being, you have to choose what is important to you and you put yourself in the position that fits your life."

Tina Gillen (b. 1972, Luxembourg, LU) has been active as a painter since the late 1990s. She works on the interface between figuration and abstraction, and between the second and third dimension. Her work addresses themes and notions such as architecture, landscape, contemplation, the circulation of images, and the relationship between inner space and the exterior world. Tina teaches painting at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp. She has had solo exhibitions at BOZAR, Brussels (2015), Mudam, Luxembourg (2012), and M–Museum, Leuven (2010). She has also taken part in numerous group exhibitions at international institutions including Mudam, Luxembourg, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, Mu.ZEE, Ostend, Wiels, Brussels, MHKA, Antwerp, and Platform Garanti, Istanbul. Two monographic publications have been released about her work: Echo, 2016, and Necessary Journey, 2009. In 2022, Tina Gillen will present the exhibition Faraway So Close in the context of the Luxembourg Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. 

"I’ve been surrounded by women at every stage in my career but most of the top museum jobs are held by men. I’d like to see the balance shift."

Marta Weiss (b. 1974, New York, NY, US) is Senior Curator of photographs at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.  She joined the V&A in 2007, after two years in the Department of Photographs at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She holds a B.A. in Art History from Harvard and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Princeton in the same field. Her publications include the books Making It Up: Photographic Fictions, Autofocus: The Car in Photography, and the exhibition catalogues Light from the Middle East: New Photography  and Julia Margaret Cameron: Photographs to electrify you with delight and startle the world.

"Knowing about women who do great work with art collections is inspiring and motivational for me."

Shona Elliott (b. 1982, Norwich, England) is Lead Curator – Art and History for Aberdeen Archives, Gallery & Museums. She gained a First, then Master's degree in Music at Royal Holloway, University of London with a focus on ethnomusicology and also connections between early 20th century music and Surrealism, Cubism, Dadaism and Futurism. Shona has worked with museum art collections for the majority of her professional career, and has a Masters degree in Museum Studies. Her article on ‘Changes in the University of Aberdeen’s Approach to Displaying Art, 1860-2010’ was published in the Volume 16 journal of the Scottish Society for Art History (SSAH) and she has been editor of the SSAH newsletter for several years.

"In my view it would be wonderful if women-artists as well as women in the art world would try to support each other more bounteously."

Katlijne Van der Stighelen (b. 1959, Turnhout, Belgium) studied art history at KU Leuven where she was appointed a full Professor in 2003. She retired in September 2024. Katlijne has published books on Anna Maria van Schurman, Cornelis de Vos, Anthony van Dyck and the tradition of Flemish portraiture. She has also published widely on aspects of Flemish art and women artists in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In 2002, she held the Rubens Chair at the University of California, Berkeley. With Hans Vlieghe she is editor of Pictura Nova: Studies in 16th and 17th Century Flemish Painting and Drawing; since 1996 no less than 21 monographs have been published in the series. In 2018, she curated Michaelina Wautier (1604 -1689): Leading Lady of Baroque, the first ever exhibition on the artist. Currently, she is writing on unidentified portraits by Peter Paul Rubens as part of the Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard, the largest catalogue raisonné published of a single artist. 

"Women tend to ‘manage’ the art world more and more, but unfortunately,  they are not the ones creating the works that hang on the walls of the museums."

Hedwig Wösten (b. 1986, Ede, The Netherlands) is the Manager of Exhibitions and Projects at the Mauritshuis in The Hague. She curated the jubilee exhibition FLASH | BACK. She joined the museum in 2015, after producing the exhibition Rembrandt? The Case of Saul & David   on behalf of Studio Louter. At Studio Louter Hedwig worked as a project manager on a great variety of exhibitions. Her educational background is in classical archaeology (Leiden University / UvA).

"I became interested in reaching a certain perfectionism in how you use paint. [...] The more you know the more you can find your way to express that in different ways in order to reach the high quality in art."

Maryam Najd (b. 1965, Tehran, Iran) is a painter with roots in Tehran, but for the past several years Antwerp has been both her home and workplace. She obtained a master's degree in fine arts and painting techniques in Teheran.  Between 1992 and 1996 she continued her studies in Antwerp at the Academy of Fine Arts. In 1996 Maryam studied for a period in Rome (exchange) to graduate in 1996-1997 at the Higher Institute of Fine Arts in Antwerp. She paints both abstract and figurative paintings.  Her figurative work is the most accessible to viewers; it demonstrates a reflective artistic process that simultaneously interweaves and unravels the social chasm dividing the two cultures. In her paintings Maryam Najd uses images that in their essence evoke the most pressing and frequently asked existential questions. Her works can be found in for example the permanent collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp.

"Significant strides have been made. As far as overall equality/equity in the museum and heritage sector is concerned, however, there remains a long way to go."

Roselyne Francken (b. 1989, Merksem, Belgium) is Curator of the Asia Collection at the MAS (Museum aan de Stroom) in Antwerp. She holds a dual master’s degree in Japanese Studies and Art History from KU Leuven. In addition to her position at the MAS, Roselyne is currently pursuing a PhD in Art History. For her doctoral dissertation, she conducts research into the fin-de-siècle Japonist network in Antwerp. Roselyne is a member of the Olbrechtsgenootschap and the editorial board of the peer-reviewed journal Volkskunde. She is also a member of Restitution Belgium. In the latter capacity, she participated in the creation of the Ethical Principles for the Management and Restitution of Colonial Collections in Belgium, which were published in June 2021. 

"I'm always working to make a connection with the person I'm photographing.”

Mary McCartney (b. 1969, London, UK) is a self-taught photographer who exhibited and published her work extensively. Her work concentrates on the world of portrait and candid reportage photography and is suffused with a deep personal investment that captures the creative chemistry between Mary and her subjects. Mary’s exhibitions and publications include Off Pointe, an in-depth photographic study of the Royal Ballet after hours now shown as part of the permanent collection of the V&A (2004-2018) and the book Monochrome Colour, which was published by GOST (2014). In 2015 Mary’s Mother Daughter exhibition was first shown at the Gagosian Gallery in NYC. The same year Mary was chosen to take the official photograph of Her Majesty the Queen to mark the occasion of her becoming the longest reigning Monarch in history. Mary's latest body of work is entitled Paris Nude, a collection of never-seen-before nude photographs and the first full series of nudes in Mary's distinguished career. Paris Nude was Published by HENI 

"To be part of the art world from the mid-seventies and into the current day is to have lived through some of the most seismic and subtle changes involving dramatic evolutions in our socio, economic, and political world, the introduction of technology, rapid recognition of the impact of violence on the global and community stages, racial conflict, looting of world art, climate change, population expansion, all reflected in the art our age, with our attention also directed to our increasing understanding of man’s artistic achievement through the ages. "

Emily Rafferty (b. 1949, New York, NY, US) grew up in New York. After graduating from Boston University, Emily worked in arts administration for David Rockefeller, Jr. at the Boston Symphony Orchestra and then at Boston’s Institute for Contemporary Art as Deputy Director of Education. She returned to New York in 1976, securing a job in the Development Office of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. With a 40 year career at the Met, she ran fundraising, External Affairs, and served as president for ten years before her retirement in 2015. Non-profit work accompanied her time at the Met, including Chair of The Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Chair of NYC & Company, and Board member of the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. She has continued her service as Senior Adviser to UNESCO for Heritage Protection, Board member of Carnegie Hall, consultant to the non-profit sector, and a member of international advisory committees. She is active in women’s issues, including a Congressional appointment for this work. 

"I think you just need a good representation of both men and women, in the art world and also in other fields."

Charlotte Caspers (b. 1979, Ghent, Belgium) is an artist who makes use of historical painting techniques and materials in a contemporary way. Central to her work is the subtle communication of materials, of human beings as makers, with nature as the basis of everything. She connects these themes with her specific form language and with her clearly recognisable aesthetics. Charlotte studied Art History at Radboud University in Nijmegen and took the postgraduate course in painting restoration at Stichting Restauratie Atelier Limburg in Maastricht (SRAL). She specialized in historical painting materials and techniques and has made historical reconstructions for numerous museums and institutions, including the Van Gogh Museum, the Rijksmuseum, Tate Britain, Princeton and Duke University, and Dutch television. For ten years, Charlotte Caspers has been a guest lecturer in historical painting techniques at the Department of Conservation and Restoration at the University of Amsterdam.

"The same thought as that regarding the position of women in society generally – we are still having to live and work in what is essentially a male-orientated world."

Jenny Tiramani (b. 1954, Bromley, UK) is the Principal of The School of Historical Dress, London. Her publications include Patterns of Fashion 4, with Janet Arnold and Santina M. Levey, 2008, three books for the V&A on seventeenth-century dress, (co-author, 2011, 2012 & 2016), and Patterns of Fashion 5: The content, cut, construction of bodies, stays, hoops and rumps c.1595-1795 (co-author, 2018). She has worked as a Stage Designer since 1977, receiving the 2003 Laurence Oliver Award (Best Costume Design), for the Shakespeare's Globe production of Twelfth Night and, in 2014, the Tony Award (Best Costume Design) for the revival on Broadway. Opera designs include Anna Bolena (Costumes), Metropolitan Opera, New York 2011, and Andre Chenier (Costumes), Royal Opera House, Covent Garden 2015. 

Haute Couture: Nabil Nayal

"Since men and women often see things from a different perspective, it is best not to have gender dominated areas and to create a balanced society whether that  is in art, politics or any other field."

Mary Gelman (b. 1994, Penza, Russia) is a visual artist/photojournalist and a VII Photo Agency member based in Saint-Petersburg, Russia. In 2016 she graduated from the School of Modern Photography Docdocdoc (Saint - Petersburg) and was a participant in various international and local workshops. Mary works as a photojournalist and teacher. The most important part of her professional life consists of personal projects. In the projects she has a strong personal approach to documentary and conceptual practices. Mary focuses on issues of gender and body, boundary and identity, discrimination and the human relationship with the environment. Mary is the recipient of several awards including The Leica Oskar Barnack Award Newcomer 2018, the first place in the 77th annual Pictures of the Year competition’s portrait category, Portraits - Hellerau Photography Award (Residence award), and in 2020 she won the third prize (series) in the portrait category of the Andrei Stenin International Photo Contest. In 2020 Mary has been selected for the prestigious Joop Swart Masterclass.

"More and more museum directors and other positions are taken up by women. Which should be normal but isn’t in other fields."

Birgit Donker (b. 1965, Willemstad, Curacao) studied history and journalism in Amsterdam and at the Sorbonne University in Paris. Birgit began her career at the national newspaper NRC Handelsblad where she worked as a reporter, correspondent and editor-in-chief. She then became the director of the Mondriaan Fund, the Dutch public foundation for visual artists and cultural heritage. In 2018, she was appointed director of the Nederlands Fotomuseum in Rotterdam. 

Haute couture dress: Meredith Joeroeja

"Although there is much work still to be done I am broadly encouraged by the progress that women have made in the art world in the UK. I only wish that progress was reflected in other spheres of professional activity worldwide."

Fariba Farshad (b. 1955, Teheran, Iran) moved to Paris in 1983 and to London in 1986. She is the co-founder of Photo London, the leading international photography Fair launched at Somerset House in 2015. She is an award-winning curator and pioneer of creative education. As a renowned champion of Iranian artists, her ground-breaking exhibitions Whispered Secrets, Murmuring Dreams (2008), Masques of Shahrazad (2009) and most recently the globally-touring exhibition, Burnt Generation (2014-2019) have introduced many young contemporary Iranian artists to a Western audience. She is also the co-founder of Candlestar, a company that specializes in the creation and development of major new international cultural initiatives including the Prix Pictet which is widely regarded as the world’s leading photography prize. 

"The facts show that women are paid less in museum director positions, have smaller budgets to operate, male artists get many more solo museum shows, galleries programs tend to show many more men than women. " 

Hikari Yokoyama (b. 1982, Tokyo, Japan) was raised in Chicago, holds a B.A from Columbia University in Studio Art with a minor in Urban Studies. She currently works as a freelance cultural consultant for brands in luxury, publishing, and hospitality has collaborated with entities such as Frieze Art Fair, Serpentine Gallery, South London Gallery, Moet Hennessy, Hermés, Tiffany & Co., Prada, Miu Miu, Gucci, Harper's Bazaar, Spring Place, Andre Balazs Properties, Dazed, and others. Hikari focuses on connecting new audiences to art, music, film and ideas through the format of exhibitions, art fairs, talks, screening series, and special events. She was a co-founder of online auction house, Paddle8. She is a trustee for Women for Women International. Hikari is a member of the Future Contemporaries committee at the Serpentine Gallery and is a founding member of the South London Gallery Council.  She is also a contributing editor for British Vogue.  

Dress: Edeline Lee

“It's more recently being recognised that the work and skill women have is equal to men.”

Hannah Marples (b. 1995, Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, UK) attended the Dukeries Academy in New Ollerton (2006-2013), and obtained a Foundation Art Diploma at West Notts College, Mansfield (2013-14). Hannah graduated from the University of Huddersfield in 2018 with a first class degree in Costume with Textiles BA(Hons), whilst undertaking the degree she participated in a placement year which flung her into the world of historical costume with the help of Ninya Mikhaila of The Tudor Tailor. Since graduating, she has made historical costumes for English Heritage, Historic Royal Palaces, Leeds Royal Armouries as well as reenactors, film and TV. Hannah has also entered the world of museums as a Gallery Coordinator for The Harley Foundation, which has entailed all sorts of activities like being a tour guide, a face for front of house and being able to curate a collection of miniatures for display. Currently, her passions lie in the world of early seventeenth century gloves and mittens both researching and recreating, and has recently begun a Masters by Research in the same topic. 

"seeing my mum’s beautiful statues – female Maasai Warriors , deemed as valuable and important, effected how I valued African women in the world, who were so far from my every-day and culture."

Caroline Hussey-Bain (b. 1984, Northampton, UK) has been an Art and Heritage Relationship Manager working with British, European and International based major donors for over ten years. She has worked with small independent and private galleries to large national institutions including Royal Museums Greenwich and Tate. She is a Trustee at the Black Cultural Archive supporting the development of fundraising and public engagement opportunities. As a 2014 Winston Churchill Fellow, she worked extensively in North America including at the Brooklyn Museum, MoCADA and Mystic Seaport researching best practice in fundraising and relationship management. In 2016, she became a Museum Association Transformer for her leadership in devising new strategies to diversify the individuals who support art institutions and in 2019 was awarded a Clore. Following her passion for visual arts and her vision to make the sector more accessible, she founded Art Moment in 2017.

"We still need more women in leadership roles, but at least there is an increased sensitivity in institutions. The art market has a long way to go, though!"

Agnes Gund (b. 1938, Cleveland, OH, US) is president emerita of MoMA and chair of MoMA PS1. In 1977, she founded Studio in a School in response to budget cuts that virtually eliminated arts classes from New York City public schools. A philanthropist and modern and contemporary art collector, Agnes serves on the boards of the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies and the Morgan Library & Museum. She is co-founder and chair of the Center for Curatorial Leadership,and Honorary Trustee of the National YoungArts Foundation, Independent Curators International and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland. She launched the Art for Justice Fund in 2017 to support criminal justice reform in the U.S. Agnes earned a B.A. in History from Connecticut College and an M.A. in Art History from Harvard University. She received the National Medal of the Arts from President Clinton in1977 and was elected Honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of Arts in 2016.

Fabrics: Rubelli Venezia / Donghia Inc

“I think there is a constant need for duality in this topic–looking to the past for what has been hidden while interrogating the present to secure greater representation now.”

Mattea Gernentz (b. 1999, Nashville, Tennessee) is a poet and art curator based between Edinburgh and Paris. She graduated from Wheaton College with a B.A. in English literature and psychology before completing a master’s degree with Distinction at the University of St Andrews in Museum and Gallery Studies. She has been selected as a Clydebuilt 16 Poet and Next Generation Young Makar, in addition to acting as Writer-in-Residence at the Château de la Haute Borde in 2023. She has performed at Aberdeen’s Dandelion Festival, StAnza Poetry Festival, and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and her writing can be found in Ekstasis Magazine, Little Living Room, Solum Press, The Pub, ST.ART Magazine, and more. Mattea works at the BirdsNest Gallery, curating quarterly exhibitions (such as A Woman’s Touch and Three Graces) highlighting emerging voices and women artists since the nineteenth century. Her research ponders the feminine gaze, Impressionism, and the significance of nature in art.

"Women have not had the place they deserve and still do not have it. There are fewer of us, our works sell for less, even if things are changing a bit lately" 

Élodie Antoine (b. 1978, Virton, Belgium) is an artist, best known for her soft sculptures. She explores the potential of materials such as thread, fabric, or felt, by allowing them to proliferate and contaminate space in a way natural to them. Élodie appropriates artisanal (and domestic) techniques or materials traditionally associated with femininity and combines them with the male universe. Apart from in Belgium, her work has been shown in many countries, such as France, Slovenia, and Korea. She works in collaboration with Aeroplastics Contemporary Brussels.

“Women are thankfully now far more accepted on equal terms both as artists and as curators than when I started out in the 1970s.“

Elizabeth Cumming (b. 1948, Edinburgh, Scotland) majored in art history and mathematics for a general degree at the University of Edinburgh University before taking a postgraduate diploma in art history, also at Edinburgh. She was an assistant to Dr Isabel Henderson on the national survey of Pictish symbol stones before spending three years as a curator in Dundee. From 1975 as the first Keeper of Fine Art with Edinburgh Council, she prepared the first catalogue of the city’s art collection and worked with the city architects on today’s City Art Centre. A lecturer in design history at Edinburgh College of Art in the 1990s, she is an independent historian and curator and currently an honorary Professor at the university of Edinburgh. Her books, catalogues and essays include many on Scottish art from James Drummond to the Scottish Colourists. They include notably Hand, Heart and Soul: the Arts and Crafts Movement in Scotland (2006), Weaving the Century: Dovecot Studios since 1912 (2012), Robin Philipson (2018) and Phoebe Anna Traquair (2022). 

"Women are very different from men, which should be acknowledged more."

Rosa Boomsma (b. 1985, Tilburg, The Netherlands) is an artist. After studying economics and working as a marketeer, she started taking painting lessons in the evenings (in 2010) at the studio of the artist Solko Schalm in Rotterdam. From that moment on, her dedication, ambition and love for art never stopped growing. A year later she joined a 3-years art program in The Hague (Stadsacademie), where she was taught, amongst others, by Mark van Overeem, Vittorio Roerade and Francine Krieg. Upon completion in 2014, she contributed to the development of the collective studio and art program 'Art Resort Studios'. Here I received guidance and coaching of Mark van Overeem (A wish to return; GEM 2015). In 2015, she continued making my own work and commissions from my studio at home in Rotterdam. On a technical level, I receive coaching in classical painting techniques at 'Atelier Sint Lucas' in The Hague.

“I think it is inspiring to see women taking leadership roles in all aspects of the art world. I hope that we can, through that leadership, create ever more inclusion within the arts community, from artists to institutions and from collectors to audiences.”

Julia Marciari-Alexander (b. 1967, Memphis, TN, US) has served as Executive Director & CEO of the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD, since 2013. The first woman to hold the post, she is inspired by the collaborative work that the museum undertakes to connect people with each other through the Walters collections, exhibitions and programs. A specialist in early modern European portraiture, she holds a Ph.D. in Art History from Yale University and an M.A. in French from New York University. Previously, she was Deputy Director for Curatorial Affairs at the San Diego Museum of Art, and Associate Director for Exhibitions and Publications at the Yale Center for British Art. Fabrics: Rubelli Venezia, Donghia Inc

"In Latin America, women are in positions of political and cultural power more often than in some other parts of the world, so I take it for granted that women do and should play significant roles in the art world and in other realms."

Patricia Phelps de Cisneros (b. 1947, Caracas, Venezuela) is the co-founder, with her husband Gustavo Cisneros, of the Fundación Cisneros, based in New York and Caracas. This foundation supports Latin American cultural and educational initiatives and fosters awareness of the region’s heritage and contributions to the arts. The Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros comprizes five major areas of Latin American material culture from indigenous to contemporary art and publishes scholarly books and a website. Patricia is a trustee at MoMA, where she founded the Latin American and Caribbean Fund. She is a founding trustee of the Fundación Museo Reina Sofia and trustee of the Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid. Patricia serves on the visiting committee for the Harvard Art Museums, among other organizations. Her international distinctions include Italy’s Leone d’Oro di San Marco, the Gran Cruz de la Orden Civil de Alfonso X, the Medallade Oro Mérito en las Bellas Artes from Spain, and the Légion d'honneur from France. 

Fabrics: Rubelli Venezia / Donghia Inc

"The more urgent question of positions in the art world is to do with equality of race and class. The issue of diversity is complex and women have the power collectively to bring about profound change."

Melanie Keen (b. 1967, London, UK) was appointed Director of Iniva (Institute of International Visual Arts) in 2015. With the Stuart Hall Library acting as a critical hub for its work, Iniva works predominantly with British-born and British-based visual artists of African and Asian descent, supporting them at different stages in their careers. Melanie is an Independent Advisor to the Government Art Collection, and sits on the British Council’s Visual Arts Advisory Group. She is part of the Mayor of London’s Suffrage Commission Group which selected Gillian Wearing’s sculpture for Parliament Square – it is the first sculpture by a woman of a woman there. Most recently, she was on the British Pavilion Selection Committee for the 58th Venice Biennale. In a career spanning over 20 years, Melanie has also worked as an independent curator and consultant. In July 2019, she was appointed Director of the Wellcome Collection, London as from October 2019. 

This portrait has been acquired by the National Portrait Gallery, London

"Women are underrepresented as directors of museums that collect and display Old Masters and older art, particularly prominent institutions with a large operating budget."

Emilie Gordenker (b. 1965, Princeton, NJ, US), a dual US-Dutch national, is Director of the Van Gogh Museum. Previously, she was Director of the Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis (2008- 2019). She earned her Ph.D. in 1998 from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, with a specialty in the history of seventeenth-century Dutch and Flemish art, the history of dress of that period and the artist Anthony van Dyck (dissertation, Van Dyck and the Representation of Dress in Seventeenth-Century Portraiture, published 2001). In New York, Emilie worked for the Met and the Frick Collection. She taught at several  colleges and the Bard Graduate Center. She moved to London in 1999, where she worked for companies providing new media solutions for museums and galleries and was appointed Senior Curator for Early Netherlandish, Dutch and Flemish Art at the National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh in 2003. At the Mauritshuis, she has led the major renovation and expansion of the museum, which was completed in June 2014.

“I realized the eternal power of bliss some works of art give us.”

Martine Gosselink (b. 1969, Utrecht, NL) is General Director of the Mauritshuis in The Hague since 1 April 2020. Martine has been active in the cultural field, particularly the museum sector. In 1995, she graduated in art history at the University of Amsterdam under Professor Ernst van de Wetering. In that same year she started -with a partner- her first venture: the art-historical consulting and research bureau Art & Culture. Six years later she founded the cultural collective De Nieuwe Collectie, with products such as exhibitions and publications for museums in the Netherlands, New York, Iran and Sri Lanka. From 2009 until 2020, she was Head of the History Department at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, with responsibility for the museum’s historical programming. In this capacity Martine was committed to the growth of the History Department, provenance research into the museum’s colonial collections, the publication of the eight-volume Country Series, changing terminology and interpreting the collection by means of multiple perspectives.

"Although the majority of the workforce in the sector are women working in different capacities, but there are still under represented in higher ranking jobs as CEOs and directors, particularly women from diverse backgrounds."

Armindokht Shooshtari (b. 1983, Teheran, Iran) is a Creative Producer, Curator and Specialist in photography from Iran and the Middle East. She received her B.A. in Photography from Islamic Azad University, Tehran and completed her M.A. in Photography at Nottingham Trent University. Her main curatorial interests include the relationship between political situations, artistic practice and everyday life in the context of contemporary art from the Middle East and North Africa, in Muslim countries and Muslim communities living in the West. She is driven to unearth stories that are overlooked due to various social and political factors, and to do this uses found and archival materials, personal histories and socio-political narratives. 

Photo dress created by Carla van de Puttelaar 

"Luckily over the last decenniums much research has been done on women artists. I hope these studies will result in art books and exhibitions that paint a more refined picture of male and female artists." 

Hanna Klarenbeek (b. 1981, Arnhem, The Netherlands) studied Art History at Utrecht University. In 2012, she finished her Ph.D. Penseelprinsessen & broodschilderessen. Vrouwen in de kunst 1808-1913 (Paintbrush princesses & professional paintresses), in which she examined the status and progress of Dutch female artists in the nineteenth century. In the same year, she curated the exhibition Paintbrush princesses for Het Loo Palace in Apeldoorn and The Mesdag Collection in The Hague. She has lectured on Art History at Radboud University, Nijmegen, and the University of Amsterdam. In 2015, she became the Curator of Paintings, Prints & Drawing for Het Loo Palace in Apeldoorn.

Haute Couture: Claes Iversen

"Fashion, music and art are three very strong channels for women to empower, to reinforce our communal vision towards a new femininity."

Iris van Herpen (b. 1984, Wamel, The Netherlands) is a Dutch fashion designer who creates women’s wear collections. Her designs incorporate unique treatments of material and the creation of completely new materials, often involving interdisciplinary research and collaborations with other artists. Iris studied Fashion Design at ArtEZ Institute of the Arts in Arnhem and interned at Alexander McQueen in London, and Claudy Jongstra in Amsterdam. In 2007, a year after graduating, she established her own label. She is a guest member of the Parisian Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture, part of the Fédération Française de la Couture. In 2017, Iris received the Johannes Vermeer Award, a prestigious Dutch state prize for the arts.

Haute Couture: Iris van Herpen

Photo assignment: The New Yorker

"I usually quote other, wiser, people on this. Guerrilla Girl ‘Frida Kahlo’ has said ‘unless all our voices are included in the history of art, it isn’t a history of art, it’s a history of power’. "

Zoé Whitley (b. 1979, Washington, DC, US) is Director of Chisenhale Gallery in London, prior to which she was Curator, International Art at Tate Modern and Senior Curator at the Hayward Gallery. She has conceived numerous site-specific artist commissions, film screenings and special projects internationally. Exhibitions to her credit include curating the 2019 British Pavilion at the Venice Biennale and co-curating the acclaimed Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power. Zoe earned her B.A at Swarthmore College, an M.A. from the Royal College of Art in the History of Design and a Ph.D. in Contemporary Art at University of Central Lancashire. Author of The Graphic World of Paul Peter Piech, she has also wrote written publications and interviews on Frank Bowling, Grace Wales-Bonner, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Lubaina Himid, Alexander McQueen, and Jack Whitten, among others. Zoé was named one of Apollo Magazine’s ‘40 Under 40 Thinkers in Europe’, and one of ArtLyst’s 2017 ‘100 Alternative Powerhouses’ in the not-for-profit contemporary art world.  

Dress: Tebe Magugu

"Nowadays, society is tending towards greater representativeness, but there is still a long way to go, not only in terms of representation in the art world but in many other sectors of society."

Marie du Chastel (b. 1984, Brussels, Belgium) is an art curator and expert in digital and new media art. She holds an MA in interactive media from the University of the Arts of London and an MA in advertising from IHECS Brussels. Since 2011, she has been working as the main curator of KIKK, a non-profit association based in Namur, Belgium, exploring the crossovers between art, science, technology, and society. She curates KIKK festival, an international festival of digital and creative cultures gathering 35,000 people every year in Namur. Marie is also the curator of Le Pavillon, an exhibition space which brings together artistic works, scientific research projects and technological innovations. Moreover, she runs KIKK's artistic production platform and residencies. Marie has been a member of the Digital Arts Commission of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation since 2014. In 2020, she was elected Francophone Woman of the Year 2020 by the AIMF.

"Today is a time for women to stand up for their rights. The artworld mirrors the status of women in society; now is the time for equality."

Alix Buisseret (b. 1993, Brussels, Belgium) is a PhD Candidate at Université de Genève in Switzerland. She joined the Swiss-based research group in 2021, after working at Musea Brugge, Bruges and the Flemish Art Collection, Ghent. She holds a B.A. in Art History from the Université Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium) and two M.A. 's from University of Kent (Canterbury) and Courtauld Institute of Art (London) in the same field. In her research, she focuses on XVth century manuscript paintings and the arts in the duchy of Savoy at the time of the duke Amedeo VIII.

'When I became a mother, I started to notice that people talk differently about fathers who are artists than they do about mothers who are artists.'

Irma Braat (b. 1971, Amsterdam, the Netherlands) is a visual artist. After a receiving a degree in Environmental Studies at the University of Amsterdam, a teacher’s degree in Biology (trained by Rien van Krieken), and a two-year training in various coaching and counseling techniques by Erika Stern and Diana Shmukler, she started to study at the Wackers Art Academy in Amsterdam at the age of 29. Irma paints portraits, interiors and models in oils and is a teacher at that same academy. She lives and works in Amsterdam or on request as an artist-in-residence or guest-teacher elsewhere. In 2017 she won the first Dutch Portrait Award (De Nederlandse Portretprijs) with a self-portrait together with her twin sister. Her two children play an important role in her paintings. Irma Braat has exhibited her work regularly, mainly in the Netherlands.

"There’s a definite lack of female energy in this world, it’s missing in politics, it’s missing in art... in everything. We’re in urgent need of empathy, something that women tend to convey more often."

Sofie Muller (b. 1974, Sint Niklaas, Belgium) lives and works in Ghent. She received master degrees in Painting from Academie Antwerp (1996) and  Graphics & Sculpture from Sint-Lucas Ghent (2002). Her complex oeuvre displays an ongoing, profound research of the human condition and the beauty of our individual vulnerability. She taps into the breaking point of the mind and body and portrays it in smoke drawings and sculptures in bronze or alabaster. Solo shows of the past four years include: Gallerie Michaela Stock, Vienna, Geukens & De Vil, Antwerp, Martin Kudlek, Cologne, Fondation Francès, Senlis, Biala galeria, Lublin, Poland, Odapark Venray, The Netherlands, Felix Art Drogenbos, Belgium, Projectos Monclova Mexico and  Fox Jensen Gallery Sydney. Group exhibitions of the past four years include: Bildraum Bodensee, Austria, Palazzo Fortuny, Venice, Royal Museum of Fine Arts Brussels,  Museum Ghent, Belgium, Museum Beelden aan Zee, The Netherlands, Gallery Maskara, Mumbai and Kunsthalle Nürnberg.

"I wish we were already past these questions so that what would really matter is the strength of the work itself regardless of the maker. Man woman, LGTBQ of any social or geographical background. We still have a long way to go but I’m seeing a real change so this makes me hopeful for the future."

Alexandra Leyre Mein (b. 1979, Brussels, Belgium) has an MA in fashion design from the Royal Academy of Antwerp. Several years later she switched to visual arts and became a sculptor. After having lived in Princeton and Brooklyn, USA, for six years, she moved back to Brussels, where she currently lives and works. Alexandra’s fragile, seemingly unfinished sculptures are characterised by the encounter of organic structures and pure, crystalline forms. The mineral flowing sculptures appear to have sprung from a piece of marble. The movement and tension emerging from the encounter between organic forms and clean edged shapes in her sculptures are reminiscent of our unconscious pulsions and the intellectual self. Her work has been exhibited, among other venues, in Palais d’IIéna, Paris, Stuk Leuven, Whitehouse Gallery, Aeroplastics, Maison Particulière, Botanique, Belgium and in New York at the Clemente Centre, New House Centre for Contemporary Art and Anton Kern Gallery.

"Many female artworks often radiate a sensuality to me, even though they consist of various materials. They radiate with fine sensitivity and a persistent character."

Joke Raes (b. 1983, Bruges, Belgium) is an artist who makes drawings, sculptures and installations. These seem to come about without any effort, but closer inspection reveals a dizzying level of detail: each work suggesting an obsession with the surface and all that lies beneath. In 2016, Joke finished the post-graduate Higher Institute of Fine Arts HISK. She developed some of her ceramic artworks as an artist in residence at Sundaymorning@EKWC, Oisterwijk and in Creative Residency Arita, Japan. Her works have been exhibited nationally and internationally in various exhibitions such as S.M.A.K., Ghent, DMW gallery, Antwerp (2021), Poortersloge, Bruges (2020), Whitehouse gallery, Lovenjoel, Belgium (2019), Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, The Netherlands, Belgian Embassy, Tokyo, Kyoto Art Center, Japan, Museum Dhondt  Dhaenens, Sint-Martens-Latem, Art Gallery de Mijlpaal, Knokke-Zoute, CWART, Knokke,  Belgium (2018), European Ceramic Work Center, Oisterwijk, The Netherlands (2017), Biennial Contemporary Art Moscow (2015) and, Vanhaerents Art Collection, Brussels (2013).

"To be a woman in academia demands using one’s whole self. You can’t really keep anything in reserve."

Marisa Anne Bass (b. 1981, Peoria, IL, US) is Professor in the History of Art at Yale University. She joined the Yale faculty in 2016, after teaching previously at Columbia University and Washington University in St. Louis. She holds a B.A. in Humanities from Yale and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard University in the History of Art. Her publications include Jan Gossart and the Invention of Netherlandish Antiquity, Insect Artifice: Nature and Art in the Dutch Revolt, and her forthcoming The Monument’s End: Public Art and the Modern Republic. She is also the co-author of Beyond Bosch: The Afterlife of a Renaissance Master in Print and Conchophilia: Shells, Art, and Curiosity in Early Modern Europe.

"When I started my career decades ago, nearly all the prominent professors and curators were men, and their attention was devoted almost entirely to male artists. It has been exciting to watch that balance gradually shifting. There is a difference now, not only in who studies and makes art but also in what questions we ask, and I think it is largely due to the increasingly strong voices of women in our field."

Stephanie S. Dickey (b. 1954, Fall River, MA, US) is Professor of Art History and Bader Chair in Northern Baroque Art at Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario. She joined Queen's in 2006 after teaching art history for twelve years at Herron School of Art and Design, Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis. She holds a B.A. in art history from Smith College and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, in the same field. She co-organized the exhibition Rembrandt in Amsterdam / Nennt mich Rembrandt shown at the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, and the Städel Museum, Frankfurt, in 2021-22, and co-edited the catalogue. Her other publications include the book Rembrandt: Portraits in Print and contributions to numerous edited volumes, journals, and exhibition catalogues.

"It is such an honor to be a part of Carla's ever-expanding documentation and celebration of women"

Tracy Gill (b. 1960, New York, NY, US) is an artist, writer and founder of Gill & Lagodich Fine Period Frames, New York (est. 1991), pre-eminent American framers for museums. She earned a B.A. in English and Fine Art from Hamilton College, NY.  She is a frame scholar and consultant to museums and private collectors. A curator of several period frame exhibitions, she authored the accompanying catalogues, has written numerous magazine articles, and lectures on the history of the picture frame at the nexus of fine art and decorative art. Previously, she held positions as senior editor and corporate promotion director, Hearst Magazines Division, New York. Book publications include Forget Me Nots: A Victorian Book of Love (1990) and American Art: Collecting and Connoisseurship (2020), as contributing author. 

Frames: Gill & Lagodich: @gillandlagodich

"At the age of five I visited The Pushkin Museum and I saw Matisse and his Pink Studio. This painting ultimately defined my future career."

Souria Sadekova (b. 1968, Moscow, Russia) is Head of Cultural and Exhibition Projects Department at The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts. She was the curator of the first retrospective of Chaim Soutine in Russia, as well as of the Origins of Cubism   and East West Jazz  exhibitions at the museum. She initially became an architect after studying at the Moscow Institute of Architecture. She then graduated from a College Universitaire at Moscow State University and  after that she received a scholarship from the French government for continue studies in France, where she received a DEA diploma in social and political history at University Paris X Nanterre. Her book My precious furniture was published in 2009 in Moscow. In 2020 her next book #Sundaydoggy. A dog for every cause  was published by the Slovo publishing house.

"I believe that projects like this one, that draw attention to the feminine and powerful side of the artworld, are most important in aiding us all to network together but also to highlight us as models for the younger generations who need to see us succeeding."

Loie DeVore (b. 1970, Boston, MA, US) cemented her interest in art history during a summer in Rome studying antiquities and the Baroque. Before graduating, she secured her first job with a gallery on Madison Avenue dealing in nineteenth-century American Art. While there, she met her former husband who ran the gallery across the street, The Alexander Gallery, which dealt in a wide and electric range of fine and decorative arts; she eventually became the gallery Director. Loie is now the Director for Programs in America for the Colnaghi Foundation whose mission is to cultivate present and future generations of museum patrons and board members to understand and share the goals of the institutions that they support. Loie is on the advisory boards of the American Friends of the Louvre and the Thomas Cole National Historic Site. She is also a private art advisor and museum consultant. 

Women are an infinite source of creativity and must be given opportunities to show their visions."

Estelle Onema (b. 1970, Nice, France) is an Art historian (M.A. Ecole du Louvre) and an independent curator with a long-lasting experience in exhibitions interpretation (modern and contemporary art, anthropology). In 2018 she took part in BISO Biennial, a new initiative showcasing contemporary sculpture in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Her curatorial practice is centering on emerging scenes and her research leads her towards less heard stories, past or present.

“Women in art, as anywhere else, can be just as good as men, or even better. Talent has no regard for gender.”

Talita Teves (b. 1977, The Hague, The Netherlands) spent much of her youth in the US where she was educated and graduated from college in 1997. Whilst studying law at Leiden University, Talita was introduced to the art auction world when she worked part-time for what is now AAG Auctioneers. Since then, Talita has become an experienced auctioneer and skilled art specialist, as well as owner and manager of said auction house. Based in Amsterdam, AAG Auctioneers specializes in international art and antiques, operating in the higher end market with more than 15 important sales annually, some in Asia. 

Haute Couture: Jan Taminiau

"...we have so much more to do to ensure women of colour, trans women, those with disabilities and those from different economic backgrounds are able to share this success. Awareness of intersectionality and wider equalities is growing all the time, but we are still very early on in the journey."

Beth Bate (b. 1977, Portsmouth, UK) is Director of Dundee Contemporary Arts in Scotland. She joined DCA in 2016 after ten years as Director of Great North Run Culture in Newcastle, England and a year’s Fellowship with the Clore Leadership Programme. She holds a B.A. in English with History of Art from the University of Birmingham and an M.A. in Museum Studies from the University of Leicester. Her publications include Mark Wallinger Mark, Clare Woods; Victim of Geography and David Austen: Underworld. She is a Trustee of Edinburgh Art Festival, a member of the British Council’s Scotland Advisory Committee, and and was a selector for the British Pavilion at the 2021 Venice Biennale with Sonia Boyce. 

"I would like to see more women in senior leadership positions, and more female artists represented – especially women from culturally diverse backgrounds. "

Renée Mussai (b. 1978, Bregenz, Austria) is a London-based curator and scholar. She is Senior Curator at Autograph, a London-based arts charity that advocates photography and film addressing cultural identity, representation and human rights. Renée has organized numerous solo and group exhibitions, including the internationally touring gallery installations Black Chronicles (2014 -2018) and Zanele Muholi: Somnyama Ngonyama (2017-2021). A regular guest curator and former fellow at Harvard University’s  Hutchins Center and current Research Associate at VIAD Research Centre, University of Johannesburg, she lectures internationally on photography, curatorial activism and visual culture. Her publications include James Barnor: Ever Young, Glyphs: Acts of Inscription, Lina Iris Viktor: Some Are Born To Endless Night – Dark Matter, and the forthcoming Black Chronicles: Photography, ‘Race’ & Difference in Victorian Britain. She studied at the University of Vienna, the University of Arts, London, and is currently completing her doctoral thesis in art history at University College London. 

Elizabeth M. (Betty) Eveillard (b. 1947, Boston, MA, US) worked in New York City after graduating from Smith College. She received an M.B.A. at Harvard and then returned to New York City to pursue a career in investment banking. After 30 years working primarily at Lehman Brothers and PaineWebber, she retired in 2003. Within months of retirement Betty was asked to join both for-profit and non-profit boards. In the non-profit area she eventually attained the role of Board Chair of the Glimmerglass Opera in Cooperstown, NY, and later was named Chair of the Smith College Board of Trustees. After retiring from the Smith College board, she was invited to join the Frick Collection board and now serves as its Chairman. She also serves on the boards of the Metropolitan Opera, the Kress Foundation, Master Drawings and the Friends of Chantilly. Betty and her husband collect drawings. 

"I have been blessed to work in art institutions lead by strong and visionary women. In my experience, these women help facilitate an especially humane and respectful professional culture."

Wendy Gers (b. 1971 Paarl, South Africa) is a curator and consultant. She is Curator of Modern and Contemporary Ceramics at Princessehof National Ceramics Museum (Netherlands) and Founder of Ceramics Coach and Clean Green Ceramics. Wendy has directed exhibitions in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia, including Biennales in China and Taiwan. Her Biennales have been viewed by over 1 million visitors. Recent publications include Scorched Earth: A Century of Southern African Ceramics (2015), Cont{r}act Earth: Catalogue of the First Cental China International Ceramics Biennale (2017), Terra Nova: Catalogue of the Taiwan Ceramics Biennale (2014) and a chapter in The Ceramics Reader (2017). Wendy Gers is the recipient of a BA in Art History and Classical Civilisation; Advanced University Diploma in Information Studies, and MA in History of Art (cum laude) from University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. She received her PhD from University of Sunderland. 

Piia Ausman (b. 1969, Tallinn, Estonia) is a Curator and Art Gallery Owner in Tallinn Estonia, She is known in Estonia as a leading gallerist and a curator, art exhibitions and art projects consultant, and consultant of private and corporations art collections. She graduated in 1995 from the Cultural Academy of Viljandi, Estonia (Humanities University, Faculty of Theatre). Piia is currently working as the manager in a self-established Estonian leading fine art gallery and auction house - Haus Gallery www.haus.ee (since 1997) and as a manager and a board member in the international art enterprise Art-Life project, (the branch of art enterprise of Switzerland, Zürich since 2011). Piia Ausman is additionally known as a writer, publishing poetry, children books, and articles and essays of art. The Children books with psychological and pedagogical stories for kids Important things  (2009) and Stories of Anna 2020) were awarded among the 25 best designed books of the year in Estonia.

Women give life. Also in art!

Raquel van Haver (b. 1989, Bogota, Colombia) is an artist who lives and works in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. In 2012 she graduated from the HKU, Fine Arts, Utrecht. Raquel has had various solo exhibitions in the Netherlands and abroad, such as ‘Spirits of the Soil’, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (2018-2019), ‘De Scheffer’, Dordrechts Museum (2017) and ‘Dilirium’, Jack Bell Gallery, London (2019). In 2018 she won the prestigious Dutch Royal Prize for Painting. Raquel van Haver refers to her work as ‘loud’ paintings that sympathetically portray people on the fringes of society. She works on burlap, combining oil paint, charcoal, resin, hair, paper, tar and ash in heavily textured compositions. The paintings explore race and identity, drawing from African, Western, Caribbean and Latin American cultures within her community in the South-East of Amsterdam.

"When I was a student there were (still!) not so many female professors and it took quite some time to discover possible positive 'role models'. This is long ago, but to bring in more women and to diversify the art world is still an ongoing project even though the awareness is so much higher of how crucial this is."

Angela Matyssek (b. 1971, Stadtoldendorf, Germany) is Professor of History and Theory of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste Dresden. She joined HfBK Dresden in 2019, after guest professorships in Munich (LMU), Berlin (HU) and Stuttgart (Univ.) and she was an assistant curator at Kunstmuseum Stuttgart. She holds a PhD in Art History from HU Berlin and did her postdoctoral qualification at Philipps-University Marburg in the same field. Her research focuses on conservation and restoration of modern and contemporary art, photography, museums, art handling and on art academies and emerging artists' careers.

"Although there is still a long way to go, today, women exercise their right to express who they are, how they feel about themselves and about the world. " 

Joana Choumali (b. 1974, Abidjan, Ivory Coast) is visual artist based in Abidjan. She studied graphic arts in Casablanca (Morocco) and worked as an art director in an advertising agency before embarking on her photography career. She works mainly on conceptual photography and mixed media. Much of her work focuses on Africa, and what she learns about the innumerable cultures around her. Her work allows her to explore the assumptions she has and nurtured her world views. Her 2014 work, Hââbré, the Last Generation, documents the last generation of scarified Africans. Joana has exhibited her work at many venues around the world. In 2014, she won the POPCAP14 International Photography Award and the Emerging Photographer LensCulture Award. In 2016, she received the Magnum Emergency Grant Foundation, and the Fourthwall Books Award in South Africa. In 2019 Joana won the Prix Pictet for her recent series "ça va aller..." (it will be OK) (2016-2019).

“Women had to battle and struggle to find their way and make a career in arts. Some of them only got their breakthrough at the end of their life. However, things are changing and many women artists are now present in gallery and museum shows all over the world. I sincerely look with confidence to my further development as a woman artist.”

Denitsa Todorova (b. 1984, Plovdiv, Bulgaria) is an artist who is represented by DMW Gallery Antwerp and Ballroom Gallery Brussels. She did a masters in painting at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Antwerp, and a bachelor in Stage Design at the New Bulgarian University Sofia, Bulgaria. She exhibited at numerous art fairs and galleries throughout Europe, including Art Rotterdam (2021, 2020, 2018), Art on Paper (Brussels, 2019) and the STRABAG Art Foundation (Vienna, 2017). Denitsa won various prizes, including the Recognition Award from STRABAG Art Award International (2017) and the Drawing Prize Ronse (2014 and 2015). She has also been nominated for multiple awards, including the FID drawing prize Paris  (2017) and the Art Contest  2016. Her works were also shown in Museum M Leuven. In 2021, Denitsa Todorova published the monograph Phosphenes  (seeings stars) with Stockmans Art Books, Belgium.

"Women are emerging more and more in leadership positions in the art world, and I find that quite thrilling to watch. The balance is changing and is truly something to celebrate."

Maryan Kay Wynn Ainsworth (b. 1949, El Dorado, KS, US), Curator of European Paintings, Metropolitan Museum of Art, attended Oberlin College and Yale University for her B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. degrees, specializing in Northern Renaissance art, especially Netherlandish. Early on in her career, and quite by chance, she became involved in projects at the Metropolitan Museum of Art that united the fields of art history, painting conservation, and scientific investigation. This totally hooked her, and she has since been a leader in the relatively new field of technical art history. In her exhibitions, articles, books and long adjunct teaching career at Barnard College and Columbia University, Maryan has been constantly thrilled by the opportunity to engage directly with art objects and to convey that enthusiasm to others.

“I have enjoyed  being part of this project because it celebrates the strength, breath and diversity of hundreds of women from a wide range of backgrounds, nationalities, careers and expertise within the broader art industry.”

Pilar Ordovas (b. 1972, Madrid, Spain) holds an M.A. in Art History from The University of Edinburgh and the Autonomous University of Madrid. After 13 years at Christie’s, where she was International Director and Deputy Chairman, Post-War and Contemporary Art in Europe, and two years as a Director of Gagosian, London, she founded her eponymous gallery in 2011, with a focus on the best of twentieth-century and contemporary art she presents museum-quality exhibitions in both London and New York. Pilar has organized exhibitions in conjunction with a number of leading institutions, including The Courtauld Institute of Art and Dulwich Picture Gallery in London, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and The Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City, MO. Pilar has been a member of the Art Council’s Acceptance in Lieu Panel since 2012. In 2019 the show Peggy Guggenheim and London was on display in her gallery. 

"The changes in women’s rights and education since the mid-20th Century has brought in great women artists...creative, daring and unbound by tradition."

Mee-Seen Loong (b. 1948, Kuala Lumpur, Malaya) has played a key role in the field of Chinese art for over 40 years. She earned her B.A. in Art History from Wellesley College and her M.A. in Far Eastern Art from Columbia University. Her long career at Sotheby’s has included the roles of Managing Director of Sotheby’s Hong Kong and Vice-Chairman, Chinese Art and Asian Paintings worldwide. She is now a director of INKstudio, a gallery based in Beijing, and remains a consultant to Sotheby’s, providing art advisory services to collectors, corporations and museums worldwide, as well as representation and promotion of contemporary ink artists and ceramicists.

"The art world, artists, dealer, trade, museums, art historians, nowadays it is a place where women increasingly have an important role, although high positions still often go to men. The female aspect has made it less elite."

Carol Pottasch (b. 1958, Boulder, Colorado, US) is Paintings Conservator of Old Master Paintings at the Mauritshuis, The Hague.  She joined the Mauritshuis in 1990, after two years at the conservation studio of the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem and an extended internship at The Hamilton Kerr Institute in Cambridge. She holds a B.A. and a M.A. in Art History from the University of Groningen. She has published on the painting technique of a broad variety of artists, such as the Early Netherlandish Rogier van der Weyden, Dutch seventeenth century Johannes Vermeer, Frans Van Mieris, and Rembrandt, and eighteenth century Pellegrini and Adriaen Coorte.   

Fabrics: Rubelli

"the persistence of gender inequality undermines the potential of humanity." 

Lisa Anderson (b. 1979, London, UK) holds a First Class B.Sc. Econ. in International Relations from Aberstywth University and an M.A. in Theory and Practice of Human Rights from Essex University. She is on the advisory board for Addis Fine Art and Uchenna Dance Company. In 2015 she founded 'Black British Art’, an arts social media platform, which she has since incorporated as an arts business, Black British Arts Limited. She has curated several shows and in 2017 was selected for the International Curators Forum emerging curator programme ’Beyond the Frame', which complemented the first Diaspora Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. She has since established an international arts advisory, Lisa Anderson Arts Advisory.

"It is great that more works by women artists are exhibited, published and visible today. But there is still a lot of work that needs to be done."

Lena Fritsch (b. Cologne, Germany) is the inaugural Curator of Modern & Contemporary Art at the Ashmolean Museum Oxford. She also lectures at the University of Oxford. She was previously a curator at Tate Modern, London and began her curatorial career at the National Museums in Berlin. She holds a Ph.D. in Art History from Bonn University and also studied at Keio University, Tokyo. Her publications include the monographs Ravens & Red Lipsticks: Japanese Photography since 1945 (2018) and The Body as a Screen: Japanese Art Photography of the 1990s (2011), and a wide range of exhibition catalogues, such as Tokyo: Art & Photography (2021), A.R. Penck: I think in Pictures (2019), Ibrahim El-Salahi: A Sudanese Artist in Oxford (2018), and Giacometti (2017).

'...women take on more and more important roles in the arts as this sector is always leading the way. A kind of a premonition or cultural seismograph."

Candida Gertler (b. 1967, Frankfurt am Main, Germany) co-founded the philanthropic organization Outset Contemporary Art Fund in 2003. The foundation focuses on strategic private-public partnerships to further contemporary art practice from the grassroots to the established. It supports a wide range of projects from the revival of fig-2 (50 projects in 50 weeks at the ICA) to the Outset Frieze Tate Fund, which saw the acquisition of 100 works of art by emerging artists to join Tate’s permanent collection. Candida served as an Executive Member of the Tate International Council for more than a decade. She is the recipient of the 2010 Mont Blanc Award for Arts Patronage and was awarded an OBE for services to Contemporary Visual Arts and Arts Philanthropy in Her Majesty’s 2015 Birthday Honours List. Alongside the Mayor of London, Candida co-found Studiomakers, an initiative to retain existing and set up new affordable studios for creatives in London. 

Sabrina Meloni (b. 1970, Gouda, The Netherlands) is a Paintings Conservator at the Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis, The Hague. She started working there in 2003. She holds an M.A. in Art History from Leiden University where she wrote her Master thesis on the transition from tempera to oil paint in Quattocento Florence. She continued with a post graduate training program in Paintings Conservation at the Limburg Conservation Institute (SRAL) in Maastricht. At the Mauritshuis she does research and conservation treatment of  seventeenth century Dutch old master paintings. She has a strong interest in technical research, degradation phenomena, conservation history and the public outreach of conservation. One of the her most studied artists is the Dutch Genre painter Jan Steen on which she published several articles.  

"The art world has been white male dominated for so long it's maddening. But the work is being done, the battles being won, the gatekeepers are shifting, and I'm hopeful."

Phoebe Boswell (b. 1982, Nairobi, Kenya) is an artist who lives and works in London and mixes draftswomanship with digital technologies to tell diasporic stories. Phoebe studied at the Slade School of Art and Central St Martins. She was 2019's Bridget Riley Drawing Fellow at the British School at Rome, a Ford Foundation Fellow, and is represented in the US by Sapar Contemporary, New York. Her work has been widely exhibited both in the UK and abroad, and has screened at Sundance, the London Film Festival, LA Film Festival, Blackstar, Underwire, British Animation Awards, and CinemAfrica amongst others. She participated in the Göteborg International Biennial of Contemporary Art 2015, the Biennial of Moving Images 2016 at the Centre d'Art Contemporain in Geneva, and received the Future Generation Art Prize's Special Prize in 2017. Recent solo presentations include The Space Between Things at Autograph, London and Here at Göteborgs Konsthall, Sweden. 

"The time has definitely come for women to exert their influence in this world, as they have a crucial perspective to offer."

Renée Price (b. Vienna, Austria) first studied at the University of Vienna, then received a B.A. from Barnard College, and an M.A. from Columbia University, both in Art History. Renée began her career as Curatorial Assistant at the National Gallery of Australia. Upon returning to the US, she was Director of the Serge Sabarsky Gallery and then the North American representative for Villa Grisebach auction house. In 1997, she began serving as Founding Director of the Neue Galerie New York, Museum for German and Austrian Art. To date, this museum has organized more than 30 major international exhibitions, each with an accompanying scholarly catalogue. Renée is the editor of New Worlds:  German and Austrian Art 1890-1940, as well as of the catalogues for major exhibitions devoted to Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele. She is on the board of trustees for the International Friends of the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna. 

"I hope we see a near future with more women directing the best museums across the world, and with even more representation at the top levels in galleries and fairs, as well as female artists breaking records at the auction houses."

Maria Golovteeva (b. 1990, Moscow, Russia) obtained a B.A. in Economics from Moscow State Institute of International Relations. She is holds a Ph.D. in Art History from the University of St. Andrews with her dissertation Fernand Khnopff: art and photography in the nineteenth century. She works at Sotheby's in London. 

"Having followed Carla’s work I enjoyed meeting her and to see her transform the image I see of myself in the mirror into something else capturing my personality through her lens."

Katrin Bellinger (b. 1958, Cologne, Germany) set up her Kunsthandel in 1985 focusing on dealing in old master and nineteenth-century drawings. After regularly holding exhibitions with accompanying catalogues in London and New York, she became a partner at Colnaghi’s in 2002. The gallery kept a busy exhibition schedule and participated in up to half a dozen art fairs annually, including TEFAF Maastricht and the Salon du Dessin. Privately, Katrin built a collection focusing on the subject ‘The Artist at Work’ in drawings, prints, paintings, photography and sculpture. The collection has grown to over a thousand pieces and works have been exhibited at the Sir John Soane Museum and the Courtauld Gallery. After selling Colnaghi in 2015, Katrin, now known under her married name Katrin Henkel, became a trustee of the National Gallery and is also a trustee at the Tate. Through the Tavolozza Foundation, she supports projects in the arts, particularly those focused on works on paper. 

"I want to teach my son Orlando that women should not have to choose between family and career ever again and that everyone’s rights should be the same. I believe that women have huge responsibilities and we have to cultivate our courage and feel grateful for our strength and instinct."

Antonella Dellepiane Pescetto (b. 1991, Genoa, Italy) is the founder and creative director of Tessiore Publishing, where its first editorial project is Orlando Tales, a biannual magazine about arts and culture, structured like an imaginary Hotel. This structure is a tale itself, like the Decameron’s frame in Boccaccio. Orlando owes its name to the Orlando Furioso of Ludovico Ariosto and to Virginia Woolf’s Orlando. At the heart of each issue, there is the editorial part which reinterprets a masterpiece of literature through images and a short art movie. Antonella has a master’s degree in Modern Literature from Genoa and a MA in Art and Culture Management from Venice. She studied violin at the Conservatorio Paganini in Genoa and is a sommelier AIS. 

Fabrics: Rubelli

"Women hold a hallowed position in the art World in terms of being the subject matter of artistic exploration, and in conceptual dialogue for artists, but are under-represented in positions of global art industry leadership. This must change."

Jennifer Ewah (b. 1978, Kaduna, Nigeria) originates from the former Benin Kingdom, the West African kingdom. The daughter of two medical doctors who moved to the UK when Jennifer was a baby, she is Founder and Creative Director of award winning socially sustainable luxury jewellery brand, Eden Diodati. who partners with a Rwandan social cooperative numbering 5,000 female artisans, who survived the genocide. Embracing elevated design and a luxury aesthetic, the jewels are hand-worked, ethically, by master weavers, a group of women of the highest level of craftsmanship skill and creative sensibility. Jennifer is also an Oxford University educated lawyer, initially practizing with a leading international law firm in the City of London, before moving into legal practice within commerce and industry. Having held various senior positions in a legal capacity whilst juxtaposing creation direction of the brand, including with L'Oréal and the BBC, Eden Diodati is Jennifer's impactful marriage of the two symbiotic twin pursuits of her life; social justice and art and design.

"I’m heartened to see more women appointed to leadership positions in the arts."

Daniëlle Kisluk-Grosheide (b. 1958, The Hague, The Netherlands) is the Henry R. Kravis Curator in the Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. As  a long-time member of the Department she has been involved in multiple exhibitions and gallery installations. Most recently she was the co-organizer of the Visitors to Versailles exhibition which was held both at the château de Versailles and the Met in 2017-2018. See holds a B.A. from the Free University of Amsterdam and a M.A. from the State University in Leyden with a specialization in the decorative arts. She has lectured and written widely about different aspects of the arts and truly loves sharing her enthusiasm with others.

"It is becoming increasingly frequent that women are occupying more senior positions in museums these days. However, in my curatorial department (Sculpture, Metalwork, Ceramics & Glass) I am the first female Keeper since the 1940s, though the gender balance on the V&A’s Senior Management Team is more evenly balanced."

Antonia Boström (b. 1957, London, UK) gained her degrees from the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, and began her museum career at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1980, before moving into art publishing at the Grove Dictionary of Art in 1985.  After completing her Ph.D. in 1995, she returned to curatorial work at the Royal Academy of Art, before moving to the US where she worked in art museums for nearly 20 years. This included working in the European Sculpture and Decorative Arts department at the Detroit Institute of Arts (1996-2004), and as Senior Curator and Head of the Sculpture & Decorative Arts department at the J. Paul Getty Museum (2004-2013). In 2013, Antonia was appointed Director of Curatorial Affairs at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, returning to the V&A in 2016 as Keeper of Sculpture, Metalwork, Ceramics & Glass. Presently, she is Director of Collections at the V&A. 

"Women in the art world are simply not represented enough across the board. I would like to see more women, full stop. Whether that is as artists whose work is featured in the permanent collections and on the walls of museums and galleries, or as women engaging in roles and positions of authority at art institutions, we need to see more of them. Their voices are vital."

Anne Lyden (b. 1972, Alexandria, UK) studied art history at the University of Glasgow, and then completed her postgraduate studies at Leicester University before taking up a curatorial position in the department of Photographs at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles in 1995, where she curated numerous exhibitions. She is the author of several related publications, including Railroad Vision: Photography, Travel and Perception (2003), The Photographs of Frederick H. Evans(2010) and A Royal Passion: Queen Victoria and Photography  (2014). In 2013, Anne returned to Scotland as International Photography Curator at the National Galleries of Scotland, where she remains today. From late 2022 through 2023 she was Co-Director for Collection & Research and from January 2024 she assumed the role of Director-General at National Galleries of Scotland. Previously she was Chief Curator for the photography collection at NGS, which consists of approximately 55,000 photographs dating from the 1840s to the present day. Among her projects is the exhibition and accompanying publication, A Perfect Chemistry: The Photographs of Hill & Adamson (2017). 

"Women should never be underestimated."

Roxana Halls (b. 1974, Plaistow, UK) has held several solo exhibitions including at The National Theatre, Beaux Arts Bath Gallery and with Hayhill Gallery in Mayfair. Her work has been exhibited at numerous group shows including the BP Portrait Award, the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition and the Ruth Borchard Self Portrait Competition. Roxana has been the recipient of several awards, including the Villiers David Prize, The Discerning Eye Founder's Purchase Prize, The Derwent Special Prize and the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Award. Her work is held in numerous private and public collections in the UK and internationally. She has written articles for and has been featured in many leading art magazines and in conversation for BBC Radio 4's ‘Only Artists’. Her commissions include Alan Grieve CBE, Chairman of the Jerwood Foundation, Debbie Bliss MBE, John Simopoulos, Emeritus Professor and for BBC Arts. Roxana is Contemporary Portrait course leader at The Art Academy, London. 

"I think women shall develop skills beyond art and develop wisdoms that can transcend this profession." 

Xiaoming Zhang (b. 1969, Shanghai, China) moved to the US where she graduated from New York University, Tisch School of the Arts (M.A.) and Stern School of Business (M.B.A.). She was awarded the Helena Rubinstein Curatorial Fellowship at the Whitney Museum of American Art Independent Study Program in 2000. She was curatorial fellow for China: 5,000 Years, a monumental exhibition at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in 1998 where she was also a curator for Dawn: Early Chinese Cinema. Zhang was Vice President, Worldwide Senior Specialist, Head of Asian Modern and Contemporary Art sales at Sotheby’s New York. In 2006, she was honoured as one of the top-ten in the art world in Asia by CANS and by Art Asia Pacific: Almanac 2007. In China, she worked for China Guardian and Poly, China’s top auction houses. She is the founder of W. Ming, an advisory service for global business, culture and art. 

"I was curious how Carla would succeed in portraying me. She did well! I love the photo."

Sylvia Maria Elisabeth Willink-Quiël (b. 1944, Amsterdam, The Netherlands) is a Dutch painter and sculptor. She was the fourth and last wife of the Dutch painter Carel Willink. Sculptures by Sylvia Willink are included in the collection ABN-AMRO, PGGM in Zeist and the Literature Museum in The Hague.

"From leaders, to artists, to curators, to collectors, women play a powerful part in the future of the art world."

Jen Zatorski (b. 1970, Watchung, NJ, US) graduated from Connecticut College and began a summer internship at Christie’s in 1992, where she has been, ever since. Over the past 27 years, Jen has held various senior leadership roles in Finance, Commercial Office and Business Management. In her previous role as President, Specialist Art departments, she oversaw the global expansion of all categories over the company’s auction, private and online sales platforms. In 2018, Jen assumed her current position as President, Christie’s North and South America. 

"When we had to develop a new brochure for the museum I made a selection of the works I wanted to show. Months later I realised there were only portraits of women to be seen. After centuries of men having been to the forefront it was a breath of fresh air!"

Manon Borst (b. 1964, Soesterberg, The Netherlands) is Director of Museum Martena in Franeker. She studied art history at the University of Groningen and majored in modern art. After working at the natural history museum in Leeuwarden she became director of Museum Martena in 2005, a historic town house in the centre of the former university town Franeker.

“I’m proud to work at an institution directed by a woman—one of the few to lead a major encyclopaedic museum. The tide is turning and I think—I hope—we will be seeing even more women move into positions of power and leadership within the art world. We have seen more museums collecting and exhibiting the work of female artists, and having more women in positions to make these crucial decisions will ensure this trend continues.”

Lisa Small (b. New York, NY, US) grew up in Woodstock, NY. She received her B.A. in Art History from Colgate University, an M.A. in Arts Administration from New York University, and an M.A. and M.Phil. in Art History from the City University of New York. She has taught art history and the history of photography at Hunter College, Brooklyn College, and the School of Visual Arts. Currently, she is Senior Curator of European Art at the Brooklyn Museum where she has organized exhibitions ranging from Killer Heels: The Art of the High-Heeled Shoe  to Rembrandt to Picasso: Five Centuries of European Works on Paper. She also coordinated the Museum’s presentations of Georgia O’Keeffe: Living Modern and Frida Kahlo: Appearances Can Be Deceiving. Previously, she was a Senior Curator of Exhibitions at the American Federation of Arts and a curator at the Dahesh Museum of Art. 

"The profound contributions of women to the arts throughout history—as museum directors, curators, collectors, gallerists, historians, philanthropists, and of course as artists—cannot be overstated. "

Carrie Rebora Barratt (b. 1959, Chicago, IL, US) received a B.A. from the University of Illinois, an M.A. in Art History from UCLA, and a Ph.D. from The City University of New York. In 1984, she began her 34-year career at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she worked as a curator and transitioned from research and scholarship to governance and administration, serving from 2009 as Deputy Director, leading visitor-focused, mission-aligned initiatives during a transformational period in the Met’s history. In July 2018, she became the ninth CEO and President of The New York Botanical Garden, the first woman to hold the position. She brings her experience and focus to NYBG’s permanent collections, and to the special exhibitions program, to guide and integrate science, horticulture, and education, supporting one holistic mission as stewards of the plants of the world. 

"A series of events – positive and negative – of the past few years have contributed to bringing women together and have encouraged mutual support, often through mentoring and collaboration, all welcome developments.

 Anne Varick Lauder (b. 1969, New York, NY, US) has held curatorial positions at the J. Paul Getty Museum, the New York Public Library, the Morgan Library and the Louvre.  She was awarded her Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge in 2004 for her comprehensive monograph on Battista Franco (c.1510-1561). Her articles on Italian Renaissance drawings, prints, paintings and twentieth-century photography have appeared in The Burlington Magazine, Master Drawings and elsewhere, and she has contributed to numerous museum catalogues. Her major book, in the series of Inventaires published by the Louvre, Dessins Italiens du Musée du Louvre: Battista Franco, appeared in 2009, in conjunction with the first-ever exhibition on the artist, which she guest-curated. In 2015 Anne co-curated Drawn from the Antique: Artists & the Classical Ideal at the Teylers Museum and Sir John Soane’s Museum. Curator of the Katrin Bellinger collection from 2007 to 2016,  Anne is now Curator and Senior Advisor to the Bern Schwartz Family Foundation. Fabrics: Watts of Westminster

"I loved being able to be part of the movement of women taking their rightful place in the art world on both the creative and administrative sectors. It is so great this movement is being documented in this series of portraits."

Dianne Dwyer Modestini (b. 1946, Boston, MA, US) earned a B.A. in Art History from Barnard College in 1968 and received an M.A. in the Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works from the State University of New York in 1973. In 2017, the degree of Doctor of Humanities, honoris causa, was conferred by Fairfield University. She was on the staff of the Paintings Conservation department of the Metropolitan Museum from 1974 to 1987, and since 1988 has taught at the Conservation Center of the Institute of Fine Arts, NYU, where she founded and is in charge of the Kress Program in Paintings Conservation. She is a specialist in the technical study and restoration of old master paintings, particularly Italian, and recently restored Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi. She is on the board of the Roberto Longhi Foundation in Florence. 

Joanna Mastroianni (b. 1958, Nisyros, Greece) was raised in New York City, US. She holds a B.A. in fashion design from FIT. Joanna opened her atelier in 1988, and Bergdorf Goodman was the first to carry her collection. Her work has been featured in various films, including Sex and the City 2, and Bonfire of the Vanities. Her design philosophy is to create beautiful garments as art forms that are collectible. 

'I would hope art could be gender free.'

Frances Middendorf (b. 1954, New York, NY, US) is a painter who lives in Italy and teaches drawing at the Rome Art Program. Frances attended the Rhode Island School of Design (B.F.A.), School of Visual Arts, NYC (M.F.A.) and the New York Studio School. The Denise Bibro Gallery represents her work and in November 2018, she exhibited with the painter Carole Robb in New York City. Frances is currently painting portraits of people who are contributing innovative work in the study of olfaction and the sense of smell, and working with a scent artist on a series of exhibits in historic architectural sites in the Veneto region of Italy. She is publishing the book Sul Belbo with 30 drawings accompanying the poetry of the Italian author, Cesare Pavese. Frances credits her knowledge of drawing to her artist and art collector father, J.W. Middendorf. 

"I feel like we are living in exciting times for women and things are changing. More women are moving into positions of power and we are having this conversation frequently. Women are joining forces to create positive change everywhere. I feel positive about the future for women in art."

Adelaide Damoah (b. 1976, London, UK) is an artist of Ghanaian descent working at the intersection of painting and performance within the context of diaspora, migration, belonging and memory. She graduated with an honours degree in Applied Biology from Kingston University, London, and she worked in the pharmaceutical industry before taking the decision to follow her passion for art in 2005. She was diagnosed with endometriosis in 2000 and battling constant recurring pain, art was a refuge and a healing tool for her. Her diagnosis caused her to re-evaluate her life. Adelaide is a founding member of the BBFA Collective (Black British Female Artists Collective) and has exhibited in the UK, Hungary, Venice, USA, Dakar, Lagos, and Morocco. She is represented by MTArt Agency in London.

“We are growing and getting stronger but there is a long way to go. I hope in the future more women will create big works of art in public spaces!”

Nynke Koster (b. 1986, Haastrecht, The Netherlands) is an artist who graduated in 2013 from the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague, The Netherlands. Her work balances on the border between design and autonomous art. It is about memories and space that she casts in a very special rubber. She makes molds in unique spaces, of structures of buildings, interiors and from bodies. She takes parts of these embracing places with her as her 3D memories. She translates these casts into new self-contained works of art. Her works are exhibited all over the world, from Art Miami in Miami to Mad Museum in Singapore, from Teien Art Museum in Tokyo and has had various commissions in the Netherlands. She is represented by Torch Gallery in Amsterdam, NL and LMAKgallery in New York, US.

Denise Murrell (b. New York, NY, US) is Associate Curator for nineteenth and twentieth century art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She was raised in Gastonia, NC. Denise is the curator and author of the catalogue of Posing Modernity: The Black Model from Manet and Matisse to Today at the Wallach Art Gallery (2018-2019), based on her 2014 Ph.D. dissertation at Columbia University, and co-curator of its expansion, Le Modèle Noir de Géricault à Matisse, at the Musée d’Orsay, Paris (2019), and co-author of the Modèle Noir  catalogue. She has taught art history at Columbia University in New York and in Paris. She received an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a  B.Sc. degree from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, after which she worked for over 25 years in finance and consulting, ending as managing director of Institutional Investor Research Group, Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC (1995-2005). Since 2014, Denise been a Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Research Scholar at Columbia University in the City of New York. 

Fabrics: Rubelli Venezia

"There are still many things to be done to reach equal exposure, equal responsibilities and equal pay for women in the art world. I'm convinced that everyone at her/his own scale can work towards a better shared future. Women deserve it!"

Elisa Moris Vai (b. 1988, Paris, France) is a french emerging artist working with lens-based media, who produce research-driven work. Her practice is characterized by the inventive use of performative strategies and the intersection of documentary and fiction. History, memory, and social representations are at the core of her work. Elisa’s work has been shown in venues across Europe. Her first solo show, curated by Pelumi Odubanjo was on view at Maison Française, Oxford in fall 2021. Most recently, she co-convened the conference Women, Memory, Transmission. Postcolonial perspectives from the Arts & Literature held at the Maison Française, Oxford with keynote speaker Deborah Willis. She has an M.A. in Performing Arts (Free University of Brussels / Free University of Berlin) and a B.A. in Photography (EFET School of Photography, Paris). She is an assistant teacher in Fine Arts at the University of Lille.

"I know what I need to do and what my goals are."

Angela Choon (b. 1966, Taipei, Taiwan) moved to London as a baby and lived in the UK until she was 16, moving back to London again in 2012. She is a Senior Partner at global contemporary gallery David Zwirner, which has spaces in New York, London and Hong Kong. She studied art history and Painting at the University of Texas, Austin, and at the Art Institute of Chicago, before continuing her studies at New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts. Angela has over 30 years’ expertise in the art world and oversees the London, European and Asian initiatives and programming of the gallery, providing guidance on exhibitions at major institutions, international art fairs, biennales and much more. She manages The Estate of On Kawara, Luc Tuymans, Chris Ofili, Kerry James Marshall, Thomas Ruff, Lucas Arruda and Bridget Riley. 

"I have experienced myself that it is not easy to initiate any changes in the circles and associations that are still dominated by men."

Ricarda Fox (b. 1950, Essen, Germany) has been a gallery owner for contemporary art since 1993. She has studied sculpture and painting at the Düsseldorf State Art Academy and has obtained an M.A. in art history and pedagogy at the Ruhr University in Bochum. In 1980, she founded a painting and creative school for children from the age of 3, which she ran until founding her gallery in 1993. 

Deborah Swallow (b. 1948, Rotherham, UK) holds a B.A. in English Literature and Social Anthropology from New Hall College, Cambridge, and a Ph.D. in Social Anthropology from the Darwin College, Cambridge. Since 2004, she has been Märit Rausing Director of The Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London, the world’s foremost academic centre for art history and conservation of paintings, with an exceptional gallery and collection at its heart. Deborah spent fifteen years at the V&A, culminating her tenure as Director of Collections and Keeper, Asian department (2001-2004).  

"I am delighted that women are rising to senior roles in the art world and that female artists are being taken seriously. There is still huge inequality and women have to keep on pushing to be taken seriously and perceived as equal to their male counterparts."

Katy Barron (b. 1968, London, UK) is a curator and photographs specialist. She studied Art History at the Courtauld Institute and Oxford University after which she worked as a curator at the National Museum of Wales, Cardiff and the Royal Collection. Katy’s interest in photography led her to change course, firstly working at London photography gallery and then as a freelance curator and advisor, focussing exclusively upon photography. Katy is Chair of of the Board of Photofusion, a member of the board of Photo Oxford and a member of the Maud Sulter Advisory Board. She has curated numerous exhibitions in the UK and abroad and works with artists, Estates, collectors and museums.

"Fortunately, there is more and more room for art in healthcare because people realize that other values ​​are also needed. We are dealing with people and people are sensitive beings."

Sabrina Kamstra (b. 1957, Rotterdam, The Netherlands) is curator and head of Art Affairs at Amsterdam UMC (University medical centre). She studied art history in Groningen and Amsterdam. Sabrina is responsible for both the art collection of Amsterdam UMC and its art policy, the latter focusing on the interplay between art and medicine. For example, under her supervision, programs are developed for the medical faculty based on an active collaboration between (bio) medical scientists, artists and art institutions. Previously, Sabrina was a curator at Stichting De Appel in Amsterdam and was director of Cultural Affairs of the Japan-Netherlands Institute in Tokyo for a period of seven years. She regularly gives presentations and has several publications to her name, including The Tokyo Gallery Guide, Corporate art collections in the Netherlands  and recently the new collection catalogue A building that breathes art. Additionally, Sabrina holds a number of administrative and advisory positions within the cultural world and  art funds and is actively involved in the Association of Dutch Corporate Collections (VBCN), of which she was chairman for several years. 

"we do need to do more work on genuinely diversifying artworld power structures – carefully considering race and class too - it makes for better exhibitions, better art and better more complex art histories."

Gráinne Rice (b. 1975, London, UK) is Adult Programme Coordinator at National Galleries of Scotland. She joined NGS in 2014 after two years of art school teaching in Glasgow and Edinburgh. She previously worked in the Exhibitions Departments of Dovecot Tapestry Studios, Edinburgh, the Victoria and Albert Museum, London and Glasgow School of Art. She has an M.A. (Hons) in History of Art from University of Glasgow and an M.A. in Exhibition Interpretation from Edinburgh Napier University. She has a PhD from Edinburgh College of Art/ University of Edinburgh. She sits as a Board Director of Upland CIC and The Steven Campbell Trust.

Dress: Bernat Klein

"Throughout the years I have had numerous opportunities to work with art historians, curators and scholars who have inspired me and motivated me. They have been true role models for me, and I look at them with great admiration.'

Laura-Maria Popoviciu (b. 1986, Oradea, Romania) is a London-based art historian, researcher, and curator. She is the pre-1900 curator at the UK Government Art Collection. She holds an M.A. and a Ph.D. from the Warburg Institute and specializes in Italian Renaissance Art. She enjoys making connections between historical and contemporary art. Her portfolio includes internationally curated exhibitions, scholarly publications, teaching appointments, conferences, video, and audio podcasts.

"There are still significant pay gaps between men and women leading non-profit institutions and women artists still get far fewer solo shows in major museums than their male counterparts. That is a balance which needs to be redressed, and soon."

Aurore Ankarcrona Hennessey (b. 1983, London, UK) graduated from University College London with a B.A. in Art History and Anthropology. She serves as Director of Art at The Arts Club in Mayfair, London. She is responsible for curating the Club’s art events programme, with speakers including Frances Morris, Don McCullin, Wolfgang Tillmans, Cornelia Parker and Theaster Gates, in addition to overseeing all other art partnerships, and serving as the face of ‘Art’ at The Arts Club. Aurore is co-chair of the Tate Young Patrons and sits on the Executive Committee of AWITA – the Association of Women in the Arts. Previously she worked as a Director at Hiltzik Strategies, New York and worked for three years on CNN New York’s Breaking News Desk. 

"During the time I have worked as a curator women seem to have dominated the profession. I would welcome curators from more diverse backgrounds and that would include men."

Alison Smith (b. 1962, Brighton, Sussex, UK) holds a B.A. in Art History from Nottingham University and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the Courtauld Institute of Art, London, in the same field. She has been Chief Curator at the National Portrait Gallery since 2017. Before that she spent eighteen years at Tate Britain working as a curator of nineteenth-century British art. The exhibitions she curated and co-curated there included, Exposed: The Victorian Nude; Millais; Watercolour; Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Avant-Garde; Artist and Empire; Burne-Jones.

"Seeing Carla at work, pursuing her singular visual approach which places thoroughly modern women in a classical context."

Elizabeth Brooks (b. 1954, Aldershot, UK) has had a 20-year career in the communications industry, public relations, advertising and in fashion magazine publishing in Boston, New York and London. The Rory and Elizabeth Brooks Foundation supports a number of arts organizations including Roche Court Educational Trust, the Articulation public speaking prize, Artangel, The Showroom, The Photographers Gallery and the Unseen Photography Circle in Amsterdam. Elizabeth serves on the Executive Committee of the Association of Women in the Arts, is the Co-Chair of Tate’s Photography Acquisition Committee and a member of the Tate International Council. In 2014, the Brooks International Fellowships Programme was founded which enables curators, researchers and art historians with an international perspective to come to Tate to develop research. The Foundation also focuses on global poverty research (supporting a Poverty Research Institute and Doctoral College at the University of Manchester), social justice, disadvantaged youth and the arts. 

'My "special thought" is that in art, as in life, the future is female.'

Judy Sund (b. 1952, San Diego, CA, US) is a Professor of art history at the City University of New York. She earned her Ph.D. at Columbia University in New York, and is best known for her work on Van Gogh, which consists of two books, several essays and numerous public lectures on that artist. Her interests, however, are wide-ranging; she has also published on Watteau, Léger, Kahlo, the Chicago World’s Fair, and West Mexican burial effigies in twentieth-century advertising.  Her most recent book, Exotic (2019), is a pan-historic exploration of Western takes and take-offs on other peoples and cultures; it starts with a faux-leopard stool from King Tut’s tomb and extends to the present, for instance, Rihanna’s tattoos. 

"Women are making great strides but we are still under-represented in the art world. It is my hope that we will be role models for the next generation of achieving women. I loved being able to be part of the movement of women taking their rightful place in the art world on both the creative and administrative sectors. It is so great this movement is being documented in this series of portraits. "

Susan Weber (b. 1955, Brooklyn, NY, US) received a B.A. in Art History from Barnard College in 1977, followed by an M.A. in Decorative Arts from the Cooper-Hewitt/Parsons Master's Program in Decorative Arts, and a Ph.D. from the Humanities Programme at the Royal College of Art joint programme with the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. In 1993, she founded the Bard Graduate Center for the study of decorative arts, the leading graduate centre in the US for the study of decorative arts, design and material culture. It has graduated over 400 students who are working worldwide at institutions including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Wadsworth Athenaeum, the Cooper-Hewitt Museum. Susan has taught courses in furniture history as well as curated a number of ground-breaking exhibitions including Willam Kent, Designing Georgian Britain, John Lockwood Kipling, Art and Craft in the Punjab and London, Castellani  and Italian Archaeological Jewelry, all with accompanying catalogues.

Anne van der Zwaag (b. 1978, Shisong, Cameroon) studied Art History at Utrecht University and works as a curator, author and consultant in creative as well as commercial industries. Her practice is focused on the crossovers between art, design, architecture, fashion and photography with a focus on young and emerging creative talent. As an entrepreneur she creates connections between cultural initiatives and businesses exploring their creative core and creating social value. Anne is the director and owner of design fair OBJECT in Rotterdam, in which over 150 designers participate each edition. She also founded the Amsterdam based platform BIG ART, showcasing large artworks from over 100 artists every year. Both fairs are held in unique buildings and locations that typically are in a transformation. As an author she wrote columns or several magazines and published various books. Next to that she is active as a guest tutor and holds positions in many boards, jury’s and advisory committees.

Haute Couture: Bas Kosters

"It seems to me that women have been receiving more recognition for their work recently, whether they are artists, museum professionals or dealers.   But they are not yet on equal footing with men."

Dorsey Waxter (b. 1952, Baltimore, MD, US) is a Partner at Van Doren Waxter, located in New York City’s Upper East Side. She was President of the Art Dealers Association of America (ADAA) from 2012 to 2015. Her career began as a gallery assistant at Nancy Hoffman Gallery in 1974. In 1977, she began work at the André Emmerich Gallery and over a period of 14 years rose to Director, contributing to the gallery’s specialization in New York colour field and post-World War II abstraction. In 1991, she established Dorsey Waxter Fine Art, Inc., advising clients primarily in the secondary market and representing prominent estates. Dorsey then became Director of Greenberg Van Doren Gallery in 1998, which became Van Doren Waxter in 2013. The gallery’s roster of estates and artists includes some of the most influential artists of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. 

'In the art world women are resourceful, problem solvers and connectors.'

Annemarie van der Hoeven (b. 1975, Bogota, Colombia) earned an M.A. in Art History at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, The Netherlands, in 2001, where she specialized in Dutch seventeenth-century painting. In 2010, she became a Certified Valuer of Old Master Paintings. In 2000, Annemarie began her career with the Swiss-based Koetser Gallery, for whom she organized art fairs and events and sourced high-quality old master paintings. Today, she continues to work with Koetser and also provides valuations for private clients, advising on acquisitions and sales. 

"We’ve come a long way, but there is still a long way to go…."

Susan Morris (b. 1955, London, UK) studied English language and literature at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, before going to the Courtauld Institute of Art to do an M.A. on eighteenth and nineteenth-century French and British Art. She had an Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship at the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, to research the work of the Romantic watercolourist Thomas Girtin as part of her studies for a Ph.D. (1984). A second Fellowship took her to the Humanities Research Centre, Canberra to work on Australian and European landscape painting. She returned to Yale to do an exhibition on Thomas Girtin (1986). Subsequently she worked for Sotheby’s Preview magazine and for seven years for The Antique Collector magazine, latterly as its Editor. She joined Richard Green Gallery as a researcher in 1996. 

Tamara Green (b. 1987, London, UK) first entered the art world as an artist and studied painting at City and Guilds, London. Later she studied art history at Glasgow University. Tamara was born into a family of art dealers, her great-grandfather James Green opened a gallery in St. James’s in 1936. Her grandfather established Richard Green Gallery, specialising in seventeenth to twenty-first-century art, in 1955. Tamara is first of the fourth-generation to enter the family business. Her speciality is modern British art. 

"I think it is getting better for women in the art world through the pursuit of our own agendas, but I do believe we still have a long way to go."

Carleen De Sözer (b. 1977, Birmingham, UK) is one of London’s most skilled and diverse street artists. She is self-taught. Considered new to the scene, she’s been a professional artist since 2000 and a professional street artist since 2015. Carleen’s distinct style can be seen all across London. Her most notable street art pieces are her Golden Era wall Hip Hop Raised Me and other notable walls such as Grime Lords, Golden Goddess and You Have The Keys. She has been consistent in creating art in many formats, from graphic design, tattooing to airbrushing, from logos to CD covers, from canvas to walls, from T-shirt designs to teaching her skills to the youth. 

"Women now are more powerful, more free, stronger, more aware, and more capable than any other time in history.  Yet, we still have a ways to go before we fulfil our true potential. "

Edeline Lee (b. Vancouver, CA) holds a B.A. Joint Honours Sociology and East Asian Studies from McGill University and a B.A. Fashion Design Womenswear from Central Saint Martins. After working in the studios of Alexander McQueen, John Galliano and Zac Posen, she started her eponymous fashion label in 2014. The designer has stated that she designs for the "Future Lady": her work has been worn by Olivia Colman, Sally Hawkins, Ciara, Cynthia Nixon, Alicia Vikander, Taylor Swift and Solange Knowles. In 2016, she was nominated for Breakthrough Womenswear Designer of the Year at the WGSN Fashion Futures Awards. In 2017, she was awarded a British Fashion Council Fashion Trust Grant. All of her pieces are made ethically by hand in England.

“Being in this field [art world], I enjoy the left-brain, right-brain dynamics. I also enjoy the creative aspect, as much as the economics of how the art market works.” 

Priyanka Mathew (1977, Kothagiri, Tamil Nadu, India-2022, New York City, US) was the Principal Partner at Sunderlande, an art advisory that focuses on South Asian Art. After graduating from the University of Virginia, Priyanka entered the finance field as an analyst at Lehman Brothers and then at Goldman Sachs. She left investment banking to join the Indian art world in 2005 as the director of Aicon Gallery, a leading gallery showcasing modern South Asian Art. She joined Sotheby’s in 2010 and was the Senior International Specialist for the field and in 2012 she became the first South Asian auctioneer in their 272-year-old history. 

Ana Balestra (b. 1998) is is a soprano, and graduated from the Bachelor program with honors. From September 2021, she is continuing her masters degree at the Opera Academy in Copenhagen. Her passionate and emotional interpretations in combination with her warm and elegant voice make her a promising young singer.

"It feels as if women in the art world, past and present, are experiencing a Golden Age."

Anita Klesch (b. Cleveland, OH, US) holds a B.A. in Art History from University College London and an M.A. in Computer Applications in the History of Art from Birkbeck College, University of London. She also holds a Ph.D. from Birkbeck. Her thesis concentrates on the study of the History of Art and the impact of digital technologies on the discipline. She is an Honorary Research Fellow at The Vasari Research Centre at Birkbeck which supports projects specifically targeting digital technologies that enhance and advance the study of the History of Art. Anita and her husband, A. Gary Klesch, have been collecting art for over 40 years. They have a particular interest in sixteenth and seventeenth-century Italian and Northern European paintings. 

"I have many thoughts about women becoming more entitled to their equal place in all fields and in society."

Annabelle Selldorf (b. 1960, Cologne, Germany) is the Principal of Selldorf Architects, a 70-person architectural design practice that she founded in New York City in 1988. The firm creates public and private spaces that manifest a clear and modern sensibility to enduring impact. Selldorf Architects has worked on public and private projects that range from museums and libraries to a recycling facility; and at scales from the construction of new buildings to the restoration of historic interiors and exhibition design. The firm’s clients include cultural institutions and universities such as the Frick Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, The Clark Art Institute, Neue Galerie New York, New York University and Brown University. In addition, the firm has created numerous galleries for David Zwirner, Hauser & Wirth, and Gladstone Gallery among others, and designed exhibitions for the Whitney Museum, Frieze Masters, Gagosian Gallery and the Venice Art Biennale. 

"I feel socio-economic backgrounds, and really your access to education are the biggest hurdles to success in the art world."

Cora Sheibani (b. 1980, Zurich, CH) is the daughter of world renowned art dealer Bruno Bischofberger and his wife Yoyo. She grew up in Switzerland and studied in Florence and for a BA in Art History at New York University. After that she married her Iranian boyfriend based in London. There she studied gemology at the Gemological Institute of America while producing her first jewellery collection in Switzerland. She then launched her jewellery business at the end of 2002 in London. Since then Cora has had three children and continued to grow her business slowly. She works privately by appointment in London and travels regularly around the world to show her work, often exhibiting at design fairs and galleries. All her work is designed exclusively by her. Most recently she showed at Louisa Guinness Gallery in London and New York. It was the first time the gallery gave a show to a jeweller who was not an artist or sculptor first.

Dress: Edeline Lee, Earrings: Cora Sheibani

"I love how the photography in this project is connecting art with fashion, self-expression and a woman’s confidence."

Han Feng (b. 1962, Nanjing, China) grew up in Hangzhou, where she received her education from the China Academy of Art. She moved to New York in 1985 and launched her first ready-to-wear collection in 1993. She made her costume design debut with Anthony Minghella’s Madama Butterfly at the English National Opera in 2005 and the Met Opera in 2006. Han Feng’s clothing design and installations have been featured in major museum exhibitions. She finds inspiration in the exploration of refined textures, materials and craftsmanship, which led to a partnership with Tai Ping Carpets in a rug collection as well as with various Shanghai hotels to create staff uniforms. Han Feng has long been a champion and collector of contemporary Chinese art, collaborating closely with many artists on exciting discoveries to combine art and design, leading up to the opening of Han Feng Art Space in Shanghai in 2017 and New York in 2018. 

Florence Reckinger-Taddeï (b. 1970, Arles, Fr) grew up in Arles and went to live in Luxembourg  to pursue her career in law. Simultaneously, she initiated and supported many charitable and cultural projects, linked to her passion for the arts. Presentlyshe dedicates her time entirely to supporting the arts, organizing exhibitions and the publication of art related books. Florence founded the Regala project and gallery in Arles, a programme of artist residencies and an exhibition space, as well as an edition of publications. The first book A la merci du soleil is dedicated to embroiderer Pascal Monteil. Florence is also President of Des Amis des Musées du Luxembourg et de Lët’z Arles and administrator for Musée d’art Contemporain du Luxembourg, le Mudam, for Prix Edward Steichen and for Fonds de Dotation des Rencontres d’Arles. She is a member of the board of directors of the Luxembourg Red Cross.

(with thanks to Homo Faber for the text)

“As a young, emerging female artist from a Central  European country, I  require strength, independence and focus to make my way in the arts.”

Agata Wieczorek (1992, Łódź, Poland) completed her M.A. in Direction of Photography at the National Film School in Lodz, Poland. She previously received her M.F.A. with distinction from the Strzeminski Art Academy in Lodz, where she studied graphic arts and painting. Agata combines film and photography while moving between constructed documentary and documented fiction. She frequently focuses on concealment and visibility by entering and working with hermetic industries and socially marginalized groups in order to explore unexposed production and consumption of cultural “fetishes” — artefacts that represent the tabooed desires and unexposed practices, with reference to the body, gender and identity. Her works have been exhibited internationally, including in the Finnish Museum of Photography, Helsinki; the Capa Center of Contemporary Photography, Budapest; the Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts (works in collection), Japan. Agata has won several prizes including the HELLERAU Photography 2020 – Center for Contemporary Arts Residency Award.

"I think women have made great strides in terms of accessing art institutions, educational opportunities, and professional careers in the arts. Nevertheless, there is still a long way to go in obtaining equity as well as recognition for contributions made throughout history in classrooms, studios, museums, galleries, the art market, executive offices, boardrooms, and so on."

Nicole Myers (b. 1977, Los Angeles, CA, US) completed her M.A. and Ph.D. in Art History at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, with a dissertation on Gustave Courbet. A specialist of French painting, she has published on wide-ranging topics from Realism to Symbolism, Poussin to Van Gogh. Nicole joined the Dallas Museum of Art in 2016 and serves as the Barbara Thomas Lemmon Senior Curator of European Art. Previously, she served as the Associate Curator of European Painting and Sculpture at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO. She has also held curatorial positions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Saint Louis Art Museum, and served as a consultant to the Denver Art Museum. Throughout her museum career, Nicole has curated and co-curated numerous exhibitions, most recently the internationally touring Berthe Morisot, Woman Impressionist (2018–2019). 

"While the ratio of women vs men seems to be balanced or perhaps even in favour of women nowadays, I still feel that the women in museums are expected to bear more of the departmental workload, whether we are considered more organised and efficient or whether we feel that we need to work harder than our male counterparts in order to deserve our place."

An Van Camp (b. 1979, Antwerp, Belgium) is a Belgian national but has lived in the UK since 2004. She is the Curator of Northern European Art at the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology (University of Oxford, UK) and Dean of Degrees at St Cross College. She joined the Ashmolean in 2015 after having worked at The British Museum in London for ten years. Following her first job there as the Cataloguer of Dutch and Flemish Prints, she became the Curator of Dutch and Flemish Drawings and Prints in 2010. She holds MAs in History, Art and Archaeology and Museum Studies from the University of Leuven (Belgium) and University College London (UK). She co-curated Drawing in Silver and Gold: Leonardo to Jasper Johns (National Gallery of Art, Washington DC and The British Museum, London, 2015) and Young Rembrandt (Museum De Lakenhal, Leiden and Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 2019-2020). She is also the curator of the touring exhibition, Rembrandt in Print, and author of the accompanying catalogue. She is a Member of the Editorial Board of Print Quarterly and Chair of the Print Curators’ Forum. 

“We hope to influence people’s taste and understanding of quality, to teach people how to look at jewels. Gender issues do not play a significant role in the niche world of antique jewellery, there are many women dealers.”

Inez Stodel (b. 1938, Amsterdam, The Netherlands) started her jewellery business in 1964, as a second-generation antiques dealer in the footsteps of her father, Meijer Stodel, who had a general antiques store in Rotterdam. Inez Stodel specializes in small objects and period jewellery in her gallery in Amsterdam. Leonore van der Waals (b. 1974, Amsterdam, The Netherlands) studied law at the University of Amsterdam, and after a short career in law, joined her mother in dealing in antique jewellery, she now owns the gallery as third-generation antiques dealer.  

'Everything that we are doing in society right now to familiarise the world with female leadership will normalise it for the future.'

Jennifer Scott (b. 1979, Sunderland, UK) holds a B.A. and M.A. in Art History from the Courtauld Institute of Art. From 2004 to 2014 she was Curator of Paintings at the Royal Collection Trust, having previously worked at the National Gallery, London, and National Museums Liverpool. Jennifer was Director of the Holburne Museum, Bath from 2014 to 2017. She has been The Sackler Director of Dulwich Picture Gallery since April 2017. Her first curated exhibition at Dulwich, Rembrandt’s Light (2019), marks 350 years since Rembrandt’s death. Jennifer has curated numerous exhibitions and has published widely on the Dutch and Flemish Golden Age. Her book, The Royal Portrait: Image and Impact (2010), is the first survey of state portraiture from within the British Royal Collection. She is a Member of the Board of Compton Verney, Governor of Alleyn’s School, Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and a Fellow Commoner of Lucy Cavendish College, University of Cambridge. 

This portrait has been acquired by the National Portrait Gallery, London

“I have had numerous professional roles in the art world, which have led to an equally important and rewarding one – mentor to young women looking to pursue a career in the Old Master market and succeed in a male-dominated field.”

Rachel Kaminsky (b. 1961, Boston, MA, US), raised in New York City, studied at New York University and began her career at Christie’s. She rose to become Department Head of Old Master Paintings in 1989. In 1994, Rachel was appointed Director of Otto Naumann Ltd., the foremost US gallery for northern Old Masters, and from 2002 to 2006, she was the Managing Director of Colnaghi, London. In 2006, she started her own business dealing in Old Masters and nineteenth century paintings. In 2014, Rachel was engaged as a Special Advisor to the National Gallery, London, for their $25.5m acquisition George Bellows, Men of the Docks. On behalf  of Sotheby’s, she was an expert witness on auction house procedures in a London High Court trial (2013-2014). Rachel is on the TEFAF International Advisory Board and a selection committee member for the TEFAF Showcase and Museum Restoration Fund. She was a trustee of the Worcester Art Museum, MA (2012-2019). Rachel is proud to be the Program Director for Artfully Dressed: Women in the Art World.

"Just as in any other field, women can contribute greatly to the art world. And my feeling is that this project proves they are doing so. "

Maja Neerman (b. 1985, Bruges, Belgium). After earning a B.A in documentary filmmaking at the Royal Institute for Theatre, Cinema and Sound in Brussels, she went on to study art history at the Vrije Universiteit of Brussels where she graduated with an M.A summa cum laude. As an independent researcher, her main focus is the oeuvre of Flemish Master Maerten de Vos.

Fabrics: Rubelli Venezia

“By now I think we all realise that there is a huge disparity between women artists and their male counterparts in terms of visibility, monetary valuation and inclusion in art history, which all needs to be addressed.”

Rebecca Fontaine-Wolf (b. 1982, Southport, Australia) is a London-based artist who grew up between Germany and the UK, principally known for her figurative paintings in which she explores themes surrounding female identity, desire and mortality. Her continually evolving practice, rooted in the traditions of portraiture, takes inspiration from vanitas painting and mythology amongst many other sources. She trained at the University for the Creative Arts (2000-2004) and was awarded the Chelsea Arts Club Trust Award Grant to complete her MFA at Wimbledon College of Arts (2013-2015). Rebecca is a Vice President to the Society of Women Artists, where she takes on a curatorial role alongside being on the selection panel for their annual open exhibition at the Mall Galleries. The recipient of several awards, she has exhibited widely. She guest-curated for Gallery Different’s exhibition Muse, Model or Mistress? in 2018. Her work can be found in public and private collections.

"I know many incredible female artists. I write about them, many people are writing about them. And still they are routinely being overlooked. Which means that the world misses a lot, all because of sexist prejudice."

Joyce Roodnat (b. 1955, Amsterdam, The Netherlands) studied at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam. She has been a reporter and art critic for the Dutch daily newspaper NRC Handelsblad since 1979. She was head of the art department for ten years (1995-2005) and is now editor for cultural affairs, writing editorials, a weekly ‘critic’s notebook’, and essays. She has written short stories and two novels for which she was awarded several literary prizes. Her book on the films of photographer Ed van der Elsken Hee … zie je dat!? (2017) was awarded the Louis Hartlooper Prize for film critique. Joyce wrote two volumes of essays on women and the arts. Her lifestyle guide for women over 50 Een kwestie van lef (2007) was a bestseller.

"I think it's crucial that women come together in community so that we all feel appreciated for what we have to say, and not for our age or our looks."

Cèlia Querol Torelló (b. 1995, Barcelona, Spain) is Junior Curator at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. She holds a B.A. in Art History from the University of Barcelona and an M.A. in Museums and Collections from Leiden University. She is also Associate Researcher at the RKD (Netherlands Institute for Art History). After graduating from her M.A., she worked as assistant curator for the exhibition 'Rembrandt-Velázquez: Dutch and Spanish Masters' at the Rijksmuseum and was co-author of the exhibition catalogue. 

'The basic issue for me is quality, for the work of women as well as of men.'

Jeannette Sanders (b. 1944, Rotterdam, The Netherlands) studied at the Sociale Academie in Rotterdam and Advanced Social Studies in Amsterdam. She has been the head of the social work department specialized in adolescents with drug related problems at the GGD (Municipal Health Service) in Rotterdam. Together with her husband, Martijn Sanders, Jeannette started to collect art in 1972. They have been lending pieces from their collection to international museums such as MoMA, New York, and Centre Pompidou, Paris. A unique, large scale survey of works from the collection was exhibited in 2014/15 in the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam under the title Bad Thoughts. The Sanders Collection is one of the most important private collections in the Netherlands and contains a diverse array of several hundred paintings, sculptures, assemblages, photos, drawings, text-based artworks, films, videos, and installations by over 350 mostly European and American artists, among them Anselm Kiefer, Cindy Sherman, David Claerbout and Robert Longo.

"I remember in the early eighties reading Germaine Greer’s The Obstacle Race: The Fortunes of Women Painters and Their Work (1980) and feeling such anger and frustration. It’s good to see that there is finally a bit more interest in women artists."

Lidewij de Koekkoek (b. 1963, Amsterdam, The Netherlands) studied art history at Leiden University in The Netherlands. After a start in contemporary art and architecture, she ventured into the field of heritage. In 2008 she was appointed director of the Alkmaar City Museum. Under her leadership, the Alkmaar museum was privatized, rebuilt and refurbished and now the museum profiles itself primarily with old and modern art. In the fall of 2016, Lidewij became General Director of the Rembrandt House Museum in Amsterdam and in March 2022 she became Director of the Frans Hals museum in Haarlem.

"Women are still outnumbered in the art world."

Tatjana Gerhard (b. 1974, Zurich, Switzerland) is a visual artist. In 2001 she graduated at the Zurich University of the Arts. After that she focused on developing her artistic practice in painting. Tatjana made the human figure the focus of her paintings. She is not interested in the perfect exterior, but in what lies beneath it. Gerhard paints the indecisive person, including their disquiet and fears, using unrestrained, expressive layers of oil paint. She worked and lived in different cities, among others, Zurich, New York, and Berlin. Since 2010 she lives in Ghent, Belgium. Tatjana had various exhibitions in galleries and cultural institutions in a number of countries, such as Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, America, Italy, France, Japan, and China. Her work has been acquired by private and public collections. It is also represented in the collections of Kunstmuseum Bern, Switzerland and Mu.ZEE, Ostend, and S.M.A.K. Museum of contemporary art in Ghent.

'In the old master world, I came across many men. But when I saw all these beautiful portraits, I realized that there are so many brilliant women in arts. It feels very empowering."

Kati Wieg (b. 1966, Bussum, The Netherlands) is an art historian and art advisor. She studied art history in Amsterdam and worked as an art expert for auction houses such as Christie’s and Sotheby’s. In 1993 Wieg Fine Art was founded by Kati and her parents, Andris and Julia Wieg, who had fled Hungary in 1956 to start anew in The Netherlands. For 21 years they participated in various large art fairs such as PAN Amsterdam, specializing in Dutch and Flemish Old Masters. Kati has knowledge of all the aspects in the art world, such as art advising, lecturing and art dealing. After the death of her parents and brother she founded Wieg Inventory Brokers, where in addition to art and antiques, she focuses and on all aspects of the settlements of estates.

"Women are uniquely positioned, as producers, messengers and facilitators. I engage with art by women artists who explore the feminist cause, although I do not wish to be reduced to this label."

Delphine Munro (b. 1970, Paris, France) is Head of Arts & Culture at the European Investment Bank in Luxembourg. She is responsible for the management and enhancement of its extensive contemporary art collection, and the development of a mentoring/artists in residence programme, the formulation of employee engagement initiatives, and the preservation of cultural heritage. She has over 20 years of experience in the management of culture, for museums, private institutions and foundations. She is President of the Board of Casino Luxembourg –  Forum d'Art Contemporain; board member and Secretary of IACCCA (International Association of Corporate Collections of Contemporary Art) and also a board member of Les Amis des Musées Luxembourg. She received the French honorary title of Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres.

Catherine Colinvaux (b. 1964, Columbus, OH, US) is a rationalist by nature and a lawyer by training. Professionally, she played a leading role in the resolution of disputes arising out of the most significant mass disasters of the last 30 years, including the 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, where she was one of the lead insurance counsel. Catherine has always loved art and art museums and is concluding a nine-year term as a trustee of the Worcester Art Museum (Worcester, MA); she served as President from 2013 to 2015. Catherine collects in various areas, including most extensively Mod fashion, Marimekko from the mid-1960s and paper dresses, such as the dress in her portrait printed with a black and white photo of a tabby cat produced by the graphic artist, Harry Gordon, in 1968. 

"In the Netherlands, women hold high positions in the art world. We have more and more female museum directors."

Sacha de Boer (b. 1967, Amsterdam, The Netherlands) is a photographer, visual storyteller, former tv-journalist and since 2013 a member of the Board of Directors of Huis Marseille. She has a master's degree in Communication Sciences at the University of Amsterdam. From 1992 till 2015 she has worked as a reporter and news presenter for local and national broadcasters. Her many publications include the books Life in the Shade; documentary photography about 4 children with albinism growing up in Tanzania, and Retour New York Amsterdam, with artists like Charlotte Dumas, Scarlett Hooft Graafland and Sebastiaan Bremer. The photographs and portraits tell stories about the artists, their work and their studio. And the interviews with Dutch and American artists in New York and Amsterdam give an impression of the difference in both art worlds. As a photographer, Sacha de Boer has had several group and solo exhibitions, in both galleries and museums.

"In the Netherlands we have great women in prestigious positions in the art scene including prominent female museum directors."

Sarah de Clercq (b. 1971, Amsterdam, The Netherlands) studied at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, and the University of Groningen where she received her degree in Art History in 1997. After 17 years at Christie’s Amsterdam as Senior Specialist of Nineteenth Century, Impressionist and Modern Art and as head of various departments, she became Managing Director of Sotheby’s in The Netherlands in 2018. Sarah works closely with leading collectors, art professionals and institutions on their acquisitions and collection management. Besides this, she on the board of numerous cultural institutions, including the Panorama Mesdag, castle and estate Duivenvoorde, the Titus Circle of the Rembrandt Society and the Grachtenfestival. She is the author of numerous articles, books and exhibition catalogues on Dutch paintings from the nineteenth century. 

"Like many other sectors the Art World is – unfortunately – a male-dominated world. As women we can and must change this by uniting and supporting each other."

Ingrid van Engelshoven (b. 1966, Delfzijl, The Netherlands) studied policy and administrative sciences in Nijmegen (1984-1989) and Dutch law and constitutional law at Leiden University (1990-1995). She began her career in 1989 as a policy officer for D66, a parliamentary party, and was its secretary from 1994 to 1996. She worked as an adviser to the Netherlands Bar Association and at a communications consultancy. Ingrid was Head of Strategy at the Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management (2000-2004), and Director of the Foundation for Responsible Alcohol Consumption (2004-2008). In 2010, she joined the municipality of The Hague, where she was responsible for education and public services. From 2014 to 2017, her portfolio covered the knowledge economy, international affairs, education and youth services. In 2017, she became a member of parliament for D66, concentrating on home affairs, the police, the civil service and copyright. In 2017, Ingrid was appointed Minister of Education, Culture and Science in the current Dutch government.

"I think women can and should have a powerful voice within the art world. Sadly apart from a few notable exceptions I think that there is still some way to go before we see parity. "

Lydia Eileen Vincent (née Kennard) (b. 1981, Wiltshire, UK) is a Picture Restorer in Kew Gardens, London. She specialises in Old Master Oil Painting Restoration and Conservation.  Her training began in Florence, Italy, where she studied classical art techniques and then went on to study History of Art at East Anglia University. Over the years she has worked as a Gallery assistant in London for West End Galleries specialising in a variety of genres such as Old Master Pictures, Pre-Raphaelite and Contemporary. During this time she gained an apprenticeship to train under renowned London-based Master Picture Restorer Henry Gentle in 2004, and since completing this prestigious training, has continued to work with Henry to the present day. 

"It’s important that women feel they can pursue any career they set their mind to, whether in the art world or otherwise."

Letizia Treves (b. 1974, Johannesburg, South Africa) is the Sassoon Curator of Later Italian, Spanish, and French seventeenth-century Paintings at the National Gallery, London. Though Italian, she has lived in the UK since she was two years old. Letizia studied Modern Languages and Art History at the University of Cambridge, followed by an M.A. at The Courtauld Institute of Art. She joined Sotheby’s as a Graduate Trainee in 1996, becoming a specialist in Old Master Paintings and working her way up to the role of Senior Director and worldwide expert in Italian paintings. Letizia left the company in 2013 to join the National Gallery, where she has since curated a variety of exhibitions: Beyond Caravaggio (2016-2017), Murillo: The Self Portraits (2018), Bartolomé Bermejo: Master of the Spanish Renaissance (2019), and Artemisia (2020). Letizia has also championed acquisitions in her area of the collection, including Artemisia Gentileschi’s Self Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria. 

Aliona van der Horst (b. 1970, Moscow, Russia) is a Dutch documentary filmmaker. She is the daughter of a Dutch father and a Russian mother and grew up in the Netherlands. She studied Russian language and literature, and studied at the Netherlands Film and Television Academy. She has been awarded several prizes for her documentaries. Aliona won the Tuschinski Award in 1997 with her graduation film Lady with the White Hat. She made her international breakthrough with the documentary Voices of Bam, about the lives of the residents of an Iranian town hit by an earthquake in 2003, one year after this disaster. In 2012, Van der Horst founded Docmakers with five other filmmakers. The documentary Love is Potatoes (2017) is about how her Russian aunts, her mother's sisters, endured the hardships - famine and war - in the Stalinist era. All movies listed below have been shown on television. 

“There are so many great and bold female artists in many disciplines and it is changing the narrative and subject matter of art.”

Miriam Escofet (b. 1967, Barcelona, Spain) is an award winning artist. Originally graduating in 3D Design from Brighton School of Art, she turned to painting soon after and has exhibited widely and internationally, including many solo exhibitions. Her work has evolved over the years through many genres including still life, architecture, allegory and imaginary composition, eventually arriving at portraiture. She is known for her exacting technique and attention to detail. She lives in London and has regularly been selected for the BP Portrait Award exhibition and for The Royal Society of Portrait Painters annual exhibitions. She was awarded the Burke’s Peerage Foundation Prize for Classically Inspired Portraiture in 2015 and the First Prize at the BP Portrait Award 2018, widely considered to be the most globally prestigious portrait competition.

"The role of women in the history of the arts itself is still underexposed. Not because there were no women painters, but their history is simply poorly documented. "

Linda Jansen (b. 1971, Deventer, The Netherlands), is an independent Art Historian and Researcher, based in Maastricht. She holds a degree in Art History from the University of Groningen and is specialised in Early Netherlandish Paining and Technical Art History. She was a Lecturer in this field at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (2007-11) and University of Groningen (2015-16). During 2011-12 she was part of the production team of Manifesta 9 in Genk, organising the historical part of the exhibition in an old coal mine building. Presently, she is working on a cataloguing project Early Netherlandish Paintings in the Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum in Aachen.

“In the UK we have been lucky to have magnificent curators who have pushed museum programming closer toward a gender balance. It has a trickle-down effect: hopefully encouraging collectors to support female artists too.”

Hettie Judah (b. 1972, London, UK) studied at Glasgow University, where she became involved in art and experimental performance. After finishing her M.A., she organized an international arts festival in the city. In the late 1990s, she started writing about the arts for publications including The Times, The Herald and The Independent. Living for extended periods in Istanbul, Turkey and Brussels, she worked as a writer, editor and curator. She is senior art critic on the British daily paper The I, and contributor to Frieze, The Guardian, Vogue, The New York Times, Art Quarterly, Numèro Art and other publications with 'art' in the title. Her writing has been featured in numerous publications, from the catalogue of the 58th Venice Biennale to a recent book on textile art. Hettie published Art London (2019) and is currently writing a short biography of Frida Kahlo, among other things. 

"I have overcome several past crises and no matter how rough its gets, there's always light somewhere which draws me on."

Gaby Sismann (b. 1972, San Juan, US) was brought up in Canada and lived in Argentina as a teenager. She came to France in 1991 to study at the Sorbonne University. In Paris she became an art historian specializing in Renaissance and Italian Sculpture, after long studies in Egyptology, resulting in a Ph.D in Renaissance Sculpture. In 1994, she and her husband created their gallery in Paris. Galerie Sismann organizes exhibitions, regularly participates in international exhibitions and has contributed to the expansion of important private collections and of prestigious institutions across the world. For 2020, she works on a project to incorporate ancient amulets and other historic keepsakes into jewellery settings. The specific choice of her work around these relief images echoes her specialization as an art historian (Sculpture) but also her activity as an art dealer. 

“Although underrepresented, women are integral in the art world and use their art to speak on particular issues that don’t just face women but the world as a whole.”

Fatima Maleki (The Hague, The Netherlands) is a multi-lingual London-based Persian collector. As an ambassador’s daughter, she has lived and studied in many different countries, completing a course at Christie’s in 1995 and an M.A. in Post War and Contemporary Art from Sotheby’s.  As an ardent supporter of more than twenty art institutions, Fatima has fostered and promoted contemporary art globally. 

" I am aiming to create as a human and get evaluated as a human artist."

Gülfem Kessler (b. 1966, Ankara, Turkey) studied Italian language and literature in Ankara. She moved to The Hague, The Netherlands, in 1989, where she studied painting and Graphics at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in The Hague from 1993 to 1998. She emigrated to the US and lived, worked and exhibited there for ten years. She travelled and lived in Mexico in 2016 and returned to her native country in 2017. She is now living, working, and exhibiting in Istanbul. 

Carolyn Drake Kandiyoti (b. 1985, The Hague, The Netherlands) holds a B.Sc. in Media, Culture and Communication and Art History from New York University and an M.F.A. in Curating from Goldsmiths College, University of London. She is a partner at Mendes Wood DM since opening the gallery in Brussels in 2017. Located in a historic townhouse, the space lends itself to ambitious curatorial projects and monographic exhibitions, as well as welcoming artists and curators in residence. Previously, she was director at A Tale of a Tub, a non-profit space in Rotterdam, and worked as an independent curator specializing in Brazilian contemporary art. Her exhibitions include Brasil Beleza?!, Museum Beelden aan Zee, The Hague, and My Third Land, Frankendael Foundation, Amsterdam. Carolyn sits on the board of Outset, The Netherlands, Schooling for Life, Sierra Leone and is a founding committee member of Young Stedelijk, Amsterdam. 

Women in the Art World, "Hire them, nurture them, recognise them."

Catherine Troiano (b. 1991, London, UK) studied at The University of Edinburgh and completed her Ph.D. at De Montfort University’s Photographic History Research Centre in 2020. She is Curator of photography at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Previously she was Curator of the National Photography Collections at the National Trust.  From 2015 to 2019 she was Assistant Curator and then Curator of Photographs at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. She specializes in Central and Eastern European (CEE region) photography, institutional photographic practices and contemporary photography. 

"I feel passionate about the female presence in the art world. Thus far I have had many inspiring women guide and ultimately shape my experience as a burgeoning art historian."

Flora Grace Crichton-Stuart (b. 1994, New York, NY, US) is Assistant Gallery Manager at the Weiss Gallery in London. She spent her youth between New York City and the UK. She began her undergraduate degree at The University of Edinburgh and transferred to Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY, from which she holds a B.A. in Art History and Religion. In 2017, she worked in New York at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Sotheby’s. In October 2018, Flora moved back to London to complete an M.A. at The Courtauld Institute of Art where she studied Italian Renaissance finishing in 2019. She hopes to work in the field pursuing her love of paintings and objects and their colourful histories. 

"There still is a lot of implicit gender bias, and I think that it is very important for everyone to become aware of this and act upon it in order to achieve gender equality. Naturally, this is a society-wide issue, not limited to the art world."

Charlotte C. S. Rulkens (b. 1991, Leiden, The Netherlands) is Assistant Curator at the Mauritshuis in The Hague. She earned her B.A. in Art History from the University of Amsterdam and her M.A. Curating Art and Cultures from the University of Amsterdam and the VU University, with a specialization in Dutch seventeenth-century flower painting and the relationship between art and science. Before joining the Mauritshuis in 2016, she worked as Curatorial Trainee at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and as Ayesha Bulchandani-Mathrani Research Intern at The Frick Collection in New York. At the Mauritshuis, she contributed to the exhibitions Slow Food: Still lifes of the Golden Age and National Trust - Dutch Masters from British Country Houses and was curator of the exhibition Rembrandt and the Mauritshuis that was organized on occasion of the Rembrandt Year 2019. Currently she works as curator and project manager on the renewal of the Prince William V Gallery, a second location of the Mauritshuis in The Hague.

“My grandmother, who played an important role in my life, owned some beautiful paintings, which impressed me. I started to look at art professionally by working with original sources and paintings during my internships."

Wendela Burgemeister (b. 1975, Amsterdam, The Netherlands) holds an M.A. in Art History from Leiden University. She has been Managing Director at Salomon Lilian Dutch Old Master Paintings, Amsterdam, since 2000. She is a certified valuer of old master paintings and has a degree in restoration of paintings from The Academy of Fine Arts Anderlecht (Belgium).  Wendela was guest curator in 2017 for a solo exhibition on paintings by Urban Larsson at The Mesdag Collection, The Hague she and is currently working on an exhibition Toppers, Trees in Dutch paintings at the Dordrechts Museum (2020).

"It gives me great pleasure to see more women taking important roles as Directors and Senior Curators at National and International Museums, and also that female artists are finally being taken seriously."

Rose-Marie van Otterloo (b. 1945, Kinrooi, Belgium) studied in Antwerp at the Municipal Higher Institute for Psycho-Social Studies before emigrating to the US in 1967. Arriving in Washington, DC, she worked at Merrill Lynch till her marriage to Eijk van Otterloo in 1974. Since then, they have collected Dutch old master paintings from the seventeenth century; later they added seventeenth-century Dutch furniture and silver as well as about 20,000 books to the collection. In 2017, Rose-Marie and Eijk, along with Susan and Matt Weatherbie, donated their entire collection to the Museum of Fine Arts Boston (MFA). The two collections, as well as the museum’s own holdings, will form the start of the Netherlandish Art Center in Boston. The van Otterloos now collect Dutch paintings from 1880 to 1920, The Hague and Amsterdam school. Rose-Marie was a Board Member at the Peabody Essex Museum, is honorary Board Member at the MFA in Boston, and a member of the Board of Artis-Naples in Florida, where she now resides.

"I feel incredibly lucky to work with so many amazing, strong, successful women in the Art World."

Anna Cunningham (b. 1984, London, UK) grew up in South Wales. She studied at Trinity College, Dublin, resulting in a B.A. in Art History and an M.A. in Seventeenth-century Spanish Painting, before moving back to London to complete a second M.A. in Art Business at Sotheby’s. She has been working in the art world in London for eight years, and is now Gallery Director at Agnews. 

"I think it can be challenging for women to make themselves prominent in the art world. Femininity, kindness and politeness are sometimes taken as signs of weakness. And some men undoubtedly use aggressive – ‘macho’ - tactics to force their way to the top and then seek to make a closed shop."

Rebecca Hossack (b. 1955, Melbourne, Australia) is the Director of two galleries, in central London (established 1988) and Miami, Florida. Following degrees in Law and History of Art, Hossack studied at Christie's, London and at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice. From 1993-7, Hossack served as the Australian cultural attaché in London, initiating literary links between Australian and British writers and organising a series of exhibitions of Australian art. Hossack writes regularly in the national press and lectures internationally on Aboriginal art for the Arts Society, and other institutions (including the British Museum, Victoria & Albert Museum and Royal Geographical Society). She has curated exhibitions of Aboriginal art for the Barbican Centre, London,  the Brighton Museum and the Mercer Art Gallery, Harrogate. Hossack is on the board of directors of LAPADA Art & Antiques Association and also campaigns to preserve rock art in Western Australia’s Burrup peninsula. 

"As long as I remember I fought for equal position for women, and men in art world, art history and in society."

Orshi (Orsolya) Drozdik (b. 1946, Abda, Hungary) holds an M.A. in Graphic Arts, Art History and Paintings from the Hungarian Academy of Fine Art, Budapest. She holds a Ph.D. in Liberal Arts from the University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary. Orshi has lectured in the US and in Hungary. From 2005 to 2015 she was a professor in the Painting Department of the Hungarian University of Fine Arts, Budapest, Hungary. Orshi Drozdik is a member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Szechenyi Academy of Letters and Arts, Hungary. Her oeuvre consists of drawings, paintings, photographs, etchings, performances, videos, sculptures, installations, academic writings and fictions. Her works are profound meditations on gender and identity, in which she scrutinizes her own place in the art world and in society. Orshi exhibited widely on both sides of the Atlantic, including large exhibitions in for example New York, Budapest, Zagreb, Gyor, Vienna and Berlin. “As a woman, my country is the whole world.” (Virginia Woolf).

“I think it is a great moment for women in the art world, with changing attitudes and a raised awareness, especially the new drive to ensure that women artists, across the ages up to the present, are properly represented in museums.”

Clementine Sinclair (b. 1982, Aldershot, UK) studied Art History at Pembroke College, Cambridge, before completing an M.A. in Sacred Gothic Architecture at the Courtauld Institute of Art. She joined Christie’s as a graduate intern in Early British Pictures in 2005 and joined the Old Master Pictures Department as a Specialist in 2007. She is Head of the Old Masters Evening sales in London. 

"It is fantastic to be part of this amazing overview of women who are active in the field of art!"

Hadassah Emmerich (b. 1974, Heerlen, The Netherlands) studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Maastricht, HISK Flanders and Goldsmiths College, London. She took part in artist residencies such as Künstlerhaus Bethanien Berlin, AIR Antwerp and Instituto Buena Bista, Curaçao, granted through Mondriaan Foundation Amsterdam. Recent exhibitions include: False Flat, Bonnefanten, Maastricht (2022); Abrasive Paradise, Kunsthal KAdE (2022); Trailblazers, 150 years Royal Award for Painting, Royal Palace, Amsterdam (2021); BXL Universel II: multipli.city, CENTRALE for contemporary art, Brussels (2021); Buah Tangan, ISA Art Gallery, Jakarta (2020); The Great Ephemeral Skin, De Garage, Mechelen (B), (2019); The HISK Connection, KANAL Brussels (2019).

"Recent exhibitions on overlooked women artists have been revelatory; suddenly there are exhibitions of first-rate female artists who were previously virtually unknown. "

Sarah Hornsby (b. 1963, Ely, UK) holds a First Class Honours B.A. in Classics from King’s College, University of London. This was followed by postgraduate research at the British School of Archaeology in Athens and Newnham College, University of Cambridge. Sarah is a specialist in antiquities including Greek, Roman, Egyptian and Near Eastern ancient art. With a career spanning over 30 years, she worked at Christie’s London from 1988-2009 as a Director and Antiquities Department Head. At Christie’s Sarah organized high profile antiquities auctions, achieving world record breaking auction prices.  In 2009 she founded the Antiquities consultancy of Hornsby + Nugée Ltd, with her colleague Judith Nugée. Judith Nugée (b. 1962, Paris, France) holds a B.A. and M.A. in Literae Humaniores (Classics) from the University of Oxford.  She is a specialist in antiquities with her career spanning over 35 years. Judith joined Christie’s in 1985, reaching the position of Head of the Antiquities Department. She remained a Senior Consultant with Christie’s until 2009 when she founded Hornsby + Nugée Ltd with her colleague Sarah Hornsby. Judith carries out independent commercial, academic and educational work which includes working with private clients as well as public and private institutions. 

"The recent revival of interest in art produced by some of the greatest female painters has been wonderful to see."

Olivia Hall (b. 1973, Solihull, UK) is a Director of Fergus Hall Old Master Paintings, London. She holds a B.S.c in Economics and started work in fixed income fund management before moving on to work for two major international corporations in communications and investor relations. She found her love of old master paintings after marrying Fergus Hall. They have three children, Madeleine, Harry and Georgie, the girls being photographed here with Olivia.

"Carla succeeds in photographing women beautiful, strong and powerful."

Stéphanie Leblon (b. 1970, Ypres, Belgium) lives and works in Ghent, Belgium. She obtained an MA in Monumental Art/Painting at the Sint-Lukas Hogeschool in Ghent, and a Postgraduate Degree at the Higher Institute for Fine Arts (HISK) in Belgium. William Elias commented: ‘It is sometimes said that one has to step into a painting and go for a walk in it; a narrative walk in figurative imagery and a meditative one in abstract art. The works by Stéphanie Leblon invite you to jump in and let yourself float, telling and musing at the same time, providing breeding ground for the raft full of experiences that man ultimately is.’ Stéphanie has various shows in 2022:  BRAINBLOSSOM, Art Gallery De Wael 15, Antwerp and Gopea-kunstraum, Burg Bentheim, Germany. Previous exhibitions include: DIFFERENCES, HISK Brussels, Coup de Ville 2020 - Chasing flowers, WARP, Sint-Niklaas, Belgium, SPIRIT, Ruimte P60, Assen, The Netherlands.

"I am constantly meeting incredible women in the art world and I am fortunate to work with many strong female artists and leaders. "

Julia Canavan (b. 1991, Melbourne, Australia) is a Gallery Manager at the Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery. She holds a B.A. in Business and an M.A. in Arts and Cultural Management from the University of Melbourne. Julia began her career working in advertising at DDB before crossing over into the art world. She worked at Blockprojects Gallery in Melbourne and with Orphic Creative on public art projects, and then moved to Paris to gain experience at the Louis Vuitton Foundation. Julia joined the Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery in London in 2019 where she runs the marketing and communications and plans a range of exhibitions and events, many of which are focused on championing non-Western artistic traditions.

"Recently things have been evolving quite rapidly in the good sense. Before, few women artists were exhibited in museum collections. Women were only found in collections depicted as goddesses or muses."

Isabelle Vanhoonacker (b. 1965, Bruges, Belgium) is Managing Director of the Public Services Department at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium. From 1995 until 2006, she worked at the Brussels Opera house La Monnaie in the educational department, and afterwards as Director of the Opera’s Friends’ Association. In 2007, she started her career at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, firstly as head of education and later as Managing Director. She earned her Masters’ Degree in Dutch-English-Spanish Translation from VLEKHO and a B.A. in Art History, specializing in Contemporary Arts from the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB).

"I have always enjoyed working in a supportive environment with men and women. I think the art world can be a place where women can feel they have a voice...we may still need a few more of them at the top!"

Clare Freestone (b. 1975, London, UK) received a B.A. in Fine Art from Wimbledon School of Art (1998) and has worked at the National Portrait Gallery in the Photography department since 2000. As Curator of Photographs, her work at the Gallery involves the breadth of the Photographic Collection, comprising 250,000 objects dating from the 1840s to the present day. The displays she has curated include Seizing an Instant: Photographs by Roger Mayne (2006), Famous in the Fifties: Photographs by Daniel Farson (2012) and Illuminating Women: Photographs by Mayotte Magnus (2018). In 2009, she was appointed Associate Curator for the exhibition Ida Kar: Bohemian photographer (2011) and since January 2016 her post prioritizes acquisitions and the collection. While at the National Portrait Gallery she has developed her special interest in post-war photography and culture. Fabrics: Watts of Westminster

"when I was raising the first round of funding for MTArt Agency, I couldn’t find a single woman investor as so few exist at this stage"

Marine Tanguy (b. 1989, La Rochelle, France) has been an advocate for artists from a young age. She managed her first gallery at age 21 and opened her first art gallery in Los Angeles at age 23. After seeing the restrictiveness of the traditional gallery model, Marine launched MTArt Agency in 2015. MTArt is the first talent agency for visual artists worldwide. B Corp certified, MTArt supports artists commercially through brand partnerships and commissions for public spaces, as well as collectors. Marine was awarded Forbes 2018 30 under 30 Europe: Art & Culture and UK entrepreneur of the year for the 2019 NatWest Everywoman Awards. She is a writer and keynote speaker on contemporary art and art investment. Her talks include two TEDx Talks on how to transform cities with art and how social media visuals affects our minds.

'Women are now a commanding and spiritous stronghold in the art world – a force that has been gaining momentum by the day.'

Fru Tholstrup (b. 1969, London, UK) is a London-based art consultant and curator with a deep knowledge of the contemporary global art market, advising collectors and international businesses on building museum-quality art collections. She is best known for her role launching Sotheby’s flagship London Art Gallery, S|2 in 2013, working closely with S|2 New York and Hong Kong curating exhibitions. Fru guided the gallery to commercial and critical success with an ambitious and diverse programme. Her trademark is a creative approach to making engaging and original exhibitions; An ability honed during 10 years as Director of London’s Haunch of Venison Gallery. Fru Tholstrup and Jonathan Yeo curated the Soho House Art Collection, which began with the West Hollywood House and more recently Fru curated the extensive art collection for the Saudi Royal Family’s Hotel de Crillon in Paris and presented 21st Century Women at Unit London, an iconic and acclaimed group exhibition celebrating the centenary of women receiving the right to vote. 

"I believe that in general terms, women are good at listening to the voice of their organisations, understanding how it began, where it has come from and learning thereby what steps towards the future need to be taken."

Kathleen Soriano (b. 1963, London, UK) is an independent curator, art historian and broadcaster. She studied at University of Leicester. With over 30 years’ experience in the art world she has been responsible for collections, contemporary and historical exhibitions at the National Portrait Gallery, London and the Royal Academy of Arts, where she was Artistic Director (2009-2014), as well as at Compton Verney Art Gallery, where she was Director (2005-2009). In 2004 she became one of the first cohort of Clore Leadership Fellows. As well as curating many successful exhibitions she has lectured and written extensively and her book Madam and Eve, on women artists, was published in April 2018. Her broadcast activities include the six series of Portrait and Landscape Artist of the Year for SkyArts.

'Nowadays I don't encounter much inequality in my daily practice anymore, but of course we are still not there yet.'

Silvia B. (b. 1963, Rotterdam, The Netherlands) studied briefly Sculpture and Fashion at the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam and Art History at Leiden University. For eleven years, she was director of the smallest museum of the world, Museum van Nagsael, during the even-numbered months of the year. Silvia is also the creator of the Dutch largest steel sculpture of a lady called U l t r a in Groningen. Her meticulously and patiently crafted sculptures are luring the viewer to come closer and to study them intensely. It is then that their disquieting aesthetic becomes apparent.These figures are hybrid beings: between man and beast, doll and robot, confusing gender and age. In addition to her iconic sculptures Silvia makes drawings, photographs, a series of gloves, and curated several projects. Her work is represented in various international collections and is featured in her monograph entitled Of Beauty and Doubt, which is also her motto.

"Respect to all women that combine Motherhood with creating artwork. It takes a lot to carry all these creations."

Mooniq Priem (b. 1970, Helmond, The Netherlands) is a multi-disciplined artist. She studied Graphic Design at the Academy of Art and Design St. Joost in Breda (1990-1995). As a self-employed designer and filmmaker she found her passion for clay in 2007 and graduated in 2016 as a sculptor after 5 years at the Municipal Academy of Fine Arts in Arendonk, Belgium. As a sculptor she specializes in portraits and won the Dutch Portrait Prize with the sculpture Little Ichiko in 2019. Her Bust of Rembrandt van Rijn was exhibited in the Rijksmuseum (2019). In the project Facing The World she makes documentaries through the art of sculpture. By portraying individuals, stories of bigger worlds are rendered in a unique way. 

“We are at a turning point in history – a moment of change and extremes that hopefully become (through hard work, activism and consideration) balanced for all of us, especially the most vulnerable.”

Alia Al-Senussi (b. 1983, Washington DC, US) holds a B.A. and an M.A. from Brown University and M.Sc. from London School of Economics, as well as a Ph.D. in Politics from SOAS University of London, on the theme of cultural patronage, soft power and culture in Saudi Arabia. Alia is active in the art world, with a special focus on patronage and arts and culture in the Middle East. She is a founding member of the Tate Acquisitions Committee for the Middle East and North Africa, the Board of 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair, and the Middle East Circle of the Guggenheim. Alia is also a member of various advisory boards in the UK. Her primary professional role is as the Art Basel VIP Representative for the United Kingdom, the Middle East and North Africa. She is also Advisor, Arts and Culture, at Milken Institute. 

"Women may have been underrepresented in past centuries in the art world: they are making up for it now."

Hannah Rothschild (b. 1962, London, UK) is a writer, filmmaker and company director. Her award-winning books have been published in many languages. She has made documentary features for the BBC, HBO and others, writes for newspapers and magazines and has lectured on art at the Courtauld Institute of Art, Getty Institute and the Royal Academy. A former trustee of Tate, the ICA and Whitechapel, she became first female chair of the National Gallery in 2015. In 2018, she was made a CBE for services to literature and philanthropy. 

"I think it is important to support female artists and to research their work. We still have a lot to gain. We are making art herstory!"

Venus Veldhoen (b. 1968, Amsterdam, The Netherlands) is a Dutch photographer, specializing in portraiture. She studied at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam from 1992 to 1996. Subsequently, she studied art history at the University of Amsterdam and at the Free University there, writing her M.A. thesis on Claude Cahun (1894-1954). Venus makes portraits for, among others, NGOs such as Doctors Without Borders and Unicef, but she also works for magazines and companies. For her free work, she mainly portrays family members and fellow citizens, such as the Chinese community in Amsterdam and local folk. Additionally, she teaches photography at the Amsterdam Photo Academy. 

Haute Couture: Claes Iversen

"Women have to struggle much harder and often give up because it is so hard to be accepted or acknowledged. It has remained a man’s world and social environment for too long."

Shirley Young (1935, Shanghai, China-2020, New York, US) was a founding member and Governor of the Committee of 100, and Chair of US-China Cultural Institute. From 1989 to 2000, she was Corporate Vice President of General Motors and co-leader of its entry into China with the Shanghai-GM joint venture. Earlier, she was Executive Vice President of Grey Advertising and President of Grey Strategic Marketing. Shirley served on many corporate boards including Salesforce.com, Bank of America, Verizon, and Target. She focused on cultural-educational activities and served on the boards of the New York Philharmonic, Lang Lang International Music Foundation, National Dance Institute and The Nature Conservancy – Asia Pacific. She was Senior Advisor and trustee of Wellesley College and served on the boards of Interlochen Center for the Arts, the Associates of Harvard Business School, and Philips Academy, Andover. She received many awards for her business and cultural activities. 

"The sale of women’s artwork in the global auction market comprises only TWO percent of the total market share, according to researchers. If we buy art created by women, create new business models, (online) platforms and communities we can create change."

Marian Spier (b. 1970 Amsterdam, The Netherlands) is a social entrepreneur and board member. She has been a manager and lecturer at the University of Applied Sciences of Amsterdam for eight years. In 2012 she started consulting and has since built a diverse portfolio of clients that range across industries and sectors, such as the United Nations, City of Amsterdam, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to name a few. Marian founded TEDxAmsterdamWomen in 2010 in order to give women in the Netherlands a platform to spread their ideas. She continues to do so through her work as a social entrepreneur, whilst mentoring and coaching many young female entrepreneurs throughout the world. She founded the first Female Startup Awards in the Netherlands and serves as an advisor and board member of several non-profit organizations, such as The Van Gogh Museum, Rutgers and Van den Ende foundation.

'It’s important to have role models, and also to celebrate what’s been achieved thus far.'

Kate Gordon (b. 1974, New York, NY, US) is the founder and CEO of London Art Studies. Having produced arts programming for CNN, Kate founded London Art Studies in 2011. Now offering online courses, LAS won The Good Web Guide’s ‘Excellence in Education’ award, five months after launch. Educated at St Paul’s Girls' School, Amherst College, USA and University of Moscow, Kate co-founded the Association of Women in the Arts (AWITA), and writes a regular column on art for London’s Evening Standard newspaper. She chaired the fundraising group ‘Foreign Sisters’ in 2017/2018, and remains a Senior Arts Advisor to Cancer Research UK. She is also on the board of the Chelsea & Westminster Hospital Art and Design Advisory Group. Kate was a member of the Tate Patrons Executive Committee (2014-2018), a judge for LAPADA (2018, 2019) and is a member of the Honorary Council of The Art Academy, London.

"It was great being photographed by an artist who knows exactly what to do and how to do it. Carla created a confident atmosphere which allowed to create a very intimate moment. And I was impressed how coherent the picture is and for me it is also symbolic."

Theresa Witting (1975, Innsbruck, Austria) is a research associate at the Grünes Gewölbe (Green Vault), Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden. She studied art history and history in Innsbruck and Hamburg and holds a  Ph.D. focusing on painted enamels of the sixteenth century from Limoges from the Leopold-Franzens-University in Innsbruck. She is an expert on decorative arts specializing in silver and painted enamels from the sixteenth to eighteenth century, and porcelain from the eighteenth century. She is currently working on the catalogue of gold and silver in the Grünes Gewölbe. The focus of the research is on the meaning of these treasures for the courtly representation and reconstructs their provenance. Among other treasures, this museum houses the largest collection of goldsmiths’ art with nautilus shells. 

”I think our historical and cultural heritage still makes in our era hard for society to recognize women as artists.” 

Sara Boatto (b. 1990, Venice, Italy) earned a B.A. in Fashion Design from the University IUAV of Venice. After graduating, she spent a semester in Lyon, France, studying history of costume and fashion. She started working for Rubelli Company in Venice at the end of 2015. She is currently working for Rubelli Venezia (Venetian Textile Company), dealing with commercial activity related to the showroom and Sara is specialized in the historical section for the Rubelli museum, as the company owns a collection of more than 7000 historical fabrics – from the Renaissance to the early twentieth century and 3000 technical papers.

Fabrics: Rubelli Venezia 

"For me personally it is always inspiring if women stand up especially in the fashion industry, an industry that is still mainly lead by men."

Tess van Zalinge (b. 1989, Utrecht, the Netherlands) holds a B.A. in fashion & design from the Amsterdam Fashion Institute. She has been the owner of the designer label under her own name since 2016. Influenced by her Dutch roots, she references in her work Dutch crafts, costume wear, design and typically Dutch techniques. She translates her conscious mindset both into her designs and values as a brand. Each piece from her collections is handcrafted in her beautiful Amsterdam atelier, where she constantly explores the potential for responsibility in fashion through fresh collaborations, inspiring partnerships and new collections. 

“Thinking about the Dutch Frieda Belinfante, who was the first female conductor and artistic director of a professional orchestra in Europe, I am afraid we will have an even longer way to go in the case of female conductors and composers.”

Anna Marieke Zijlstra (b. 1995, Sneek, Friesland, The Netherlands) is a passionate professional oboist who performs solo, with, and in many renown orchestras (such as the Metropole Orkest), choirs and ensembles (Calefax). She is also an oboe teacher at various important music schools, teaching and performing all over the Netherlands. Moreover, she sings, plays the piano and teaches Frenchto vocal students at the Codarts conservatoire in Rotterdam. She graduated with honours both for her study French language & literature at Leiden University (2020) and for her education in Classical Oboe & Voice at the Royal Conservatoire The Hague (2022), resulting in a Master of Music & Art degree. Both her researches, Les Voix si humaines de Cocteau et de Poulenc and Oboetry – French poetry played in melody have been published online, respectively rewarded with a 9/10 and a 9.3/10 score. Her main mission is to share her love for language and music with the world.

"By creating a better art world for women to work in, it becomes a better system for everybody."

Marga Weimans (b. 1970, Rotterdam, The Netherlands) is a fashion designer. She holds an M.A. in Fashion Design from the Royal Academy of Art, Antwerp, Belgium and a B.A. in Science of Administration from Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. From 2006 to 2014 she was awarded an art residency by the renowned Groninger Museum, Groningen, The Netherlands. The museum collected and exhibited key couture dresses, including all her graduate collections. In 2014 a retrospective solo exhibition was held in the museum. Marga Weimans showed her collections during Paris, Amsterdam and New York Fashion Week and in museums around the world, among others, Palais du Tokyo, Paris, Tate Exchange, London and in 2019 in the Amsterdam Museum. The book Fashion House: Marga Weimans was published in 2014.

"I have countless magnificent female role-models in many museums, galleries and auction houses."

Chloe Stead (b. 1986, Bristol, UK) is  Sotheby's Global Head of Private Sales, Old Master Paintings. Previously she was Senior Global Director at Colnaghi. She worked for 11 years in the Old Master Paintings department as Director and a Specialist at Sotheby’s London. She holds a B.A. in Art History from the University of Birmingham, and an M.A. from Birkbeck College, London. Chloe grew up in Cornwall and Somerset; when not in a museum, she is happiest in a sailing boat. 

Susan B. Weatherbie (b. 1950, Holyoke, MA, US) has lived in Boston, MA since 1972. Over the last 34 years she and her husband, Matt, have collected seventeenth-century Dutch and Flemish paintings. They have promised 28 of their paintings to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, in support of the Center for Netherlandish Art (CNA). Susan and Matt, along with co-founders Rose Marie and Eijk van Otterloo, are deeply engaged in the development of the CNA whose mission is to share art generously both within and beyond the MFA through professional collaboration, loans, exhibitions, scholarly research, and mentoring the next generation of scholars. Previously, Susan chaired the Art Advisory Board of the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum. She is a trustee of the Boston Athenaeum and the MFA in Boston. Susan, Matt and the Van Otterloos recently received the Order of Oranje-Nassau from the King of the Netherlands honouring their gift of art and the establishment of the CNA. 

"Fortunately, we live in a time when more and more women occupy important positions. In general, but also in the art world."

Micha Leeflang (b. 1975, Soest, The Netherlands) studied technical art history at the University of Groningen, where she defended her dissertation ‘Uytnemende Schilder van Antwerpen. Joos van Cleve: atelier, productie en werkmethoden’ in 2007 (published in 2015 with Brepols Joos van Cleve, A Sixteenth-Century Antwerp Artist and his Workshop). From 2005 to 2007 she was on the staff of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam as curatorial researcher. Since 2007 she has been a curator at Museum Catharijneconvent in Utrecht, where she was responsible for exhibitions such as Surviving the Iconoclasm, Medieval Sculpture (2012-2013), The secret of the Middle Ages in gold thread and silk (2015), Holy Scripture – Tanakh, Bible, Koran (2016),  Magical Miniatures (2018) and North & South, medieval altar decorations from Norway and Catalonia (2019-2020).

Enam Gbewonyo (b. 1980, London, UK) is an artist and curator. A B.A. Textile design graduate of Bradford School of Art & Design, her practice investigates identity, womanhood and humanity through the mediums of textiles and performance. In exhibiting and curating, she has worked with organisations like Bonhams (2018), TEDxEuston (2015) and Toronto’s The Artist Project Fair (2016). She also participated in ‘Beyond the Frame’ a International Curator’s Forum programme aimed at developing BAME art professionals (2017-2018). Passionate about elevating black women artists, Enam advocates as a writer, public speaker and as the founder of the Black British Female Artist Collective. The Collective supports emerging African diaspora women artists build sustainable careers. Projects include the 2017 Arts Council-funded cross-cultural artist exchange in Ghana as well as projects with adidas America and Germany and talks/exhibitions with South London Gallery, University of Oxford and Tate to name a few. 

"There are so many of us, yet , despite some progress, our voices are not heard enough. There are however some very encouraging projects such as the Parasol Foundation Women in Photography at the V&A in London which will hopefully help change that."

Véronique Rolland (b. 1973, Belfort, France) is a French-British artist whose work in still and moving image explores the human condition and the natural world, questioning the notions of ecology, femininity, transformation and constancy. Several of her projects revisit locations and sitters seeking to visually express the transience of the human condition through time and their interconnection. Through her observation of landscape and the human form, Véronique engages with the quasi-mystical, the sublime, and the Romantic. She holds an M.A. in Photography from LCC London. Her work has been widely exhibited and acquired by major international collections including the National Portrait Gallery and Victoria & Albert Museum, London, and Pompidou Centre, Paris. Véronique Rolland has published three critically acclaimed limited-edition books: 6 (2011), 4°0′13.176″N 2°32′52.278″W (2017) and Memories of an Unknown Island  (2022) and she is the recipient of the Arts Foundation Fellowship in Portraiture.

Mariane Ibrahim Abdi (b. Nouméa, New Caledonia) is a gallerist based in Chicago, who grew up in Somalia and France. She studied advertising in London and worked in marketing in the United Kingdom. In the early 2000s, a trip to Paris started her interest in contemporary African art after she saw a photograph by Seydou Keïta. In 2012, Mariane founded the M. I. A. Gallery in Seattle as a way to showcase artists from underrepresented regions such as Africa and the Middle East, focusing primarily on African and African diaspora artists. M. I. A. was an acronym for both the phrase ‘Missing in Art’ and her birth name. She opened the gallery with an exhibit of photos from the Malian artist Malick Sidibé. In 2017, Mariane Ibrahim won the first Presents booth prize at The Armory Show for her exhibition of photography and textile artist, Zohra Opoku. The gallery's name was changed to Mariane Ibrahim Gallery and in September 2019 she moved her gallery to Chicago, Illinois in the West Town neighborhood, opening the new gallery with an exhibition of Ayana V. Jackson's photography titled, Take Me to the Water  which explored African water spirits.

"After centuries of thousands and thousands of representations of the woman in the artworks, but almost never behind the canvas, we finally reached this point of finding women at all positions of the art world: artists of course, but also in the other fields, from curation to technical jobs, from logistics to directors. Looking outside of the art world and the big difficulties everywhere, we can be very proud about what happened in the last decades: even if the journey to gender balance is still very long, it is going now very fast in the arts."

Lise Bruyneel (b. 1977, Brussels, Belgium) is founder of la fabrique des regards. After studies in cello (Brussels, Berlin) and art history(Brussels, Rome), she started exploring different ways of creative dialogue between visual arts and music. As a picture editor, bringing visual arts to performing art houses for communication and publishing projects (Opéra de Paris, Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, Concertgebouw Brugge, Ruhrtriennale, Silbersee Amsterdam). But also as a VJ, reacting live during classical concerts, creating a visual support for the listening. She is also curating exhibition projects in unusual spaces, like EXI(S)T in the streets of Brussels in 2020 or the Biennale du Condroz in 2021, invading public areas with contemporary photography.

"In a time where female (art) history is rewritten, it is important that women working in the art world today connect with their hidden stories. At the same time promote the work of female artists of our own time. "

Hélène Bremer (b. 1966, Vlaardingen, The Netherlands) is an independent curator holding a degree in Art History and Archaeology from the University of Leiden. Linking the contemporary with heritage is the red thread in her work. Her curatorial practice emerged from her own collecting activities and therefore shows a very personal taste.  Hélène's trans-historical exhibitions originate from thorough research into the collections of historic houses with a diversity of topics such as contemporary art inspired by the eighteenth century, the role of women in history, and Piranesi as an inspirator for contemporary artists. Every art was once new is her motto which brings a fresh look at contemporary art in the setting of historic houses and castles. Some of the exhibitions she curated are: Armed with Beauty: women and power since the Middle Ages, Rijksmuseum Muiderslot (2018) and For the Love of the Master, 25 artists inspired by Piranesi at the Casino at Marino and The Coach House Gallery, Dublin Castle (2022).

"I am very interested in making mothers who are artists, creators, film directors, etc. more visible. Because they need more support."

Eline Jongsma (b. 1980, Groningen, The Netherlands) is a documentary filmmaker and an artist. She founded the creative studio Jongsma + O’Neill alongside her partner Kel O’Neill in 2011 in New York. Jongsma + O’Neill’s innovative non-fiction projects include the VR experience The Ark (Tribeca Film Festival, Rencontres d’Arles), the interactive project Empire (The New York Film Festival, PBS) and the Instagram-native documentary His Name Is My Name (Winner, 2022 Special Jury Award for Creative Technology, IDFA). She is a Sundance Institute New Frontier Fellow, an Emmy nominee, a Webby honoree and the inaugural winner of the Tim Hetherington Visionary Award.

"Women in the art business started to make their mark in Modern and Contemporary. I was right on time for that. They are barely beginning to be recognised in the world of Old Masters. It’s about time!"

Hester Diamond (1928-2020, New York, NY, US) was a true New Yorker, with all that implies, despite having spent extended periods of time in London in the late 1950s and 1960s, in Shanghai between 2000 and 2012, and in Italy all her life, always in the major art cities, especially Florence. She wass proudest of having been the founding president of two non-profits: The Medici Archive Project, a valuable tool for scholars and students of Renaissance and Baroque art, and Vistas, a series publishing books of new scholarship on old sculpture. But most of all, she has been a passionate collector, starting from her first pay-check in 1950 and continuing through her death in January 2020, in her tenth decade.

"Work to do! I am a feminist with a to-do-list in the Art World"

Maya Meijer-Bergmans (b. 1945, Amsterdam, The Netherlands) studied art history at Leiden University. With her husband Ton Meijer she is founder/owner of MeyerBergman Heritage Group and the driving force behind the Creative Office within the group.  From 1992 to 2007 Maya was the owner and director of the Promenade Hotel Holding. And till 2018 she was owner/managing director of the Westergasfabriek Amsterdam. Maya is board member of several cultural and medical institutions.

"It's time for women to take charge of this world. I hope that this transition will take place during my lifetime."

Julika Marijn (b. 1972, Utrecht, NL) writes and plays since 2003 her own one woman shows on strong women from history. Women like Etty Hillesum, Lady Di, Maria Magdalena and Helene Kröller-Müller. Her latest project is her play on Geertje Dircx, Rembrandt’s second life partner. The play premiered in Janaury 2023. Julika graduated from the Amsterdam Theatre School and lives in De Rijp.

Dress made of paper designed by Carla van de Puttelaar

"Since culture is the corner stone of society it is really important that women have key functions in the art world. Just like in any other sector it shows off advantages on so many levels to have a good balance of men and women."

Nina Maat (b. 1996, Amsterdam, The Netherlands) has a BA in Political Sciences from the University of Antwerp and Universidad Complutense de Madrid and an MA in Environmental Sciences from the University of Antwerp. She will make her debut in the art world as of October 2022. Due to her unwavering passion for circular economy and biomimicry, she will start a pop-up museum focused on these topics. The pop-up will function as a try-out for a real museum. Both new and established artists will collaborate with knowledge institutions and businesses to give a large audience insight on sustainability issues through art. This project is the culmination of years of event organizing in museums and getting familiar with environmental topics at several governmental levels and non-profit initiatives. 

Christine Koenigs (b. 1952, Ede, The Netherlands) always believed she was an artist. At age 18, she went to the Art Academy in Arnhem but after two years left for Paris. In 1974, she moved to Amsterdam, becoming involved with painting, photography and film. Her film-installations, made with 16 or 8 mm were conceptually driven and are her best works. When the Berlin Wall fell and the iron curtain ceased to exist, it became known that part of her grandfather’s famous collection of drawings ‘the Franz Koenigs Collection’ was kept at the Pushkin Museum in Moscow. This prompted a series of articles by journalists on the loss of the Koenigs collection. Before long, research into the collection demanded all of Christine’s time and her career now focuses on research and the policy of WWII looted art. 

“Presently, there here are very talented women leading major museums in the Netherlands; a testament to what women can achieve in the art world.”

Nynke van der Ven - van Wijngaarden (b.1968, Zaandam, The Netherlands) is an art historian and responsible for research and communication at Vanderven Oriental Art, international specialist dealers in Chinese art and ceramics. After school in England, she studied for an M.A. in Art History at Leiden University, writing a thesis on early interiors. Her first job was in London working for a specialist arts PR agency, going on to join the TEFAF Maastricht fair organisation in the press department. Following a period working as an event manager at a private bank, she joined Vanderven in 2005. Since 2012 she primarily focussed on the academic aspect of the business, researching and writing scholarly catalogues and regularly attending specialist diploma courses. She is on the board of the Dutch Antique Dealers Association (KVHOK) and is on a mission to reignite the love antique objects amongst the younger generations.

"Like in other branches of society, there’s definitely room for more women in the art world. "

Ariane van Suchtelen (b. 1962, Hengelo, The Netherlands) is curator at the Mauritshuis, The Hague. She studied Art History at Groningen University and did a graduate internship at the J. Paul Getty Museum. Before joining the Mauritshuis in 1995, she worked at the Rijksmuseum for five years. In 2014-2015 she served as acting curator at the Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem. The most recent exhibitions that she curated include Dutch Self Portraits of the Golden Age   (2015-2016), Jan van Scorel in Haarlem (2015-2016), Jan Steen’s Histories (2018), Nicolaes Maes    (2019-2020) and Fleeting – Scents in Colour (2021). She also curated the exhibition In Full Bloom about Dutch and Flemish flower still lifes of the 17th century (2022) and Roelant Savery (2024).

Bruna Maia (b. 1986, Rio Grande, Brazil) is a journalist and cartoonist whose art talks about visibility of women in the arts, reproductive rights, feminism, among other subjects. As Bruna is an economics journalist for a large company, she has chosen to appear on the Internet under the pseudonym Estarmorta (something like "I wish I was dead") where she publishes cartoons since 2017, which appear to find an echo among Brazilian women.

Susan Singer (b. 1958, Boston, MA, US) has lived in the UK for the past 39 years. Born into a medical family, Susan’s first interests were in medicine and access to – or lack of – healthcare. Towards this end, upon graduation from Wellesley College, she went to London to study the National Health Service with a view to continuing her studies at Harvard’s School of Public Health after one year. In addition to learning about the NHS, and the political difficulties it continues to face, Susan developed an interest in art – architecture, fine arts and decorative arts. To pursue these interests further, she deferred her place at Harvard and moved to Rome to continue to learn about art and the Italian language. Susan never returned to the US to finish her education; she met her husband in London and decided to remain in the UK and share her life with him. 

“I feel that women are the equals of men in the art world.”

Laura Ruth Bidwell (b. 1954, Akron, OH, US) graduated from the University of Akron with a B.F.A. in painting. To earn extra money for college, Laura worked as a portrait artist. After college, she was hired to work in the advertising department of the M. O'Neil Company. Her next job was as a graphic designer at Malone Advertising. She and her husband, Fred, began collecting contemporary photography in 1991 when they were married. They opened the Transformer Station in 2013 to store and exhibit their collection. Laura is currently a photographer, book maker and collage artist living in Cleveland. 

'I am thrilled that the number of female artists represented in museums and galleries seems to be gaining in number, but until it’s equal representation I believe it’s important to fight for equal exposure, representation etc.'

ELLE Streetart (b. 1985, CA, US). Her legal name remains guarded because of her many previous illegal works. ELLE earned a B.A. in Art History and Art studio from UCDavis then dropped out of a post baccalaureate painting degree at Brandeis, to move to New York. There, she was extremely prolific creating much streetart and graffiti. She then became sponsored by a spray paint company, started painting large legal walls, and began getting invited around the world to paint. She is now recognised as one of the top globally touring female streetart/muralists. ELLE has exhibited at the Tate in London, had a 100 foot projection on the facade of the New Museum, exhibited and traveled with Urban Nation Museum,  has designed multiple yoga capsule collections with Reebok, and her work has been published in dozens of books.  

Marilyn J. Friedland (b. New York, NY, US) is a collector. She received a B.A. with a major in English Literature from Cornell University, and an M.Ed. from Harvard Graduate School of Education. Marilyn is a member of the Wrightsman Fellows and Visiting Committee of the department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as a member of the Friends of Asian Art at the Met. She is a Director of The Wallace Collection in America, a member of the Council of Fellows at the Morgan Library and Museum, a Decorative Arts Fellow at the Frick Collection, a former member of the Museum Council at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University, a patron of the Metropolitan Opera, and a member of the Lincoln Centre Great Performers Circle. 

Fabrics: Rubelli Venezia / Donghia Inc

"I truly believe that the passion and love women infuse into the art scene is very specific and special."

Julie Suzanne Tretiak (b. 1976, Savannah, GA, US) earned a B.Sc. in Textiles from the University of Georgia and spent a semester in Verona studying art history and architectural rendering. Blending her passions for interior design and textiles, she opened an interior design firm specializing in residential design. After several years creating beautiful spaces she began her career representing fine textile designers, including Sir Peter Osborne, Tricia Guild, Madeline Weinrib and Rubelli of Venice, Italy. She has served on the Young Members Board of the Bruce Museum, Greenwich CT, and developed various programmes focusing on the introduction of the art world to our children. 

Vilja-Louise Skough Åborn (b. 1989, Stockholm, Sweden) holds an M.A. in Folk Music from The Royal College of Music, Stockholm. As a touring singer and composer, Vilja-Louise performs both solo and in various ensembles, embracing a diversity of musical traditions. Her critically acclaimed debut solo album, Singing From the Source, was released in 2018. 

Julia Weber (b. 1979, Germany) studied art history, classical archeology and French philology at the Universities of Augsburg and Bonn from 1998 to 2005 and received her doctorate in 2011 from the University of Basel. Presently, she is Director of the Porcelain Collection, Staatlichen Kunstsammlungen Dresden. Between 2005 and 2007 Julia was employed as a trainee at the Museum for Art and Cultural History in Dortmund. From there she moved to the Bavarian National Museum as a research assistant, where in 2012 she assumed responsibility for the museum's ceramic collections as a deputy speaker, in particular for the Meißen porcelain collection Ernst Schneider Foundation in Lustheim Palace. At the Bavarian National Museum, she worked on the permanent exhibition on the baroque and rococo collection.

'As a photo historian I work closely with photographers. But I do not often witness the creation of an image. This project gave me that opportunity. I wanted to wear something which would connect me to the women in my family. '

Saskia Asser (b. 1973, The Hague, The Netherlands) is a curator of photography, specialized in photojournalism and photography’s early history. She is works at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. A descendent of Dutch photographic pioneer Eduard Isaac Asser, she has been interested in the history of photography since an early age. At the University of Leiden, she wrote her M.A. thesis on Nicolaas Henneman, the Dutch assistant to the inventor of photography, W.H. Fox Talbot. After graduating, she worked as a researcher at the Rijksmuseum, creating a national catalogue of all early photographs in Dutch collections. In 1999, Saskia became curator of the new photography museum Huis Marseille in Amsterdam, where she worked for over 12 years. From 2012 to 2015, she worked at World Press Photo on a new online environment for the archive of winning images. Between 2015 and 2018 she was the editor of the academic series Rijksmuseum Studies in Photography. 

Helen Scott (b.1982, Dundee, UK) holds an M.A. and Ph.D. (2009) in Art History from the University of St. Andrews. Since 2013 she has been Curator of Fine Art at the City Art Centre in Edinburgh, where she specializes in Scottish art of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Previously, she worked as Collections Manager of the Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Trust. She has written for a variety of art historical books and journals, and is the author of Edwin G. Lucas: An Individual Eye (2018) and Mary Cameron: Life in Paint (2019). 

Maja Markovic (b. 1986, Niš, Serbia) moved to England at the age of eight and is based in London. She studied English literature and art history before completing an M.A. in Art History at University College London in 2010. Her career in the arts has included curation, research, arts publishing and auction houses. Focusing on Early Modern Netherlandish art, Maja joined Christie’s Old Master Paintings department in London in 2014 and is a specialist and Head of Day Sale. 

Rebecca Hicks (b. 1957, London, UK) studied art history at the Universities of East Anglia and Oxford.  She has been a Director of Purdy Hicks Gallery, London, since 1992. Previously she spent two years at Bonhams Auctioneers, where she set up the department of Post War and Contemporary Art. During the 1980s she was at Marlborough Fine Art, London, working with such great artists as Francis Bacon, Frank Auerbach and Paula Rego. 

Nicola Shane (b. 1954, Darlington, UK) has been a Director of Purdy Hicks Gallery since 1997, before which she worked in the Information Department at the Tate Gallery for five years and at the Contemporary Art Society where for over ten years she was the Organising Secretary, overseeing the purchase of contemporary art for presentation to museums and galleries in the UK. 

Uta Neidhardt (b. 1961 Dresden, Germany) is Senior Curator of Dutch and Flemish Paintings at the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden. Since 1991 she has been working as Curator of Dutch and Flemish paintings at Dresden State Art Collections, Old Masters Picture Gallery, and hold teaching positions at Technical University Dresden and Dresden Academy of Fine Arts in 1996-1999 and 2008-2009. In 2009 she was Acting Director of the Dresden Old Masters Picture Gallery and worked as Senior Curator at the Old Masters Picture Gallery since 2010. In the period 2013-2016 she had been responsible for the Dresden panel paintings project as part of the Getty’s Panel Paintings Initiative. Uta curated exhibitions on Rembrandt, Vermeer, Jan van Eyck and the fifteenth century, Dutch fine painters and Flemish landscape painting. She published on Early Netherlandish, Dutch and Flemish painting of the 15th – 18th century, Dresden painting of the nineteenth and twentieth century and contemporary art of Saxony, provenance research and war art losses.

Joan Fanaberia Bloom (b. 1937, Montreal, Canada) was born and educated in Montreal. Her first career was in education. Since 1975, Joan has managed her family’s industrial real estate business in Canada and the United States. Her most important vocation, however, has been raising and caring for her family. Since childhood, Joan’s life has been enriched by music (especially opera), art and books. She is also an avid gardener. With her husband, Hy, Joan discovered the world of old master paintings, and together they became collectors as well as devoted opera fans and patrons. 

"There should be more women in the art world, on top."

D Lesley Hill (b. 1957, Connecticut, US) is a private art dealer specializing in works on paper. She holds an A.B. from Smith College. Her first study experience was the etchings of Rembrandt at the Smith College Museum of Art. She began in trade in 1979; in 1980, as Hill-Stone, Inc., she moved to New York City. She has sold art to museums throughout Europe and the United States and regularly visits print rooms around the world to study old master art on paper. Her dream is to find a lost etching by Hercules Segers.

Her personal interests include eighteenth- and nineteenth-century jewellery and Renaissance and Neoclassical kleinkunst. She is also proud of her powerful female ancestors, Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122-1204) and Anne Marbury Hutchinson (1591-1643), who was banished from Massachusetts to Rhode Island in 1637 because she wanted to open the clergy to all. 

Georgina Hilton (b. 1990, London, UK) works in the Old Master Paintings department at Christie's, London. In 2017, she won the Young Auctioneer of the Year Award and is one of a handful of female auctioneers at Christie's. Georgina and Sophie Samuelson, seen together in their Artfully Dressed portrait, have organized a series of events for the ‘under 30s’ involved in the Old Master field. 

Sophie Samuelson (b. 1990, London, UK) graduated in art history from the University of Leeds. She went on to complete a course in Entrepreneurship and Economics with Close Brothers. Her passion for modern art led her to Sotheby’s where she gained work experience in their Impressionist and Modern Art department. She has also assisted on exhibitions at Portland Gallery, shadowed various departments at Cheffins auction house and worked on a number of volunteer programs at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Sophie joined Seymours in 2013 where she ran collection management for clients and certain client-related projects until 2019. 

Fabrics: Watts of Westminster

Michele Oka Doner (b. 1945, Miami Beach, FL, US) is an internationally renowned artist whose career spans five decades. She received her B.A. and M.F.A. at The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, followed by a doctorate in 2016. Her work is fuelled by a lifelong study and appreciation of the natural world from which she derives her formal vocabulary. Her artistic production encompasses sculpture, jewellery, public art, functional objects, video, artist books, costume and set design. She has created numerous permanent art installations throughout the US, including Flight at Reagan International Airport, Radiant Site, at the Herald Square MTA station, NY and the mile and quarter long bronze and terrazzo concourse, A Walk on the Beach, seen by 40 million travellers a year at Miami International Airport. Michele’s work can be found in various leading international museums. She is the author or subject of numerous books, including Everything Is Alive (2017). 

"The Art World is hugely competitive and the few jobs that are available are often now offered as short-term contracts."

Cassie Davies-Strodder (b. 1983, Norwich, UK) is a PhD student. She previousluy was Curator of 20th and 21st Century Fashion at the Victoria and Albert Museum. She curated the major V&A fashion exhibition Balenciaga: Shaping Fashion. Her publications include London Society Fashion 1905 – 1925: The Wardrobe of Heather Firbank (V&A Publishing 2015) and Modern Royal Fashion: Seven royal women and their style  Historic Royal Palaces, 2015).

"All women carry their own unique power and strength, an intimidating strength. The power of vulnerability and nurturance through art is unparalleled."

Zea Pippi Lotte van der Elsken (b. 1999, Amsterdam, The Netherlands) is currently following a full-time study at The Royal Academy of Art in The Hague. She is also interning for Iris Sikking, Koos Breukel and the Australian online journal and studio Unless You Will. Alongside portrait commissions and hand making her own books - for example Fighting Lessons  (2021), Arbres et Abeilles (2019) and Oblivion (2020) - she is Editor in Chief of Ouroboros magazine (to be published) which contains her project State of Being (2020). Recently she was curator for the broadcasting and livestream collaboration between PIP TV and BABYFACE Collective. Her work has been shown in The Grey Space in the Middle (The Hague), Gallery Heden (The Hague), Scheepsvaartmuseum (Amsterdam), and her work has been published in VPRO Magazine and the Volkskrant.

'It is empowering to see so many women in the arts in this project."

Eva Damstra (b. 1999, Amsterdam, The Netherlands) is a Amsterdam based photographer. She is studying at the Amsterdam based Dutch Academy for image creation, following the course applied photography and image communication. Working as a portrait photographer she makes intimate work. Mostly self-portraits in which she visualises her thoughts and struggles. Besides her self-portraits she also creates series and books around the themes of friendships and intimacy. 

Maeve Toal (b. 1975, Frankfurt am Main, Germany) holds a B.A. in Textile Art (1999) from Winchester School of Art and completed an M.A. in European Fine Art (2000) in Barcelona. She has been Curator of Exhibitions at the City Art Centre, Edinburgh since 2011. Prior to this she was Assistant Curator of Touring Exhibitions, where she delivered a programme of touring shows from the City Art Centre’s collection of Scottish art. She is particularly interested in contemporary visual arts and crafts. Recent exhibitions include Robert Callender: Plastic Beach... poetry of the everyday (2018), Peter Randall-Page RA: Works on Paper (2017) and William Gear 1915-1997: The painter that Britain forgot (2016). From 2004 to 2012 Maeve was a panel member on the Edinburgh Visual Arts and Crafts Awards Scheme. 

"I do believe that for a healthy dynamic and balance it is crucial to have a good mix of both sexes on the floor."

Fleur Roos Rosa de Carvalho (b. 1982, Amsterdam, The Netherlands) has an M.A. in Art History and Curatorship from the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam. She has been Curator of Prints and Drawings at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam since 2013. She discovered the specific appeal of nineteenth-century works on paper while working as an Assistant Curator at the Van Gogh Museum from 2007 to 2010. With her publication and the exhibition Prints in Paris 1900: From the Elite to the Street (2017) she set out to return prints to their historic context. Autumn 2015 witnessed the launch of her experimental and interactive website that presents the Van Gogh Museum’s print collection in its full glory. She is co-author of Printmaking in Paris: The Rage for Prints at the Fin de Siècle  (2012) and of many other publications on late nineteenth-century art. 

"I believe women have come a long way but as we carry years of patriarchism on our shoulders this is a celebration and a reminder of women’s achievements."

Ellida Minelli (b. 1987, Padova, Italy) grew up in Venice and lived there until she was 18. She moved to the UK to study, reading art history and arts management at Oxford Brookes. She received an M.A. from the Courtauld Institute of Art focusing on Venetian sixteenth-century art and there completed her M.A. on Titian in 2010. She gained experience in an auction house and worked with John Mitchell Fine Paintings before working for Derek Johns, a dealer specializing in old master paintings. Ellida also has a passion for photography and architecture. 

Fabrics: Rubelli Venezia

Susan Donahue Kuretsky (b. 1941, US), Professor of Art Emerita at Vassar College, has lived most of her life in the countryside of the Hudson Valley and in New York City. Having received her AB degree from Vassar and her MA and PhD from Harvard University, she went on to teach Art History at Boston University, Smith College, and Vassar College. Her publications include diverse articles on Rembrandt and seventeenth-century printmaking, the exhibition catalogue Time and Transformation in Seventeenth-Century Dutch Art, co-authorship of the catalogue of Dutch paintings in the Detroit Institute of Arts, and a monograph on the Dutch genre painter Jacob Ochtervelt. Her teaching has focused on seminars on Old Master prints, courses on northern Renaissance and Baroque art, on explorations of art and science in the Age of Observation, and on consideration of the history of art museums up to the present, viewed through the lens of both theory and practice.

‘The curators, artists and museum directors in the Art World that I respect and follow are all female! And yet, if I think about what is hanging on museum and gallery walls, the majority tends to be male.’

Ann Korijn-van der Borgh (b. 1960, Plainwell, MI, US) has lived in the Netherlands for more than 35 years. Growing up, she was constantly exploring forms of expression by creating her own clothes and following the tradition of her female lineage, by making wool braided rugs and quilts. Later, she worked as a stockbroker to support her love of the arts and she is active as an investor in pursuing companies that have creative solutions to environmental issues. Any spare moment, she can be found painting in oils, she cannot imagine a world without pigments, painting, theatre, literature, film and Nature. She remains fascinated by a feather or a leaf, and is in awe of the umbers, ochres and madder lake that nature gives us.

Judith Noorman (b. 1982, Capelle a/d IJssel, The Netherlands) is an art historian and has been Associate Professor at the University of Amsterdam since 2010. She earned her Ph.D. at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University and her M.A. at the University of Amsterdam. Her current research project studies the impact of women on the art market in the Dutch Republic. She has also published (interdisciplinary) studies on Rembrandt, Old Master drawings, the nude & honour culture and Jacob van Loo. Judith guest-curated the exhibition Rembrandt’s Naked Truth at The Rembrandt House Museum in Amsterdam in 2016, to which Carla van de Puttelaar contributed with a series of photographs inspired by Rembrandt’s nudes. 

Emma Hopkins (b. 1989, Brighton, UK) turned to portrait painting after graduating with a degree in Make-up and Prosthetics for Performance from the University of the Arts, London. Self-taught, Emma first exhibited her work in a staff show at the Chelsea Arts Club while working behind the bar. Now she is a member of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters. Her expertise has fed directly into her painting, which focuses almost exclusively on nude portraits and studies of human flesh. In 2019 she won the BP Young Artist Award. 

Peggy Stone (b. 1952, New York, NY, US) has an M.A. in Art History. She began her career working with her father, an art dealer specializing in nineteenth-century European paintings. This was followed by ten years in the auction business at Christie’s and then Doyle in New York. Along with her husband Lawrence Steigrad, Peggy is the co-owner of Lawrence Steigrad Fine Arts, New York City, founded in 1989. Presently, they are the only gallery in America whose primary focus is Dutch old master paintings. The Jan Baptist Weenix painting in Carla van de Puttelaar’s portrait of Peggy served as the inspiration for her children’s books about a New York dog in the world of old master paintings. 

Jessica May Proudman (b. 1988, Gold Coast, Australia) studied Art History at the University of Queensland, followed by Theatre Costume at Edinburgh College. After graduating, she worked in the Costume department of the Royal National Theatre, London for four years. In 2016, Jessica had the opportunity to go to New York and while there worked at Sotheby’s in the Nineteenth-Century European Paintings department. Recently returned to Edinburgh, she is involved in a number of projects including her own freelance costuming, fundraising for charity through art campaigns and cataloguing the newly acquired Mackinnon Collection at the National Galleries Scotland. 

Josephine Nash (b. 1987, New York  NY, US) attended The Spence School. She earned a B.A. from Brown University in 2010. Josephine joined Mitchell-Innes & Nash in 2012 where she started as a gallery assistant, later becoming Gallery Director. She has spearheaded exhibitions by gallery artists such as Keltie Ferris and Eddie Martinez and has worked closely with the Kiki Kogelnik Foundation to put forth the artists’ first exhibition with the gallery. 

Lucy Mitchell-Innes (b. 1955, London, UK) grew up in Hertfordshire and attended the Courtauld Institute of Art as an undergraduate and post-graduate, receiving an M.A. in Art History in 1979. She worked at Sotheby’s from 1981 to 1994, as head of the Contemporary Art department in Europe, then in New York as worldwide director of the Contemporary Art, Latin American Art and Contemporary and Modern Print departments. In 1994 she founded her own business as a private dealer and art advisor, and two years later opened a gallery on the Upper East Side in New York specializing in the secondary market for modern and contemporary masters and artists’ estates. In 2005 the gallery opened a second space in Chelsea. Mitchell-Innes & Nash has mounted major exhibitions of both historical and contemporary work, and the gallery’s roster of artists and estates includes some of the most influential artists of the twentieth century and today. 

Ata Kandó (2013, Etelka Görög, Hungary-2017, Bergen NH, The Netherlands) was a photographer. She started in the 1930s with children’s photography. Ata later worked as a fashion photographer, and photographed refugees. She also travelled to the Amazon to photograph landscapes and people. In 1959,Ata won a silver medal in Munich for fashion photography and then in 1991, received the Pro Cultura Hungarica Medal. Followed in 1998 with the Imre Nagy Prize. In the same year, she and her husband received the Righteous Among the Nations, awarded by Israel for saving Jews during the Holocaust. In 1999 she was awarded the Hungarian Photographers Association Lifetime Achievement Award. She had many exhibition and in 2014 The Dutch Photo Museum held an exhibition of her work, along with portraits made by other photographers.

“I am happy to see that just as early modern women artists are finally getting their due, present day women are also taking more authority in the art world. I think that girls and women should aspire to the top level of whatever they do, in any field.”

Molly Harrington (b. 1988 Columbia, MD, USA) holds a B.A. in art history from Washington and Lee University (Virginia), and an M.A. and Ph.D. in seventeenth-century Dutch and Flemish art history from the University of Maryland. She has previously done research, curatorial, and editorial work at the National Gallery of Art and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, as well as for private collections of Northern paintings. She has taught several art history survey-level and seminar courses in the University of Maryland system as well as online and abroad. Currently, Molly is the Senior Researcher in Old Master Paintings at Sotheby’s New York where she sources, researches, and catalogues paintings for live auctions and private sales.

Megan Piper (b. 1984, London, UK) holds an M.A. in Psychology from The University of Edinburgh. She is the co-founder of The Line, a contemporary art-walk in East London that follows the Meridian linking the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and The O2, which launched in 2015. She opened her first gallery, The Piper Gallery, in Fitzrovia in 2012 and since 2014 has continued to represent a small number of artists and artists’ estates, with temporary gallery spaces in Mayfair and St James's and a programme of collaborations with other galleries. 

"In comparison with world of business and industry, the art world presents more possibilities for equal opportunity employment. "

Mayken Jonkman (b. 1969, Ameide, The Netherlands) is curator of nineteenth-century art at the Rijksmuseum. Previously she was senior curator at the RKD -Netherlands Institute for Art History in The Hague. She received an M.A. in Law from Utrecht University in 1995 and an M.A. in Art History from the University of Amsterdam in 2003. She has regularly collaborated with museums and other institutions to realize exhibitions, conferences and research projects in The Netherlands as well as abroad. She has organized exhibitions and published articles and books on mobility, painters’ studios and artistic practice, the art market and various sociological aspects of the art world in the nineteenth century. 

Nazy Vassegh (b. 1968, Teheran, Iran) is a London-based art advisor and strategic consultant with over 25 years’ experience in the international art world. This has given her a deep knowledge of the art market and an unrivalled international network of contacts. Today Nazy offers expert independent advice to clients looking to build museum-quality collections and consults for founders and leaders in the art business sector. Nazy is known for her role as Chief Executive of Masterpiece where she took the fair to great critical success. Prior to joining Masterpiece, she worked for Sotheby’s where her roles included Managing Director of the European Impressionist & Modern division, founding Director of ‘Sotheby’s Preferred’ and Senior Global Business Director for Contemporary Art. 

“There have been fantastic women, and they were praised in their time by colleagues, collectors and biographers. It took a century of art history to write many of them out. However, the tide seems to be turning, fortunately.”

Wieteke van Zeil (b. 1973, The Hague, The Netherlands) studied art history at the University of Amsterdam. She is a cultural journalist and writer who pens a weekly series about details of works of art entitled Eye for Detail (Oog voor Detail) for the weekend magazine of the Dutch national newspaper De Volkskrant. In 2018, her book, Seeing is Ignoring: the Art of Attentiveness (Goed kijken begint met negeren: de kunst van opmerkzaamheid), was published by Atlas Contact. Her previous publications include Up Closer: Art in Details (Dichterbij, kunst in details). In 2015, the Eye for Detail series was recognized with a European Newspaper Award. I 2021 she made a TV program Kijken op gevoel.

Natascha Jakobs-Linssen (b. 1971, Leiden, The Netherlands) studied art history at the University of Amsterdam and is now an art collector. Her interests are predominantly contemporary photography and the work of the Swiss artist Jean Tinguely. She has also commissioned artists, including Marina Abramović, Thomas Hirschhorn, and Olaf Breuning. 

Barbara Kroon (b. 1957, Amsterdam, the Netherlands) graduated at Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam in fashion- and costume design and scenography. She has been working as a free-lance scenographer and costume designer for various theatre- and film productions in the Netherlands. From 2007 on she designed most of the plays of Kwatta Youth Theatre. In 2014 the production Manxmouse won the IPAY Victor-award, an important American prize. In 2015 they won again with Love that dog, this time the second prize. Both productions made a world tour from U.S. up to China. Also in 2015, Dissus, verdwaal mee in de Odyssee won the Dutch prize for youth theatre, the Zilveren Krekel. The play Jabbertalk made in 2018 is still touring in several countries. 

Heba Khamis (b. 1988, Alexandria, Egypt) is a freelance visual researcher and photographer concentrating on social issues, sometimes ignored. After graduating with a B.A. in painting at the University of Alexandria, Heba began to work as a photojournalist. She covered the two revolutions in Egypt and their aftermath. After volunteering in Uganda, her photography became more focused on social and humanitarian issues. She mixes her artistic skills and the photojournalistic experience to create a unique style of documentation. Recently, she worked on the breast ironing issue in Cameroon, entitled Banned Beauty, for which she won the World Press Photo Contest, first prize contemporary issues stories in 2018, and refugees’ gay prostitution in Germany (2019 World Press Photo Contest, Singles, 2nd Prize). Presently, she is working on a series about transgenders in Egypt. 

"I always feel inspired and empowered when I see and hear of successful women in the art world, it drives me to keep on working."

Sunna Svavarsdóttir (b. 1992, Akureyri, Iceland) is a multidisciplinary artist. She has been exploring kinesthetic experiences triggered by weight. She recently graduated with B.A. in ArtScience from Interfaculty, Royal Academy of Art The Hague. In 2020 she participated in the exhibition Haagse School X Haagse Nieuwe at Museum Jan Cunen, Oss, The Netherlands.

"In terms of the auction world I have encountered some very inspirational women, but I would like to see the talents of more women being recognised and more diversity in terms of people from all different backgrounds. "

Lisette Aguilar (b. 1974, San Salvador, El Salvador) moved to England in 1979. She read Modern Languages at Magdalen College, Oxford (M.A. French and German) followed by post-graduate studies in Law. Lisette began her career in the art world in 2006 as an Associate General Counsel at Sotheby’s in London, where she worked for 12 years, becoming Senior Director and working on some of the highest profile cases in the London art world, resulting in an award for In-House Litigation Team of the Year in 2015. In June 2019, Lisette joined Keystone Law as an art law specialist. 

Burcu Yüksel (b. 1984, Istanbul, Turkey) is a London-based art consultant with expertise in old master paintings and contemporary art. She graduated from Brandeis University in 2006, with a double concentration in Art History and Economics and holds an M.A. in Visual Arts Administration from New York University (2008). Currently, she is the Director of Gaia Art Foundation and acts as an advisor to the London gallery Derek Johns where she was Director from 2009 to 2016. She was part of the founding team of London’s new performance festival Block Universe, which debuted in June 2015. Burcu is a founding member of the Young Patrons of the Royal Academy where she served from 2011 to 2018. She was Co-Chair of the Future Unit of the Parasol Unit Foundation for Contemporary Art, 2015 to 2017. She is a patron of Chisenhale Gallery in London, and one of the Visionaries of PERFORMA, performance biennial in New York. 

"I am delighted to see that more and more women – whether working as artists or curators – are able to combine professional success with having a family (as many of the photographs in this series demonstrate), something that in previous generations seemed impossible."

Zoë Gray (b. 1978, Reading, UK) is Senior Curator at WIELS centre for contemporary art, Brussels, since 2015. She holds a B.A. in Art History from the University of Cambridge and an M.A. in Curating from Goldsmiths College, London. Previously, Gray was artistic director of the Rennes Biennale, worked for the LUMA Foundation in Arles, and was curator at Witte de With in Rotterdam. Between these institutional positions, she has worked extensively as a freelance curator on projects across Europe. She serves on several general assemblies, acquisition committees and advisory boards. Gray is a member of IKT and from 2011 to 2014 was its Vice President.

Laura Doyle (b. 1977, New York, NY, US) attended the Spence School, graduated from Deerfield Academy and majored in Art History at UPenn. She spent her Junior Year at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London. She is the youngest of three daughters of Bill and Kathy Doyle. Her father started William Doyle Galleries, which he ran until his death at 53 in 1993. Laura’s mother, Kathy, then took over the business which became Doyle New York and now Doyle. Laura is now Vice Chairman and CEO of Doyle. 

Victoria Crowe OBE DHC FRSE MA(RCA) RSA RSW (b. 1945, Kingston-on-Thames, UK) studied at Kingston school of Art and then as a postgraduate, at the Royal College of Art in London. She moved to Scotland, where she worked as a part-time lecturer at Edinburgh College of Art (1968-1998), while developing her own artistic practice and exhibiting widely. Major Retrospective exhibitions of her work include A Shepherd's Life (2000, Scottish National Portrait Gallery), Beyond Likeness (2018, SNPG) and 50 Years of Painting (2019, City Art Centre, Edinburgh). In addition to major painting commissions, she has designed tapestries and collaborated with Dovecot Tapestry Studios, and with printmakers and musicians. Her work is represented in public and private collections worldwide. 

"What goes for the world in general also goes for the art world: I think the world would be a better place if more women were in charge. "

 Marieke Spliethoff (b. 1950 Rotterdam, NL) was until her recent retirement the curator of paintings, prints and drawings at Paleis Het Loo Nationaal Museum in Apeldoorn. She took a MA in Art History and Archeology at Leiden University, worked at the Iconografisch Bureau, now the department of portrait iconography of the RKD, The Hague (1975-1983) and at Hoogsteder & Hoogsteder Art Dealers in The Hague (1999-2007). She co-authored the catalogue The portrait miniatures in the collections of the House of Orange-Nassau (1992) and she contributed to the catalogue Princely Display (Haags Historisch Museum 1997). In1998 she wrote Feestelijke geschenken voor de jonge koningin 1898-1913. She was at the board of the Vereniging Oranje-Nassau Museum (now Geschiedkundige Vereniging Oranje-Nassau) from 1978 till 2008, latterly as president. She was awarded the Huisorde van Oranje  in 2008. For Paleis Het Loo she curated  (amongst others) the exhibition Koningin Wilhelmina. Prenten en tekeningen (2006), Juliana in beeld (2009), Oranje in miniatuur (2010) en Keizerin Sisi, sprookje en werkelijkheid (2015).

Zoe Karafylakis Sperling (b. 1980, Greece) received a B.A. in Art History from Skidmore College, NY, and an M.A. in Modern and Contemporary Art from Christie’s London. She held positions at Haunch of Venison and Blain|Southern. She sits on the Advisory Board of The Feminist Institute (TFI) in New York, whose aim is to establish the most comprehensive cross-disciplinary digital documentation archive of materials by the leading feminist thinkers. Zoe is also a founding member of the Association of Women in the Arts (AWITA). She has been a Director at Hauser & Wirth London since 2017. 

Rita Boncompagni Ludovisi (b. 1949, San Antonio, Texas, US) is an actress, television journalist and real Estate Executive. She gave an interview to the New York Times about her work in restoring the Casino dell'Aurora of the Villa Ludovisi and in making it open to the public.

Fabrics: Rubelli Venezia / Donghia Inc

"I have the feeling that is even more important to promote women in the art world as it feels like there is so much more to do after the first wave, also including gender (LGBT) and featuring more women of colour. "

Pien Rademakers (b. 1969, Kloetinge, The Netherlands) is a gallerist. She holds a B.A. in Art History from VU University Amsterdam in 1996. She started her career in the Amsterdam gallery world around 2000. In 2007 she founded Rademakers Gallery presenting artworks by renowned as well as emerging artists at the interface of art, photography, fashion and design. Female Artists and Sustainability are the two major pillars. Rademakers Gallery emphasises on ‘crossovers’ between the artistic disciplines. Pien strongly values an inspiring context where all creative disciplines merge together.

"Since men and women often see things from a different perspective, it is best not to have gender dominated areas and to create a balanced society whether that  is in art, politics or any other field."

Aliona Adrianova (b.1986, Kharkiv, Ukraine) holds a M.Sc. in International Business Management from Kyiv National Economic University. Having pursued an early career in finance in London, Aliona quickly discovered her true personality and calling as an artist. In particular, she developed a strong interest in photography, engaging  with the idea of an enduring quest for absolute truth in the photographic record of the sitter. Adrianova’s work has appeared in numerous publications, including Tatler, Vanity Fair, Condé Nast Traveller, Country Life, Forbes, NatGeo Channels and many others. Her latest book Artist in the Portrait was published by The Royal Society of Portrait Painters in 2018.

Christina Jansen (b. 1971, Lingen, Germany) holds a B.A. in Industrial Design from Manchester Metropolitan University and an M.Phil. from Glasgow University. She has been working in the arts since 1995 and started working with The Scottish Gallery in Edinburgh in 1997, becoming a Director in 2008. Christina has been the Managing Director of The Scottish Gallery since 2016. She specializes in contemporary Scottish fine art, post-war art and contemporary applied arts, producing numerous publications and exhibitions. 

“Regarding my own field of work I don’t feel much of a difference between men and women. It often strikes me how much is still compartmentalized, both in the art world and across society. And all this while art is pre-eminently pushing boundaries and able to open our eyes to different points of view.”

Merel van den Nieuwenhof (b. 1985, Nijmegen, The Netherlands) holds an M.A. in Art History from Radboud University, Nijmegen, and specialized in nineteenth-century art, with a passion for contemporary art and design. As an independent art historian, she combines writing and curating. She has curated exhibitions for Museum Jan Cunen (Oss, The Netherlands) and Zinder Expo (Tiel, The Netherlands). She also works as an author and editor-in-chief of the Dutch art magazine Palet and writes for various Dutch media. 

"I am surrounded by intellectual women who also have a powerful feel for the emotions within artwork."

Grace Margarita Lee (b. 1995, Kew Gardens, United Kingdom) is an artist, curator and archivist living in London. She studied Art, Photography and Fashion History at B.A. and M.A. level at the Courtauld Institute of Art, graduating in 2018. Grace is assistant curator to Terence Pepper OBE, who was Curator of Photographs at the National Portrait Gallery for forty years. She is also archivist and curator at Iconic Images, which represents renowned photographers such as Norman Parkinson, Terry O’Neill and Milton H. Greene. As well as this, Grace is an abstract artist who specialises in paintings, collages and drawings inspired by the moon, mysticism, spirituality and nature.

Anna Reynolds (b. 1980, London, UK) is Deputy Surveyor of The Queen's Pictures. She has worked at the Royal Collection Trust since 2008 and currently leads the paintings’ curatorial department, responsible for the permanent display of approximately 8,000 paintings across royal residences, as well as the development of temporary exhibitions at The Queen's Galleries in London and in Edinburgh. Anna holds a B.A. from Cambridge University, a Diploma from Christie's Education and an M.A. in the History of Dress from the Courtauld Institute of Art. Her exhibitions and publications include In Fine Style – The Art of Tudor and Stuart Fashion (2013), Royal Childhood (2014), Portrait of the Artist (2016) and Charles II: Art and Power (2017). In 2017, Anna was awarded a Polaire Weissman fellowship for a sabbatical year at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Her research examined fashion in the paintings of John Singer Sargent. 

"Art is about quality and quality is not determined by gender."

Fusien Bijl de Vroe (b. 1955, The Hague, Netherlands) holds an M.A. in History of Art from the University of Utrecht. She wrote her thesis about portrait artist Jan Veth and published a book on this chronicler of a moving era; Jan Veth 1864-1925, chroniqueur van een bewogen tijdvak (1987). Since 2011, Fusien was director of the Rembrandt Association until she retired. Supported by their members, this association helps museums all over The Netherlands to broaden their collections.

"This is a great moment for women to be empowered, creative and forging ahead with new ways of working and promoting the arts."

Cynthia Valianti Corbett (b. 1953, Marlborough, MA, US) holds a B.A. (Magda Cum Laude) in Political Science from UMASS Amherst and a MALD from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. She trained as an art historian at Christie’s Education before establishing her gallery in 2004. Prior to this, she had a career as an international economist specialising in emerging markets in New York and London. Cynthia launched The Young Masters Art Prize in 2009, a unique not-for-profit initiative which celebrates artistic skill and innovation with awareness of the art from the past. The Young Masters Ceramics Prize was created in 2014 and 2017 saw the addition of the Young Masters Emerging Women Artist Award. Her most recent post-pandemic curatorial art project Focus on the Female was established in London in summer 2021. This platform aims to support women artists at a critical moment in art history.

"Women artists today still are undervalued and under-exhibited" 

Susan Fisher Sterling (b. US) is an American art curator and currently the Director of the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C. She has been an activist in the Feminist art movement in the United States since the early 1980s. Susan holds a Master's and Ph.d. in Art History from Princeton University, and specializes in Modern and Contemporary art. She became an associate curator of the National Museum of Women in the Arts in 1988. Two years later, she was promoted to curator of modern and contemporary art, and again to chief curator in 1994. She became deputy director in 2001, and finally the Alice West Director of the National Museum of Women in the Arts in 2008, and has held the position since. Susan was awarded Orders of Merit from Brazil and Norway. She was awarded the President's Award by the Women's Caucus for Art in 2009. In 2011, she received Airtable's 30th Honor's award.

"Art and Creative Industries should lead the way in showing women all over the world what is possible. It should empower and challenge."

Barbera Wolfensberger (1965, The Hague,The Netherlands) studied business and communications in Utrecht and London. She worked in marketing, communications, (digital) design and media for almost 30 years. In 2014 she was appointed Chair of the Dutch Creative Industries Topsector by the Minister of Economic Affairs. In 2017 she became Director-General for Culture and Media at the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. Before joining the Dutch Government some of the positions she had were Head of CI&C at Dutch retailer HEMA, CEO at advertising agency FHV BBDO and CMO at TMG Publishing Group. Over the years, her achievements in marketing, communication and media have earned her several public awards, and in March 2016 the Dutch feminist magazine Opzij rated her as one of the nation’s most inspirational woman in tech and digital. She serves on the board of the Dutch Creative Council and was also board member of the film festival Cinekid. She is committed to promoting innovation and growth through applied creativity.

Rachel Louise Brown (b. 1985, Huddersfield, UK) graduated from the M.A. Photography course at the Royal College of Art, London, in 2011, following a Critical Certificate in Photography at the School of Visual Arts (NYC), 2009, and earned a B.A. in Photography from the London College of Communication in 2008. Rachel has exhibited internationally, been selected for artist residencies in Sicily, France and the USA, and in 2019 was showcased as one of the Women in Photography Pavilion Commissions at Photo London.  Alongside her art practice, she is the Photography Director of Harper’s Bazaar and Town & Country (UK editions), an associate lecturer of photography at the University of Huddersfield and Leeds Arts University and Chair of the Royal Photographic Society Youth Council. 

Hanna Oosterbaan (b. 1988, The Netherlands) is Cultural Attaché at the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Belgium, based in Brussels. She joined the Embassy in 2016, after having worked in the European arena. Hanna holds an MA in International Relations from SciencesPo Paris and an LLM (with specialization in Art and Law) from the University of Amsterdam. In her work she focuses on cultural diplomacy and public diplomacy. Hanna Oosterbaan is specifically interested in the role that art (and artists) can play in tackling societal challenges.

Lydia Melamed Johnson (b. 1988, Berkeley, CA, US) is Partnerships and VIP Relations Officer at Paris Photo Fair. She has a degree in Art History with a minor in History from the University of Wisconsin. She was born to a family of art historians and collectors, which sparked her interest in art and art history at an early age. On a visit to Rome at the age of 11, she saw Stefano Maderno’s sculpture, The Martyrdom of St. Cecilia, and felt an immediate need to understand why the saint’s fingers were making such a strange gesture. After learning about the sign of the Trinity, she knew she wanted to learn more about iconography and the language of paintings. She is was  the gallery Director at Robert Simon Fine Art, New York City, and the founder of October Art Week. Her expertise is in Italian Old Master paintings and sculpture of the late Renaissance and Mannerist periods. 

Midori Yoshimoto (b. 1972, Innoshima,  Japan) is Associate Professor of art history and Gallery Director at New Jersey City University. After obtaining a B.A. in Art History, she moved to the US for further studies, receiving her Ph.D. from Rutgers University in 2002. Midori specializes in post-1945 Japanese art and its diaspora with a special focus on women artists, performance and intermedia art. Her 2005 book, Into Performance: Japanese Women Artists in New York, led to numerous publications including an essay in Yoko Ono One Woman Show (Museum of Modern Art, 2015). She is an author and co-editor of Women, Aging, and Art: A Cross-cultural Anthology (forthcoming). 

Isabel Richards (b. 1994, London, UK) grew up in London as a dual citizen of the US and UK. She earned a B.A. in Art & Art History at Dickinson College, PA, and for her senior thesis co-curated the exhibition From Artist to Audience; Italian Drawings and Prints from the 15th through 18th Centuries at the Trout Museum, after spending a semester studying abroad in Florence. Isabel worked at Franklin Furnace Archives and The Whitney Museum of American Art prior to joining the Old Master Paintings department at Sotheby’s New York. 

Fabrics: Rubelli Venezia / Donghia Inc

“When I entered the world of museums in 2011 there were not many female museum directors in the Netherlands. Since then this has been changing. The representation of female artists on display in museums is also growing. Diversity and inclusion are important themes for me.”

Janelle Moerman (b. 1972, Delft, The Netherlands) graduated in History at Leiden University. Since January 2017 she is Director of Museum Prinsenhof Delft. In Delft she initiated the first ever exhibition on the European mainland of the seventeenth-century master Pieter de Hooch: Pieter de Hooch in Delft. From the shadow of Vermeer (2019-2020). Previously she was Director of Huygens’ Hofwijck, the seventeenth-century country estate of diplomate Constantijn and scientist Christiaan Huygens in Voorburg. She was responsible for the complete renovation and renewal of that museum. Before entering the museum world, she worked as a journalist for Dutch national radio for more than 14 years. She has been editor, reporter and editor-in-chief of five different radio programmes. Janelle serves on the board of the Maritiem Museum in Rotterdam and on the board of an art fund and a scientific prize. 

“The world keeps changing, as does our perspective on the past. What is considered ‘old’ is re-conjured in a new light; made relevant by those looking at it now, using it to inspire new work. Inviting designers to enter into this process is at the core of my

current practice.”

Nicole Uniquole (b. 1968, Amersfoort, The Netherlands) is an independent curator of design and applied arts. As the initiator of events such as ‘Masterly, Dutch Pavilion’ in Milan and ‘Masterly, The Hague’, she has made her mark in the international design world. She offers consulting services to an array of companies, governments and museums on image building and positioning. Nicole became known for her great summer exhibition at the Oranienbaum Palace (2012). This unique combination of the Dutch Royal Collection and Dutch Design set the benchmark for future endeavours. This dialogue between the historic and the contemporary continues to drive her creation of platforms for Dutch Design worldwide.

“The art world is not necessarily better off with a woman as a maker, curator or manager, but they do offer an enrichment. A different view and approach to matters. In that context it is important that there is at least equal space available for women in important art positions as for men, in favour of a good balance.”

Minke Schat (b. 1968, Smallingerland, NL) studied painting at the Minerva Art Academy, Groningen, and Medieval Art at the university of Groningen. She has been director at Museum Panorama Mesdag in The Hague since 2019. Previously, she spent eight years as head of public and commercial business at Museum De Lakenhal, Leiden. Before that, she managed the public business at the Groninger Museum for three years. She was founder en curator of art & sience -festivals in both Groningen and Leiden. From 2014-2015 she took part in the culture- leadership program LINC of the ministry of Education Culture and Science, the University of Utrecht and Kennisland. At the music and art festival Into The Great Wide Open on the island Vlieland, she is member of the curator team for the contemporary art program.

Meta Knol (b. 1969, Veendam, The Netherlands) is an author and advisor. Previously she was Director of Museum De Lakenhal in Leiden till 2022. And before that  Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Centraal Museum in Utrecht and co-initiator of Framer Framed in Amsterdam. She holds a degree in Art History from Utrecht University and is a fellow of the Getty Leadership Institute in Los Angeles. Meta has realized numerous exhibitions, among them Global Imaginations (2015) and the ground-breaking Beyond the Dutch. Indonesia, The Netherlands and the Visual Arts since 1900 (2009). She is, and always has been, a keen advocate of renewal in the museum sector. In 2019, King Willem Alexander opened the restored and expanded Museum De Lakenhal, which was praised in the international press as ‘a magic transition’.

Margaret Schwartz (b. 1964, New York, NY, US) studied at Connecticut College. She began her career in the arts at Sotheby’s and was promoted to Director of the European Works of Art & Arms and Armour & Tapestries department in the 1990s. In addition, she took on responsibilities in the Museum Services department for several years and worked in Continental Furniture. She is Co-Worldwide Head of European Works of Art & Sculpture and an auctioneer. In conjunction with scholars from the Straus Center for Conservation, Harvard University Art Museum and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, she recently edited a book of European Sculpture from the Abbott Guggenheim collection that combines art historical and technical studies of the bronzes and sculpture in this seminal American private collection. Margie supports several arts groups and has worked with children in promoting arts education.

Harriet Bridgeman CBE FSA (b. 1942, Turton, UK) is a fine arts specialist, picture library executive, art historian, editor and author. She is the Founder of Bridgeman Images, Managing Director of The Artists’ Collecting Society and a trustee of the International Catalogue Raisonné Association. Harriet studied at Trinity College, Dublin, and was Editor of The Masters, a weekly art monograph. In 1969, she established her own company, Harriet Bridgeman Ltd., to package books and articles on the fine and decorative arts, as well as other subjects. By 1972, she had established The Bridgeman Art Library. In 2006, she founded The Artist’s Collecting Society, set up to collect the Artists’ Resale Right which was introduced through a European directive in 2006. She has received numerous honours and awards and was made a Commander of the British Empire in 2013 and a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Art Scholars in 2019. 

Irina Sokolova (b. 1954, St Petersburg, Russia) studied art history at the Art Academy in her native city. She has been working at the Hermitage since 1976. Since 1979, she has been the curator of the Dutch seventeenth and eighteenth-century paintings. She is the author of many scholarly articles and exhibition catalogues. Irina has participated in the organization of a number of important exhibitions, including Rembrandt et son école in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Dijon (2003) and Dutch Masters from the Hermitage in the Hermitage on the Amstel in Amsterdam (2017). She published The Russian Passion for Dutch Painting of the Golden Age (2015) and is now working on the catalogue of the Northern Dutch painting collection in the Hermitage. The first two parts (of four) were published in Russian in 2017, the English edition is in preparation. 

Marie Reintjes (b. 1990, Leeuwarden, The Netherlands) studied fine art at the Hogeschool voor de Kunsten, Utrecht from 2009 to 2013. Early on in her studies, she focused on painting. In her practice, Marie explores painting through subjects from everyday life and snapshots of fleeting moments. She lives and works in Arnhem, the Netherlands. 

Rachel Lehmann (b. 1953, Asmara, Ethiopia) studied at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland. She began her career as the proprietor of two contemporary galleries in Geneva and Lausanne, Switzerland. In October 1996, together with David Maupin, she opened Lehmann Maupin in New York, later expanding the gallery to spaces in Hong Kong and Seoul. She has served on the International Council of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, and also on the museum’s Acquisitions Board. She has also been a member of the selection committee for the Art Dealers’ Association of America. Together with her husband, she has built a distinguished contemporary art collection with many significant works of the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries. 

Antonia Grosse (b. 1989, London, UK) earned a B.A. in English Literature and Drama from Manchester University and an M.A. in Art History from the Courtauld Institute of Art. Antonia joined the Serpentine Galleries in 2018 as Head of Patrons. Before that, she developed international relationships and partnerships for Sotheby’s for seven years, working in the Middle East, Europe, Russia and India. Antonia is Co-Chair of Young British Friends of the Art Museums of Israel. 

Linda Grosse (b. 1958, Johannesburg, South Africa) is an art historian and art advisor. She grew up in Geneva and holds a B.A. in History and Art History from University College London. She has been an advisor for an important collection for 30 years. 

Nathalie Bondil (b. 1967, Barcelona, Spain) is an art historian with both French and Canadian citizenships. She has gained international exposure for her innovative projects and humanistic vision of the role of a museum in our modern society. She has been Chief Curator and Director at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts since 2007. Over a 10-year period, Nathalie has directed or curated original multidisciplinary exhibitions (cinema, music, fashion) that have been shown in 35 international cities. Under her direction, the MMFA has built two new pavilions, a concert hall and a cinema hall, in addition to increasing the space for Education and Art Therapy. Nathalie has received many distinctions including two honorary doctorates, the Order of Canada, the French Légion d’honneur, and the Peter Herrndorf Award for Leadership in the Arts in 2018. She is also Vice-Chair of the Canada Council for the Arts. 

Catharine Becket (b. 1971, New York, NY, US) completed her undergraduate degree at Colgate University. She began her career at Sotheby’s in the Silver and Russian Works or Art department. After obtaining an M.A. in Victorian art at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, she returned to New York where she worked at the Brooklyn Museum, the Bridgeman Art Library and Phillips before returning to Sotheby’s. She is Head of Sale for Magnificent Jewels at Sotheby’s and a Senior Specialist in the Jewelry department. Catharine is a GIA-certified graduate gemmologist and member of the American Society of Jewelry Historians. 

Hendrikje Crebolder (b. 1970, Sumve, Tanzania) studied law at Leiden University and obtained her Masters in Civil Law in 1995. Between 1992 and 1996, she studied English law at the London School of Economics, International law at the University of Cape Town, and obtained a Masters (LLM) from the University of London. From 1997 to 2006, she worked as a lawyer with Baker McKenzie in Amsterdam, Kazakhstan, Paris and Madrid. Hendrikje joined the Rijksmuseum as a lawyer and business developer in 2006. In 2009, she set up the Development department, which establishes additional sources of income for the museum. In 2017, Hendrikje joined the Rijksmuseum’s Board of Directors. As Director of Development & Media she is responsible for fundraising, stakeholder management, communication, marketing and (online) publications. Hendrikje was Dutch ‘Sponsor Personality of the Year’ in 2013.

“I have the feeling that women working in the art world are better represented then in other lines of work. As for the artists, 51% of artists today are women, but they are not equally represented by the galleries. Only 5% of London galleries represent an equal number of male and female artists. There is work to be done.”

Yvette van Caldenborgh (b. 1965, The Hague, The Netherlands) was raised in Rotterdam. She studied art history at the Rijksuniversiteit, Leiden. During her masters she went to London for a Post War and Contemporary Art Course at Sotheby’s Education. She interned in the Art department of the ING Bank in Amsterdam. After graduating from university she became a curator for the Caldic Collection, which is now part of Museum Voorlinden in Wassenaar, The Netherlands. As an independent Art Consultant she helped people build their own art collection. After living in Madrid for some years, she became a board member of the Sculpture Club and Outset Netherlands. Currently she is on the board of Museum Voorlinden and focuses on sponsorship and patronage. 

“It is a joy to see how much has been achieved. Women artists as a group though are still less celebrated than their male counterparts. And certainly in countries where women have fewer rights there is much to be done, not only in the art world.”

Carla van de Puttelaar (b. 1967, Zaandam, The Netherlands) graduated from the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam in 1996. She was awarded the Esther Kroon Prize, and in 2002 the Prix de Rome Basic Prize. She was nominated for Le Prix Découverte des Rencontres d’Arles (2006). Her photographic work has gained worldwide recognition, and she has exhibited in numerous museums and galleries around the world. It has appeared in many publications including five monographs. Carla also works for magazines and publishers including The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker and Random House. In 2016, she created The Rembrandt Series in collaboration with the Rembrandt House Museum, Amsterdam. She holds a Ph.D. in Art History from Utrecht University (2017). In 2020, she will have a retrospective show at the MNHA in Luxembourg. She is the initiator, creator and photographer of Artfully Dressed: Women in the Art World.

“The Egyptian mask I hold was created for a wealthy woman in one of the first cultures. It was not only the most advanced the world had seen, but one where some women could have equal or more influence and power than the men.”

Charis Tyndall (b. 1990, Edinburgh, UK) was first introduced to the ancient world at the age of nine when she began studying Latin. As her education progressed from the study of myths and legends to more academic arenas of the ancient world, her desire to explore this sphere increased exponentially. At Warwick University, Charis read Ancient History and Classical Archaeology, going on to take a Masters in the Visual and Material Culture of Ancient Rome, with a stint at the British School in Rome. Immediately after graduating, and having spent several years working for the gallery ad hoc, she began a career with the world-renowned ancient art dealer Charles Ede, becoming a director in 2017. Charis exhibits with Charles Ede at TEFAF, Masterpiece and the Winter Show. She is a member of IADAA and treasurer of the Antiquities Dealers Association. 

" It is wonderful to see women everywhere in the art world, in increasing numbers, and to hear each speak in her own voice."

Dora Thornton (b. 1961, London, UK) studied history at Oxford before obtaining her Ph.D. at the Warburg Institute in London. She is Curator of the Goldsmiths’ Company Collection of historic and contemporary silver, jewellery and medals. Previously (1990-2018) she was Curator of Renaissance Europe and Curator of the Waddesdon Bequest at the British Museum. Her six books, most recently A Rothschild Renaissance: Treasures from the Waddesdon Bequest (2015), include works on Renaissance art history and culture, the history of collecting and Shakespeare and his world. In 2002, the Goldsmiths’ Company commissioned a 22 carat gold bowl from Michael Lloyd, which Dora holds in her portrait. 

Elle Shushan (b. New Orleans, LA, US) is a lecturer, consultant and specialist dealer in portrait miniatures. She has spent her life with portrait miniatures, starting with her family’s collection, now in the New Orleans Museum of Art. After a stint as a theatrical agent with William Morris, Elle made her collecting passion her business, which is now in its twenty-first year. Long specializing in portrait miniatures and portrait waxes, the firm recently expanded into portrait photography. She exhibits annually at TEFAF New York, the Winter Show and Masterpiece London. As a museum consultant, she counts the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art among her clients. 

Stephanie Levert (b. The Hague, The netherlands) graduated at the Murmellius Gymnasium in Alkmaar, and she moved to France at the age of seventeen.  She studied Art history and Archaeology at the University of Lyons speializing in the presence of Dutch and Flemish artists in France in the Seventeenth century. In 2000, she moved back to the Netherlands to study Art history and Medievistics at Utrecht University. From 2004 to 2009, she was part of the Utrecht Research Institute. In 2005, she moved to Paris to conduct research on the presence of Dutch and Flemish artists in Paris between 1550 and 1700 in the national archives. In 2017, she received her Ph.D. from on this subject from Utrecht University. She is currently working at the Agence France Muséums in Paris, as part of the team preparing the upcoming exhibition Rembrandt and the Dutch Golden Age Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection and the Musée du Louvre in the Louvre Abu Dhabi. 

Miriam Escofet (b. 1967, Barcelona, Spain) is an award-winning artist. Graduating in 3D Design from Brighton School of Art, she turned to painting soon after and has exhibited widely and internationally, including many solo exhibitions. Her work has evolved over the years through many genres including still life, architecture, allegory, and imaginary composition, eventually arriving at portraiture. She is known for her exacting technique and attention to detail. She lives in London and has regularly been selected for the BP Portrait Award exhibition and for The Royal Society of Portrait Painters annual exhibitions. She was awarded the Burke’s Peerage Foundation Prize for Classically Inspired Portraiture in 2015 and won First Prize at the BP Portrait Award 2018, widely considered to be the most  prestigious portrait competition globally. 

Kay Bogard Fausel (b. 1970, Indianapolis, IN, US) was born to parents committed to introducing her older brother and her to reading, travel, theatre and the arts. It was a Grand Tour-styled trip to Europe and a visit to Versailles at the age of 14 that sealed her desire to work in the arts. After completing her B.Sc. in Marketing with a Minor in Art History, Kay was accepted into the Visual Arts Administration and Museum Management Program at New York University, where she completed her M.A. in 1995. Subsequently, she worked at Doyle Auctions in New York, where she held a variety of positions. There she met Alan Fausel who is now the Director of the AKC Museum of the Dog in New York. Kay has been at Jack Kilgore & Co., New York, since 2004 and is the Gallery Director. 

Marianne Ingleby (b. 1980, Cambridge, UK) is a journalist and photographer living in Amsterdam. After working as a journalist for Metro and CNBC television, she studied photography and graduated from the Fotoacademie in Amsterdam in 2017. She is currently exploring the legacy left by the Second World War, after discovering a vast archive of her grandfather’s, who was a US army photographer in Japan. 

Jill Gill (b. 1932, New York, NY, US) has a B.A. in English from the University of Connecticut. She is an artist and collector of New York artifacts and history, best known for her documentation of vanished city streets, which she has been preserving in watercolor-and-ink paintings since the 1950s. Her forthcoming book, Building Memories: Lost New York Streets 1954 – 2018, presents 100 disappeared streetscapes that were once vital threads in the tapestry of the city. She is also the author and illustrator of the beloved children’s book, Tiger & Leopard (1972). In the late 1950s, her watercolor-and-ink bottle paintings were displayed with Andy Warhol’s A la Recherche du Shoe Perdu drawings, $25 each at Serendipity 3. In 1968, the Bodley Gallery exhibited her surrealist Geranium Synectics series. Commissioned artwork includes more than 100 portraits of Manhattan townhouses, room interiors, private country estates, famed restaurant and hotel interiors, historic house museums, and various cultural and commercial headquarters. 

"The position of women in the art world is the same as in any industry in the world. Women produce a lot ideas and works but we lack the  power and impact. We need to focus more on influence in every domain."

Astrid Elburg (b. 1958, Parimaribo, Suriname) is active in various professional roles. She is a strategic advisor on organizational behaviour, Ethical leadership and HR innovations. In addition she works as a co-lecturer Bildung at the University of Amsterdam, Nijenrode University and Erasmus Business University. She is the chair of the supervisory board Rijksmuseum Muiderslot, Amsterdam Castle and the chair of a Van Gogh connects, a project at the Van Gogh museum on cultural innovation and inclusion.

Andrea Bayer (b. 1957, New York, NY, US) studied art history at Barnard College, Harvard University and Princeton University, receiving her Ph.D. in 1990. She worked in the Print department of the Kennedy

Galleries in New York before embarking on her graduate work, but since 1989 has been a staff member at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, mostly in the European Paintings department. Her area of specialization is Italian Renaissance and Baroque painting, and she has worked on exhibitions ranging from Art and Love in Renaissance Italy (2008-2009), through Unfinished: Thoughts Left Visible (2016), one of the inaugural exhibitions at The Met Breuer. In 2018, Andrea became the Deputy Director for Collections and Administration.

Miety Heiden (b. The Netherlands) is Deputy Chairwoman and Head of Private Sales at Phillips since 2017. Formerly she was Sotheby’s former Senior Vice President of Contemporary Private Sales for North America.

Martine Lambrechtsen (b. 1979, Leiden, The Netherlands) graduated from the University of Amsterdam in 2005 with an M.A. in Art History. Till 2020 she was Deputy Director of Sotheby’s Amsterdam, where she joined the Old Master Paintings department as a cataloguer in 2005, having been an apprentice in the same department from 2003 to 2004. She studied art history and archaeology at the University of Amsterdam, specialising in Dutch seventeenth-century art. Her first big discovery concerned two small still lifes by Adriaen Coorte, sold in Amsterdam in December 2009 for over 3 million euros. In her role at Sotheby’s Amsterdam, Martine was a Specialist for Old Master Paintings. Presently she works as an independent art historian and illustrator.

“I think it is necessary to give the art world as much diversity as possible – it would already be a big step to overcome old male structures or male power positions.” 

Carena Schlewitt (b. 1961, Leipzig, Germany) is the Artistic Director of HELLERAU – European Centre for the Arts in Dresden (Germany) since the season 2018/19. From 1980 until 1985 she studied theatre sciences at the Humboldt University in Berlin. She worked at the department of Performing Arts/Theatre at the East-Berlin Academy of Fine Arts from 1985 until 1993, until 1999 at the International Arts Centre Podewil, Berlin, and as an associate for the Festival Theater der Welt 1999, Berlin. Between 1999 and 2003 she worked as dramaturg and as artistic co-director of the newly founded Forum Freies Theater in Düsseldorf and returned to Berlin in 2003 as curator and artistic co-director at the Theater Hebbel am Ufer (HAU) till 2008. Carena Schlewitt was the artistic director of Kaserne Basel (Switzerland) and of the International Theatre Festival Basel between 2008 and 2018.

She participated at diverse juries in the field of theatre, dance and cultural exchange and she edited and collaborated on various publications. Carena Schlewitt was honored with the Polish Cross of Merit (2006), Culture Award of Basel (2017) and Women-Artist-Price NRW (2019).

Olivia Ghosh (b. 1988, Oxford, UK) read French and German at Cambridge, and spent a year at the Sorbonne University in Paris studying comparative literature. After graduating she undertook an M.A. at the Courtauld Institute of Art, where she specialized in British art of the eighteenth century. She then worked at the British Museum in the prints and drawings department, followed by a position at Christie’s as a graduate trainee. Since October 2018, she has been a cataloguer in the Old Master Pictures department at Christie’s. 

"In my career I have mostly worked for women employers, of which three became  mentor-like figures."

Hester Middelweerd (b. 1990, Amsterdam, The Netherlands) holds a B.A. and an M.A in Art History from the University of Amsterdam. Her research specializes in the position of women in Modern art and the effects of a hybrid between the art and fashion industry.  Currently she is the Gallery Director of Galerie Jacques Barrére, Paris. Previously she has worked for multiple contemporary art galleries and as a freelance art buyer for private and corporate clients.

Nera Lerner (b. 1990, Kiev, Ukraine) is Director of Partnerships at the MUUS Collection since February 2021. She previously was partner and director of the New York–based Danziger Gallery. From 2013 to 2020 Nera supported the gallery's long history of exhibiting contemporary photography and building space for the interpretations of the medium. Holding a dual B.A degree in Economics and Art History from Brandeis University, Nera has organized over 30 exhibitions in the last several years in Boston and New York. She was previously on staff at Sperone Westwater and worked as a researcher at the Frick Collection in New York. 

Melanie Clore (b. 1960, London, UK) read art history at the University of Manchester. She then joined Sotheby’s, beginning on the front counter and over the course of a 30-year career rose to become Worldwide Co-Head of Impressionist & Modern Art and Chairman of Sotheby’s Europe. In 2016, Melanie left Sotheby’s and, with Henry Wyndham, established the leading art dealership and advisory business Clore Wyndham. Melanie is a trustee of the Royal Academy. She was a trustee of Tate until 2008 and is currently a trustee of the Tate Foundation. She is also a trustee of the Clore Duffield Foundation, one of the leading supporters of cultural learning, the arts and social care in the UK. 

Kaat Pype (b. 1980, Ypres, Belgium) is a wayward artist who followed a remarkable path in photography. Between 1998 and 1999 Kaat studied Expressionistic Dance Theater at the Fontys Hogeschool in Tilburg, The Netherlands. Between 1999 and 2004 she did a Master of Sculpture at the KASK in Ghent. She presented her graduation project to a jury after a year of Erasmus at the Universidad de Bellas Artes in Lisbon, Portugal. What she showed then through video montages, performance art, photography and visual work are the roots from which she continues to build her own universe. She avails herself in photography, performance art, sculptural work, and video. From 2013 onwards, she gained fame for her haunting portraits, surpassing classical portrait photography. Still, Kaat keeps searching and reinventing herself. The common thread in her work is that she is always looking for what does not need to be shown.

Karen Moeskops (b. 1977, Leuven, Belgium) is Director of the Red Star Line Museum in Antwerp. She joined the museum in 2017 after working for the human rights organisation Amnesty International for 15 years, the last eight years of which as the director of the Flemish branch. She holds a master in Political science from the Catholic University of Leuven and an advanced master in Development studies of the Catholic University of Louvain-la-Neuve

Karin van Lieverloo (b. 1972, Oss, The Netherlands) studied art history at Radboud University, Nijmegen. She is an art historian, curator and writer. Previously, she was artistic director of Museum Jan Cunen in Oss. Karin specializes in late nineteenth-century Dutch painting. After working in the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo and Museum Het Valkhof in Nijmegen she worked as curator in Museum de Fundatie in Zwolle. From 2015 to 2020 she was responsible for the artistic development of Museum Jan Cunen. She promotes the inner necessity of art, which gives pleasure, consolation and reflection, and wants to share that with others.

Aileen Ribeiro (b. 1944, Stoke-on-Trent, UK) studied history at Kings College, London University, and spent some years teaching in Africa. She took an M.A. and Ph.D. at the Courtauld Institute of Art, specializing in the study of dress in art. From 1975 to 2009 she was Head of the History of Dress department at the Courtauld, and is now Professor Emeritus of Art History at the University of London. She lectures widely in Great Britain, Europe and North America, and has acted as costume contributor/consultant to a number of major art exhibitions. She is the author of numerous publications, the most recent being Clothing Art. A Visual Culture of Fashion 1600-1914, which won the Apollo Book of the Year Award in 2017. 

This portrait has been acquired by the National Portrait Gallery, London

Miriam Cockx (b. 1988, Siegburg, Germany) studied history, art history and Spanish at the Universities of Bonn and Cologne with the main focus on the art market and modern art. During her studies, she worked for the auction house Lempertz in Cologne, where she mainly undertook research on artworks for different departments. She was also trained in the restitution department at Sotheby’s London. After her M.A., in 2016 Miriam joined the Art Loss Register as provenance researcher. Currently, she works for Michael Werner Gallery in Cologne. She has published on the historic context of art looting and provenance research, and her thesis about the Jewish art dealer Max Stern was selected to be presented at the University of Cologne. 

Hannah Hughes (b. 1975, Braintree, UK) lives and works in London. She is Head of Communications and Curator of Photography at Flowers Gallery, where she has worked since 2014. She is a contributing writer to Saturation Point online editorial project, and her writing has been published in various exhibition catalogues. She began her career in advertising and publicity for film and visual effects, also working at the Vancouver Film School. She studied Critical Fine Art Practice at the University of Brighton, graduating in 1997, and has since exhibited her work in the UK and internationally. Her work has been published in the FT Weekend Magazine, AnOther.com, the RPS Journal, Trebuchet and the British Journal of Photography. 

Dana Chernock (b. 1990, Watchung, NJ, USA) earned a B.A. in Art History and English with a minor in dance from Bucknell University where she served as Chair of the Samek Gallery Engagement Team. She spent a semester in Florence studying art history. In 2018, she was honoured with the Woman of Distinction Award by Newark Academy.  Dana began her career at Sotheby’s in 2012, and held senior roles in Operations prior to joining the Old Master Paintings department in 2015. She is on the Movemeant Foundation Professional Board in New York City and supports fundraising initiatives for the Matheny Arts Access Program in New Jersey. 

Iona Rowland (b. 1990, Derby, UK) studied Fine Art at Kingston University from 2010 to 2013, before attending Sotheby’s Institute of Art in New York in 2015. She has exhibited widely across the UK in both solo and group shows. Key exhibitions include Indelible Traces, Nolias Gallery, London, MMNTM, Bohunk Institute, Nottingham, Regram, Slate London, A Futuristic Woman, Square Gallery, London, T2 Shoreditch, London; ING Discerning Eye 2017 and the Derwent Art Prize 2018, both at London’s Mall Galleries. She has also exhibited regularly at GX Gallery in Camberwell, London. Creating artwork for the public realm continues to be at the core of her practice and in 2019, she delivered major mural commissions for Shaftesbury PLC, Boom Cycle, Umbro, Derby County Football Club and Ja Skate, Jamaica's first ever skatepark. 

Ane Abalde (b. 1980, San Sebastian, Spain) has a degree in Art History and a master's degree in Exhibition Design and Project Management. Currently, she is the Head of Exhibitions, Art and Heritage of Kutxa Fundazioa, San Sebastian, Spain. 

Cape: Collection Copy Red by Ione Iruretagoiena

Inge Reist (b. 1949, Seattle, WA, US) grew up in New York City. She studied at Columbia University, which awarded her a Ph.D. in Art History in 1985. Inge has dedicated her career to facilitating research on art history and art collecting. She recently retired from The Frick Collection after 37 years, first as a pre-doctoral fellow, later as head of the Photo archive and Chief of Research Collections and Programs, and from 2007, as the founding director of the Center for the History of Collecting. She is Director Emerita at the Center for the History of Collecting, The Frick Collection and Frick Art Reference Library. Inge has published widely on subjects relating to Italian Renaissance and Baroque art as well as on the History of Collecting and serves on the editorial boards of several distinguished journals and publication series. Fabrics: Rubelli Venezia / Donghia Inc

Hendrikje Crebolder (b. 1970, Sumve, Tanzania)  Hendrikje joined the Rijksmuseum as a lawyer and business developer in 2006.  In 2017, Hendrikje joined the Rijksmuseum’s Board of Directors. 

Eva Crebolder (b. 1968, Gouda, The Netherlands) studied sculpture at the Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam and in New York at the School of Visual Arts and at Hunter College. In addition to her residency at the European Ceramic Work Centre in Den Bosch, she works every year for one month in Jingdezhen, China, the cradle of porcelain. She is best known for her ceramic reliefs. She has worked on projects in collaboration with architects and artists, such as tile walls at various locations and special glazed bricks for the Cuijk city Hall. For several years, she designed the Zeeland book award and has taken on assignments from private collectors for tile tableaux. She works with galleries in the Netherlands and China and her applied art work in limited editions is on view in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, China and at trade fairs in Paris and Milan.

Amber Butchart (b. 1980, London, UK) is a fashion historian, author and broadcaster who specializes in the historical intersections between dress, politics and culture. She was a Research Fellow at the University of the Arts London, and is a regular public lecturer at leading institutions in the UK, from the Tate to the V&A, and as far afield as Dubai and Hangzhou. Amber is a National Crime Agency External Advisor as a Consultant Forensic Garment Analyst, working on cases that require investigation of clothing and textiles. She also researches and presents documentaries for the BBC, including the six-part series ‘A Stitch in Time’ for BBC Four that fused biography, art and the history of fashion to explore the lives of historical figures through the clothes they wore. Her publications include The Fashion of Film (2016), Nautical Chic (2015), Fashion Illustration in Britain: Society and the Seasons (2017) and The Fashion Chronicles: Style Stories of History’s Best Dressed (2019).

Dress: The Tudor Tailor

Maria-Christina ‘Puppa’ Sayn-Wittgenstein Nottebohm (b. 1955, Bonn, Germany) was brought up and educated in Europe. She started her career at Sotheby's Munich, London and Amsterdam before becoming an expert in the Nineteenth Century Paintings department in New York. She left the auction house in 1982 and became a private dealer in European master paintings and helped build many distinguished collectors’ and museums’ collections.  Puppa also lived in Panamá, Mexico City and Telluride, CO with her husband and son. Together with her business partner, Carmen de Piniés-Hassel, she teamed up with legendary dealer Richard L. Feigen in January 2018. She is the author of Old Masters Rock: How to Look at Art with Children. The book has been translated into many languages including Chinese, Korean, Russian and Dutch. Puppa gives educational talks for children at museums. 

Molly Dorkin (b. 1986, Boston, MA, US) received her B.A. and M.A. degrees from Harvard and the Courtauld Institute of Art, respectively and her Ph.D. from Magdalene College, Cambridge, focused on late eighteenth-century plein-air sketching by British artists in Italy. She began her career in the Old Masters department at Christie's New York and is Associate Director and Head of Research at Dickinson Gallery, London. Molly oversees the research and writing of scholarly catalogues on subjects ranging from old masters through contemporary art and helps to represent the gallery at four international art fairs each year. 

Fern Wachter (b. 1955, Montreal, Canada) graduated from McGill University with degrees in Art History and Psychology. During her studies, she worked at the Lippel Gallery and at The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. After marrying George Wachter and moving to New York City, she worked briefly at The Antique Porcelain Company and subsequently at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the Department of European Paintings. There she assisted with the Manet 1832-1883 exhibition of 1983 and worked on the catalogue for the Van Gogh in Arles exhibition of 1984. While raising her children she pursued further studies in art history at The Institute of Fine Arts and at Columbia University. 

Juliette Bigley (b. 1978, Sheffield, UK), holds a B.A. and research M.A. in Metalsmithing from The Cass School of Art London. She is an artist-metalsmith who uses base and precious metals to explore how we experience our emotional and physical place in the world. Juliette exhibits nationally and internationally and is currently represented by The Scottish Gallery, Taste, Studio Fusion and CAA. She has work in the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Irish State collection and has received funding from the Arts Council England Grants for the Arts Programme. Juliette is a member of the Royal Society of Sculptors and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. She produced her first publication, Material Perspectives, in 2018. She lives and works in London. 

Kate Julia Anderson, née Gillespie (b. 1985, Edinburgh, UK) studied at the University of St Andrews, where she undertook an M.A. in Art History from 2002 to 2006 and an M.Litt. in Museum & Gallery Studies from 2006 to 2007. In 2007, she began her career at Aberdeen Art Gallery as an Assistant Keeper and became Curator in the department of Fine and Decorative Art at the gallery in 2009. In 2012, she was appointed Senior Curator at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh, where she has responsibility for the sixteenth and seventeenth-century collections. She also represents the National Galleries of Scotland as a trustee on the Paxton House Trust Board, Berwickshire, and sits on the Kirkcudbright Art Gallery Board, Dumfries & Galloway. 

"Some of the most legendary dealers have been women. It is one of those professions that allows women to flex their brain power and charm without apologizing for either."

Sukanya Rajaratnam (b. 1974, Colombo, Sri Lanka) grew up in the midst of the civil war with little exposure to art. Survival meant leaving, and studying a ‘safe’ subject that would lead to even ‘safer’ employment. She read Economics at Cambridge and arrived in New York to become an investment banker at Chase Manhattan. Five years later, bitten by the art bug, Sukanya became an intern in the Post-war and Contemporary Art department at Christie’s, New York. This was a massive leap of faith. Being an art dealer seemed beyond the realm of possibilities and her wildest dreams. Today Sukanya is a Partner at the Mnuchin Gallery, New York City, having joined the firm, formerly L&M, in 2008. 

Valeria Napoleone (b. Busto Arsizio, Italy) is an art collector and patron to a select number of arts organisations. She is a trustee at the Contemporary Arts Society and at NYU Institute of Fine Arts in New York City, and is a member of the NYU President’s Global Council and the Chair of the Development Committee at Studio Voltaire. In addition to Valeria Napoleone XX Contemporary Art Society, Valeria launched Valeria Napoleone XX Sculpture Center in September 2015. She received a B.A. from New York University’s Journalism School and an M.A. in Art Gallery Administration at the Fashion Institute of Technology, New York. Valeria’s collection focuses on female contemporary artists working internationally. Forming an exceptionally close bond with artists, Valeria has supported many of today’s most acclaimed artists at pivotal moments in their careers. 

Margo Trushina (b. 1981, Moscow, Russia) is an artist living in London. She explores metaphor, communication and public participation through site-specific installations, sculptures, live performances and interventions. She studied at the Moscow State University, Faculty of Journalism (1998-2003), and at the Chelsea College of Art and Design (2008-2010). Presently, she studies at the Royal College of Art, M.A., Mres Sculpture. She exhibits internationally. 

Jonquil O'Reilly (b. 1984, Manchester, UK) grew up in the Suffolk countryside. She studied Italian at the University of Edinburgh before stumbling by chance into a job in the Old Master Paintings department at Sotheby's. There she found herself falling in love with paintings, and in 2011 moved to New York to become a specialist with the auction house. She is now Head of Sale for Old Master Paintings at Christie's. Jonquil has a not-so-secret passion for fashion in old master paintings and uses clothing as a lens through which to view paintings in an accessible way. She writes regularly on period accoutrements, covering subjects from powdered wigs to codpieces, and has lectured and led tours on fashion at the Royal Academy, Metropolitan Museum, Chatsworth House, the Lobkowicz Palace and the Cleveland Museum of Art. 

Mia de Las Casas (b. 1991, London, UK) moved to Ireland aged two and lived in the Kildare countryside. She attended the local Irish-speaking primary school and spent her childhood in playing in the gardens of her home, the ‘Larchill Arcadian gardens’. Mia studied art history at Trinity College Dublin and subsequently Textile Design at Chelsea College of Arts. In between her studies, she completed placements at galleries, Christie’s and with designers such as Fyodor Golan and Iris van Herpen. Mia hopes to have her own textile design studio and would also like to be involved in curating exhibitions. 

Odilia Bonebakker (b. 1974, Toronto, Canada) earned a B.A. and an M.A. from Queen's University, Kingston, and a Ph.D. from Harvard University. After holding curatorial positions at the Rijksmuseum, the National Gallery of Canada, and the Harvard Art Museums, she became Assistant Director and Chief Curator of the Muscarelle Museum of Art at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA. She was honoured with the prestigious William Taylor Award by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. 

Dominique Surh (b. 1970, Billings,  MT, US), a Fulbright Scholar to Italy, earned her Ph.D. in Art History from the University of Virginia and has published and lectured on Italian Renaissance and Dutch Baroque art. She began her career teaching art history at the university level and working for private dealers in the art market in New York. Subsequently, and for over a decade, she served as the principal scholar researching and managing Tom Kaplan’s Leiden Collection. There she co-organized the Collection’s first international exhibitions, Gerrit Dou: The Leiden Collection from New York (De Lakenhal, Leiden, 2014) and Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection: The Age of Rembrandt (Louvre, Paris, 2017), and helped launch its scholarly, on-line catalogue as a contributing author. Currently, she works as an art advisor and researcher and is curating a major international loan exhibition planned for 2021-2022 surveying the subject of Big Cats in art from the Renaissance to the present. 

Hongyi Yang (b. 1990, Sichuan, China) holds an M.Phil. in Art History from Cambridge. She received her dual B.A. in English Literature and Economics from Tsinghua University, Beijing, and an M.Litt. in Art History from Christie’s Education, London. She is a specialist at Sotheby's London and an art advisor for collectors of old master paintings. Having had varied work experience in auction houses, art fairs, museums, art foundations and journalism, and having lived in both China and Europe, she has an in-depth understanding of both cultures, and plays a key role in cultivating the Chinese taste for European art. Her working languages are Mandarin, English and German. 

Ronni Baer (b. 1954, Washington DC, US) received her Ph.D. from the Institute of Fine Arts at NYU. She has taught and published widely on seventeenth century European art and the history of collecting. As guest curator at the National Gallery of Art, she mounted Gerrit Dou, Master Painter in the Age of Rembrandt. For close to 20 years, as Senior Curator of European Painting at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, she spearheaded many acquisitions and gallery installations and was responsible for numerous exhibitions, including El Greco to Velazquez: Art During the Reign of Philip III, for which she was knighted by King Juan Carlos of Spain, and Class Distinctions: Dutch Painting in the Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer. For her role in furthering knowledge and the appreciation of Dutch art and culture, Ronni was made Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau in August 2017. In 2019, she was named the Adler Distinguished Curator and Lecturer in European Art at Princeton University. 

Anna Rose Dowling-Clarke (b. 1995, Edinburgh, UK) gained an M.A. in Art History from the University of Aberdeen with a thesis detailing the significance of clothing in Florentine society during the reign of Cosimo I de'Medici. In 2019, she finished her M.A. in Arts and Culture at the University of Groningen with a thesis that explores the Olgiati chapel in Santa Prassede in Rome. 

Marina Kellen French (b. New York, NY, US) was educated at the Brearley School, New York School of Interior Design and at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland. An avid supporter of the arts and humanities both in the United States and abroad, Marina is vice president of the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation, president of the Marina Kellen French Foundation, a managing director of the Metropolitan Opera, a trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art,  National Gallery of Art (Washington, DC), Carnegie Hall, Hospital for Special Surgery, MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art) Los Angeles, and the American Academy in Berlin, a life trustee of the Morgan Library and Museum, and WNET Channel 13, and also a member of the Board of TEFAF. In 2014, Marina received the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit (First Class) of the Federal Republic of Germany for her outstanding work in German-American relations. 

"Throughout my career I’ve been lucky to have talented and fierce female mentors help me grow, and I hope to continue in their footsteps by mentoring the next generation of women entering our industry."

Alexa Armstrong (b. 1991, San Juan, Puerto Rico) is a specialist with the Old Masters department at Sotheby’s NY. She graduated Cum Laude in Art History and Italian from Columbia University. Her graduating thesis was on the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat and the correlation his works had with those of the Old Masters. Before joining Sotheby’s in 2017, she spent more than five years working at another auction house in New York. As a department specialist at Sotheby’s, Alexa is responsible for the growth of the online sales, but also assists with sourcing, researching, cataloguing, and selling paintings from the live auctions.

“The inspiration for this composition came from a photograph of my grandma who died in 1929. I’m wearing a richly embroidered coat from the twenties. The carbon ring with a rose golden flower is made of a brooch I inherited from my mother. My daughter has a similar ring with another flower of this brooch.”

Nicolette Bartelink (b. 1961, Haarlem, The Netherlands) holds a master’s degree in Art History and Archaeology from the University of Groningen. She began her career at the Groninger Museum. As Senior Curator of Exhibitions, she worked closely with Director Frans Haks on the new Groninger Museum. In 1995, she was appointed Project Manager Brand & Product Presentation of Philips Design in Eindhoven. She has been active as a consultant and project leader in various internationally-oriented design companies. In 2003, Nicolette became the Head Curator of Exhibitions at Museum Catharijneconvent in Utrecht. In 2010, she was appointed the Director of Museum Jan Cunen in Oss, where she focused on exhibitions with contemporary artists. Since 2016, she has worked for various cultural organizations as a board member, advisor, project leader or ad-interim director (Schunck*, Museum Vlaardingen, Museum aan de A|Groninger Huis van de Geschiedenis). 

"The work of women should be shown more often."

France Dubois (b. 1976, Brussels, Belgium) is a photographer who unrelentingly explores spaces of intimacy. She uses images of the vacillations in our lives to show our capacity to move from one state to the other. Taking subjects such as relationships with other people, absence, history or sickness she explores our ability to overcome our weaknesses and emerge stronger from them, like a continual new beginning. Passing is gentler surrounded by light, sickness becomes a work of art, melancholy transforms itself into pure energy, and the driver of creativity. The characters in her photographs appear fused with their environment, as if nature has given them the strength to overcome these moments of self-doubt, to reengage, draw on nature, and regenerate, as symbols of rebirth. The universal history she weaves from her own, almost shameless standpoint, makes her photographs an accurate and poetic reflection of our own inner lives.

Annie Jael Kwan (b. Singapore) is an independent curator and researcher based in London, working between Europe and Asia since 2005. In 2012, she founded the curatorial initiative, ‘Something Human’ to explore critical issues around migration and movement across borders. In 2017, Something Human launched the multi-site M.A.P. project at the Diaspora Pavilion in Venice, and the pioneering Southeast Asia Performance Collection, the largest archive of materials related to performance in Southeast Asia in Europe. Her 2018 exhibition, Unauthorised Medium, explored artists working with alternative archives to tell lesser known narratives from the region, and most recently, she co-curated the Archive in Residence – Southeast Asia Performance Collection at Haus der Kunst, Munich. She is the founding member of Asia-Art-Activism, an interdisciplinary and intergenerational research network exploring the contested paradigm of 'Asia' in the UK, and the recipient of the 2019 Diverse Actions Leadership Award. 

Agnieszka Prendota (b. 1988, Gdansk, Poland) holds an M.A. in History of Art from Glasgow University, specializing in the creative development of Louise Bourgeois, Paul McCarthy and Lucian Freud. After graduation, she went on to work with several non-profit and commercial creative organizations including Association of Art Historians and SWG3 in Glasgow. She organized and co-curated pop-up exhibitions in London, Manchester and Glasgow. Since 2014, she has been the creative director of Arusha Gallery in Edinburgh, where she is responsible for developing the gallery’s portfolio of artists, its brand and their exhibition plans, both locally in the gallery space and internationally. 

Sophie Bremers (b. 1980, Nijmegen, The Netherlands) earned her master’s degree in Art History at the University of Leiden. She began her career in 2005 at Sotheby’s in the Old Master Paintings department. In 2008, she joined Christie’s in the Nineteenth-century Art department where she is the specialist for nineteenth-century paintings, with a focus on Dutch art. Additionally, Sophie is also the General Manager and Director at Christie’s Amsterdam. In 2009 she became a Christie’s auctioneer, a role she is very passionate about. Besides taking the rostrum for Christie’s sales she also frequently auctioneers for charity sales. 

Claudia Einecke (b. 1957, Hannover, Germany) studied art history, earning an M.A. from Johannes Gutenberg-Universität, Mainz, and a Ph.D. from the University of Missouri, Columbia. Claudia’s curatorial career unfolded successively at the University Art Museum in Columbia MO, at Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha NE, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in Los Angeles, and, now at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta GA. Claudia’s scholarly expertise covers European art in the Long Nineteenth Century. She has curated a variety of exhibitions in that area, including Renoir in the 20th Century; Final Moments: Peyron, David, and The Death of Socrates; and On View to the World: Painting at the Trans-Mississippi Exposition. Claudia has served on committees for various professional organizations and initiatives, including the Association of Art Museum Curators (AAMC), and the German/American Provenance Research Exchange Program for Museum Professionals (PREP). 

'To me women present a different approach within the arts, in the way they scrutinize their own sensitivity and attitude, as well as their new freedom'

Céline Bodin (b. 1990, FR) is a French photographer. She graduated from a photography B.A. at Gobelins, L’école de l’image in Paris, and in 2013 she completed a Photography M.A. at the London College of Communication. Her work revisits the genre of contemporary portraiture within the themes of identity and gender in the frame of western culture. As well as developing her own practice of the medium. Céline regularly writes about photography and occasionally works as a visiting tutor on photography workshops and courses. Céline also works alongside the two directors at Purdy Hicks Gallery London.

Isabella Coraça (b. 1987, São Paulo, Brazil) is a dress historian and curator based in London. She holds a B.A. in Fashion Design from Faculdade Santa Marcelina, Brazil, another B.A. in Fashion History and Theory from Central Saint Martins, London, and an M.A. in Museum Studies from University College London. She has been an Assistant Curator at Historic Royal Palaces since 2014, based at Kensington Palace. She is also a researcher and project coordinator for the AHRC-funded research project ´Exploding Fashion´ at Central Saint Martins (2018-2020). Previously, she spent two years in the Furniture, Textile and Fashion department at the Victoria & Albert Museum, volunteered for three years in the Britain, Prehistory and Europe department at the British Museum, and four years in the Fashion and Decorative Arts department at the Museum of London. 

Andaleeb Badiee Banta (b. 1976, Ann Arbor, MI, US) is Senior Curator and Head of Prints, Drawings & Photographs at the Baltimore Museum of Art. She is a specialist in Renaissance and Baroque art, with a focus on old master works on paper. She has an M.A. and Ph.D. from New York University and a B.A. from Vassar College. Previously, Andaleeb was a curator at the Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, and Assistant Curator at the National Gallery of Art. She has also held curatorial and research assistant positions at the Morgan Library & Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Andaleeb has published on numerous European artists of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries with articles in various international journals. She is editor of a volume of collected essays on the legacy of the Venetian Renaissance. Most recently, she co-authored the exhibition catalogue, Lines of Inquiry: Learning from Rembrandt’s Etchings (2017). 

Theda Jürjens (b. Aurich, North Germany)  is an art historian and employed as a Curatorial Assistant for Exhibitions at the Grünes Gewölbe (Green Vault) at the Staatlichen Kunstsammlungen Dresden (Dresden State Art Collections) in Germany. In the field of exhibitions in 2017-2018, she was the Chief Coordinator and Co-Curator of the special exhibition entitled “Electors of Saxony – Grand Dukes of Lithuania,” a collaboration between the SKD and the National Museum – Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania in Vilnius.  In 2019, she also served as the Chief Coordinator of the Loan Exhibition “The Great Openings of 2019” for the SKD at the TEFAF Maastricht. Theda holds a Ph.D. focused on artistic self-representation in sixteenth century Italy from Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich, previously she studied Art History in Berlin.

Marie-Séverine de Caraman Chimay, ‘MS’ (b. 1976, Paris, France), read Classics at the Sorbonne. In 1999, she studied art and the building arts at the Prince of Wales’s Institute of Architecture in London. In 2001, she finished an M.A. in Cultural Management and wrote her thesis on sponsorship in architectural heritage. MS has thrown herself with passion and enthusiasm into Watts of Westminster at Chelsea Harbour Design Centre, proud to be her family's fifth generation involved in prestigious decoration projects all around the world. 

Fabrics; Watts of Westminster

Ifeanyi Awachie (b. 1992, Nsukka, Nigeria) was raised in the United States, and is a writer and arts curator with a B.A. in English and Creative Writing from Yale University, and an M.A. in Global Creative and Cultural Industries from SOAS, University College London. She is a poet and the author of a personal non-fiction book, Summer in Igboland. Ifeanyi has worked as a journalist and studied fiction under noted novelist Tayari Jones. She is Founder, Director and Chief Curator of the global contemporary African arts festival, AFRICA SALON. Based in London, Ifeanyi also works as Assistant Curator at the Institute of Contemporary Arts and co-directs FUNCTION, bringing together fashion and arts curation to create a stylish, progressive take on contemporary life. Ifeanyi’s creative practice is driven by a fascination with black life, a desire to articulate African subjectivities, and a lived engagement with black feminism. 

"I am honoured to participate in the virtual community of the women photographed for the project. It will be a step in achieving greater visibility for women in the arts."

Marina Daiman (b. Alakurtti, RU) grew up in different regions of Russia until she enrolled in a master’s program in art history at Moscow State University. More recently, she earned her Ph.D. at the Institute of Fine Arts (New York University) with a dissertation on self-repetition and originality in the work of Peter Paul Rubens. In 2019/2020 she did a fellowship at the Rubenianum in Antwerp, where she reworked and expanded her dissertation, turning it into a manuscript for publication.

Franziska Gottwald (b. 1972, Erfurt, Germany) is an art historian. Franziska’s mother was a dramaturge for the Erfurt City Theater, which formed the basis for her interest in art. After the fall of the Berlin Wall the opportunity arose to study literature and art history at various Universities (Kassel, Göttingen, Urbino and Berlin), resulting in an M.A. and a Ph.D. She worked for Lichtenberg Edition, Göttingen, and for the Berlin auction house Bassenge. Franziska also wrote exhibition and book reviews for German newspapers. In 2007 she received her Ph.D. for a dissertation on the tronie (character head) as a genre in Dutch art, and published it with Deutscher Kunstverlag. In 2003 she moved to Kingston in Canada, where she became a Post Doc at Queen’s University, teaching Dutch Art. In 2014 Franziska moved with her family to Amsterdam, where she works as a freelance art historian, conducting research and writing for exhibitions. 

Jill Newhouse (b. New York, NY, US) is the fourth generation of her family to be an art dealer. She began her independent career as a paintings restorer for Moro Studio in New York City before becoming a gallery assistant at Alexander Gallery in 1978. She started her own gallery dealing in American drawings in 1980. Her gallery is still focused on drawings, but with a specialty in nineteenth and twentieth-century European masters. Jill is a member of the Visiting Committee, Department of Prints and Drawings, Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Fairfax Murray Society of the Morgan Museum, as well as The Art Dealers Association of America and a founding member of the Private Art Dealers Association. Jill is an organizer of the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of works on paper by J.B.C. Corot. 

Ruth Koetser (b. 1950, London, UK) studied Art History and Interior Design at the Inchbald School of Design. She married into the Koetser Dynasty in 1972. She has worked in the Koetser Gallery in Zurich since 1982. Under the guidance of her husband David Koetser and his uncle, Ruth stepped into the world of old masters, learning from their knowledge and experience, visiting museums and private collections worldwide and assisting in the organization of the gallery’s exhibitions in Europe and the US. She is a member of The National Gallery London Beaumont Group and a Patron of the Swiss Friends of the Royal Dutch Concertgebouw Orchestra, and is involved in the Koetser Neurology Foundation in Zurich. 

Arlene Elkind (b. 1934, New York, NY, US) was always interested in fashion design and the construction of beautiful clothing. After earning degrees at The Fashion Institute of Technology and New York University, she taught art in middle and high school in New York City. She developed a strong interest in Northern European art, together with her husband, leading to a collection of paintings, prints and drawings, with a particular focus on the work of Michael Sweerts (1618-1664). 

Imani Haynes (b. 1991, Brooklyn, NY, US) is a curator, exhibit designer, historian and art administrator. She graduated from Savannah State University with a B.A. in History. She currently attends The Maryland Institute College of Art where she will receive her M.F.A. in Curatorial Practice with a concentration in Critical Studies in 2020. In the Fall of 2018, The Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance awarded her the Urban Arts Leadership (UAL) 2018- 2019 cohort fellowship, a ten-month arts administration intensive program. As a part of her UAL fellowship, she is the Curatorial Fellow at the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. In between degrees, Imani worked as a Curator and Museum Educator for The National Great Blacks In Wax Museum and as a Historian and Grant Administrator for The Baltimore National Heritage Area. Imani's mission is to curate the stories of those who are often silenced or ignored by society. 

Amy Walsh (b. 1948, Greenwich, CT, US) received her Ph.D. from Columbia University, New York. Her first museum job was at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she was co-author of volume 2 of American Paintings at the Metropolitan Museum. Later she was Curator of European Paintings and Head of Provenance Research at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). A specialist in Dutch painting, she is the author of major collection catalogues for the Norton Simon Museum and LACMA and co-author of the AAM Guide to Provenance Research, in addition to other publications. She currently advises on old master paintings and Nazi-era provenance and is preparing a catalogue raisonné of the work of the Dutch master, Paulus Potter (1625-1654). 

“It is a fact that women are still underrepresented in art, though this is less the case where I live, in Amsterdam. I was once told that if I wanted to work in art I had to choose between my career or my family. I hope that type of thinking will disappear. It is time for more diversity.”

Valérie Reinhold (b. 1975, Rueil Malmaison, France) is a curator and collector based in Amsterdam. She holds an M.A. in Art History from Paris XI, a Bachelor in Art Market from Christie's Education, New York, a Master in business from HEC, France and she is a certified Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA). Prior to working in the art sector, she spent 10 years in finance (alternative investments, business development and client relationship management) and combined her skills with her passion to provide art advisory services to institutions and collectors. She is passionate about how art can be a language to communicate about social and environmental challenges, Valerie has developed a cross-cultural curatorial approach and is working with Art in Motion, a cultural foundation in Lebanon that promotes building social bridges through art. She has curated exhibitions in Beirut, Kuwait, Amsterdam and New York. 

Susannah Pollen (b. 1959, Oxford UK) was educated in New York and the UK. She holds a BA Joint Honours in History of Art and English Literature from University College, London. Susannah joined Sotheby’s in 1982 and during a 22-year career rose to Senior Director of Sotheby’s Europe and Head of 20th Century and Post-War British Art. In 2004 she established Susannah Pollen Limited –  a leading art advisory business in the field of Modern and Contemporary European art. In addition to working with private collectors, Susannah regularly advises the Acceptance in Lieu Panel of the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council as well as Trusts and Estates. She has served on panels both as market commentator and art prize judge and is an executive member of the Association of Professional Art Advisors. APAA is the only organization in the field of art advisory and sets the industry standards of ethics and practice in Europe and the US. 

Ifeoma Dike (b. 1973, Benin City, Nigeria) spent her formative years in the city of her birth. She earned an M.Sc. in Cognitive Neuro Psychology at Oxford Brooks University, becoming an experienced psychologist who worked as commissioner for mental health services with local authorities. She founded Idioblast Dynamic Development (IDD) UK as a vehicle to seek innovative and dynamic ways to support art beyond acquisition – through engaging corporations, institutions, and individuals in the appreciation and acquisition of art. Ifeoma believes that business and philanthropy can happen simultaneously. She is an art-adviser and curator. 

" I think this project goes beyond the photo to tell the viewer to look at the woman standing in front of you and find out who she is because chances are there is a fascinating story to tell."

Stephanie Manasseh (b. 1974 Montreal, Canada)  graduated from McGill University in Montreal and went on to study at Sotheby's Institute and Goldsmiths. She is a quadrilingual entrepreneur in the arts and a curator. Stephanie founded the Accessible Art Fair (ACAF), which offers unaffiliated artists an opportunity to network and exhibit their work in prestigious environments and works with a jury comprising of leaders in the art world to help select the highest caliber of artists. In the corporate sector, she was responsible for developing and implementing the Art & Design Sessions for BMW in Belgium and has featured several prominent artists. Her expertise in the art world has brought her ongoing professional partnerships with international brands such as American Express and The New York Times. Launching SM Art Advisory over 10 years ago, Stephanie offers her expertise to clients looking for art to suit their commercial or private properties.

Junko Aono (b. 1972, Tokyo, Japan) is Professor of Art Studies at Meiji Gakuin University. Previously, she was Associate Professor of Art History at Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan. She studied art history in Japan and went to the Netherlands in 2000 to pursue her research in Dutch art history of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Having worked at the University of Amsterdam from 2005 to 2010, she obtained a Ph.D. in Art History with the thesis, Confronting the Golden Age: Imitation and Innovation in Dutch Genre Painting 1680–1750 (published 2013). She also worked as a researcher for The Leiden Collection, New York (2010-2011). 

Georgia Atienza (b. , Spain) studied History of Art at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and Paper Conservation at Camberwell College of Arts. She joined the National Portrait Gallery in 2003, initially cataloguing the Beaton archive in preparation for the exhibition, Beaton Portraits and was later appointed to research the photographic archive of Lady Ottoline Morrell. This led onto other projects within the photographs department with a particular focus on the early 20th Century collections. Since January 2016 her role focuses more closely on acquisitions and the care and research of the photographic collection (1840s to the present day).

Alexandra Zvereva (b. 1977, Moscow, Russia) graduated in art history from Moscow State University, then moved to Paris and earned a Ph.D. in Modern History from Sorbonne University. She is a Research Associate at the Roland Mousnier Centre (CNRS, Sorbonne University) and a Senior Lecturer in Art History at Drouot Formation, Paris. Her research focuses on the portrait in France and Northern Europe from the fifteenth to the mid-seventeenth century. She has organized several exhibitions and published Les Clouet de Catherine de Médicis (2002), Portraits dessinés de la cour des Valois (2011), which was awarded the Louis Fould Prize by the Academy of Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, and the Grand Prize and Vermeil Medal of the French Academy, Le Cabinet des Clouet au château de Chantilly (2011), Kings, Aristocrats and Humanists (Kugel Gallery, 2019), as well as numerous articles and papers. She is preparing catalogues raisonnés of the artists Corneille de Lyon, Jean Decourt and Gillis Claeissens. 

Melanie Gerlis (b. 1974, London, UK) has a B.A. in English Literature from Cambridge University (1996) and an M.A. in Art Business from Sotheby’s Institute of Art (2006).  Before entering the art world, Melanie worked for ten years at Finsbury, a strategic communications and investor relations firm, advising investment banks, hedge funds and other financial services clients. She became the Art Market Editor for The Art Newspaper in 2007, a role she held until 2016 when she became the weekly art market columnist and contributor at the Financial Times. Her book Art as an Investment? A Survey of Comparative Assets was published in 2014. 

“We have finally come to realise that seventeenth century female artists, like Johanna Vergouwen and Judith Leyster are equally good painters but rarely acknowledged.”

Elsbeth van Tets (b. 1950, Bloemendaal, The Netherlands) was educated at the Inchbald School of Design and Decorative Arts, London. She settled in Amsterdam after a twelve-year career at Sotheby’s auctioneers in Amsterdam, London, and New York, and got involved with the Mauritshuis in The Hague, setting up their volunteer and fundraising programme, as well as their gift shop. As a board member of the Mauritshuis, Vereniging Rembrandt, and the Museum van Loon for many years, she is happiest visiting exhibitions and museums around the world. In 2003, she founded the Decorative Art Fund at the Rijksmuseum, to collect designs for decorative arts from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century. Over 600 drawings have been acquired and the fund has proven to be popular and continues to grow. 

Miho Kajioka (b. 1973, Okayama, Japan) moved to California at age 18, where she studied at the San Francisco Art Institute. She began there as a painting major, but little by little turned to photography. In 1995, she moved to Montreal, Canada, where she finished her fine arts degree at Concordia University. Upon graduation, she returned to Japan and became a journalist, producing TV news and documentary programs for foreign news outlets for more than ten years. After the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, tsunami and Fukushima accident, she decided to go back to art. 

Sandra Murray (b. 1951, Isle of Lewis, UK) is a renowned Scottish artist-couturier. Her patrons include HM the Queen and Gaelic singer Julie Fowlis. After studying Drawing and Painting at Glasgow School of Art, she established herself in Inverness, making bespoke clothes entirely by hand. Exceptional textiles from Europe and Scotland became her hallmark, and  commissions arrived from all over the globe. Her work has been showcased as far afield as New York, Tokyo, and Nanjing and has featured in exhibitions, collaborations, catwalk shows and television documentaries. A Gaelic native speaker, Sandra is a regular BBC Scotland radio contributor on the subjects of art and fashion. She presented two series of Stoidhle -The Dressing Up Box for BBC Alba. She received  an MBE for services to Fashion and Textiles in Scotland and is a Fellow of the University of the Highlands and Islands. 

Rhiannon Pickles (b. 1979, Wrexham, UK) studied art history at Cambridge before moving to London to do an M.A. in Contemporary Art. Her father was a doctor and her mother was a nurse. In rebellion to this she was attracted to art. In 2005 she moved to Amsterdam where she married. In 2006 she founded Pickles PR, experts in consulting on cultural communications worldwide. 

“My thoughts about the position of women in the art world? It’s getting better, but still, equality is nowhere to be seen. Some of the artists currently active who are women have a take on art that is truly exceptional.”

Mieke Bal (b. 1946, Heemstede, The Netherlands) is a founder of ASCA, the Amsterdam School of Cultural Analysis. As a cultural theorist, critic, video artist and curator, she is committed to developing socially relevant interdisciplinary approaches to cultural artefacts. She was awarded an Academy Professorship and received honorary degrees from the universities of Bergen, Luzern, Helsinki and London. In 2017, she was made a Knight in the Order of the Netherlands Lion. After making video documentaries on migratory culture she embarked on creating ‘theoretical fictions’ to elaborate theoretical questions through art. A Long History of Madness, with Michelle Williams Gamaker, argues for a more humane treatment of psychosis. Madame B, also with Michelle, was exhibited with paintings by Edvard Munch in the Munch Museum in Oslo. Reasonable Doubt, on René Descartes and Queen Kristina, explores the social aspects of the process of thinking. Her most recent work is a 16-channel video installation entitled Don Quixote: tristes figuras.

Mariama Attah (b. 1985, Basildon, UK) is a photography curator and editor with a particular interest in the power of photography to re-present visual culture. She is Curator at Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool. Previously, she was She is Assistant Editor for Foam Magazine. Previously, she wasand Program Curator at Photoworks and was responsible for developing and programming exhibitions and events, including Brighton Photo Biennial and the Jerwood/Photoworks Awards. Mariama was also editor of Photoworks Annual. She holds a B.A. in Photography and an M.A. in Museum Studies. Mariama has worked with a number of national and international artists and previous professional roles include Exhibitions and Events Manager at Iniva, London, and Assistant Officer, Visual Arts at Arts Council England. 

Cinzia Pasquali (b. 1959, Rome, Italy) graduated from the Central Restoration Institute of Rome (ICR) with a joint degree in painting and sculpture. She obtained a master’s degree of Sciences and Techniques at the Sorbonne in Paris. Cinzia has led several significant in-situ projects in Italy, as well as carried out treatment on large format paintings, including the large copper works by Domenichino and Ribera at the Royal Chapel of the Treasure of San Gennaro in Naples. In 2017 she was made a Knight of the the Légion d'Honneur. Established in France since 1990, she has led complex monumental projects at the Louvre, at the Château de Versailles, and at the Château de Chantilly. She works for the Research and Restoration Center for French Museums (C2RMF) where she restored iconic works such as Bronzino’s Lamentation (Musée des Beaux Arts et d’archéologie de Besançon) and the Virgin and Child with St. Anne by Leonardo da Vinci (Louvre). 

Elvire de Maintenant (b. 1970, Paris, France) spent all her school years at the Lycée International, in which most courses were given in English. She graduated from a major French business school, ESSEC, and from the École du Louvre. She was a specialist in the Old Master Pictures department at Christie's for 21 years, working in Paris – mostly finding paintings in France – in a very respectable and knowledgeable international team. She really enjoyed these years, making discoveries, sharing opinions and passion, but quite recently left Christie's to have more freedom and time to work on what interests her most as an art advisor, attributing paintings, selling them (or not), and writing about them. 

LeeAna Wolfman (b. 1991, New York, NY, US) attended Colorado College as an Art History major, where she completed her thesis Gustav Klimt's Faculty Paintings in the intellectual context of fin-de-siècle Vienna. After graduation, LeeAna returned to New York City and began working in the bookstore and visitor services departments at the Neue Galerie. Following her time there, LeeAna worked as the registrar of the fine art department at the auction house Doyle New York. She was then hired as the gallery director of Otto Naumann Ltd., a role she held until its closing in the summer of 2018. She currently acts as a founding director of Ambrose Naumann Fine Art, which opened its doors on the Upper East Side in October 2018, dealing in the sale of nineteenth and twentieth-century paintings and works on paper. 

"I believe in myself and all women, and what we do in the art world, it definitely has to be recognized and celebrated more and more."

Sophia Bulgakova was born in Odesa, Ukraine, in 1997. She studied sculpture in Kyiv and then got a foundation diploma in Photography and Time-Based Media at the University of the Arts, London, in the UK. She graduated at the ArtScience Interfaculty in Royal Academy of the Art, The Hague and Royal Conservatory, The Hague, and currently develops her practice as an interdisciplinary artist.

Most of her recent works are created with the intention of exploring a relationship between light and perception and particularly focusing on the individual abilities and ways of seeing. Sophia creates spaces, situations, or conditions for the audience to expand their perception and focus on their own personal unique experience inside the work itself.

Marjorie Shelley (b. New York, NY, US) began her professional career as an art historian, earning an M.A. at the Institute of Fine Arts, NYU. Inspired to turn to conservation by her enthusiasm for direct interaction with works of art, and her interest in how they are made and in their materials, she pursued a degree at NYU’s Conservation Center. She has spent most of her professional career at the Metropolitan Museum where she is Conservator in Charge of the Paper Conservation department. She oversees the preservation and treatment of works on paper from around the world and of all eras, specializing in drawings and pastels from the Renaissance to the early twentieth century. She finds her work endlessly fascinating, and the source of many essays and projects. 

Fabrics: Rubelli Venezia / Donghia Inc

Barbara Palatin-Doyle, (b. 1967, Vienna, Austria) is an artist, collector of old masters, a docent for the Decorative Arts Department at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the founder of Studio Palatin. Born and bred in Vienna, the artist lives and works in New York. Barbara specializes in handcrafted, sculptural lighting in limited editions. As an artist, she incorporates materials and techniques reflecting the exquisite craftsmanship of the seventeenth and eighteenth century in contemporary design, combining art with functionality.

Anne Tayloe Woollett (b. 1967, Pasadena, CA, US) grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area in a family of outdoor enthusiasts. After initially pursuing a passion for music performance, she received her B.A. in Early Modern European History and Art History at Boston University in 1989. The outstanding museum and historic house collections she experienced in Boston and in Britain instilled a love of objects and underscored the importance of first-hand observation. After receiving an M.A. from the Courtauld Institute of Art (1991), she earned her Ph.D. from Columbia University (2004) with a dissertation on the altarpieces of the Antwerp militia guilds, 1554-1615.  She joined the Paintings department at the J. Paul Getty Museum in 1998, where she has focused on the study of northern paintings before 1800. Her exhibitions and publications include studies of Gerard David, Maerten van Heemskerck, Rembrandt, and Peter Paul Rubens. Current projects include an examination of Rubens’s collaborative works. 

Elviera Velghe (b. 1974, Bruges, Belgium) studied art history at the University of Ghent. As the director of FOMU, the Museum of Photography in Antwerp, she coordinated several exhibitions and public activities, and supervized the FOMU collection of 3 million items. In April 2020 she started as Head of Public Affairs and Exhibitions at Musea Brugge. 

Sigrid Kirk (b. 1971, New Plymouth, New Zealand) has an M.A. in Art History. She is co-founder of ARTiMBARC, a platform to amplify the stories of cultural organizations. Prior to this, Sigrid co-founded and ran Arts Co – a cultural production agency. She is also co-founder of the Association of Women in the Arts (AWITA) and advises clients on collecting art and design. She is a trustee of the Drawing Room, IKON Advisory Board member and sits on the Development Board of the V&A Museum. 

Melanie Hough (b. 1983, Wiltshire, UK) earned a B.A. in Art History from Goldsmiths College, London, and returned for an M.A. in Contemporary Art Theory while working for the Getty Images Gallery. In 2015, Melanie joined the Photo London fair helping to establish the gallery recruitment and curatorial process. She returned to Getty Images in 2017 to take up the position of curator at the Hulton Archive, the world’s largest photographic library in private ownership. 

Frima Fox Hofrichter (b. 1948, New York, NY, US), art historian and Professor at Pratt Institute, earned her B.A. at Brooklyn College and her Ph.D. at Rutgers University. She is an expert in seventeenth-century Dutch art, focusing specifically on Judith Leyster and the Haarlem school. Frima has a special interest in issues of gender and class in the early modern period and, as a feminist art historian, publishes on women artists, the impact of the lives of women on their work and images of women in art. She wrote the first iconographic study of a painting, The Proposition, by an early modern female artist, suggesting a woman’s point of view. She is the author of Judith Leyster, A Woman Painter in the Golden Age (1989), Haarlem the Seventeenth Century (1983), Leonard Bramer, Painter of the Night (1992), and is co-author of several editions of Janson’s History of Art. She is currently co-editing, with Midori Yoshimoto, Women, Aging, and Art: A Cross-cultural Anthology (2021). 

“I think what we are truly lacking is a sense of camaraderie amongst women. My first boss was a woman - tough, but she taught me everything I needed to know and she let me fly when she saw that I had the potential to grow. I always remembered that, and I try to do the same with the younger girls I get to work with.”

Valentina Salmeri-Bijzet (b. 1984, Turin, Italy). After receiving a degree in European Public Law from the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich and an M.A. in History and Business of Art and Collecting from Warwick University and the Institut d'Études Supérieures des Arts in Paris, Valentina joined Sotheby’s Private Client Group in 2012, assisting international high-net-worth individuals with building their art collections. In 2013, she moved to the Contemporary Art department and in 2016 relocated to the Netherlands where she joined Unseen Photo Fair in Amsterdam as the Head of Development & External Relations. In January 2018, Valentina joined the Rijksmuseum, where she is responsible for the Rijksmuseum Fund and the private donors of the museum. 

Sara Chan (b. 1988, Cardiff, UK) studied art history at Birmingham University before joining the press office at Tate in 2014. In 2018, she joined the team at David Zwirner as Communications Manager, where she is responsible for creating and implementing global communications strategies for the contemporary gallery's sixty plus artists and estates. 

Deborah Howard (b. 1946, London, UK) graduated in Architecture and Fine Arts at Cambridge University before taking her M.A. and Ph.D. in Art History at the Courtauld Institute of Art. She is an architectural historian with a particular interest in the art and architecture of Venice and the Veneto. Before she returned to Cambridge in 1992, she taught at University College London, The University of Edinburgh and the Courtauld Institute of Art.  Deborah is now Professor Emerita of Architectural History at Cambridge, where she is a Fellow of St John’s College. Her books include Venice & the East (2000), Sound and Space in Renaissance Venice (2009) and Venice Disputed (2011). 

Hanneke Wetzer (b. 1979, Eindhoven, The Netherlands) graduated from the Hogeschool voor de Kunsten, Utrecht (HKU) as an illustrative designer. She works as a multidisciplinary visual artist; photographer, illustrator, performance artist and co-curator. In her work, Hanneke aims to connect contrasting images and shape them into a new context. Her study of Health Sciences (University of Maastricht) has informed the thematic choices of her work, together with her fascination for Darwinian evolution. She creates new hybrid species with biro pens, graphic techniques, wool, silicone rubber and natural materials. As a photographer, she focuses on themes such as identity, privacy, gender and neurodiversity. Her aesthetics are underpinned by an undercurrent of innermost cravings and fears. 

Karolien De Clippel (b. 1972, Zottegem, Belgium) holds a master’s degree in Roman Languages, Literature and Linguistics (1994) as well as in Art History (1997) from the KU Leuven. In 2002, she received a doctorate in Art History with a dissertation on the seventeenth-century painter Joos Van Craesbeeck. She worked in academia for more than 15 years and was associate professor at Utrecht University. She has done research on early modern Flemish and Dutch painting with a particular focus on genre, classical mythology, gender issues and, increasingly, fashion. She taught a wide variety of courses at the bachelor and master level. Over the years, she became aware that in the Low Countries dress and fashion are understudied and underestimated. With this belief, and in combination with her love for object-based research, she made a career switch. In 2015, she became the collection’s curator of the Fashion Museum Hasselt (Belgium) and in 2017 its director. 

Anne Lowenthal (b. 1936, Long Beach, CA, US) graduated from Brown University in 1958. After several years in the Department of Western European Arts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, she earned a Ph.D. at Columbia University in 1975.  Her dissertation, on the Dutch mannerist Joachim Wtewael (1566-1638), was published in 1986. More recently, she contributed to an international exhibition of Wtewael’s works, Pleasure and Piety: The Art of Joachim Wtewael, held at the National Gallery of Art (Washington, DC), the Centraal Museum (Utrecht) and the Museum of Fine Arts (Houston). Anne was a member of the faculty at Barnard College/Columbia University for several years. She is now an independent scholar. 

Fabrics: Rubelli Venezia / Donghia Inc

Sandra Romito (b. 1974, Verona, Italy) graduated from the Università Cattolica in Milan, focusing on illuminated manuscripts of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. After a year of experience in the Drawing department of the Musée du Louvre, Sandra completed her M.A. in Management of Cultural Heritage at the Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa. She began her career in Rome, teaching paleochristian art. Sandra joined the Old Master Pictures department at Christie’s in London in 2000, and apart from covering the maternity leave of the Head of Department in Milan for a year, has been in London ever since. 

"It feels an exciting time to be working as a women in the art world, with new opportunities arising and shifting narratives. There is a long way still to go still, but this book is inspiring as it celebrates many of the women pioneering to make these changes happen."

Hannah Rose Thomas (b. 1991, Turin, Italy). She studied a BA in History and Arabic at Durham University and MA at the Prince's School of Traditional Art in London. In 2014 and 2016 Hannah organised art projects for Syrian refugees in Jordan for UNHCR and Relief International. Hannah has also worked with Yezidi women who had escaped ISIS captivity in Iraqi Kurdistan (August 2017); Rohingya children in refugee camps on the Myanmar border (April 2018) and with survivors of Boko Haram and Fulani herder violence in Northern Nigeria (September 2018). Hannah's paintings have been shown at the UK Houses of Parliament, European Parliament, Scottish Parliament, Buckingham Palace, Lambeth Palace, and The Saatchi Gallery.  Hannah has been selected for Forbes 30 Under 30 and is a recipient of the European International Women’s Leadership Award 2019.

"Diversity, rather than conformity, within a team is a much better recipe for success."

Laura Tayler Ongpin (b. 1971, Oxford, UK) is a Director at Stephen Ongpin Fine Art. Laura holds a B.A. from the London School of Economics, and an M.A. from the Courtauld Institute of Art in Dutch and Flemish seventeenth-century art. After freelancing for a short while in the Exhibitions department of the Royal Academy of Arts, she worked at the Royal Collection for the Surveyor of the Queen’s Pictures for a few years, before moving on to Christie’s Old Master Picture department, where she worked for thirteen years, and became a Director and Head of the Evening sales. 

Marieke van Bommel (b. 1975, Elsendorp, The Netherlands) studied at the Reinwardt Academy in Amsterdam and received a master's degree in Policy and Organization from the University of Tilburg. In January 2022 she became the managing director of the National Museum of World Cultures (NMVW) and the Rotterdam Wereldmuseum. Since 2015, she was the director of MAS in Antwerp, one of the largest and in recent years most talked-about museums in Belgium. Prior to that, Marieke worked for ten years at the Maritime Museum in Rotterdam as head of Public Affairs, and for the last two years as Business Director. In that role she helped shape the merger between the Maritime Museum Rotterdam and the Harbor Museum. 

Emma Kronman (b. 1987, New York, NY, US) is a Director of Murphy & Partners, an art advisory firm based in London. After earning her B.A. in Art History from Yale University in 2009, Emma began her career at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she undertook a year-long Kress Fellowship in the Robert Lehman Collection. She subsequently completed her M.A. in Art History at the Courtauld Institute of Art, London, with a thesis on the fourteenth-century Paduan painter Guariento d’Arpo. Emma joined Christie’s in 2011 as a specialist in the Old Master Paintings department, where she remained until May 2017, serving as Head of Sale for the New York office. Emma has also worked in Florence, Italy, at Villa La Pietra and in New York at the Guggenheim Museum and at the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art. 

Stephanie von Watzdorf (b. 1965, Neuilly-sur-Seine, France) has a German-French father and a Russian-American mother. Her grandfather, Leonide Massine, was the renowned Ballets Russes choreographer whose circle included Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, Léon Bakst and Igor Stravinsky. Stephanie draws inspiration from her artistic and global heritage. A graduate of Parsons School of Design and recipient of Calvin Klein’s Golden Thimble award, Stephanie refined her aesthetic working for luxury brands including Yves Saint Laurent, Giorgio Armani and Ralph Lauren. In 2004, she joined Tory Burch, where she directed ready-to-wear and accessories design development for over seven years. In 2012, Stephanie launched Figue, a globally inspired and globally created collection. Named after the ancient fruit, Figue was born out of Stephanie’s passion for travel and desire to share the talents of artisans around the world. 

Claire van den Donk (b. 1974, Eindhoven, The Netherlands) was raised in the US. Upon graduating with an M.A. in Art History in Groningen in 1999, Claire travelled to Guatemala on her own to volunteer at the orphanage Casa Guatemala in the jungle of Rio Dulce. She returned six months later and began combining two jobs – as an Old Master Pictures expert at Glerum Auctioneers and as a looted-art researcher at the Dutch Ministry of Culture’s Origins Unknown Agency in The Hague. Claire later worked as an Old Master Pictures specialist at Christie’s Amsterdam and returned to the Origins Unknown Agency for a few years before taking up the position of Curator of Dutch and Flemish Portraits at the RKD in The Hague. In 2018 she started a freelance business partnership with Prof. Dr. Rudi Ekkart for art-historical research, projects & publications. 

Karoline Weser (b. 1975, Tübingen, Germany) studied art history at Bonn University, Germany and the Courtauld Institute of Art, London. She worked at the Old Master Pictures department at Christie’s London, and later was Associate Director for Rainer Zietz Ltd., London, specializing in European sculptures and works of art. In 2006 she joined the Old Master and Nineteenth-Century Paintings department at Koller Auctions in Zurich, Switzerland, for which she is now Head of Department. 

Martina Brunner-Bulst (b. 1953, Würzburg, Germany) studied art history, folklore and prehistoric archaeology at the Julius Maximilians Universität of Würzburg and graduated with a doctoral thesis on the Dutch still-life painter Pieter Claesz, on whom she published the first catalogue raisonné in 2004. She works as an independent expert and has substantially contributed to art gallery exhibition catalogues. Together with Pieter Biesboer, Christian Klemm and David Koetser she prepared the first monographic exhibition on Pieter Claesz held in Haarlem, Zürich, and Washington (2004-2005). Since 1985, she has lived with her family in Florence. 

Jenny Tiramani (b. 1954, Bromley, UK) is the Principal of The School of Historical Dress, London. Her publications include Patterns of Fashion 4, with Janet Arnold and Santina M. Levey, 2008, three books for the V&A on seventeenth-century dress, (co-author, 2011, 2012 & 2016), and Patterns of Fashion 5: The content, cut, construction of bodies, stays, hoops and rumps c.1595-1795 (co-author, 2018). She has worked as a Stage Designer since 1977, receiving the 2003 Laurence Oliver Award (Best Costume Design), for the Shakespeare's Globe production of Twelfth Night and, in 2014, the Tony Award (Best Costume Design) for the revival on Broadway. Opera designs include Anna Bolena (Costumes), Metropolitan Opera, New York 2011, and Andre Chenier (Costumes), Royal Opera House, Covent Garden 2015. 

Haleh Atabeigi (b. 1968, Teheran, Iran) is an American artist living and working in New York City. She left Iran in 1984. Haleh has painted numerous murals for a small but loyal elite group of private clients. Several of her works have been published in Architectural Digest, House Beautiful and other noteworthy interior and architecture magazines and books. She has also painted for film sets and is currently working in her studio on her new series. 

Elisabeth Lobkowicz (b. 1988, Boston, MA, US) has a passion for Northern and Central European Art of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. She is currently a Specialist in the Old Master Paintings department at Sotheby’s New York. She joined the company in 2013 after receiving her M.A. from the Williams College Graduate Program in art history. At Williams, she focused on the relationship between early modern Utopian thought and the art of Pieter Bruegel the Elder. While there, she also worked in the curatorial department at the Clark Art Institute. Elisabeth earned her B.A. in Economics and Art History from Boston College, where she also was a member of the Women’s Division I Rowing team. 

Arlene Wandera (b. 1981, Nairobi, Kenya) was raised in the UK and is based in London. She graduated from the Slade School of Fine Art, London and works with multiple mediums including sculpture, installation, images and performance. Her works employ familiar or forgotten materials to create a space that allows these objects to engage in an unorthodox and sometimes playful manner. The underlying themes and narratives surrounding her work are anchored in the complexities of social and cultural interactions, locally and globally. Arlene has exhibited both nationally and internationally with her most recent solo presentation at Tafeta Gallery, London. She represented Kenya at the 57th Venice Biennale and participated in the 11th and 13th Dak’Art Biennial where she was selected as one of the ten artists to watch. 

"I have always been interested in why more women are not present in art, both historically and in the contemporary art world. I have always worked with women and been conscious of putting women artists forward."

Zelda Cheatle (b. 1957, Belfast, Ireland) studied photography at Brighton and Goldsmiths College, London. She began her career at The Photographers Gallery (1982-1988). From 1989 to 2005 the eponymous Zelda Cheatle Gallery (the first independent photography gallery in London) exhibited the iconic international greats and emerging talents. Zelda initiated and managed the first Photography Fund, collecting important and significant works. Since 2012, she has been active curating photography exhibitions, editing photography books, lecturing at several universities, running short courses on collecting photography, and has been involved in many juries and prizes.

Marjorie E. (Betsy) Wieseman (b. 1958, Greenwich, CT, US) is an art historian and Curator and Head of the Department of Northern European Paintings, National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. Chair of European Art from Classical Antiquity to 1800 and Curator of European Paintings and Sculpture at the Cleveland Museum of Art. She received B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Delaware, and a Ph.D. from Columbia University in New York. She currently lives and works in Cleveland, OH. Betsy specializes in seventeenth-century Netherlandish art, with an emphasis on Dutch portraiture and genre painting. She has also written on portrait miniatures, the technical examination of paintings, and the history of collecting. She held curatorial positions at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, Oberlin OH; and the Cincinnati Art Museum. From 2006 to 2012 she was curator of Dutch Painting 1600-1800 at the National Gallery, London, and Curator of Dutch and Flemish Painting 1600-1800 from 2012 to 2017. From 2017 to 2020 she was Chair of European Art from Classical Antiquity to 1800 and Curator of European Paintings and Sculpture at the Cleveland Museum of Art. 

Ana Howie (b. 1994, Auckland, New Zealand) was born to a Dominican mother and Kiwi father. When she was about one year old, they began what would turn out to be a decade-long travelling expedition around North and Central America on a sailing boat. During this time, they visited Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico and Guatemala among other places, and spent some time in San Francisco as well. She undertook a B.A. in French and Art History at the University of Auckland and completed her undergraduate studies at the Sorbonne University, Paris. From there, she went on to complete her M.A. in Art History at the Courtauld Institute of Art. She currently works at the summer art fair, Masterpiece London, and is pursuing a Ph.D. at Cambridge University. 

Annina Pfuel (b. 1986, Munich, Germany) is a London-based creative director and designer for stage and film. She studied Design at Parsons in Paris and New York. After her studies she worked in film and theatre as a costume designer, and works closely with designer and opera director, Patrick Kinmonth. Past collaborations include House Style – 500 Years of Fashion at Chatsworth, and Tannhäuser at the Cologne Opera. 

Ann Buchanan (b. 1959, Taunton, UK) has been a teacher of practical art and lecturer in art history and architecture since graduating with in Fine Art at The University of Edinburgh in 1984.  Ann is passionate about heritage and history and dedicates her teaching towards encouraging students to write and speak about works of art experienced at first hand. She is an advocate of ARTiculation Scotland and Edinburgh World Heritage. Ann was the first of her family, the Rohans, to be born in Britain, originally from France, via Bohemia; consequently, travel and discovery are in her blood. Inspired by the art and architecture of the cities she studied in, Ann started her business, Edinburgh Art Studies, in 1997, leading groups and classes to monuments, collections and galleries in Scotland, Europe and further afield from New York to Moscow and St. Petersburg. 

Rania Tabbara (b. 1971, Beirut, Lebanon) is a curator. Her childhood was surrounded by the love of her family but also impacted by the horrors of civil war. At an early age, she was interested in art, in all its aspects (theatre, installations, paintings). She was always curious and eager to see and feel the beauty of it. She pursued her studies at Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris and continued her graduate studies in Lebanon before gaining expertise in the field of art. In 2015, she founded the Association Art in Motion in Beirut, with Rania Halawi. 

Ayesha Feisal (b. 1974, London, UK) is a visual artist based in London, creating complex, amorous forms and exploring psychological states. Her work is an ongoing response to events and situations, through which she uses the human form as a means of exploring the psyche. Ayesha’s art is influenced and informed by her interest in consciousness, universal law, balance and truth. She portrays characters with elevated mind-sets, characters that challenge and move beyond the impact of circumstance, environment and social conditioning; characters that realize their power and are liberated within her art. Through her practice she constructs narratives that explore the complexities (as well as the beauty) of the human condition. She sees art as a type of resistance and creativity as a form of empowerment.

Yao-Fen You (b. 1973, Taipei, Taiwan) is Senior Curator and Head of Product Design and Decorative Arts at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York City. Prior to joining Cooper Hewitt in 2019, she served as Associate Curator of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts at the Detroit Institute of Arts. She has also held curatorial positions at the University of Michigan Museum of Art and the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles. She holds a Ph.D. and an M.A. in Art History from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and a B.A.  in Art History from the University of California, Berkeley. From 2004 to 2007, she served as the Theodore Rousseau Post-Doctoral Fellow in European Paintings at the Fogg Art Museum/Harvard Art Museums. She is a 2007 graduate of the Attingham Summer School and was selected to participate in the 2018 German/American Provenance Research Exchange Program (PREP) for Museum Professionals. 

Sophie Macpherson (b. 1978, London, UK) grew up in London and Spain, studied languages at Southampton University and started her business after working for an art dealer in London for three years after graduation. She is a headhunter for the international art world, focusing on recruitment and placement of members of staff within galleries, museums and institutions, auction houses, private and corporate collections, financial institutions and artists’ studios worldwide. Sophie has a team in London and a team in New York. She is a connector of people and ideas, helping businesses transition through periods of change and growth through her wider consultancy services. 

Emily Ansenk (b. 1970, Amsterdam, The Netherlands) is an art historian and until recently Director of the Kunsthal Rotterdam. Prior to that, she was curator of the ING Collection (1995), and Founder and Director of the private Frisia (later Scheringa) Museum (1996-2008). As Director of the Kunsthal, she was responsible for policy, strategy, organization and programming, including numerous exhibitions. As of September 2019, Emily is the Director of the Holland Festival. She gives lectures and presentations in the Netherlands and abroad and has contributed to various catalogues and published articles. Emily is a member of the jury of the Sacha Tanja Penning, the supervisory board of The National Maritime Museum, Amsterdam, the Advisory Board of Art Rotterdam, the board of the Job Dura Fund and Chair of the jury of the Henri Winkelman Award. In 2016, she participated in the Getty Leadership Program at Claremont University in Los Angeles. 

Maartje Beekman (b.  , the Netherlands) is Director of Codart. She is responsible for strategic planning, policy, finances, activities and Friends of CODART Foundation. Maartje has worked for CODART since March 2010.

"the majority of positions of authority in the art world are still held by men while the most junior positions are largely held by women. Carla's project is inspiring and sheds light on the women who are doing fantastic things and moving us forward to help close that gap."

Charlotte Berkowitz (b. 1994, Providence, RI, US) is the Evening and Private Sales Administrator at Sotheby’s in the Old Master Paintings department. She was raised in New York City and Paris where she visited the many museums and galleries available. She earned a B.A. in Art History from Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire and wrote her final paper entitled: The Role of Lithography in the Dreyfuss Affair.

Roos Gortzak (b. 1973, Amstelveen, The Netherlands) is currently the Director of Vleeshal in Middelburg. She has been active in the field of contemporary art since 2002, when she graduated from the Royal College of Art in London. As a critic, she was a regular contributor to the Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant, and to art magazines such as Metropolis M and ArtReview, while also writing exhibition catalogues. As a curator, she worked on projects and exhibitions for, amongst others, the Biennale of Puerto Rico (2004), Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam (2005), Kunsthalle Basel (2007-2012), the Badischer Kunstverein (2014) and the multidisciplinary festival What Happens in Offenbach Stays in Offenbach. In 2014, she took up her position at Vleeshal and has since curated various solo shows. 

Miriam Guttmann (b. 1994, Amsterdam, The Netherlands) is a photographer and filmmaker, currently based in Amsterdam. In her work she approaches difficult subjects, such as death, female sexuality and the tragic but often abstracted story of displacement.

When she was 17, her photography series Loss attracted the attention of the press and was shown at various venues including FOAM and Fotofestival Naarden. In 2018, Miriam graduated from the Netherlands Film Academy with the short documentary Seeds of Deceit. The film met with international success, it screened at various leading film festivals including Palm Springs International Short Festival, where it won the award for best student documentary.

‘There is still a lot work to do for the real emancipation of women as artists as well as for women working in the art world.’

Marieke Wiegel (b.1970, Rhenen, the Netherlands works already for several decades in the cultural field as manager and curator for institutions such as World Press Photo (Amsterdam), Magnum Photos (Paris) and Institut Néerlandais ( Paris). Presently , she is Director of the St. Grote Kerk in Breda. Previously she was Head of the Exhibition Department at the Nederlands Fotomuseum in Rotterdam. She is an expert in photography, but also has an extensive knowledge of contemporary art and graphic design. Over the years Marieke worked on exhibitions such as: Jacqueline Hassink - Unwired ( 2018), Ulay – Polaroids (2016), Viviane – UMBRA (2015), Irma Boom – Architecture of the book (2013), Charlotte Dumas – Anima (2012), Breitner – Pioneer of street photography (2011), Erwin Olaf – Rain Hope Grief and Fall (2009), Sandberg – Graphiste et directeur du Stedelijk Museum d’Amsterdam (2007), Desiree Dorlon / Exaltation – Gaze – Xteriors (2006) and Ed van der Elsken – Bagara (2005). In 2021 she curated an exhibition with the work of the fashion designer Mattijs van Bergen in Breda.

Abbie Vandivere (b. 1979, London, UK) is a Paintings Conservator who grew up in Canada and the UK. She holds a B.A. from Princeton University, and a Diploma in the Conservation of Easel Paintings from the Courtauld Institute of Art. She moved to Amsterdam in 2005 and worked as a freelance conservator while researching oil painting techniques in Early Netherlandish Paintings, receiving her Ph.D. in 2013. Abbie has been working as a Paintings Conservator at the Mauritshuis since 2015, and coordinates the Technical Art History M.A. programme at the University of Amsterdam. She also plays Roller Derby, and represented the Netherlands at the World Cup in 2014. 

Jo Baring (b. 1978, Chichester, UK) is Director of the Ingram Collection. She leads the strategy on public engagement with the art collection, working extensively with regional museums and galleries, and runs the charity’s ‘Young Contemporary Talent’ programme, supporting emerging artists. Jo studied history at Brasenose College, Oxford, and received her M.A. in Art History from the Courtauld Institute of Art, London. She was a Director in the Modern British Pictures department at Christie’s London. Jo sits on the Apollo Magazine Advisory Board, is a trustee of arts charity ArtCan, is a member of the Association of Professional Art Advisors and the Association of Women in the Arts. She also acts as an Arts Mentor for the GDST network. 

Chellis Baird (b. 1983, Spartanburg, SC, US) holds a B.F.A. in Textiles from Rhode Island School of Design and studied at the Art Students League in New York City. She moved to New York in 2005 and worked as a fashion designer sculpting the body in textiles. While working at Donna Karan, Ralph Lauren and Tuleh, to name a few, her work was featured in numerous publications including The New York Times, Elle, Vogue, and WWD. Meanwhile, her passion for textiles continued to grow into a new body of work as a sculptor, landing her a show at the Google Offices in NYC. Her ‘Woven Paintings’ have been exhibited in numerous galleries in Manhattan, Chicago, Brooklyn and Long Island City, where she works in her studio daily. 

"It is striking how many bright and ambitious women are working in the auction business. Nonetheless, it still is not always easy to combine for instance motherhood with the fast-paced life of a specialist, and I would

be pleased to see more women in higher positions.”

Manja Rottink (b. 1974, Deventer, The Netherlands) works in Amsterdam as an international senior specialist for Christie’s London, Paris, and New York. After receiving her degree in Art History at the University of Groningen with a catalogue raisonné on the Italianate Dutch painter Jacob de Heusch (1656-1701), Manja continued her research in Rome and Florence on Netherlandish artists in late seventeenth-century Italy. Upon her return, she began her career with a major auction house in 2002, joining Christie’s three years later. Eventually, Manja headed the Old Masters & 19th-Century Department in Amsterdam and oversaw many sales. 

Anna Brady (b. 1984, Kettering, UK) earned a B.A. in Art History from the University of Bristol. She began her career in the press office at Bonhams and then worked as a journalist at the Antiques Trade Gazette (ATG) for eight years before working as a freelance journalist writing for publications such as Apollo, The Art Newspaper, House & Garden, World of Interiors and Wallpaper. She then moved to Dubai to work as features editor at Harper’s Bazaar Arabia, then Harper’s Bazaar Art Arabia and Harper’s Bazaar Interiors. She is now the art market editor at The Art Newspaper. 

Maureen Warren (b. 1980, Albuquerque, NM, US) grew up in Garden City, KS, and attended the University of Kansas, earning a B.A. in Painting and Printmaking and an M.A. in Art History. At Northwestern University, she earned a Ph.D. in Art History, writing her dissertation on seventeenth-century Dutch political imagery. She was a Samuel H. Kress Institutional Fellow at Leiden University for two years, where she organized an international symposium on the printmaker and publisher Claes Jansz Visscher. Subsequently, Maureen was an Andrew W. Mellon Curatorial Research Fellow in the Prints and Drawings department of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she contributed to the exhibition and catalogue Van Dyck, Rembrandt, and the Portrait Print. Maureen now serves as curator of European and American art at the Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, IL. 

Amparo Martinez-Russotto (b. 1980, Caracas, Venezuela) holds a B.A. in Art History from Mount Holyoke College, Massachusetts (1998-2002) and an M.A. from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst (2002-2004). Amparo is fluent in five languages. She lives and works in London. Amparo joined Christie’s in 2006 and worked as a Specialist in the Old Master Paintings department. After nearly 12 years Amparo left Christie’s in December 2017 to become the Head Curator of The Klesch Collection. 

Sabina Jaskot-Gill (b. 1984, Bradford, UK) read art history and English literature at The University of Edinburgh. She took her M.A. in Photography (Historical and Contemporary) at Sotheby’s Institute of Art, London. She was the recipient of an AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Award in 2010, completing a Ph.D. in post-war Polish photography, jointly supervised by the University of Essex and Tate. Before being appointed Associate Curator of Photographs at the National Portrait Gallery, London, in 2016, Sabina lectured on the history and theory of photography. She is now Curator of Photography at the National Portrait Gallery.

Tatiana Vinogradova (b. 1982, Cherepovets, Russia) is a freelance photographer based in St. Petersburg. She studied journalism at St. Petersburg State University. Prior to her career in photography, Tatiana had a successful career as a creative director in advertising. Since 2014 she has been developing her interest and passion for portraiture, and currently she is working as a portrait and documentary photographer. Tatiana’s work has won awards in a number of professional competitions, including the 3rd Prize People Stories category of the 2018 World Press Photo contest, POYI and NPPA's Best of Photojournalism. She has exhibited her work in galleries and festivals around the world, including the Finnish Museum of Photography in Helsinki, Photoville Festival in New York, Pride Photo Award Exhibition in Amsterdam, and the Hellerau Portrait Award. In her personal work Tatiana focuses on contemporary issues and social injustice in Russia. Her projects, which are dedicated to the LGBT community, political prisoners and patients with mental disorders, are aimed at increasing tolerance and changing public attitudes towards stigmatized groups.

Debra Force (b. 1953, Ravenna, OH, US) holds a B.A. from Ohio Wesleyan University and an M.A. from the University of Pennsylvania. American art has been the specialty of her entire career, which began in the late 1970s at INA/CIGNA Corporation in Philadelphia, as Curator and Director of one of the largest corporate art collections in the US. In 1984, she joined Christie’s American Paintings department, becoming a Senior Vice President and Head of the department in 1989. She became Director of American Art at Hirschl & Adler Galleries in 1993, and a year later, Director of Beacon Hill Fine Art. From 1999 to the present, she heads Debra Force Fine Art, her own New York gallery and consulting business devoted to selling and advising clients on traditional American art. Debra serves on the Board of the Archives of American Art and the ADAA Foundation Board. 

Lucy Speelman (b. 1993, London, UK) is a researcher in the Old Master Pictures department at Christie's London. She graduated from the Courtauld Institute of Art in 2017 with an M.A. in Art History, specializing in the Italian and Northern Renaissance. 

Heidi Shafranek (b. 1956, Wilmington, DE, US), as the last Shafranek in her family, did not want to change her name when she married Otto Naumann. In college, she studied Art History – specifically American, but also Early Netherlandish and Italian Renaissance. Her M.A. thesis is a catalogue raisonné of the works of the twentieth-century American artist, George Tooker (1982). 

Harriet Stoop-de Meester (b. 1964, Gorssel, The Netherlands) received an M.A. in Art History from the University of Amsterdam (UVA) and is documenting the quality and diversity of contemporary Dutch portraiture. She has written two books and curated two exhibitions about portraits with co-author Cathinka Huizing: Portretten van Portrettisten in Het Nijenhuis, Heino, which includes the book Portretten Nu, and Dutch Identity, at Museum De Fundatie, Zwolle. For eight years, Harriet was a committee member of the Friends of Singer Laren. She is also a jury member of the Dutch Portrait Award (DNP). She regularly gives lectures about contemporary artists and in 2018 curated an exhibition on the gardens of Piet Oudolf, a famous Dutch garden designer, in Singer Laren. Harriet is also an expert on the seventeenth-century Dutch painter Gerrit Lundens (1622-1686). 

Freya Simms (b. 1971, London UK) is Chief Executive at LAPADA. She studied English Literature at university, but has worked almost exclusively in the art world since, except for a stint when she lived in Rome and was a tour guide taking English speaking tourists around the gems of the Eternal City. Christie’s South Kensington is where she earned her spurs, starting the bids office. From here she moved into the press office and has worked on the PR, Marketing, Event and Business Development side of the art market ever since. This has included stints at Bonham’s and Sotheby’s, Masterpiece Fair and as Fair Director for the Olympia and NEC fairs. In May 2010, she founded Muse, a communications consultancy for the arts, luxury and design sectors, which won the PRCA Award for Consumer Campaign of the Year in 2012 and the Queen’s Award for Excellence in Enterprise in 2014. 

Susan Moore (b. 1958, Windsor, UK) graduated from London University with a B.A. in Art History. After working for Country Life as architectural secretary, writer and arts editor, she began writing for the Financial Times as an art critic and art market correspondent in 1986. A long-time London editor for Art & Auction, she also had saleroom columns in, among others, the Spectator (1998-2013) and the Evening Standard (2000-2002). As Associate Editor of Apollo since 2004, she writes regularly on the art market and profiles international collectors. Moore founded the non-profit Slow Art Workshop in 2017. 

Calvine Harvey (b. 1986, New York, NY, US) lives in New York City and is a Vice President and Specialist in Old Master Paintings at Sotheby’s New York. She began her career at David Tunick, Inc., the Upper East Side prints and drawings gallery, after receiving a B.A. in Printmaking and History along with a Masters in Teaching at the University of Virginia. In 2010, Calvine joined Sotheby’s and has spent her entire tenure in the Old Master Paintings department. 

"Women in the art world embrace their roles as business women as well as their roles as mothers, and there is a beauty and power to that that I find inspiring." 

Megan Corcoran (b. 1991, New York, NY, US) was raised in the suburbs of New York. She received her undergraduate degree in Art History from Harvard University. Though always passionate about the arts, before professionally entering the art world, Megan worked in financial services at Barclays Capital, later acquiring an M.A. in Art Business from Sotheby’s Institute of Art, London. Since the onset of her career in London, Megan works as Gallery Manager for Stephen Ongpin Fine Art, specializing in old master, nineteenth-century and modern drawings and works on paper. When not in the gallery, Megan is involved as a member of the London Art Week team and as a researcher for the art market analytics firm ArtTactic in the field of old master paintings. 

Debra Weiss (b. 1958, Brightlingsea, UK) took a Foundation in Fine Art and Printmaking at Colchester art school, earning a B.A. in Fine Art from Brighton Art School. She trained in the conservation of paintings at her family’s Weiss Gallery Studios, and in Utrecht, the Netherlands, from 1980 to 1984. As well as being a picture restorer and artist, Debra is a silversmith, and trained under Richard Whitehouse in 2014. In 2018, she became the owner of The Sentinel Gallery and Studio, Wivenhoe, UK. 

Melanie Grant (b. 1973, London, UK) is a journalist and writer on jewellery and art. After graduating from The University of Westminster she worked for The Times, The Independent, The Guardian, the Financial Times and finally The Economist, where she commissioned photography and styled shoots. Within this progressive environment, Melanie rediscovered her ability to write. She found a niche, luxury—particularly  jewellery, and became obsessed with design. She interviewed artists and commissioned photographers to document their work. She made films and blogs and wrote profiles. After several years, she began to write her first book about jewellery and art. She also gives talks about how jewellery and art affect the world. 

Trudie Rosa de Carvalho (b. 1955, Haarlem, The Netherlands) holds a B.A. in Art History from Leiden University, specializing in historic royal interiors. She worked for three years at the Rijksmuseum as a trainee in the seventeenth and eighteenth-century doll house project, and as registrar for the collections of furniture and eighteenth-century costume. For the next five years she worked as assistant curator of the Royal Collections of the Netherlands, where she shared the care of the paintings, sculptures, textiles and other objects of craft. Her love and interest in costume was quietly growing and in 2002 she was appointed Curator of Costume and Textiles in the former royal palace, nowadays museum, Palace Het Loo in Apeldoorn. She worked there until her retirement. 

“I think we are all in agreement that there appears to be a real shift going on at the moment, seeing so many women in positions of power.”

Spirit de la Mare (b. 1986, London, UK), at age 11, accepted a Government assisted scholarship to attend Roedean Royal Charter School. Spirit founded Brogue magazine in her twenties which later led to a career in public relations. She is a writer, published poet and occasional journalist with close ties to several arts organizations including English Heritage. She recently founded the Mansion Cottage bookshop on the Kenwood Estate with their team. In 2016, she was honoured as a Freeman of The Guild of Entrepreneurs and is on the editorial panel of the Guild’s magazine Dare, Create, Succeed. Spirit is a trustee of ArtCan and Chair of the Kingsgate Workshops' Trust. In 2018 she became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Marij Philippens (b. 1955, Eijsden, The Netherlands) is a collector of photography and contemporary jewellery. She initially moved to Maastricht and then studied biology and public administration and public policy at the University of Amsterdam. She works in the civil service in The Hague at the ministry responsible for road safety and transport. Besides work, she enjoys the beautiful things of life; in her spare time she can be found at concerts, the opera, museums and outdoors, enjoying nature.

Laura Hospes (b. 1994, Wageningen, The Netherlands)  has been capturing her own self with the camera since the tender age of 16, out of a need to connect with people. Her camera consoles and understands her better than any human being. Photography is her medium to accept and process the many struggles in her life. The resulting images are intense and arresting, as well as captivating and offer a glimpse inside the world of a young woman dealing with depression and anxiety. Laura graduated from the Photoacademy Amsterdam in 2016 and is currently enrolled at the Master Institute of Visual Cultures in Den Bosch. She was named one of the 50 best emerging photographers of 2015 by the international jury for the LensCulture Emerging Talent Awards. Her work has been featured frequently both in The Netherlands and abroad.

Marie-Monique Steckel (b. 1939, Paris, France) is the President of the French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF) in New York City, which creates and offers New Yorkers innovative and unique programmes in education and the arts that explore the evolving diversity and richness of French cultures. She has overseen a revitalization of the organization in the past 15 years. FIAF’s cultural programming has broadened in scope under her leadership, placing increased emphasis on the diversity and richness of francophone cultures around the globe. Before arriving at FIAF, she created the French Industrial Development Agency in the United States (now Invest in France), went on to found and become the President of France Telecom North America, and finally served as Ronald S. Lauder’s senior advisor on his private staff. She was awarded the Légion d'honneur and the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres. 

Miek Smilde (b. 1966, Almelo, The Netherlands) was raised in Arnhem, and studied Dutch language and literature and law at the University of Amsterdam, graduating with a thesis on female artists in the avant-garde. After working for three years at the Ministry of Justice in The Hague she settled as a freelance journalist and writer in Amsterdam. Miek wrote over 1500 interviews with lawyers, judges and prosecutors, being a specialist in law, justice and safety matters. Besides she has a profound interest in mental health issues and ethics. In 2011, she published Raarhoek, a non-fiction book about the post-war history of psychiatry in the Netherlands. Two years later her first novel Gloria in excelsis Deo appeared, followed by a collection of poetry, De achterkant van juni. In 2019, her second novel will be published. Miek writes frequently about photography and has a modest collection of photos herself. 

Emily Harries (b. 1991, Cape Town, South Africa) moved to Basel, Switzerland, at the age of 10 and holds a combined B.A. in English Literature and Cultural Anthropology and European Ethnography from the University of Basel. During her studies she was actively involved in an amateur theatre company called the Gay Beggars as an actress and director. She then moved to London and received a M.A. in Arts and Culture Management from King’s College, London. She assisted the Peter Fetterman Gallery from Santa Monica at Photo London in 2018 and in 2019 as well as at Masterpiece 2018. Her current position is at the Embassy of Switzerland in London in the Cultural Affairs department, supporting and promoting Swiss artists and creatives in the UK. 

Isabell Schulz (b. 1990, Lubben, Germany) moved to the Netherlands as a child. She studied at the WDKA (Academy of Art) in Rotterdam. In the third year of her study she attended an exchange program at the Academy of Art IED in Barcelona, Spain. After graduating from the WDKA, she invested in a good sewing machine and started working out of her student home. She is hooked on experimenting and creating. Ever since she began, she has never made the exact same garment twice; people started discovering her work and her style, and soon she was getting her first commissions. In her creations she remains true to herself and wouldn't even know how to do it any other way. 

Fatoş Üstek (b. 1980, Ankara, Turkey) is Director of the Liverpool Biennial, jury member for the Turner Prize 2020, and an external member of the acquisitions committee for the Arts Council Collection (2018-2020). She was the recipient of a curatorial fellowship at Tornabuoni Art, London 2018, and a curator of Do Ho Suh’s largest commission in the UK (2018-2020), co-commissioned by Art Night and Sculpture in the City. She acted as Director and Chief Curator of DRAF (David Roberts Art Foundation), as Curator of miart Talks 2018, Milan, of Art Night 2017, East London, and fig-2, 50 projects in 50 weeks, 2015, ICA Studio, London. Fatoş is contributing editor to Extra Extra, and chief-juror for the Celeste Prize 2017. She is a founding member of AWITA, an Art Nights trustee, a member of AICA UK, and an ICI Alumni. She curates, lectures and publishes internationally, recently at Sotheby’s, Goldsmiths College, RCA and in art magazines including Mousse, L’Officiel and Camera Austria. 

Katherine Finerty (b. 1988, New York, NY, US) lives in London and is a curator focusing on research-based and socially-engaged practices, trans-local identity politics, and contemporary African art. She works collaboratively to develop alternative cultural discourses and multidisciplinary art experiences encouraging participation. Katherine holds an M.A. in Curating from the Royal College of Art, and a B.A. in Art History / Africana Studies from Cornell University, and also studied art history at Pembroke College, Cambridge. She is currently an Assistant Curator at The Showroom. She worked as a Curatorial Assistant for GIBCA 2015 and at the Biennale de Lubumbashi 2012/2013. She interned variously at The Met, the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Guggenheim, and at White Cube. In addition to creating art seminars for secondary schools across the globe, Katherine guest curates for organisations including Gallery 1957 in Accra, 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair, and Daata Editions.

Salma Tuqan (b. 1985, Washington, WA, US) graduated from the University of Cambridge with a B.A. in Art History and holds an M.A. in Arts Policy and Cultural Management from Birkbeck University. Salma was the Contemporary Middle East Curator at the V&A until early 2019. She is presently Deputy Director of the Delfina Foundation.  She worked at Art Dubai from 2007 to 2011 as Head of Artists’ Projects, as well as Artistic Director of Contemparabia, a series of cultural itineraries for museum groups. She has contributed to other projects as an independent curator and facilitator, including Palestine c/o Venice at the 53rd Venice Biennale (2009) and the Wind Tunnel Project in Farnborough (2014). She works closely with cultural organisations on strategy and is a committee member of the Arab Image Foundation (Beirut), The Palestinian Museum (Birzeit), The Khatt Foundation (Amsterdam), a trustee of the Crossway Foundation (London) and Strategic Advisor to NuMu (Guatemala City). 

Mirjana Vrbaški (b. 1978, Montreal, Canada) is a Serbian artist/photographer, living and working in Berlin. She grew up in Belgrade, and after completing her B.A. in Literature in Canada, Mirjana turned to photography, graduating from the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague. Though she had never imagined herself photographing people, during her studies she received the Taylor Wessing Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery in London. This inspired her to keep exploring portraiture and Mirjana's ongoing portrait series, Verses of Emptiness, has since been nominated for various photography prizes, exhibited internationally at, among others, Fotomuseum Den Haag, Transformer Station in Cleveland, and Kunsthalle Darmstadt, and included in various public and private collections. 

Christina Eberli (b. 1985, New York, NY, US) joined Sotheby’s New York in 2009. She graduated from George Washington University with a B.A. in Art History. Before entering Sotheby’s Restitution department, she was a researcher in the Old Master Paintings department. As a Restitution Specialist, Christina conducted cross-departmental provenance research. In 2018, Christina left Sotheby’s to pursue On the Flip Side. 

"Carla van de Puttelaar combines her art-historical research seemingly effortlessly with her work as an artist. That in itself is an incentive for me to participate in this project. Carla’s ‘official portraits’ clearly show that a change is at hand."

Ann Demeester (b. 1975, Bruges, Belgium) is a literary, art critic, and museum director. She studied Germanic philology, and was director of Amsterdam's W139 art centre (2003-2006), of De Appel arts centre, and director of its Postgraduate Curatorial Programme (2006-2014). Since 2014, she has been the director of the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem. From January 2023 she will be Director of the Kunsthaus Zürich. After working as a cultural editor for Belgian daily newspapers De Morgen and De Financieel-Economische Tijd, Ann made her debut in the museum world as assistant curator to museum director Jan Hoet, Municipal Museum of Contemporary Art (SMAK), Ghent. Consecutively, she worked as a deputy to the director in Museum MARTa, Herford, Germany. From autumn 2019 onwards she serves as Professor by special Appointment at Radboud University, Nijmegen.

Lilias Buchanan (b. 1989, Dundee, UK) is an artist. She received a B.A. in Illustration from Central Saint Martin's College of Art and Design, and a Diploma in Drawing at The Royal Drawing School, graduating in 2012. She currently lives and works in London. 

Elisabeth Hahn (b. 1959, Ithaca, NY, US) was raised in Berkeley CA, and in Paris, France. Elisabeth holds a B.A. in Art History from Bryn Mawr College, followed by graduate studies at the Institute of Fine Art, New York University. She has led her own Art Advisory and Collections Management consulting firm for 25 years. Elisabeth began her career at Independent Curators International, organizing traveling exhibitions of contemporary art. Later, she was hired by Christie’s New York, where she was Vice President and Head of the Prints and Modern Illustrated Books department, spanning 500 years of graphic art. 

Fabrics: Rubelli Venezia / Donghia Inc

Sophia Thomassen (b. 1987, Amsterdam, the Netherlands) is an art historian specializing in Dutch seventeenth-century art. She graduated from the University of Amsterdam in 2016 and wrote her master’s thesis on the painters and brothers Job and Gerrit Berckheyde. She currently works at the Print Room of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, where she catalogues the collection of French prints. Among other positions, she has worked at Christie’s Amsterdam and made a television programme called ‘Kunstraadsels’ on Dutch seventeenth-century paintings. 

Albertine Verlinde (b. 1956, The Hague, The Netherlands) studied Spanish and law at the University of Amsterdam. She joined Sotheby’s in 1979 and is now the company’s Chairman in the Netherlands, working closely with leading collectors and cultural figures in the region, advising on everything from building collections, to helping identify opportunities in the market. Throughout her career, Albertine has been involved in major sales in London, New York, Geneva, St. Moritz, Monte Carlo, and elsewhere across Europe, playing a key role in Sotheby’s landmark house sales, such as those of Beloeil, Thurn und Taxis, Baden Baden, and the Royal House of Hanover. She has brought to the market several important Dutch collections, including those of F.C. Bûtot, J.R. Ritman, Unicorno, BAT Artventure , the estate of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands, and the Gustave Leonardt Collection. Albertine is one of Sotheby’s Senior Auctioneers.

Mary Morton (b. 1965, Los Angeles, CA, US) is Curator and Head of the French paintings department at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC. She received her B.A. from Stanford University in History, and her Ph.D. from Brown University, concentrating on nineteenth and early twentieth-century European painting. Mary began her curatorial career in the European Art department at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and then as Associate Curator of paintings at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles. Her exhibition projects prior to arriving at the NGA include Courbet and the Modern Landscape (2006), Oudry's Painted Menagerie (2007), and The Spectacular Art of Jean-Léon Gérôme (2010). At the NGA, she curated Gauguin: Maker of Myth (2011), a reinstallation of the nineteenth-century collection (2012), Gustave Caillebotte: The Painter’s Eye (2015), Cézanne Portraits (2017-2018), and Corot Women (2018). In 2018, she was awarded the French honorary title, Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres. 

Fabrics: Rubelli Venezia / Donghia Inc

Catharine MacLeod (b. 1965, London, UK) was born to Canadian parents and lived in Yorkshire, Vancouver and Somerset during her childhood. She studied English literature at Cambridge University and art history at the Courtauld Institute of Art. Her first art-related job was working on the sixteenth and seventeenth-century miniatures in the Royal Collection. She was the Assistant Curator at York Art Gallery, and in 1995 was appointed as curator of sixteenth and seventeenth-century portraits at the National Portrait Gallery, London. Her first major exhibition was Painted Ladies: Women at the Court of Charles II (2001-2002). Shortly thereafter, she had her first child and went back to work at the Portrait Gallery part-time as Curator of seventeenth-century Portraits. In 2012, she curated The Lost Prince: The Life and Death of Henry Stuart, an exhibition about the eldest son of James I. Her most recent exhibition was Elizabethan Treasures: Miniatures by Hilliard and Oliver (2019). 

Gerd Dierckx, (b. 1955, Mortsel, Belgium) is the founder, driving force and managing muse of Rasa, which for a quarter of a century has been making children from Belgium to Africa think about beauty, the world and themselves, through art. She started her art-educational career at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp (1980-1990) and initiated the first museum exhibitions for children in the Municipal Museum Sint-Niklaas (1990-1992). In 1992, she founded Rasa, an organization that creates and spreads travelling exhibitions with contemporary art for children. With Rasa she developed more than 25 traveling exhibitions and many projects in which children are invited to experience art with heart and soul, head and body and all their senses. In 2018, she published Kunstogen (= Art eyes, or Eying art), a book about her approach.

Maggie O’Regan (b. 1965, Cork, Ireland) is the founder of InSitu, a London-based art consultancy advising high-level international clients, in both the public and private sector. She studied fine art & art history at the Crawford Municipal School of Art, Cork, and at the National College of Art and Design, Dublin, before completing an M.A. in Fine Art at Chelsea School of Art, London, in 1990. Maggie is curator of international law firm Pinsent Masons’ art programme. With a specialist knowledge of photography she has worked as a consultant for Magnum Photos. Regularly invited to speak on professional practice and cultural entrepreneurship at leading art colleges, she is also a mentor for students and graduates of University of the Arts, London. Maggie is involved in publishing projects and public exhibitions. She curated the east side of the Pavilion Commission as part of Women in Photography for Photo London in 2019. 

Katrina Aleksa (b. 1988, Riga, Latvia) had lived, studied and worked in the UK, Italy and Spain by the time she was 20. Since completing a degree in Curating and Art Business at Sotheby's Institute of Art in London, she has provided Fine Art consultation and brokered fine art deals for a number of years. Katrina now travels and consults across the world, with contacts in America, Asia and Australia. To compliment her career as an art dealer, she founded Predella House, an institute committed to supporting artists and encouraging new buyers in contemporary art. Katrina is a co-founder of the Association of Women in the Arts (AWITA), a non-profit networking group established to advance the careers of women in the visual arts and to promote change in the cultural landscape. 

Dorien Tamis (b. 1965, Sint Pancras, The Netherlands) is a freelance art historian and journalist. She has worked for the University of Amsterdam and for many museums, including the Rijksmuseum and the Centraal Museum, Utrecht. From painterly recipes and techniques to picture frames, to Sea-Beggar medals and Madeleine Albright’s jewellery and even taxidermy – she has written on a wide range of subjects both in scholarly publications and in magazines and newspapers intended for a larger audience. In 2016, she defended her doctoral thesis, Van twee handen geschildert: werkverdeling tussen schilders in de Nederlanden in de zestiende en zeventiende eeuw. 

Karen Hearn FSA (b. London, UK), educated at Cambridge University and the Courtauld Institute of Art was the Curator of sixteenth and seventeenth-century British Art at Tate Britain from 1992 to 2012. She is now an Honorary Professor at University College London. She specializes in art made in Britain between 1500 and 1710 and, especially, British-Netherlandish cultural links during that period. She lectures widely and has made various television appearances. In 1995, she curated the major Tate exhibition Dynasties: Painting in Tudor & Jacobean England 1530 – 1630, receiving a European Woman of Achievement Award. At Tate Britain she curated Marcus Gheeraerts II (2002), Van Dyck & Britain (2009) and Rubens & Britain (2011-2012), and at the National Portrait Gallery, Cornelius Johnson (2015). She also published on Nicholas Hilliard, Lady Anne Clifford, and several other pieces on Cornelius Johnson. She is now working on a full-scale monograph on Johnson. Her forthcoming exhibition, at the Foundling Museum, London and the associated book is Portraying Pregnancy (2020). 

Francesca Anne Fiumano (b. 1979, Southend-on-Sea, UK) graduated with an M.A. in Art History. Born into a family of antique dealers, she opened her own art gallery in 2001, initially in partnership, later taking the reins of Fiumano Fine Art in 2007. Over 17 years, Francesca has exhibited across the United Kingdom and internationally including in New York, Miami, Singapore, Hong Kong, Brussels and Amsterdam. In 2013, she was increasingly drawn to more adventurous and ‘difficult’ works, and began to focus more on photography, installation, video and performance art. This led to the creation of Fiumano Projects, alongside Fiumano Fine Art. The central ethos of Fiumano Projects was to work collaboratively with artists, giving them time, space and opportunity to develop their artistic practice unhindered by any commercial pressure. This is an ethos Francesca and her husband Andrés were keen to echo in the launch of Fiumano Clase in 2017. 

Marloes Krijnen (b. 1955, Amsterdam, The Netherlands) founded Foam (Photography Museum Amsterdam) and was its director from 2001 to 2019. Foam enables people from all over the world to experience and enjoy photography, whether at the museum, on its website, or via Foam Magazine or in the print sales room of Foam Editions. Marloes studied political science and mass communication at the University of Amsterdam and has been Director of World Press Photo for ten years. Before Foam, she was the owner of Transworld, an international photo agency. In 2012, she was one of the initiators of the international photography fair, Unseen, in Amsterdam. Marloes is Vice Chairman of the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation and a member of the board of Amsterdam Art. She has taken part in several international juries of prestigious photography prizes.

'Be kind to each other'

Marie-Louise Plum (b. 1981, Bedford, UK) is a multidisciplinary, self-taught artist. She draws, paints, works in collage and collects, making interventions and site-specific installations. Her artistic practice takes shape alongside long-term, thoroughly documented research projects, following themes of social alienation, personal boundaries, ambiguity and subversion of the 'common sense'. Each of her projects amasses a large collection of two- and three-dimensional work, as well as multiple notebooks and journals, which she sometimes exhibits. Her recent exhibition at Bob & Roberta's CCCA in Coventry – an immersive, live painting and audio experience, Suburban English Magick – was the catalyst for a new series of paintings that capture the voyeuristic sense of peering into worlds and peoples unknown. 

Frances Beatty (b. 1948, New York, NY, US) majored in art history at Vassar College and received a Ph.D. in Art History from Columbia University. She wrote her dissertation on Surrealist Imagery in Painting and Poetry in 1920s France. While working on her Ph.D., she wrote art criticism and taught art history at Columbia University and Ramapo College. After working with the legendary Surrealist dealer and collector Julien Levy, Frances joined Richard L. Feigen & Co. in 1980 as Vice President and later President. At Feigen, she curated numerous exhibitions and was an active art dealer in painting, sculpture, and drawings from the sixteenth century to the present. In 2017, Frances started her own art dealership and advisory firm Adler Beatty with her son Alexander Adler. Frances is Managing Director of The Ray Johnson Estate and was the Co-Executive Producer of the film on Ray Johnson, How to Draw a Bunny (2002).

Annemarie den Dekker (b. 1972, The Hague, The Netherlands) has loved beautiful materials, fabrics and colours since she was young. She has always had an interest in history and so chose to study art history at the University of Amsterdam and at the University of Florence (Italy). After graduation, she worked as a freelance curator at the Amsterdams Historisch Museum (now Amsterdam Museum). There, she organized large fashion exhibitions about designers working and living in Amsterdam. Subsequently, she became curator of applied arts, a discipline that covers design, glass, furniture, costume and fashion, silver and sculpture. As chief curator, she was responsible for initiating and implementing projects and managing the curatorial and conservation teams. She is now director of the Rijksmuseum Muiderslot, ‘Amsterdam Castle’. 

Flavia Lefebvre D’Ovidio (b. 1988, Rome, Italy) moved to London to study art history at UCL followed by an M.A. at the Courtauld Institute of Art focusing on Medieval painting. After interning at Sotheby’s and Christie’s, she was a researcher for Charles Beddington Fine Art, and ran her own business with a partner, until joining the Christie’s Old Master Pictures department. 

Maryam Eisler (b. 1968, Teheran, Iran) holds a B.A. in Political Science from Wellesley College (1989) and an M.B.A. from Columbia University (1993). Raised in Paris, followed by higher education in the US, Maryam now resides in London. She co-chairs Tate’s Middle East Acquisitions Committee and is a trustee of the Whitechapel Gallery. She also sits on the advisory board of Photo London and is an ambassador to Unseen Amsterdam. Maryam’s photography is represented by Tristan Hoare in London and by Harper’s Books in New York. She has written several Thames and Hudson books including Sanctuary: Britain’s Artists and their Studios and Voices: East London. Maryam has additionally contributed both photographically and editorially to Vanity Fair ('On Art'), Harper’s Bazaar Art, Harper’s Bazaar Interiors, f22, LUX and Vogue Arabia.

"Although it is still harder for women than men to make a career in art, It is great to see that many women have important positions in the art world, they are important role models for me."

Hella van Lengerich (b. 1996, Bielefeld, DE) is an art history student in Dresden. She one of the project managers of the Portraits Award Hellerau.

Floortje Evelein (b. 1995, Amsterdam, The Netherlands) is an art historian, born and raised in Amsterdam. She recently graduated from the University of Amsterdam and will go on to follow the master’s programme of restoration in the field of contemporary art. 

Joan Sherman (b. 1955, New York, NY, US) is an artist. She holds a B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College and an Associates’ Degree from Parsons School of Design. Her drawings in charcoal and graphite are large-scale, drawn so precisely that they typically take about six months to make. The images are bold enough to be seen from afar, but detailed enough to encourage a closer view, giving them the intimacy of smaller work. Flowers, seen in all phases of their life cycle, are often her subject. The body of work Joan is currently developing concerns itself with the relationship that people have with material objects. Her daughter, Julia Sherman (b. 1983, New York, NY, US), is a photographer and author. Her first book Salad for President: A Cookbook Inspired by Artists was published in 2017. Julia holds a B.A. from RISD and an M.F.A. from Columbia School of Fine Arts. 

Fabrics: Rubelli Venezia / Donghia Inc

Lucy Barry (b. 1987, Maidstone, UK) received a B.A. in Art History from the University of Nottingham (2010) and a post graduate diploma in Art Business from Sotheby’s Institute of Art. She began her career as an intern with Freya Simms at what was then Gong Muse. This company merged with Cawdell Douglas, founded and run by Diana Cawdell, and became Golden Squared Consulting Ltd. Lucy has a decade of experience working in marketing and communication for arts and luxury businesses and events. She is now a Director at Golden Squared Consulting, leading the business with Diana Cawdell. For the past two years, Diana and Lucy have also taken on the role of Global Head of Marketing & Communication for TEFAF, supporting the foundation and the three fairs it runs internationally. 

Allison Fern Clausius, ’Fern’ (b. 1996, Toledo, OH, US), is an award-winning fashion design graduate from the Fashion Institute of Technology, New York. A finalist at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (2015) with her solar panel dress, she became a Presidential Scholar and studied abroad at Polimoda in Florence, Italy. During her studies, she won first place in the Kornit Design Competition (2016), was a semi-finalist in the Underfashion Club’s Femmy Competition, and was featured in the Neiman Marcus Emerging Designer Showcase and FIT Future of Fashion Show (2019). With a specialization in couture intimate apparel, Fern pursues her dream to build a career in the European luxury fashion industry. 

Isolde De Buck (b. 1972, Ghent, Belgium) studied art history in Ghent and did her final thesis on the Belgian nineteenth-century artist Léon Frederic (1856-1940) about whom she curated several exhibitions, including Un autre réalisme: Léon Frederic at the Musée Courbet, Ornans, in 2018. In 1999, she worked as a scientific researcher for the Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp. From 2004 to 2016, she worked for the private organization Zebrastraat, arranging international exhibitions and overseeing several new technological art awards. Isolde is now an independent curator and art consultant, initiating exhibitions for museum institutions, cultural institutions and private art organizations. 

“We are now able to access and share information like never before; allowing hidden histories to be heard and seen by the masses. The past achievements and presence of women in the art world can expand our collective memory.”

Hannah Saunders (b. 1993, Peterborough, UK) is an artist, art historian, curator, producer and musician. In 2015 she graduated from the Documentary Photography course at The University of Wales, Newport (Now USW); and in 2018 she completed an MA at the Courtauld Institute of Art, where she studied the Supernatural Middle Ages. All facets of her practice are informed by interdisciplinary research, in order to translate historical and literary themes into tangible works. In February 2017 her band Artefact released their debut LP Votive Offering. Her lyrics, like her visual work, deal with themes of identity, devotion and women’s history. She has curated exhibitions for the British Journal of Photography, including ‘Austria: The Art of Discovery’ at PHOTOLONDON 2018. Saunders’ artworks have been exhibited internationally, and featured by publications. Her first radio series ’The Isle of Thorns’ was broadcast on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire in May-June 2019.

"Women are a strong and active force in the art world. Many of the great curators, collectors, directors and of course artists are women."

Nadine M. Orenstein (b. 1961, Evanston, Illinois, US) is the Drue Heinz Curator in Charge of the Department of Drawings and Prints in The Metropolitan Museum of Art where she has been active as a curator since 1992. She received her Ph.D. from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, in 1992. She has written and lectured extensively on sixteenth and seventeenth-century prints and drawings. Her publications include Hendrick Hondius and the Business of Prints in Seventeenth-Century Holland (Rotterdam, 1996) and volumes of the The New Hollstein Dutch & Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts 1450-1700 on Hendrick Hondius (1996), Pieter Bruegel the Elder (2006), and Simon Frisius (2008) and she edited the volume on Nicolaes de Bruyn (2014). Her exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum include Pieter Bruegel the Elder: Drawings and Prints (2001) co-organized with the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam, Hendrick Goltzius (1558 – 1617). Prints, Drawings and Paintings (2003), co-organized with the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam and the Toledo Museum of Art, Infinite Jest: Caricature and Satire from Leonardo to Levine (2011), The Mysterious Landscapes of Hercules Segers (2017), co-organized with the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, and The Renaissance of Etching (October 21, 2019 – January 20, 2020), co-organized with the Albertina, Vienna. She is a member of the editorial boards of Print Quarterly and the Rijksmuseum’s Bulletin.

Amelia Higgins (b. 1984, London, UK) began her career in the art world working for the Dutch and Flemish Old Master dealer Johnny van Haeften. She worked as Johnny's assistant, but felt included in every aspect of the gallery and therefore received a wonderful training over the years. She realized early on that this was an industry she wanted to work in, and that she felt passionate about making historical art more accessible to the younger generation, as well as to new buyers who tend to lean more towards contemporary works. Amelia is now Director of London Art Week, a twice-yearly event taking place within fifty of London's most eminent galleries, specializing in a range of works from Antiquity to Modern Art. 

María Cortés Barrios (b. 1972, Madrid, Spain) was born into a family of antique dealers in Madrid and grew up surrounded by art. As soon as she had graduated from the University of Miami, and Vermont Business School, she ran a publishing enterprise with her sister, based in Madrid but oriented internationally. They launched Mas Arte The World Art Magazine, as well as Mas Arte Madrid Top City Guide. In 2012, after running the publishing company for 14 years, she started to work for Coll & Cortés in Madrid; she was Gallery Director for over two years. In 2015, she became the Director of Communications and Institutional Relations at Colnaghi, following its acquisition by Jorge Coll and Nicolás Cortés, her brother. She has now moved into the business side of her brother's new gallery ‘Nicolás Cortés’, working with collectors and sourcing works of art. 

Marina Luz (b. 1979, Athens, Greece) is an Emmy Award-winning illustrator whose work has appeared in the New York Times, Vice, Propublica, Center for Investigative Reporting, among other publications. Projects she has illustrated have won a National Emmy, two DuPont awards, and been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. She runs her illustration and design studio HONEYLUX out of Oakland, CA.

Virginia Brix (b. 1971, Lincoln, UK) graduated from Bristol University with a B.A. in Art History and French. Her first job was with Bonhams Auctioneers where she ran the Picture Frame sales and trained as an auctioneer. She has been with Rollo Whately Ltd., antique and reproduction picture frames since 1998. There she works mainly with antique picture frames, advising galleries, museums and private clients on all aspects of framing paintings and works on paper.

'Slowly we see that the role of women is growing, but from my point of view, more attention may be drawn to this.' 

Jade van der Mark (b. 1990, Bergen, The Netherlands) a Dutch artist and fashion designer, launched her brand Statement Made By Jade in The Netherlands in 2015. She began her career in Amsterdam after a period of three years at the Royal Academy of Arts. Jade left school to start her own label and to do an internship at Viktor&Rolf. Additionally, the designer showed her collection at the Milan Design Week in April 2016, at Palazzo Francesco Turati. In December 2016, Jade won the Netherlands Fashion Award in Milan, organized by the Dutch consulate in Milan. She not only shows her paintings and fashion designs in museums in The Netherlands, she also had exhibitions in for example Brussels, Milan and London. Her work has been sold to collectors in the Netherlands and abroad.

Georgina Eliot (b. 1990, Winchester, UK) grew up in the South West and received a degree in Art History from Cambridge University. She worked for The Landmark Trust and in the Old Master Paintings department at Christie’s, before joining Sotheby’s in 2014 as a Graduate Trainee. Georgina is also a member of a pottery studio in East London and has a passion for seventeenth-century slipware and early twentieth-century studio ceramics. 

Lotte Dale (b. 1994, Berkeley, CA, US) has an American father and a Dutch mother. As a girl, she set her sights on becoming a lawyer or a sociologist, but it was in her second year of college that she began exploring photography and decided to pursue a career in photography. She is now a freelance nightlife and fashion photographer based in Amsterdam. 

Ninya Mikhaila (b. 1974, Carmarthen, Wales) established her business as an historical costumier in 1994, after gaining a Higher National Diploma in Costume Interpretation at the London College of Fashion. Clients include Historic Royal Palaces, The Royal Armouries, The National Trust, English Heritage, The National Archives, and Gainsborough’s House. Ninya is co-author of The Tudor Tailor: Reconstructing sixteenth century dress, and The Tudor Child: Clothing and Culture 1485 – 1625. She recently worked alongside fashion historian Amber Butchart filming a television series for BBC Four, ‘A Stitch in Time’. 

Sabrina Collares (b. 1985, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) graduated in 2018 with a B.A. in Fine Art from Middlesex University in London. She works with a variety of mediums, such as drawing, painting and sculpture. Sabrina is based in London and her practice is heavily inspired by the miscegenation, colonialism and anthropology in Brazil as well as the problematisation around Eurocentrism, and the issues involving identity in the Brazilian context. Her inspiration comes mainly from history, philosophy, politics, cultural and post-colonial studies. Her work is generally presented inverting the tradition of Western paintings in a cultural anthropophagic quest. Her body of work is often not defined by collections but kept open in order to carry on the narrative in the next pieces. 

Veronique Jansen (b. 1966, Didam, The Netherlands) lives and works in Hilversum. She specializes in communication through words and images. Veronique is about to finish her studies at the Fotoacademie in Amsterdam, is a documentary photographer and works for Museum Hilversum as communications manager, advisor and curator. She organizes events such as masterclasses and festivals and coordinates the exhibitions connected with the Zilveren Camera photography prize at various locations in The Netherlands.