Modern British Women

Featuring works by 14 artists, the exhibition sought to uncover and emblazon the work of both celebrated and lesser-known artists working throughout the twentieth century.

With a diverse range of mediums, subjects and artistic styles represented, the broad scope of this exhibition provided an insight into how women artists worked throughout the century: starting and following trends, experimenting, innovating, teaching and debating. Artists featured in the exhibition included: Vanessa Bell, Winifred Nicholson, Elisabeth Frink, Mary Adshead, Gillian Ayres, Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, Sandra Blow, Dora Carrington, Prunella Clough, Alice Fanner, Gertrude Hermes, Mary Potter, Anne Redpath and Muriel Wheeler.

Modern British Women ran concurrently with two other exhibitions of work by women artists at the Fine Art Society: Gluck, a monographic exhibition of work by a pioneering painter, who first exhibited at the gallery in 1926; Women Artists: A Conversation, a group of contemporary women artists invited to respond to Gluck's paintings and legacy with their own original works.

Modern British Women provided a link between these exhibitions: giving historical context to Gluck's paintings by showing the work of her contemporaries and setting the stage for the future generations of women artists that followed. The three shows investigated how women have navigated the role of 'woman artist' and whether the term and the accompanying issues of representation, narrative and equality still bear relevance today.