Wilhelmina Holladay

Wilhelmina Holladay
Born Wilhelmina Cole
1922
Elmira, New York
Education Elmira College
University of Paris
Known for National Museum of Women in the Arts
Spouse(s) Wallace Holladay
Awards Women's Caucus for Art Lifetime Achievement Award, 2001

Wilhelmina Cole Holladay (born October 10, 1922 in Elmira, NY) is an American art collector and patron, and co-founder of the National Museum of Women in the Arts.[1]

Life

Holladay, known as "Billie", graduated with a degree in art history from Elmira College in 1944 and also studied art at the University of Paris. After working for the United States Air Force and the Embassy of China, she married Wallace Holladay. According to a profile in the Washington Post, in the 1940s she was employed as Madame Chiang Kai-shek's social secretary.

Collection

The Holladays began collecting art in the 1950s. On a trip to Europe, they saw and admired paintings by Clara Peeters, and were dismayed to discover that neither Peeters nor any other female artist was mentioned in the leading art texts of the time. From that point, they began specializing in acquiring significant works by female artists such as Élisabeth-Louise Vigée Le Brun, Artemisia Gentileschi, and Angelica Kauffman.

The National Museum of Women in the Arts

In 1981, Wilhelmina and Wallace Holladay founded the National Museum of Women in the Arts, donating their collection of works by female artists. For the first few years, the collection was housed in the Holladays' home. She had consulted with the art historian Ann Sutherland Harris regarding long-term placement of her private collection, and Harris suggested she found a museum dedicated to women's art.[2] In 1987, the museum acquired a former Masonic temple in Washington, D.C. as its permanent facility.[3]The museum houses a permanent collection of art, presents changing special exhibitions and performances, maintains a library and research center, publishes exhibition catalogues, and offers educational programming.[4]

Honors and awards

Wilhelmina Holladay was elected to the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1996, and was awarded a 2006 National Medal of Arts,[5] and a Foremother Award from the National Research Center for Women & Families. Also in 2006, Wilhelmina Holladay was awarded the Légion d’honneur by the French Government. In 2005, Holladay received a Visionary Woman Award from Moore College of Art & Design. In 2001 Holladay received a Women's Caucus for Art Lifetime Achievement Award.

Bibliography

Holladay has authored the book A Museum of Their Own: National Museum of Women in the Arts, published by Abbeville Press.[6]

References

  1. ↑ "National Museum of Women in the Arts". Retrieved 1 March 2014.
  2. ↑ "Ann Sutherland Harris". Art Table: The Leadership Organization for Professional Women in the Visual Arts. ARTTABLE. Retrieved 29 January 2017.
  3. ↑ O'Neal Parker, Lonnae (April 18, 2014). "Holladay founded National Museum of Women in the Arts, now she’s working on its legacy". The Washington Post. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
  4. ↑ "Wilhelmina Cole Holladay". National Women's Hall of Fame. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
  5. ↑ "2006 National Medal of Arts Recipient". Retrieved 1 March 2014.
  6. ↑ Holladay, Wilhelmina Cole (2008). A Museum of Their Own: National Museum of Women in the Arts. Abbeville Press. ISBN 978-0789210036.

Sources

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