Self-portrait of the artist, Angelica Kauffman, painted circa 1770-1775.
I named the micro galleries for Angelica Kauffman, Swiss painter, 1741-1807, who was financially successful and worked in the neoclassical style. Most of her career was in London and Rome.
Why Angelica Kauffman?
It’s a great name! And we wanted to draw more attention to women artists from history. I want more people to know that women have been working and earning in the arts for much longer than they probably realize. I want people to be able to name five women artists, and maybe even have none of those five be Georgia or Frida. (They’re awesome, but when those are the only two people can name, well, we have work to do.)
Like many “early” women artists, Angelica was trained by her father. Women were barred from the academies that taught art, so being taught by one’s father was often the only way in.
To learn more about her, see the entry on her at the website of the National Museum of Women in the Arts, a truly awesome museum in Washington, D.C., whose building was formerly a men’s club.
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Stickers of Women Artists
It’s not out of the blue that I named the micro galleries after a woman artist. My kids and I have a podcast together, called Being Bold. Season 1 is all about inventors, and Season 2 is all about artists. There are lots of blog posts up over on Being Bold that tell the stories of women artists. Being Bold is a project where We Make Role Models Visible.
We also work with artist Betsy Zacsek, who illustrates the women artists and then paints the portraits with watercolors. These are available in the form of a poster of all the women, and stickers of each individual woman! You can see all of them in our online shop, Totally Legit Card Co.!
Women Artists Sticker of the Month Club
: ) Yes! Right up our alleys!
Thanks so much!
Yay! Another exciting tiny thing!