08/03/2023
We are marking International Women’s Day by recognising the incredible women who serve on our staff, our artist’s council, our investment committee and our board of trustees. We are grateful for these women and their contributions, every day.
We feel it is also important to recognise the (still) under-represented position of women in the art world and the continual determination of those women who work as artists. The history of women in the arts is one marked by challenges within society, and the AGBI today exists as a marker of this history and of the changing times. Our founding artists were members of the Royal Academy including, John Constable, J.M.W. Turner, and John Soane, who came together in 1814 with the goal of supporting “widows” of artists. During early Nineteenth Century England, women were largely excluded from being artists – not allowed into the salons or institutions, to study anatomy (science) among men, and those women who had to work for money in any industry were pitied in society. Women of status instead, occupied themselves with the “feminine arts” such as embroidery, or lace making to name a few, but could not wield a brush loaded with oil paint as a professional if they wished to remain in good social standing and be married off for a future of financial stability under their husband. Over the past 200 years a lot has changed. Women now fill the educational institutions but are still less recognised than their male counterparts in galleries and museums. The AGBI continues to champion women artists and we have widened our grant giving capacity from supporting ‘widows in need’ to all professional visual artists in need, regardless of their gender, race, or social status.
Today we proudly operate under our President, the brilliant, Nicola Hicks M.B.E.
