Women Art Dealers
Women Art Dealers brings together fascinating case studies of galleries run by women between the 1940s and 1980s. It marks a departure from other work in the field of art markets, challenging male-dominated histories by analyzing the work of female dealers who anticipated the global model, worked to promote art across continents, and thus developed an international art market.
Part 1 focuses on the women gallerists behind the promotion of modern art after World War II who participated in important research about the neo-Avant-Garde. Part 2 examines the contributions by women art dealers toward the birth of new markets – through establishing the reputation of artistic genres, such as video art and photography, and working at the forefront of advancing contemporary art. Finally, Part 3 analyzes case studies from the southern European art scene, paying fresh attention to several under-researched markets in the region like Italy and Portugal.
Each chapter study provides a historiographic profile of the gallery under discussion and critical analysis is supported with a wide range of visual material including portraits of the women art dealers, photographs of the exhibitions they managed, and printed documentation like catalogues, invitations, and posters that were often used to support artists on display in experimental ways.
Véronique Chagnon-Burke is an art historian, co-founder of Women Art Dealers Digital Archives, co-chair of The International Art Market Studies Association, section editor for the Art Market Dictionary, and former Director of Christie’s Education in New York (2002–2021).
Caterina Toschi is Associate Professor of contemporary art history and history of photography at the University for Foreigners of Siena, Italy. She is co-founder of Women Art Dealers Digital Archives and Senzacornice, and Associate Director of the Santa Maddalena Foundation.