Women Art Dealers

This timely book reveals the significant role played by women in the promotion and dissemination of modern and contemporary art to a global audience. It brings together a range of fascinating case studies of women-led galleries in the postwar period, challenging male-dominated histories by analyzing the work of internationally-minded female dealers who worked across continents and helped to develop transnational art networks.

The book is arranged in three parts, covering gallerists, dealers and regional art scenes. Part 1 focuses on the promotion of postwar modern art by women gallerists; Part 2 examines the contributions by women art dealers toward the birth of new markets and media, such as video art and photography; 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. It will be vital reading for students of art market studies, as well as gallery and art market professionals.

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.