A Short History of American Women Artists (online, three sessions)

Join art historian Nancy G. Heller for a series of lectures focused on 20th and 21st-century American women artists. Lectures will include an emphasis on artists included in the groundbreaking Philadelphia-based FOCUS festival which took place in 1974, including the exhibition “In Her Own Image,” organized by Cindy Nemser at Fleisher Art Memorial.

This series is presented as part of (re) Focus 2024, a citywide collaboration of institutions and organizations taking place from January – May 2024 to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Philadelphia Focuses on Women in the Visual Arts. Held in Philadelphia the 1974 FOCUS was one of the first major exhibitions featuring American women artists. For more information visit www.refocus2024.org

Nancy G. Heller is Professor Emerita of Art History at The University of the Arts. She has also taught at several other colleges, including the University of Maryland (College Park), Texas A & M @ Commerce, and Georgetown University. Her most recent books are the 4th revised-and-expanded edition of Women Artists: An Illustrated History (Abbeville Press) and Why a Painting is Like a Pizza: A Guide to Understanding and Enjoying Modern Art (Princeton University Press). She also co-wrote and co-edited Imaging Dance: Visual Representations of Dancers and Dancing (Georg Olms Verlag) and contributed a chapter to Flamenco on the Global Stage: Historical, Critical, and Theoretical Perspectives (McFarland) plus an essay for the catalogue of the National Gallery of Art’s 2022 exhibition, “Sargent and Spain.” In addition to giving guest lectures for numerous museums, clubs, universities, and other venues, Heller has presented scholarly papers at art and dance-history conferences across the U.S. and also in Lisbon, London, Seville, Rome, and Cluj (Romania). Dr. Heller has received awards from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Smithsonian Institution, the American Association of University Women, the Richard C. von Hess Foundation, and the government of Spain. Since 1984 she has been a student, teacher, and performer of Spanish dance, and a writer/lecturer on related subjects.