Articles

International Women's Day

Join us for a week-long programme featuring panel discussions and a film screening, as well as workshops and courses. From patrons to historians, we celebrate the influential women working to support art and artists.

James McNeill Whistler, Symphony in White, No. 1: The White Girl, 1862.

RA Exhibitions

12 months ago

Who was Whistler’s Woman in White?

Take a tour of the exhibition ‘Whistler’s Woman in White: Joanna Hiffernan’ with its curators, and delve into the life of the artist’s principal model.

Russell Westwood, Sir Henry Rushbury R.A. with students in the Life Room in the Royal Academy Schools

Our Collection

2 years ago

Naked truth: the story of female life models at the RA

What does a 230-year-old household bill tell us about life modelling in the 18th-century? Here, we explore the historical role of the female nude life model at the RA.

After Johann Zoffany RA, The Royal Academy of Arts

Our Collection

2 years ago

Mary Moser and Angelica Kauffman: the RA’s founding women

Angelica Kauffman and Mary Moser were the only two female founders of the Royal Academy. Here, we take a closer look at their careers and the challenges they faced within the RA.

Alfred Ansell, Life drawing of a reclining male nude. This drawing was produced by Alfred Ansell while he was a student at the Royal Academy Schools.

Our Collection

2 years ago

Victorian women and the fight for arts training

19th-century women faced an uphill struggle to get equal access to training at the Royal Academy Schools. Here, we delve into the RA Archive to learn more about women’s fight for equality.

Le Corbusier's Cabanon © Manuel Bougot – FLC/ADAGP Paris 2017

RA Recommends

2 years ago

Eileen Gray: an architect and designer you should know

A designer of decorative furniture and Modernist architecture, Eileen Gray found recognition aged 94. As part of our International Women’s Day programme, here’s our guide to the life of this overlooked master, and her infamous seaside villa, E-1027.

Diana Armfield, Last Nasturtium of the Season

Artists

2 years ago

“Like a portrait painter with their sitters, I have the feeling of a real relationship with the flowers I paint”

100-year-old artist Diana Armfield RA writes about the joy of painting the flowers in her garden.

Imogen Cunningham , Ruth Asawa, Sculptor, at her Door

RA Recommends

2 years ago

Ruth Asawa: the pioneering American sculptor you need to know

This International Women’s Day, we celebrate an artist once dismissed as a “San Francisco Housewife” who refused to see parenthood as an obstacle.

Zadie Xa, The Conch, Sea Urchin and Brass Bell

RA Recommends

< 5 years ago

Feminist futures: event recording round-up

Catch up on our series of events exploring possible feminist futures – from the power of art practice as a catalyst for social change to automation in architecture, moving image as language, and alternative artistic platforms.

Cornelia Parker RA, Cold Dark Matter, An Exploded View

Artists

< 6 years ago

The International Women’s Day art quiz

Know your O‘Keeffe from your Kahlo? For International Women’s Day, we’re celebrating a few of the great female artists who deserve a wider audience. Take the quiz and let’s see how much you know.

Opinion

< 7 years ago

Podcast: Women in focus

Does being a female artist influence how a work is created and perceived? Our panel discuss.

Clockwise from left: Rose Wylie RA, Gillian Wearing RA, Iwona Blazwick, Eileen Cooper RA, vPPR, Ann Dumas, Charlotte Mullins, Valeria Napoleone, Cornelia Parker RA, Rebecca Ackroyd

Opinion

7 years ago

10 inspirational women in the arts

To mark International Women’s Day, we asked some of the great women in the UK art world, from artists to editors, where things stand when it comes to equality. Here’s what they said.

Opinion

< 8 years ago

Podcast: Women in today’s art world

At an event celebrating International Women’s Day, a panel of female Academicians and students discuss their experience as 21st-century artists.