Women and the Arts

Women painting at easels in a class at the Art Students League, Washington, D.C., c. 1889.

Courtesy Library of Congress.

Women are involved in the arts at every level in the United States. They grace the stage and screen as performers. They paint, sculpt, weave, sketch, photograph, and design. They use the written word to provoke and inspire. Women have collected, funded, and shared art with the public.

Even when they have been barred from training or gone unsung and overlooked, women’s creativity has transformed American art. On this page, you will find some of their stories.

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How do you share your creativity with the world?

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Writers

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  Place

  Emily Dickinson House

  Emily Dickinson, noted American poet, was born and lived the majority of her life in this Amherst, MA house.

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  Place

  Frances Ellen Watkins Harper House

  Poet, novelist, civil rights and women's rights activist Frances Harper lived in this Philadelphia rowhouse from 1870 until 1911.

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  Poet & Critic

  Alice Dunbar Nelson

  Poet, critic, journalist, and activist Alice Ruth Moore Dunbar Nelson was a prominent figure in the Harlem Renaissance.

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  Novelist

  Harriet Beecher Stowe

  Harriet Beecher Stowe was best known as the author of Uncle Tom's Cabin, a bestselling novel that dramatized the horrors of slavery.

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  Place

  The Wayside

  Home of the Alcott family, this home in Concord, MA was the site of many family scenes that inspired Louisa May Alcott's novel Little Women.

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  Poet

  Phillis Wheatley

  Acclaimed poet Phillis Wheatley was one of the first Black and enslaved Americans to publish a book of poems.

Visual Artists

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  Sculptor

  Ruth Asawa

  Ruth Asawa's daring wire sculptures are in museums and public spaces across the country.

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  Weaver

  Ida Blackeagle

  Artist Ida Blackeagle was instrumental to the revitalization and preservation of Nimíipuu basket weaving.

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  Sculptor

  Edmonia Lewis

  Black and Native American artist Edmonia Lewis overcame racial and gender barriers to achieve international acclaim for her sculpture.

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  Painter

  Ann Axtell Morris

  Archeologist, artist, and writer Ann Axtell Morris sketched and painted dig sites in the American Southwest and Mexico.

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  Place

  Georgia O'Keeffe Home and Studio

  The home and studio of the artist Georgia O'Keeffe in Abiquiu, NM is one of the most important artistic sites in the southwestern US.

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  Place

  Pond Farm Pottery Historic District

  Ceramist and teacher Marguerite Wildenhain lived, worked, and taught at Pond Farm, a center of the studio pottery movement.

Performers

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  Singer

  Marian Anderson and Constitution Hall

  In 1939, the all-white Daughters of the American Revolution denied the use of its Constitution Hall by famous Black singer Marian Anderson.

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  Place

  Apollo Theater

  Harlem's Apollo Theater has nurtured and showcased Black talent for decades, ranking it one of the US's most important cultural resources.

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  Choir

  Chopin Choir

  Salem, MA's Chopin Choral Society was part of a widespread network of organizations that celebrated Polish culture.

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  Singer

  Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield

  Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield was the first African American opera singer who became popular in the United States and Europe.

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  Singer

  Sissieretta Jones

  Sissieretta Jones was an internationally famous singer who was the first African American to perform at Carnegie Hall.

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  Singer

  Jenny Lind

  Jenny Lind, known as the "Swedish Nightingale," was a worldwide singing sensation who toured the United States in the early 1850s.