Spinsters, Influencers and ‘Matronage’: Women Art Collectors in the long 19th-nineteenth century
By Prof. Frances Fowle (Universiteit van Edinburgh en National Galleries of Scotland)
The 19th-nineteenth century saw the development of the modern art market, creating opportunities for women to assert their independence in the cultural sphere. This lecture will consider the ways in which women collectors have been marginalized or stereotyped by art history, as well as celebrating their contribution as agents, tastemakers and philanthropists.
In particular it will focus on the pioneering role played by women in Europe and the USA in building up collections of modern French art.
Practical information
Date and time: 12 June at 2 pm.
Duration: 45 minutes + 15 minutes questions.
Language: English.
Costs: Free. Museum entrance is € 19.
Location: Auditorium.
Participation: You don't have to sign up for this lecture. You can just walk in.
About Professor Frances Fowle
Professor Frances Fowle is Chair of Nineteenth-Century Art at the University of Edinburgh and Senior Curator of French Art at the National Galleries of Scotland. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Chair of the Association for Art History, Senior Trustee of the Burrell Collection, Glasgow and co-founder and Board member of TIAMSA (The International Art Market Studies Association).
Frances is a specialist in collecting and the art market with a focus on Impressionism and Post-Impressionism. She has curated numerous international exhibitions on late nineteenth-century art and her publications include Van Gogh and Britain: Pioneer Collectors (2006); Impressionism and Scotland (2008), Van Gogh’s Twin: The Scottish Art Dealer Alexander Reid (2010), Van Gogh to Kandinsky: Symbolist Landscape in Europe 1880-1910 (2012), American Impressionism: A New Vision (2014), Inspiring Impressionism: Daubigny, Monet, Van Gogh (2016) and Globalising Impressionism: Reception, Translation and Transnationalism (2020).
She also appeared in the film The Danish Collector (2021) on the Hansen collection at Ordrupgaard, Copenhagen. In recent years Frances has been developing a specialism in women collectors. Her most recent book and forthcoming exhibition, A Taste for Impressionism, examine, among other things, the role of female donors to the National Galleries of Scotland. She is currently editing a book on the Art Market and the Museum, with a focus on ‘Women as Agents and Influencers’, for Bloomsbury Publishing.