Warrnambool | A City for Living

Notable, Noteworthy and Known

8 Oct 2022 - 29 Jan 2023
Joy Hester, Blonde Woman in a Chair nd (detail). Watercolour and ink on paper, 16.8 x 23.3cm. Purchased with funds from the annual acquisition budget provided by Warrnambool City Council, 1980.
Joy Hester, Blonde Woman in a Chair nd (detail). Watercolour and ink on paper, 16.8 x 23.3cm. Purchased with funds from the annual acquisition budget provided by Warrnambool City Council, 1980.

Germaine Greer described the path of women in the art world as an ‘obstacle race’ with barriers to education, patronage, exhibition, and crucially recognition and acknowledgement. Accounts will tell you there were few women artists, even fewer significant ones, but history can be re-written. Recent scholarship reveals a constant lineage of women artists, designers, manufacturers, and makers playing a major part in avant-garde art movements. Usually under-represented in museum collections, averaging just 25% of works held, the prominence of female artists in contemporary art practice encourages a fresh look at those who came before. Selected works held in the WAG collection refocuses the conversation and shines a light on their work and achievements.