Women in Art

Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery
On display now - until 2 November 2013

See an impressive selection of works from our permanent art collections that either portray or were created by women.

This exhibition spans Renaissance times to the modern day. It features muses, models, portraits and 20th century ceramics.

Artists on display include John Waterhouse, Beryl Cook, Prunella Clough and Rose Hilton. Ceramics by Clarice Clift, Dorothy Doughty and Lucie Rie plus a newly conserved panel painting, believed to be a portrait of Elizabeth I, are also on show. A recent revamp of this exhibition has also seen new works by Elizabeth Forbes, Anya Gallacio and Kate Nicholson and ‘Age of Innocence’ after Sir Joshua Reynolds go on display.

The exhibition is dedicated to the memory of one of our favourite women in art – the Museum's late Keeper of Art, Maureen Attrill who sadly passed away in February 2011 and who is much missed.

'Behind the Canvas' - gallery guides and mp3s

English and Illustration students from Plymouth University have been working on ‘Women In Art: Behind the Canvas,’ a project to delve more deeply into some of the works in the exhibition. They have produced two guides to the exhibition aimed at adults and at children that can be found in the gallery. You can also listen to some recordings of creative responses to some of the paintings below:

Beanstalk -an audio guide inspired by Dorothy Ward’s 'An Aerial View of Plymouth'
Recording time - 6 minutes 19 seconds
File format MPEG (mp3) - 5.78MB

Elizabeth I - audio guide
Recording time - 2 minutes 3 seconds
File format MPEG (mp3) - 1.88MB

Happily - an audio guide inspired by John Collier’s 'Mrs Mortimer Collier'
Recording time - 7 minutes 39 seconds
File format MPEG (mp3) - 7.01MB

Please note that the gallery this exhibition is displayed in is frequently used for events and activities. As a result, there may be some days/times when access to the exhibition is restricted or it is very noisy! We apologise in advance for any inconvenience this causes to our visitors. If you are making a special trip to the Museum to see this exhibition we advise that you telephone us in advance on 01752 304774 to check our programme.

Flickr slideshow