In January of 1889, five innovative women – barred from full participation in the male-dominated National Academy of Design and The Society of American Artists – founded what was then known as the Women’s Art Club.  The National Association of Women Artists celebrated its 120th anniversary in 2009.  It joined The Hundred Year Association in 2010.

One of the many women’s cultural organizations to be initiated in the nineteenth century (including fellow Association member, The Pen and Brush), NAWA’s purpose was to help women artists counter the difficulties they faced in gaining recognition and equity in professional training, exhibition opportunities and the marketplace.

Now an unquestioned truth, the founding statement of the Women’s Art Club insisted that art by women was equal in creative achievement to the work of men and that this would be understood only when women proved themselves in the public sphere.

In 1913, the Women’s Art Club changed their name to the Association of Women Painters and Sculptors to reflect the importance of sculpture as part of their annual exhibitions.  In 1917, with a membership of over 500 the group changed their name once again to the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors to emphasize the growing geographic spread of their membership.

One of the members, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, founded the Whitney Studio Club and supported American artists by providing exhibition and studio space to them.  The resulting work became the founding core of the Whitney Museum of American Art.

In 1941, the group became the National Association of Women Artists, as it is known today.

NAWA’s exhibitions have been seen in Canada, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, England, Scotland, France, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, Greece and India.  They have also organized exhibition exchanges with women colleagues in Asia, South America and Europe and in 1969 participated in the celebration of women artists at the Internationale de la Femme in Cannes, France where NAWA members won nine awards.

NAWA was one of the founding members of the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC.  In March of 2009, during Women’s History Month, the group held their first symposium at the museum.  Fifteen past presidents presented about their time in office providing an interesting historic insight.

The permanent home for NAWA’s collections and archives is at the Jane Voorhees Art Museum at Rutgers University.

Mission Statement of the National Association of Women Artists

The purpose of the Association is to promote culture and education in the Visual Arts through exhibitions of its members’ works, lectures, art demonstrations, scholarships, awards and other educational programs.

The Association shall foster public awareness of, and interest, in works of art with emphasis on Fine Art created by women.  It will encourage new emerging artists through all appropriate means.