Timeline

1898

On June 1^st, while attending the Académie Delécluse in Paris, art students Maud Hurst, Emily Spence Bate, Gertrude Badnall and Florence Haig form ‘The Paris Club’ (renamed in 1901)

1899

In August an article appears in the London publication The Graphic announcing that the club were busy enrolling members

WIAC members participate in the annual conference of the International Congress of Women, held in London

1900

The first exhibition is held at the Grafton Galleries in London with 85 British and international exhibitors representing 12 countries

1901

Renamed the Women’s International Art Club the names of committee members are published in the exhibition catalogue

1902

Alice Dannenberg founds the Académie de la Grande Chaumière with her partner Martha Stettler

1903

Emmeline Pankhurst and others found the Women’s Social and Political Union

1904

For the first (and only) time the WIAC hold two annual exhibitions in the same year – each with over 500 exhibits

The International Lyceum Club for Women Artists and Writers is founded

1905

Vanessa Bell founds the Friday Club which became the Bloomsbury Group

Lucy Kemp Welch takes over as director of the Herkomer school of Art

1908

Work by Rosa Bonheur is exhibited at the annual exhibition (also in 1910, 1913 and 1948)

The Women’s Printing Society is employed to print the WIAC’s exhibition catalogue

1909

First hunger strike undertaken by suffragette Marion Wallace Dunlop

1910

Work by Sofonisba Anguissola is exhibited at the annual exhibition (and again in 1913)

The Austrian Association of Women artists (VBKÖ) is established – founding members included WIAC artists Louise Fraenkel-Hahn, Martha Hofrichter and Helen Funke

Marie Vassilieff founds the Russian Academy of Painting and Sculpture in Paris.

1911

Artists from the VBKÖ are invited to exhibit (also in 1912)

Estelle Rice’s The Egyptian Dancers is shown at the WIAC annual exhibition, a painting which had previously been spat at by a viewer at the Salon D’Automne in Paris

Rose Maynard Barton is the first woman to be elected a member of the Royal Watercolour Society

Gabriele Münter is a founder member of Der Blaue Reiter group

1912

Marie Vassilieff founds the Vassilieff Academy in Paris

1913

Hungarian craft artists invited to exhibit

Embroidery and bead work by First Nation North American women is exhibited

Ethel Sands and Nan Hudson are founder members of The London Group

1914

First World War begins

German and Swedish craft artists are invited to exhibit

The WIAC suspend their annual exhibition in 1916 and 1918

1915

Major exhibition of Anglo Belgian Lace shown at the annual exhibition

Entrance fees are donated to the Queen’s Work for Women Fund and the Belgian Relief Fund

The first school for female welders is opened in London and is run by WIAC member Ellen Woodward

1916

The Society of Women Welders is established

1917

Pioneering surgical splints for wounded soldiers are exhibited by their inventors, WIAC artists Anne Acheson and Elinor Hallé

Two cases of welding work by pupils at the Women’s School of Welding are exhibited

1918

The Representation of the People Act – allows women over the age of 30 (with property) to vote

The Parliamentary Qualification of Women Act enables women to stand as an MP

1920

Natalia Goncharova is invited to exhibit

Lucy Kemp Welch is the first woman to become a member of the Royal Cambrian Academy

Gwen Raverat is a founding member of the Society of Wood Engravers

Grete Marks attends the Bauhaus art school

1921

The WIAC forms part of a larger Dutch exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery

Women’s football banned in England (until 1971)

1922

Annie Swynnerton becomes the first female Associate of the RA since its foundation in 1768

1923

Lena Pillico is one of the first women to exhibit with the Seven and Five Society

1924

Teresa Żarnower founds the Blok group and affiliated magazine of the same name

1927

Artists from Austria, Belgium, France, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Romania and (the former) Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia are invited to exhibit

1928

Artists from the Wiener Frauen Kunst are invited to exhibit

The Equal Franchise Act allowed women over 21 to vote in Britain

1929

French artists invited to exhibit

The first general election in which women are allowed to vote in Britain

1930

Australian artists are invited to exhibit

Katerina Wilczynski travels to Rome on a Prix de Rome scholarship

1931

Members of the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors in New York are invited to exhibit with the WIAC in February.

In a reciprocal arrangement, artists from the WIAC are invited to exhibit in New York in December

Marlow Moss is a founder member of the Abstraction-Création Group

Wilhelmina Barns-Graham starts her training at the Edinburgh School of Art

1934

Memorial display of work by Annie Swynnerton at the annual exhibition

WIAC artists are invited to exhibit in Poland and Belgium via the International Federation of Business and Professional Women

Grete Marks work is labelled ‘degenerate’ by the Nazi regime

1935

Artists from Norway are invited to exhibit

Clara Klinghoffer’s The Girl in the Green Sari is the first accessioned work by a female artist in the Ben Uri Collection

1936

Laura Knight becomes the first woman elected to full membership of the RA since its foundation in 1768

Eileen Agar is one of the few women included in the London International Surrealist Exhibition in London

1937

Marie Laurençin is invited to exhibit at the annual exhibition

Bettina Ehrlich is awarded a silver medal for handpainted silks at the International Exhibition of Arts and Industries in Paris

1938

Contemporary Hungarian sculpture and painting is exhibited

Anne Acheson becomes the first female fellow of the Royal Society of British Artists

1939

Second World War begins

The WIAC suspend their annual exhibition in 1941 and 1943

Arts and Crafts are no longer exhibited at the annual exhibition

Contemporary Italian artists invited to exhibit

1940

Wilhelmina Barns-Graham arrives in St Ives

Ithell Colquhoun is expelled from the British Surrealist Group because it was prohibited to join other groups and she wanted to pursue other interests

1942

Ethel Walker becomes President of the WIAC

Anne Redpath becomes the first female painter to be elected to the Royal Scottish Academy

Tirzah Garwood writes her autobiography, the first edition of which was published posthumously in 2012

Anna Mayerson holds her first solo show at Jack Bilbo’s Modern Art Gallery in London

1945

Second World War ends

1946

WIAC invites sculptors who have been working in Britain during the war to exhibit, including Erna Nonnenmacher

Prints from the National Association of Women Artists of New York are also exhibited

Janina Baranowska arrives in London

Katerina Wilczynski holds a solo exhibition at the Roland, Browse & Delbanco Galleries in London (and again in 1949)

1947

The WIAC invite artists from Ireland, Wales, Scotland, France, Germany, Greece, Sweden, Spain, Norway, Holland and Denmark to exhibit

1948

Art News & Review established

Introduction of the National Health Service (NHS)

WIAC includes a historic section showing women artists from the past including Gwen John, Mary Cassatt, Käthe Kollwitz, Berthe Morisot and Mary Moser

Barabara Hepworth first exhibits with the WIAC

Halina Korn holds a solo exhibition at the Mayor Gallery in London

Adèle Reifenberg establishes a painting school with her husband, exhibiting with their pupils as the Belsize Group

1949

HRH Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent becomes patron of the WIAC

The WIAC is awarded Arts Council funding

The first WIAC touring exhibition called ‘Paintings by British Women’ is held

WIAC dubbed ‘A Women’s Royal Academy’ by critic and editor of Art News & Review Bernard Denvir

Artists from the Netherlands are invited to exhibit

1950

WIAC Jubilee Exhibition with invited artists from Italy

E Q Nicholson’s design Runner Bean is used in the furnishings for the Royal Yacht Britannia

1951

Festival of Britain – Many WIAC members and exhibitors are involved with the Festival

The WIAC hold a Festival of Britain Exhibition with invited artists from Australia, Canada and New Zealand

1952

Artists from (the former) Yugoslavia invited to exhibit

Memorial exhibition for Amy Drucker held at the Ben Uri Gallery

1953

During a WIAC touring exhibition, a nude by Stella Steyn was made to face the wall and subsequently taken down after complaints from the public

Dora Gordine is a founding member of the Society of Portrait Sculptors

1954

Sculpture from Germany and Britain is exhibited including work by Marg Moll and Karin Jonzen

1955

Sculpture from the USA and Britain is exhibited including work by Louise Nevelson and Marlow Moss

1956

Memorial exhibition of work by Vera Cunningham

1957

Artists from Scotland invited to exhibit including Elizabeth Blackadder, Joan Eardley and Anne Redpath

The WIAC agree to allow men to sit on the selection committee

WIAC exhibitor Olive Henry co-founds the Ulster Society of Women Artists

1958

The Life Peerages Act entitles women to sit in the House of Lords

1960

American abstract works by Lee Krasner, Helen Frankenthaler and others is exhibited. Works are lent through the United States Information Service.

Sandra Blow wins the International Guggenheim Award

Prunella Clough has her first retrospective at the Whitechapel Art Gallery

1961

Artists from Paris are invited to exhibit and Paula Rego exhibits two works at the WIAC annual exhibition

The contraceptive pill was approved for release in Britain

1963

Art critic Bettina Wadia, writing in Arts Review, uses the term ‘Sheer Verve’ to describe the WIAC abstracts

Artists of the past exhibition includes Lily Delissa Joseph

Gertrude Hermes is the first female sculptor to be elected an Associate of the RA (she becomes a full Academician in 1971)

1964

Artists from the Greek Association of Women Artists are invited to exhibit

Sonia Delaunay becomes the first living woman artist to be given a retrospective exhibition at the Louvre in Paris

Else Meidner holds the first of two solo exhibitions at the Ben Uri Gallery (also in 1972)

1965

Italian artists are invited to exhibit

WIAC exhibit a selection of their work from their annual exhibition in Athens and Florence

Janina Baranowska becomes director of the POSK Gallery in London

1967

WIAC hold their annual exhibition overseas at the Galerie Creuze, Paris

The Abortion Act sought to clarify legal abortion in Britain

1968

Death of WIAC patron HRH Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent

1969

Memorial exhibition of work by Orovida held at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford

1970

The Equal Pay Act is passed in Britain

Lotte Reizenstein holds an exhibition at the Ben Uri Gallery with Ruth Collet and Frances Baruch

1971

WIAC lose their Arts Council funding

Zena Flax holds a solo show at the Ben Uri Gallery

Elisabeth Frink elected Associate of the Royal Academy

1974

The WIAC ‘Feminine Eye’ exhibition, Camden Arts Centre, the first time the WIAC produced a fully illustrated catalogue

1975

WIAC Jubilee Exhibition, Camden Arts Centre which included photography for the first time

Sonia Delaunay is awarded the French Legion of Honor

The Employment Protection Act introduces statutory maternity provision

The Sex Discrimination Act is passed

1976

Painter Richard Jones becomes the first man to become a member of the WIAC

Elizabeth Blackadder is the first woman to be elected to both the Royal Scottish Academy and the Royal Academy

1977

Elisabeth Frink elected full Academician

1978

Last known WIAC exhibition at the Leighton House Gallery, London