2006年VOA标准英语-A Unique Art Museum That Shows Only Work b

By Carolyn Weaver¹
Washington, DC
20 January 2006
 
watch Women Museum report

It may be the only museum of its kind in the world. The National Museum of Women in the Arts was established 25 years ago to show the work of women artists from across the centuries and around the globe. While its original collection was primarily European and American painting, increasingly, it’s showcasing the work of non-Western artists. And its leaders say that women artists still face barriers today that give the Museum continuing relevance². 

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Clara Peeters, Still Life of Fish and Cat, not dated   
  

Wilhelmina Holladay, the wife of a Washington, D.C. builder, was traveling in Europe with her husband in the 1960s when they first saw the work of a 17th century painter named Clara Peeters. Although the Holladays were both schooled in art history, neither had ever heard of Peeters.   

 

 
Museum founder³ Wilhelmina Holladay 
  

“And when we came home, we took out all of our sourcebooks, and we discovered there wasn't one woman in any of our sourcebooks,” Mrs. Holladay said in an interview at her home in Washington. “I'd worked at the National Gallery of Art when I was young, so I went down and found a little bit of information, but not much. So we decided⁴ that there was this gap in the history of art, because we knew there had been women painting successfully in their day, there had to be. So, that's how we decided to collect work by women." 
 

 

The National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.   
  

The Holladays' collection grew to include work by many recognized masters, such as French painters Rosa Bonheur and Berthe Morisot, and Americans Mary Cassatt and Georgia O'Keefe. Yet even by the late 1970s, major museums and galleries still rarely showed work by women. And so an idea that had seemed like a joke at first, Mrs. Holladay says, became increasingly serious: to use the collection to found a National Museum of Women in the Arts. Established in 1981, the museum opened its doors in this imposing⁶ building in downtown Washington six years later. 

“When I first came to work for the National Museum of Women in the Arts, I actually thought the museum might be able to cease to exist in 10 or 15 years,” says chief curator and deputy director Susan Fisher Sterling⁷. “I thought that maybe women artists would become recognized in such a way that you would no longer need a museum of this type. But it's almost 20 years now, and times haven't changed that much." 
 

Museum curator and deputy director Susan Fisher Sterling  
  
Fisher Sterling says that women artists today still are undervalued and under-exhibited -- which makes the museum a revelation to many of its visitors. “When someone comes into the museum and takes a look at the work we have here, the first impression we have is not, 'Wow, these are paintings by women, I can tell based on the way they look'," she says. “Instead, it's, ‘Gosh, I never knew there were so many women artists, how come I never heard about these people before?'"  

Painters like Judith Leyster, Elisabetta Sirani and Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun had been important in Europe in the 1500s through the 1700s, working for kings, queens and Roman popes. But when they died, they were soon forgotten. “It's only in the last, say, 40 years that women artists have become important enough as a subject for study that we've been able to resurrect their reputations,” says Susan Fisher Sterling. “And that's one of the main purposes of the museum at its inception⁸, to rediscover women artists and put their works on the walls." 

Alice Neel, Charlotte Willard, 1967   
  
Alice Neel's Women, a recent show at the Museum, featured a painter whose 60-year career exemplifies the struggle of women artists in the last century. For many years, Alice Neel's work was little-appreciated, says Susan Fisher Sterling, in part because she was a figurative painter at a time when abstract expressionism held sway. Neel painted New York artists and intellectuals, and members of her own family, always with a penetrating⁹ but understanding eye. As critic Charlotte Willard wrote, “Even fully⁵ clothed, Neel's sitters appear naked before us in their vulnerability, their bewilderment, their self-concern, their resignation." 

The National Museum of Women in the Arts has previously¹⁰ featured work by Latin American and Arab artists, and upcoming shows will bring Korean and aboriginal¹¹ Australian women's art to the capital. Founder Wilhelmina Holladay says she hopes such shows will increase international understanding, and help the careers of female artists around the world. “I think probably an equal amount of creative talent is born in both men and women,” she says. “Opportunities to develop that talent have differed – greatly.” 

1 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

2 relevance   

n.中肯，适当，关联，相关性

参考例句：

• Politicians' private lives have no relevance to their public roles.政治家的私生活与他们的公众角色不相关。
• Her ideas have lost all relevance to the modern world.她的想法与现代社会完全脱节。

3 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

5 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

6 imposing   

adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的

参考例句：

• The fortress is an imposing building.这座城堡是一座宏伟的建筑。
• He has lost his imposing appearance.他已失去堂堂仪表。

7 sterling   

adj.英币的(纯粹的，货真价实的)；n.英国货币(英镑)

参考例句：

• Could you tell me the current rate for sterling, please?能否请您告诉我现行英国货币的兑换率？
• Sterling has recently been strong,which will help to abate inflationary pressures.英国货币最近非常坚挺，这有助于减轻通胀压力。

8 inception   

n.开端，开始，取得学位

参考例句：

• The programme has been successful since its inception.这个方案自开始实施以来一直卓有成效。
• Julia's worked for that company from its inception.自从那家公司开办以来，朱莉娅一直在那儿工作。

9 penetrating   

adj.（声音）响亮的，尖锐的adj.（气味）刺激的adj.（思想）敏锐的，有洞察力的

参考例句：

• He had an extraordinarily penetrating gaze. 他的目光有股异乎寻常的洞察力。
• He examined the man with a penetrating gaze. 他以锐利的目光仔细观察了那个人。

10 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

11 aboriginal   

adj.（指动植物）土生的，原产地的，土著的

参考例句：

• They managed to wipe out the entire aboriginal population.他们终于把那些土著人全部消灭了。
• The lndians are the aboriginal Americans.印第安人是美国的土著人。