Early Women Curators
Making the Museum in the Twentieth Century
Rachel Esner editor Laia Anguix-Vilches editor
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd
Published:13th Oct '26
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
Without women’s curatorial work, the twentieth-century museum would never have developed as it did. Between the 1890s and 1970s, women began accessing decision-making roles in museums worldwide. This volume provides a transnational exploration of the contributions of pioneering female curators with regard to museum practice, collection-making, and display design.
As scholarship begins unearthing the distinctiveness of women’s curatorial choices, we aim to map the scope and nature of their approach to collecting and curating. What did these first generations of women curators achieve, and what can a gender perspective on museum history uncover? This edited volume brings together research authored by scholars and museum professionals from across the globe who share a desire to understand the history of museums from a gendered perspective. It leads to a new understanding of women’s transnational, collective impact on the formation of collections and their role in the birth and development of modern-day curatorial practices.
Divided into four sections, the collection examines the increasing professionalization of women curators during the twentieth century; women's contribution to the development of the modern-day museum; the intertwining of women’s work in museums with wider twentieth-century global history and politics; and the role of women curators in advancing and shaping the collection, display, and reception of what was then contemporary art.
These texts are ideal for researchers and scholars interested in the history of museums and curatorial practice, as well as art and gender.
"This important volume puts women at the heart of twentieth-century museums and galleries. Acknowledging and interrogating the structural inequalities tending to make women museum workers invisible and marginal, it nevertheless shows how central they were to the development of art institutions in this period. Its critical, international perspective recuperates women’s contribution to the global museum without essentializing. It will be indispensable reading for anyone wondering how we got to the museum of today."
Kate Hill, School of Humanities and Heritage, University of Lincoln
"Early Women Curators is of immense importance, as it is the first book to systematically examine, from a transnational perspective, a field of activity both fundamental to the museum and predominantly carried out by women. Through outstanding case studies, the volume reveals the extent to which female curators shaped the development of the modern museum, laying its methodological and practical foundations. It counters the structurally conditioned invisibility of these highly professional workers, whose roles have often been characterized as merely “servile” or “supporting.” It sheds light on their individual achievements as well as on the specific conditions under which they worked and the overarching patterns in their practice and careers. Its findings highlight not only the contributions of women curators but will also help to transform the prevailing image of museum work in general."
Annette Dorgerloh, Humboldt University of Berlin
"Early Women Curators - Making the Museum in the Twentieth Century has the makings of a classic in the fields of museology and art history. It marks a paradigm shift in museum history, challenging the idea of the modern museum as a masculine institution. The authors move beyond viewing women’s curatorial practice as an obstacle race, examining instead the career patterns and activities that defined their work. Women’s contributions were essential in transforming the early twentieth-century museum into a truly public institution. This volume is a need-to-read, and deserves a permanent place on students’ reading lists."
Jenny Reynaerts, Former Senior Curator and founder of the Women of the Rijksmuseum project
ISBN: 9781041048329
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 700g
272 pages