Since 2015 I have collected names of women dealers (mostly in America), with a general view on the 1900–1950 period and a focus on the 1930s. I would love to hear from you if you have information on the names highlighted and/or if you are undertaking your own research on this dealer and their gallery/ activities. From January 2022 I will begin to add women dealers from other countries.
Notes:
1. Most of these dealers, but not all, operated galleries or initiatives under their own name. Some were assistants in a gallery, or freelance "curators".
2. In this list, for brevity, I have omitted gallery names.
3. The below list concentrates on the period 1900–1950 and does not reflect the complete list I am working on.
4. The word "dealer" is an umbrella term; early dealers were often called gallerists, managers, and later, curators.
5. For the purposes of this project, anybody who organized an exhibition—or ran an enterprise—where art was sold is considered a dealer (in the case of Cassatt, a proto-dealer or agent). I have also included the names of women who founded Societies or Associations (Wheeler) or Expositions (Duane Gillespie), wherein art was sold, even if these societies looked and operated differently to our present-day concept of a dealer-gallery system.
If you believe more names should be added to this list, please navigate to the contact page to get in touch.
Country designates where the dealer predominantly (or latterly) operated; not their nationality. Many Europeans emigrated to the US between 1900 and 1950; and some dealers, like the American Peggy Guggenheim, established galleries (however short lived) in France, UK, and US.
Black = American
Blue = French
Red = German
Green= UK
Pink = Netherlands
Annot [Jacobi]
Asher, Betty M.
Bachert, Hildegard
Bacon, Virginia P.
Baron, Ella
Baum, Jan
Bondi-Jari, Lea
Boone, Mary
Borgenicht, Grace
Boughton, Alice
Brausen, Erica
Braunstein, Ruth
Bremer, Anja
Brown, Margaret
Browse, Lillian
Bryant, Harriet C.
Cane, Florence
Caspari, Anna
Cassatt, Mary
Coleman, Alannah
Coleman Manshel, Anita
Cooper, Paula
Courvoisier, Moira (Wallace)
Copley, Claire
Creelman, Alice
Curttis-Gould, Leah
Davidge, Clara (Potter)
Dintenfass, Terry
Dreier, Katherine S.
Dunbar-Kilburn, Cecilia
Dwan, Virginia
Epstein, Evan
Esman, Rosa
Ey, Johanna
Kallir, Jane
Kane, Constance
Karlis, Tirca
Kasle, Gertrude
Kellen, Estella
Kornblee, Jill
Kraushaar, Antoinette
Kroll Goldsmith, Berthe "Bea"
Kuh, Katharine
Lefranc, Margaret
Leavin, Margo
Lessore, Helen
Little, Elspeth
Lowengrund, Margaret
Lust, Elenore
Lawrence, Genevieve
Lazuk, Vera
Mairet, Ethel
Mansion, Gracie
Meyer, Agnes E.
Nalecz, Halima
Nicholson, Grace
Norton, Peter
Nosei, Annina
Oppenheimer, Rosa
Faure, Patricia
Felsen, Rosamund
Fleischman, Martha
Force, Juliana
Fischback, Marilyn (Cole)
Fried, Rose
Garman, Kathleen
Gechtoff, Ethel
Gee, Helen
Gibbons, Sallie (J.) (or Sadie)
Gillespie, Elizabeth (Duane)
Goodman, Marian
Grosman, Tatyana
Gruskin, Mary J.
Guggenheim, Peggy
Hackett, Helen (Sr.)
Hackett, Helen (Jr.)
Halpert, Edith (Gregor)
Hallowell, Sara(h) T(yson)
Harriman, Marie
Harvey, Emily
Hearn, Pat
Heap, Jane
Hooks, Geri
Horne, Alice Merrill
Horne, Grace
Hutton, Dorothy
Jackson, Martha (Kellog)
Juda, Annely
Judd Ryan, Beatrice