Synopses & Reviews
Kathleen McCarthy here presents the first book-length treatment of the vital role middle- and upper-class women played in the development of American museums in the century after 1830. By promoting undervalued areas of artistic endeavor, from folk art to the avant-garde, such prominent individuals as Isabella Stewart Gardner, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, and Abby Aldrich Rockefeller were able to launch national feminist reform movements, forge extensive nonprofit marketing systems, and "feminize" new occupations.
About the Author
Kathleen D. McCarthy is associate professor of history and Director of the Center for the Study of Philanthropy at the Graduate School and University Center, CUNY. She is the author of
Noblesse Oblige: Charity and Cultural Philanthropy in Chicago, also published by the University of Chicago Press.
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Preface
Acknowledgments
Part One - Separatist Strategies
1. Culture and Gender in Antebellum America
2. Candace Wheeler and the Decorative Arts Movement
3. Separatism and Entrepreneurship
Part Two - Assimilationists
4. Artists and Mentors
5. Museums and Marginalization
Part Three - Individualists
6. Isabella Stewart Gardner and Fenway Court
7. Women and the Avant-Garde
8. Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney: From Studio to Museum
Notes
Bibliography
Index