The Woman Question 1550–2025: Celebrating Five Centuries of Women Artists in Warsaw

This exhibition challenges the myth of female artists' absence in art history, showcasing nearly 200 works by women spanning 500 years. It presents a visual narrative of women's enduring creative activity and empowerment, exploring themes of authority, resistance, sexuality, and societal roles.

Prepared by curator and art historian Alison M. Gingeras, 'The Woman Question 1550–2025' disputes the notion that women artists before the 20th century were rare exceptions. The exhibition comprises nine thematic sections, offering a testament to the sustained and dynamic creative output of women over the last five centuries. Featuring nearly 200 works, from contemporary pieces to paintings by Renaissance, Baroque, and nineteenth-century artists, it proposes a centuries-long visual history of female 'empowerment.' The exhibition re-examines the historical 'woman question,' exploring how women artists have consistently used their work to assert their presence and the significance of their individual experiences, often against societal prohibitions. The title itself, borrowing from the early modern intellectual and political discourse 'la querelle des femmes,' emphasizes the ongoing relevance of challenging patriarchal structures and the evolving understanding of gender and identity. The exhibition delves into various facets of women's artistic contributions, including allegorical representations of power, resistance, and sexual violence; artistic education and access; the representation of the female body and desire; iconography of motherhood and reproductive choices; women's agency during wartime; and the changing roles of women in society during moments of upheaval. It highlights figurative works, primarily paintings and sculptures, to maintain clarity of women's authorship across historical periods. The exhibition aims to provide a new framework for understanding art history from a feminist continuum of resistance, acknowledging that feminist ideas existed long before they were named. The curatorial approach posits that the image holds power, focusing on visual narratives that demonstrate various forms of agency and identity affirmation, bringing together works from different eras and disciplines that address shared themes, including some of the earliest examples of women's artistic endeavors.

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