With recent exhibitions on female artists such as Bridget Riley at David Zwirner and Paulo Rega at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, with Hugh Mendes’s exhibition at Charlie Smith London reinforcing the contribution of female artists through recent centuries, is there still a need in 2020 for an art exhibitions focused exlusively on women artists?  Sadly, it still seems that there is; with the best works at Maddox Gallery’s show to celebrate the creativity of female artists, ‘Her Story – Women in Art’, being those which stand on their own merit before we even know the name or sex of the artist, such as the works by Beau Dunn, Cayla Birk, Emily Ponsonby, Karimah Hassan, Lily Kemp and Sooypung Ching.  Those that disappoint are the stereotypical works that focus on feminine images – this is not the way to success or to push forward an equal agenda in the modern art world.

Meanwhile, the US organisation Anonymous Was a Woman is providing $250,000 of grants – —up to $2,500 each—to assist female artists over 40 years old who are experiencing financial hardship  as a result of COVID-19 and the subsequent economic implications, as yet unknown.  Many female artists juggle their career, as do other women, with the balancing act of being an artist with looking after family and home.