- 22 April to 22 July 2026
- This display showcases the lives and careers of four women represented in the Paul Mellon Centre’s archives.
- Paul Mellon Centre
This display showcases the lives and careers of four women represented in the Paul Mellon Centre’s archives. It features material relating to Hilda Finberg (c.1885–1959) from the Frank Simpson Archive, Daphne Haldin (1899–1973) from the Daphne Haldin Archive, Luisa Vertova (1920–2021) from the Benedict Nicolson Archive and Deanna Petherbridge (1939–2024) from the recently acquired Deanna Petherbridge Archive.
The careers of these four women were varied. Some received academic training; others did not. They worked professionally as gallerists, researchers, lecturers, curators and artists – or were unsalaried ‘amateurs’. They all struggled to greater and lesser extents to assert their visibility and standing in fields that were often dominated by men.
Their work serves as a springboard to reflect on the nature and visibility of women’s work within the field of art history between the 1930s and 1970s. These case studies are not intended as celebrations of forgotten ‘heroes’ but rather to illustrate both the opportunities and the structural difficulties faced by women in the art world.
Four Women is curated by Lani Garms, Noémi Gottmann and Leigh Wilson, undergraduate students at the University of Aberdeen, together with Ellie Harrold, Archives and Library Assistant (graduate trainee) at the Paul Mellon Centre. The display arose out of a module titled Women Writing Art History, c.1850–1870 taught by Dr Hans Hönes, who has led this project and the display.
Display Pamphlet
A web accessible version of this document is available to download below.