Her Brush, Her Story: Women Watercolorists

June 21 – August 17, 2025

Drawn from the permanent collection of the Reading Public Museum, this exhibit gathers over forty watercolors from the late nineteenth century through contemporary times in the Works on Paper Gallery. The medium of watercolor was traditionally associated with women painters because it was clean, light, inexpensive, widely available and could be taught as a pastime in the home or at school. However, the artists featured in this exhibition broke out of that traditional mold, becoming teachers in art schools and universities, exhibiting regularly in museum exhibitions, and building successful careers.

The exhibit features landscapes, still lifes, portraits, cityscapes, and industrial scenes. Works by women with national reputations like artist/illustrator Cynthia Iliff (1907 – 1998), Ethelyn Pratt Cobb (1884 – 1973), and Irene Aunio (1919 –2000), as well as artists who have local ties to Reading and southeastern Pennsylvania like Mary Baer Hiester (1872 – 1946), Mary B. Leisz (1876 – 1935), and Hazel Feltman (1916 – 1980), and Elizabeth Hurwitz (1903 –1975), among others, will be examined.