Marta Magdalena Abakanowicz was born in Falenty, Poland to a noble landowner family. When she was 9 years old, Nazi Germany occupied Poland, and the family moved to Warsaw and became involved in the Polish resistance. At 19, Abakanowicz began her art education. At the time, Poland was under Soviet control, which outlawed and censored every form of art except Socialist realism, characterized by depicting the utopianism of communism using images of nature, industry, and the human body. She was required to learn textile design, fiber design, screen printing. Techniques she will use later in her career. In 1954, after receiving her degree at 24, Abakanowicz began to work on her art while supporting herself by designing material for ties at a silk factory. In the late 1950s, she created her first series of large watercolors and gouaches obliged to the Communist standard of art. During this period, Poland had a social and cultural change that liberated the soviet form of art and exposed Abakanowicz to western art. Influenced by Constructivism, her work became more structured and geometric. Exploring her own artistic language, Abakanowicz started weaving as an art form. In 1960, at the age of 30, she had her first solo exhibit presenting a series of weaving alongside a collection of watercolors and gouaches works. The Polish textile and fiber design movement have embraced Abakanowicz, and she was included in the first Biennale Internationale de la Tapisserie in Switzerland. By the end of the 1960s, Abakanowicz has developed her own weaving technique, expressed in her work series, Abakans – a three-dimensional fiber work. In the following decade, she created huge figurative textile sculptures of headless human figures made with sackcloth sewed together with synthetic resins. Afterward, she received various public commissions and expanded her material use, working with metals, stone, wood, and clay. In 1989, at the age of 59, Abakanowicz presented her most political work – War Games, a series of tree trunks placed on metal frames, bandaged with rags, and trapped in steel hoops. At 76, she installed her final piece, Agora, located in Chicago’s Grant Park. The installation consists of more than 100 nine feet tall iron headless figures. Abakanowicz’s art has been autobiographical, influenced by her experiences growing up during WW2 and under the Soviet regime. Her ambiguous sculptures are reflecting various conditions of humanity from a specific historical perspective. Throughout her career, she had more than 40 solo exhibitions worldwide, including at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in Madrid, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC, and the Museum Sonje in Korea. Abakanowicz died at the age of 86. Read more...

Elizabeth Marie Tall Chief was born in the Osage reservation in Fairfax, Oklahoma. Her father was a member of the Osage Nation, and her mother was of Scottish-Irish descent. Her mother grew up in poverty and had to give up her dream to be a dancer, so she encouraged her two daughters to study ballet since they were young. At the age of 8, the family moved to Los Angeles, CA, to get her and her siblings into Hollywood musicals. There, she continued to learn ballet, as well as Spanish dancing, tap, and acrobatics. At the age of 12, she got accepted to Bronislava Nijinska’s studio, where she decided to become a professional ballerina. After graduating high school, Tallchief wanted to go to college, but her father refused to pay for it, stating that its time to find a job in dancing. She landed minor dancing roles in numerous movies, such as Presenting Lily Mars, starring Judy Garland. But this was not enough for her, so she moved to NYC. She applied to every dancing company in the city, rejected over and over again because of her Native American ancestry. Finally, she was accepted as an apprentice at Serge Denham’s company, not because of her skill but because of her passport allowing her to travel abroad. After a few months, she was promoted to a member dancer, replacing a dancer who left the company. On her first day as a company member, her former chronograph from LA who arrived in NYC to work with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo called to cast her as the first understudy for the lead role at Chopin Concerto. Soon, Tallchief received more and more parts, and within a year, she got promoted to the lead role. In her second year with the company, she received a solo in Le Beau Danube and was cast as the lead in Ancient Russia. Between tours, Tallchief took classes at the School of American Ballet, and on tours she studied from her experienced colleagues, practicing whenever she could, earning a name as a hard and dedicated worker. In 1944, the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo hired the renowned choreographer George Balanchine for the company’s production of the Song of Norway, in which 19 years old Tallchief received a solo and was appointed as the understudy of the company’s Prima Ballerina. Recognizing her rare talent, Balanchine cast her in larger roles, such as part of a pas de trois (a three dancers act) in numerous productions, including Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme and Danses Concertantes. Under Balanchine’s leadership, Tallchief became a featured soloist, and she created and performed the Coquette in Night Shadow, the most technically challenging of the ballet. The relationship between Tallchief and her choreographer was strictly professional, and over time they became friends. In 1946 Balanchine surprised Tallchief with a marriage proposal, and the couple got married, she was 21, and he was 42. Though their marriage lasted only five years, the duo continued to work together for ten more years. In 1947, at the age of 22, Tallchief left Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo and joined Balanchine in his new production for the Paris Opera Ballet in France. There, she was cast in the lead roles in Le Baiser de la fée and Apollo and made history as the first American to perform with the prestigious French company. On their return to NYC, Tallchief was named first prima ballerina of the newly formed New York City Ballet, a title she held for 13 years. During this period, Balanchine created roles specifically for her, such as the Swan Queen Swan Lake and the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker, in which her performance established the ballet as the Christmas classic it is today. Tallchief’s dance style was revolutionary at the time and was characterized by technical abilities, athleticism, and precise footwork. She became known for dazzling the audience with her “electrifying passion.” As the first major Prima ballerina in the US, ballet companies from all around the world wanted to work with her. And in addition to the New York City Ballet, Tallchief performed with other notable companies, including the San Francisco Ballet, the Chicago Opera Ballet, the Hamburg Ballet, and the Royal Danish Ballet. In 1960, at the age of 35, Tallchief left the New York City Ballet and joined the American Ballet Theatre as a prima ballerina. In that same year, she became the first American dancer to perform at the famed Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. She continued to perform throughout the world and made guest appearances with various symphony orchestras. In 1966, at 41, she retired from dancing and moved to Chicago. There, she worked as a ballet instructor, served as artistic director for the Lyric Opera Ballet, and founded its ballet school. In 1981, Tallchief and her sister founded the Chicago City Ballet, where she served as the company’s co-artistic director (in 1987 the ballet was closed due to financial issues). Throughout her life, Tallchief frequently spoke against discrimination and stereotypes toward Native Americans. She served as director of the Indian Council Fire Achievement Award and was actively involved with America for Indian Opportunity. Tallchief died at the age of 88 from complications of a hip injury. Read more...

Natalie de Blois was born in Paterson, New Jersey, her father was a civil engineer, and her mother was a teacher. From an early age, she had an interest in buildings, and by the age of 10, she decided to become an architect. In junior high school, she refused to participate in a cooking and sewing class mandatory for girls. instead, with her parents’ support, she took mechanical drawing classes, the only girl in the class. After high school, she attended the Western College for Women for a year, which allowed her to enroll in architecture studies at Columbia University. To pay for her tuition, she worked as a draftsperson and taught drafting to fellow students. At 23, de Blois moved to NYC and began working at Ketchum, Gina, and Sharpe, but was fired nine months later because she rejected one of her male colleagues’ courting. She then joined Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill (SOM), where she started at the technical lettering and later became the first woman at the firm to hold the senior designer position. Her first lead project was the Terrace Plaza Hotel in Cincinnati, which received national publicity for its modernism. Afterward, she was assigned to various major projects, including the Union Carbide Building, the Pepsi building, and the Connecticut General campus. Although she had great success and gain respect from other architects, she still suffered from harsh sexism, been excluded from office lunches, and even once asked not to attend a ribbon-cutting ceremony because “she looked pregnant.” At 42, de Blois got divorced and moved with her four sons to Chicago to work at the local branch of SOM. Within two years, she was named an associate partner. As a woman surrounded by men, as well as a single mother, de Blois was well aware of the bias against female architects, and in 1973 she co-founded the Chicago Women in Architecture – an organization that advances the status of women in the profession. Throughout her career, she spoke out of the importance of recognizing women as just architects, rather than “female architects,” and she promoted an initiative for the American Institute of Architects to interview female students across the country. At the age of 54, she moved to Houston, Texas, where she joined Neuhaus & Taylor firm. Her largest project there was the Fifth Avenue Plaza in downtown Seattle, which at the time was the tallest private office building in the city. A few years later, she began teaching at the University of Texas School of Architecture as a faculty member. In 1993, at the age of 72, she retired from teaching. A year later, she also gave up the practice and returned to Chicago. She passed away when she was 92 years old. Read more...

Annie Swan Coburn was born in Fremont, Illinois, and by the age of 15, she moved with her family to Chicago. At 24, she married Larned Coburn, a patent lawyer and the co-founder of the Union League Club of Chicago. When her husband died in 1910, Coburn moved to an apartment in the Blackstone Hotel, where she lived for more than 20 years. At that time, she began collecting art, especially by French Impressionist painters such as Renoir, Monet, and van Gogh. She exhibited her collection in her hotel suite, in every available space she had. She had drawers loaded with fine art, masterpieces stacked on the chairs, and famous artwork leaning against the walls. Curators and reporters from all over the world came to the hotel to see her art collection. Upon her death, she donated her fortune of $500,000 and hundreds of artworks to various art institutes, including the Fogg Museum at Harvard University, Smith College, and the Art Institute of Chicago, where her contribution became the core of its Impressionist painting collection. Read more...

Jeanne Gang was born and raised in Belvidere, Illinois. As a child, she traveled with her father, who designed roads and bridges, to see big bridges and observe how they merged with the landscape. At age 22, after earning a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the University of Illinois, she continued her studying abroad, first at the ETH Swiss Federal University of Technical Studies in Zurich, Switzerland, and then at the École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Versailles in Versailles, France. Returning to the US, she enrolled at Harvard Graduate School of Design, from which she graduated with Distinction. At age 29, she moved to Rotterdam, Netherlands, for a few years to work with the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas at the Office for Metropolitan Architecture. There she met her future husband. At 33, she established Studio Gang for architecture and urban design in Chicago. Not long after, the practice branched out to NYC, San Francisco, and Paris, working on projects all over the world. In her work, she incorporates individuals, communities, and environments. She explores the impact of the design on its surroundings while using ecology materials, and new technologies, foresaw the effect it will have on society. Her projects located all over the world and range from residential towers to cultural centers. Among them are the Writers Theatre in Glencoe, Illinois, the Aqua Tower in Chicago, the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership at Kalamazoo College in Kalamazoo, Michigan, the Q Residences in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and the One Delisle in Toronto, Canada. Read more...

Born in Chicago, Illinois. At the age of 9, the family relocated to Düsseldorf, Germany, until she attended high school. After her graduation, she enrolled to study Architecture at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. At 22, a week after receiving her degree, she and her husband joined the US Peace Corps, assisting in the preservation and protection of Costa Rica’s national parks. Coming back to Chicago, she was hired by the architectural firm Holabird and Root, where she worked on the Glendale Heights Post Office, for which she received multiple awards. At the age of 24, she co-founded the Chicago Women in Architecture and served as its first president. In 1981, she started her practice, followed by clients from her old firm. A couple of years later, during her studies for a master’s degree in Architecture, she was awarded a fellowship that allowed her to travel to Europe, exploring post-war rebuilding and planning of various cities. In 1997, she was chosen to design the Oklahoma City Federal Building and became the first female architect to lead a federal building commission. Her approach to architecture is that excellent design is not a privilege but a right, and her work is known for being innovative, sustainable, and accessible for all. It is shown in her design of the Chicago RiverWalk – a pedestrian waterfront located on the Chicago River. She created an urban park that connects the city to the river, and with the terraces and benches, she provided a green refuge from the city’s intensity . Barney is also a Professor of Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology, teaching advanced design studio, and serving on the College of Architecture Board of Overseers. Read more...

Sophia Gregoria Hayden was born in Santiago, Chile to a New England father, and South American mother. As a young girl, she moved to live with her grandparents in Boston’s Jamaica Plain. In 1890 she became the first woman to receive her Architecture Degree with honors from MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). Her thesis was designing fine arts museum. As one of the first woman-architects, it was difficult for her to find work in the profession and so she settled for a position as a technical drawing teacher at a school. A year after her graduation she was one of 13 female architects to participate in a competition for the Pavilion of Women in the 1893 World Exhibition (World’s Columbian Exposition) in Chicago. Hayden was only 21 when she won the competition and was commissioned to design the three-story building. The fame came along with a challenging task. As a fresh graduate with no practical experience, she was forced to navigate the pressure and demands of changes from the Expo committee. Her fee for the project was tenth of what male architects received for equivalent work. Despite the challenges, Women’s Building was the first one finished in the Expo, in 1892. The building was temporary, and after it she never practiced architecture again. In 1900 she married painter William Blackstone Bennett and lived the rest of her life in Winthrop, Massachusetts.     The Women’s Building which Hayden designed in 1892 for the World’s Columbian Exposition – WWP Read more...