by Rosina Walinska

The author (center) shown at an installation of her exhibit at The Master Gallery at 310 Riverside Drive (formerly the home of the Riverside Museum)

Among other fortunes in my life, I am grateful to have been born the niece of Anna Walinska (1906-1997). In the spring of 1955, she was in the final months of a trip around the world, which included a four-month sojourn in Burma where she painted several portraits of Prime Minister U Nu. The Prime Minister had asked his personal secretary – U Thant, who would eventually become Secretary General of the United Nations – to write a letter of introduction to his friend and counterpart in India, Jawaharlal Nehru, suggesting that he too have his portrait painted by the American artist. But Nehru was traveling when my aunt arrived in India, and though she was asked to wait for his return, she said that she could not wait because she was determined to complete her trip and return to New York in time for the birth of her younger sister’s first child – me.

Many years later, after she suffered a debilitating stroke, my aunt told me that she was not afraid to die but that she needed my help. I didn’t quite understand what she meant, but 27 years after her death, it feels right that I am the one who undertook the mission of preserving and protecting her legacy. Not really knowing what to do with her life’s creations – some 2,000 works on canvas and paper – I sought advice from anyone in the art world who would speak with me (most of whom turned out to be men). The conventional wisdom I heard was that “it’s near impossible to re-emerge an artist who was not exhibiting at the time of death … especially if that artist was a woman”!

The only polite thing I can say about that is that I took it as inspiration. As I sorted through everything in her apartment, I came upon many items of interest (she saved a lot), including a good deal that documented her exhibition history. Among the treasure trove were many annual catalogues imprinted with the logo of the National Association of Women Artists. As the organization and the opportunities it provided was of obvious importance to her, It was my joy as an executor of the Walinska estate to arrange a gift of one her paintings to the NAWA collection at Rutgers’ Zimmerli Museum. Subsequently, NAWA was the beneficiary of a gift in the will of her brother, Louis Walinsky, which funded the establishment of the Anna Walinska Memorial Award.

Earlier this year, I joined a panel celebrating NAWA’s 135th anniversary, alongside Judith Brodsky, Ferris Olin, Kate Van Riper and Maria Nevelson. Maria and I also hosted a group of women on April 10, 2024, to celebrate that day in 1952 when her grandmother, Louise Nevelson, and Anna Walinska together joined NAWA.

It’s exciting to think about the role NAWA will play in the lives and careers of women artists in the years to come. I hope to be part of that.