With all the attention on Paris during the 2024 Summer Olympic Games, how about adding to the excitement with a few "Olympian" women in the arts? Google Arts and Culture has a wonderful presentation called Brilliant Exiles put together by  Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery. 

As the introduction states, "During the early twentieth century, Paris was the destination of choice for talented, independent American women who were determined to move beyond the limitations that restricted them at home. Many used their newfound liberty as an opportunity for self-reinvention and discovery."

You'll find artists, writers, dancers, singers, and more here. Learn about their impact on the arts and their experience of freedom from racism and misogyny in Paris in those early years of the 20th century.

After viewing the presentation, students could pick one woman and search for primary sources on loc.gov. And if you're really planning ahead, how could you use Brilliant Exiles during Women's History Month?

Lois [Mailou] Jones Fine Exhibit, The guardian (Boston, Mass.), February 4, 1939

Lois Maillou Jones Self Portrait from Brilliant Exiles

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