Scenes of rest have long been a generative motif for women artists, helping them to articulate complex and differing experiences of family, health and work. The Sleepers brings together works across a variety of mediums: paintings, prints and textiles, including a collaborative quilt. In their own unique way, all offer a counterpoint to the familiar artistic genre of the reclining nude, a figure that is almost always a woman. In the hands of historic male artists, such as Giorgione’s Sleeping Venus (c.1510), the pose carries associations and projections of idealised sensuality and passivity. In this exhibition, we see work made by women artists on their own terms.

Taking its name from one of the three prints on display by wood engraver and painter Gwen Raverat (1885–1957), an artist for whom the sleeping subject became an enduring theme, The Sleepers surveys works by 12 artists to explore why sleeping, dreaming and resting have been depicted by women artists. It also asks us to consider who has access to these vital moments of relief and respite.

This exhibition and its accompanying programme and booklet aims to unpack the differing relationships between women and rest, and consider how they inform our understandings of time, labour and care. The Sleepers is curated by Laura Moseley, Assistant Curator, The Women’s Art Collection, Murray Edwards College, Cambridge.