A new commercial contemporary art gallery in Melbourne dedicated entirely to women artists, Finkelstein Gallery, will open its first exhibition this week.

Located in Prahran, Finkelstein Gallery was founded by art consultant and advocate Lisa Fehily, who was inspired by the underrepresentation of female artists in Australia and by the #5womenartists campaign initiated in 2016 by the National Museum for Women in the Arts in Washington DC, which asked people if they could name five women artists.

Lisa Fehily, owner of Finkelstein Gallery. Photograph supplied

“After working with artists for many years, I have been witness to female artists being overlooked, not being put forward for important exhibitions and institutions predominantly considering male artists for collections”, said Fehily, citing recent statistics from The Countess Report that found that in 2014 women represented only 40 percent of artists shown in Australian commercial galleries and 34 percent in state museums, despite making up 75 percent of art school graduates.

With the hope of nurturing and developing the careers of both emerging and well-established artists, Fehily has selected a group of 10 artists – Australians Cigdem Aydemir, Lisa Roet, Louise Paramor, Monika Behrens, Kate Rohde, Kate Baker, Deborah Kelly...