Feminist Art by Alison Wood https://padlet.com/alirwood12/bpbr7csro05uute1 Judy Chicago and the Guerrilla Girls en-us 2021-04-10 20:03:53 UTC 2025-11-09 04:52:42 UTC hello@padlet.com Definition alirwood12 https://padlet.com/alirwood12/bpbr7csro05uute1/wish/1403270046 Feminist art came about in the 1960s. Modernism had established that art was more than just a visual aesthetic--it was now about how the viewer interacted with the art, and how they interpreted it. Feminist art relied on that, as artists in this movement sought to introduce the female point of view. Because women had previously not been included in the art world, feminist artists had to be creative to get their work out there, and this included alternative venues and really unusual, creative mediums, like textiles, performance, and video. Feminist art can seem quite disjointed, as works in this movement don't all fall under one description. Instead, it's a variety of mediums all with the same goal: to promote the need for gender equality, and to make the female experience more visible. 

According to arthistoryarchive.com, feminist art has these two objectives:

1. How is a woman's gaze different from a man's? How does that difference influence the ways in which the two genders view the world? And how they view art?

2. What constitutes obscenity and pornography? Where do they come from? What are their results? Are they always transgressive? What place do they have in art?


Here's a great overview of the movement:
]]> 2021-04-10 23:22:38 UTC https://padlet.com/alirwood12/bpbr7csro05uute1/wish/1403270046 Influences alirwood12 https://padlet.com/alirwood12/bpbr7csro05uute1/wish/1403277236 After the horrors of WWI and WWII, there was a push for greater peace and equality, including anti-war demonstrations and civil and queer rights movements. The movement that had the greatest effect on feminist art, however, was second-wave feminism, caused in large part by the availability of oral contraceptives. This greater awareness of gender inequality caused feminists to push back against the male-dominated art world at a time when it was often treated like a boy's club and encouraged drinking and womanizing. Feminist art was a way to bring attention to women's accomplishments, and their push for equality.]]> 2021-04-10 23:31:20 UTC https://padlet.com/alirwood12/bpbr7csro05uute1/wish/1403277236 Judy Chicago alirwood12 https://padlet.com/alirwood12/bpbr7csro05uute1/wish/1403283944 The feminist art movement was pioneered by Judy Chicago. Chicago worked at the art department at California State University, and created a unique program for women called the Feminist Art Program. See Chicago's website and bio here:
https://www.judychicago.com/about/biography/

Her most well-known work, The Dinner Party, was created in 1974 with the help of hundreds of volunteers. The Dinner Party is a gigantic, triangular table, measuring about 48 feet on each side. It's meant to commemorate women's accomplishments, providing the long-denied "seat at the table." The table settings include places for Hatshepsut, Emily Dickinson, Susan B. Anthony, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. This website provides a more in-depth explanation: 


]]> 2021-04-10 23:40:47 UTC https://padlet.com/alirwood12/bpbr7csro05uute1/wish/1403283944 Guerrilla Girls alirwood12 https://padlet.com/alirwood12/bpbr7csro05uute1/wish/1403322821 The Guerrilla Girls is a New York-based group of feminist artists that was founded in 1985. According to their website, they are seeking to expose ethnic and gender biases using art. In an effort to keep the focus off of their identities and physical appearances, they wear gorilla masks in public and attempt to stay entirely anonymous.

Here is an awesome list published by the Guerrilla Girls in 1989 entitled "The Advantages of Being a Woman Artist:"

- Working without the pressure of success.
- Not having to be in shows with men.
- Having an escape from the art world in your 4 free-lance jobs.
- Knowing your career might pick up after you're eighty.
- Being reassured that whatever kind of art you make it will be labeled feminine.
- Not being stuck in a tenured teaching position.
- Seeing your ideas live on in the work of others.
- Having the opportunity to choose between career and motherhood.
- Not having to choke on those big cigars or paint in Italian suits.
- Having more time to work when your mate dumps you for someone younger.
- Being included in revised versions of art history.
- Not having to undergo the embarrassment of being called a genius.
- Getting your picture in the art magazines wearing a gorilla suit.
]]> 2021-04-11 00:37:00 UTC https://padlet.com/alirwood12/bpbr7csro05uute1/wish/1403322821 Guerrilla Girls Today alirwood12 https://padlet.com/alirwood12/bpbr7csro05uute1/wish/1403337198 Today, the Guerrilla Girls still fight for female artists to be recognized and appreciated. One of their exhibits shows the back of a nude female wearing a gorilla mask, and has the provocative caption "do women have to be naked to get into the Met. Museum?" The exhibition goes on to explain that "less than 4% of the artists in the Modern Art section are women, but 76% of the nudes are female."

Another work reads "Dear Art Museum: Art is expensive! So is constructing new buildings! We totally get why you can't pay all your employees a living wage!"]]> 2021-04-11 00:57:07 UTC https://padlet.com/alirwood12/bpbr7csro05uute1/wish/1403337198 "Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists? alirwood12 https://padlet.com/alirwood12/bpbr7csro05uute1/wish/1403447668 Another contributor to the beginning of the feminist art movement Linda Nochlin, who in 1971 published an essay entitled "Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?"

Nochlin's essay attacks the institution rather than the individual. She pushes back against the idea that women are incapable of greatness, but also against the idea that women have done great things and are simply underappreciated. In a very Virginia Woolf-esque move, she posits that women haven't had the opportunity to do anything great. See the whole essay here:]]> 2021-04-11 03:32:09 UTC https://padlet.com/alirwood12/bpbr7csro05uute1/wish/1403447668 Mary Beth Edelson alirwood12 https://padlet.com/alirwood12/bpbr7csro05uute1/wish/1403457252 Mary Beth Edelson founded the United States' first Conference for Women in the Visual Arts in Washington, D.C., and fought to get women's art into famous exhibits.

She created what is widely considered her most famous piece in 1972, and it was entitled Some Living American Women Artists / Last Supper. She took an image of Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper and attached the heads of talented female artists to the body and shoulders of the disciples. By putting women in what was traditionally thought to be a male-only space, Edelson opened up a conversation about the art world being a traditionally toxic, male-dominated world.

The female heads that cover the disciples include Lynda Benglis, Louise Bourgeois, Elaine de Kooning, Helen Frankenthaler, Nancy Graves, Lila Katzen, Lee Krasner, Georgia O'Keeffe, Louise Nevelson, Yoko Ono M. C. Richards, Alma Thomas, and June Wayne. Additionally, famous female heads surround and frame the picture.]]> 2021-04-11 03:45:49 UTC https://padlet.com/alirwood12/bpbr7csro05uute1/wish/1403457252 Miriam Schapiro alirwood12 https://padlet.com/alirwood12/bpbr7csro05uute1/wish/1403474338 Miriam Schapiro was a colleague of Judy Chicago, and helped found the Feminist Art Program. She collaborated with Chicago once more when they created the Womanhouse, a rundown Hollywood house that displayed art done by women.

Schapiro dabbled in what she called "femmage," an art form that used typically domestic materials, including fabric, cloth, and paint. Below is an example of femmage, entitled the Beauty of Summer and made with fabric and acrylic:]]> 2021-04-11 04:10:01 UTC https://padlet.com/alirwood12/bpbr7csro05uute1/wish/1403474338