Can you name five women artist? If you were to ask anyone this question, the likely answer is probably no. Perhaps they are able to name one or two but, five seems like a long shot. In our society woman artist are not rare but to know of them is. History doesn't shed a light on the wonderful women artist in the past nor do we even talk about them now. The only way you are to learn about these women is if you take an art history class that solely talks about them. As the years go by women artist are starting to be more acceptable. This sounds like it’s a great revelation but even if something is acceptable it doesn't mean it’s given its recognition. For example if you were to go to a museum you wouldn't find that many women artist work on display there. What you will find is nude representation of women because they were paintings made by a male artist. According to the Guerrilla girls only 11% of artist in the Museum of fine arts are women. That’s rather harsh considering the amount of women artist that are all around the world. Women are starting to get their recognition although its sort of a slow start if you ask me.
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| The Dinner Party, Judy Chicago |
The Brooklyn Museum in New York has a floor solely for feminist art. This floor is called the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art. As a result of this center I’m pretty positive that even without taking an art “history/Herstory” class one should now be able to name five women artist. Women art works that are displayed in this center has so many different meanings but something that they all have in common is women being portrayed as powerful and independent. For example The Judy Chicago exhibition entitled “The Dinner Party” brings together so many different woman artists. Judy Chicago’s Dinner Party is a massive work of art. On her website it states “The Dinner Party is a monumental work of art, triangular in configuration, that employs numerous media, including ceramics, china-painting, and an array of needle and fiber techniques, to honor the history of women in Western Civilization.” It is basically, well there is not anything basic about this piece but it is a huge triangular table that is covered by a white linen cloth. On this table there are various dinner plates, thirty nine to be exact. Each different plate serves has a commemoration of various women artist throughout history.
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| Self Portrait,Anna Maria Van Schurman 1640. |
There were various women but two women that she celebrated stood out to me; Anna Maria van Schurman and Georgia O'Keefee. Anna Maria van Schurman was a woman of many talents. She was an intellectual, an artist, and an author.She was the very first woman allowed to attend classes at a Dutch university. She painted various self-portraits. Her self-portrait that she painted in 1640, she used engravings and etching. In that self-portrait she is seen wearing lace dress and it is as if she herself is staring at something behind the viewer. The fact that she was the first woman to be accepted into a Dutch university means that she was that light in the darkness for many women who wanted to get and education but couldn't. She was independent and powerful.
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| Cow's Skull with Calico Roses, Georgia O'Keeffe 1931. |
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| Black Iris III, Georgia O'Keeffe 1926 |
Georgia O’Keeffe is another strong independent woman that Judy Chicago celebrated. Georgia painted landscapes, bones, flowers and other objects found around her studio. Around the 1930’s while she was traveling to new Mexico, O’Keeffe, painted the many different sceneries that she saw. According to a dedicated to O’Keeffe someone stated “Many claim that the images which Georgia O'Keeffe created when painting flowers, was work which was highly sexual, and many went as far as to say it was an erotic art form". For example her 1926 painting “Black Iris III” strongly resembles a female’s vagina. Even her 1931 painting “Cow’s Skull with Calico Roses” resembles a female’s vagina. One can only imagine the criticism that Georgia faced with those painting. O’Keefe is probably one of the most well-known woman artist in our society. She was very out spoken about our patriarchal society. The Guerilla Girls quoted her “ the men liked to put me down as the best woman painter. I think I’m one of the best painters” Guerilla Girls 75). This just simply means that why must she be grouped into the category as woman artist why can’t she be considered just an artist. As one can see Georgia was so amazing at what she did that even her male counterparts recognized her talent.
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Eyes of Time, Chitra Ganesh, 2014.
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Drawing inspiration from Judy Chicago’s “The Dinner Party”, Chitra Ganesh created various art works about the Hindu goddess of destruction and rebirth, Kali. Her Exhibition is also found in the Brooklyn museum. According to Ganesh herself in her personal statement on her website states, “She is widely recognized for her experimental use of comic and large-scale narrative forms to communicate submerged histories and alternate articulations of femininity to a broader”. Ganesh is a perfect example of a woman artist who’s independence and creativity allowed her to create art work that represented women has strong and powerful. This of course is because she herself is strong and powerful.
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Installation view of Cosmic Butterflies in Tradition, Trauma, Transformation: Representations of Women Chitra Ganesh, Nalini
Malani, Nilima Sheikh 2011. |
Lastly I want to mention the artist Judith Scott. Judith Scott was born with Down syndrome, and was deaf and mute. Judith did not let her disabilities stop her from being an artist. I am sure Judy Chicago would consider her a strong and independent woman. Judith had an exhibition at the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art also. It was titled, “Bound and Unbound”. According to the curator Catherine J. Morris, “Bound and Unbound critiques the long, unresolved, and losing struggle to categorize and quantify art by people with disabilities into a discrete school or movement, intentionally removed from the larger frames of social and cultural history” (Catherine J Morris). Judith is an outstanding artist and her work shows exactly that. These women were just five of many women artist out there you just have to look for them.
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| Bound and Unbound, Judith Scott, 2014. |
Works Cited
The Guerrilla Girl's Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art. New York: Penguin Group, 1998. Print.
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