Ana Mendieta Feminist Art Analysis

During, the 1960s and 70s American Feminist Movement, women had begun to protest for the same human rights as men. The main areas of protest in The United States of America were Boston, Los Angeles, and New York City. There were many ways to protest, including writing, art, and organizations. There were many writers who wrote about feminism during this time, some include Betty Friedan, Robin Morgan, and Kate Millett. Art also encouraged feminism, specifically the paintings by Judy Chicago and Miriam Schapiro. There were many feminist groups that protested for equal rights, some of which were The National Black Feminist Organization, The National Organization For Women, Bread and Roses, and The Chicago Women's Liberation Union. In the 1960s and 70s,

In 1971, Linda Nochlin issued her article “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists? This idea of aesthetic genius, says Nochlin, is fiction. Art is rarely produced entirely by the artist for the idea of personal expression. Few identifiers in contemporary art have been as fraught as the term feminist art. What does it mean, who defines it, and how does it relate to past accomplishments of the feminist movement?

The question of “why feminism?” has been presented to a number of female artists who deal with strong constructions of gender in their work. The answer, overwhelmingly, has been the desire to modify stereotypes about women that have prevailed in male-dominated art history. In the 1960’s, women who explored “feminist” issues in their art were criticized, causing mass mobilization and conscious raising as to what, exactly, was the purpose of feminist art (Crowell, 1991). Since that time, women have been trying desperately to overturn the art world and rescind the traditional stereotypes and images that have plagued them. Feminist artists created somewhat of a unified front during that

(Millhouse, 2011) In the 1980’s Pollock’s Feminism “critiqued the essential myths of individualism, the artist, and the social constructions of femininity and masculinity that define bourgeois culture”. While the 70’s feminism movement aim was to stand next to the existing masculine dominated culture. “Feminism's encounter with the canon has been complexed and many-leveled: political ,ideology,mythological,methodological and psycho-symbolic” (Pollock, 1999). The 1970’s movement was followed by the immediate task which was “the need to rectify the gaps in historical knowledge created by the consistent omission of women of all cultures from the history of art” (Pollock, 1999). The only art that was put on display was significantly male dominated work, if you wanted to see work created by women, you would have to view them “in a basement or storeroom of a national gallery” (Pollock, 1999). Female artists are only known in their own category of female artists while male artists don’t require a separate category . Art that is created by females have been historically dismissed from the art historical canon as craft, as opposed to fine art. The evident of

Analyzing the ways in which a piece of literature includes feminist ideologies can bring out the potential messages that the creators of these productions were attempting to portray, while allowing the reader to critique the literature from a feminist perspective.

As women’s role in society increased throughout history, a feminist movement started to evolve. Some periods in history however, reached little improvement in women’s rights, especially in England. These women pushing for the same rights as their male counterparts believe they should not be treated differently as their male counterparts. Margaret Harrison advocates the feminist movement through her lifetime from her paintings and by forming art organizations.

Women artists faced many prejudices in the art world. From being allowed only in some art academies to creating positive depictions of women in their art outside of the male gaze, women artists all reacted differently to the goal of representation. Depictions of women in artwork, especially by men, tended to be highly sexualized images, often objectifying the female body through nudity and scandalous positions. In the 1920’s, women began fighting for their rights more tenaciously with the continued pressure by The Suffragettes, an organized women’s group that advocated for a women’s right to vote founded in 1909. The group advocated more fiercely in the interwar period, demonstrating the feminist and more outspoken views of women at the time. Women were ready to take a stand.

How do the works of Yasumasa Morimura, Julie Rrap and Anne Zahalka challenge conventional ways in which gender has been depicted historically in the visual arts?

The role of women have had an influence on art as well by opening up the softer more motherly side of art that men may not necessarily be able to tap into. The way that some see women’s art work is a softer more flowing piece. Buildings have a softer line while men design them with edges, sharp points, and more eye catching details. Photography is more sunsets, animals, insects, or landscape pictures as if they want to catch life as it is happing naturally where there is no human interaction.

It gives the audience an ultimate insight into the world of a female during the time portrayed. It shows the clothing worn, the position they are stood in and the facial expressions they wear. It shows things as they are without too much distortion. For example in Tracy Moffet’s artwork “useless,1974” the artwork shows a woman wearing 70’s style clothing, stood in a sort of dominated nature , washing the lights of a car while wearing quite a resentful face. Accompanied by the caption “ Her father’s name for her was ‘useless’ ” we are able to see a woman in a period of great feminine oppression, forced to wash a car for a man who considers her to be useless. This kind of irony shows the insignificance thought to be surrounding women during this time.

Throughout history many artistic works have been deemed "great" and many individuals have been labeled "masters" of the discipline. The question of who creates art and how is it to be classified as great or greater than another has commonly been addressed by scholars and historians. The last quarter of the 20th century has reexamined these questions based on the assertions that no women artists have ever created or been appreciated to the level of "greatness" that perpetually befalls their male counterparts. The position that society has institutionalized on women as unable to be anything but subordinate and unexpressive is a major contributor to this claim. Giving a brief history of gender discrimination in the art

Although Patterson formulates a solid argument about how visual art spread so quickly, she weakens it by producing unsupported claims. Patterson inaccurately presented awareness provided by visual art as a good way to combat the violence, and also did not provide enough evidence to accurately state that people saw feminicide and human rights as one. Overall, Patterson weakens her argument about visual art spreading feminicide awareness by adding on information she doesn’t give evidence for.

Late 1906s and early 70s was the next wave in the feminist movement. Taking social views and gender roles head on. The role of women was being redefined within America. After en forcing women to be domestic, the stigma of a woman in the workplace was being pushed. During the 1960s, women were determined to seek equal opportunities, in pay and work within society. Women began to speak out and be respected as they challenged traditions. Finally in the 1980s, the biggest battles were won. Women were accepted into colleges and in the workplace, all of which were reflected in media.

After eliminating all the social media links and donation pages of any of the NGO I have checked, there is hardly any other outlinks to any other groups or NGOs. This maybe due to the fact that I am checking webpages, not a blogs. Therefore, It was hard to form a network, even though I know most of these groups are connected through their facebook pages. However, Most of these groups, which usually belongs to a larger, national organization is linked to a larger organization that operate nationwide. For example, The Feminist Art Project -Baltimore, is linked to TFAP which is located in Rutgers University in New Jersey.

Feminism was a cultural movement born in the late nineteenth century, following the booming of the Industrial Revolution and the formation of diverse social ideologies. Feminism originated in France and then was gradually introduced to other countries such a the United Kingdom and the United States. Feminism was officially introduced into China during the May Fourth Movement and Feminist Art rose up in the Chinese contemporary art scene around 1990s.