Arlene Raven Feminist Analysis

Feminist criticism is often defined as a literary analysis that arises from the viewpoint of feminism, feminist theory, and/or feminist politics (Napikoski). Feminist criticism can be divided into two parts. The first type of feminist criticism revolves around the idea of the woman being the reader of male-constructed literature. This type of feminist criticism consists of the female reader focusing on stereotypes and misconceptions about women. The second type of feminist criticism concentrates on the woman being the writer. This type of feminist criticism demonstrates history, themes, genres, and structures of literature by women. In the past, it was very common for literature that had been constructed by men to be taken into consideration more than literature composed by women. Both “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and “A White Heron” by Sarah Orne Jewett were written in the 1800’s and revolved around the point of view of females. Both of these authors use symbolism in order to represent and enhance the ideas of feminism in their stories.

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?

Modernity and the Spaces of Femininity was written by Griselda Pollock in 1988, and later published in The Expanding Disclosure in 1992. Griselda Pollock is an art historian, and writes this article for fellow art historians. This is an article written to show the different approaches to femininity in the late 19th century, mainly dealing with the field of art. This article shows how during this time period there were women artists, but due to the gendered ruled ideas attached to art history, these women are largely ignored by art historians. Pollock thought that these women artists are primarily overlooked due to the fact that they are judged by the same standards that are affixed to the work of their male counterparts. But she argues

Similar to postmodern art, Faith Ringgold's work appropriates unmistakable imagery and other artistic practices to offer basic social editorial. She provokes us to consider expectations for gender and race, and in addition customary desires and estimations of what art may be. Through picture and content, Ringgold changes history to make a place for women like herself in its historical advancement.

In 1914, “Feminist Manifesto” written by Mina Loy was sent in a letter to her friend and got published in 1982 after Loy’s death. It was never published during Loy’s lifetime. Feminist Manifesto is one of Loy’s powerful feminist polemic writing, asking nineteenth century’s women to find their own identity as a women and asking men to respect women’s freedom and individuality. Loy’s sarcastic tone well appears in her text with certain fonts bolded, capitalized, underlined, and enlarged. Unlike other writers from nineteenth century, readers can see Loy’s writing as a feminist trying to persuade women and bring outcry for equalities.

I fell in love with methodologies of art history. I felt empowered in that, through my own interpretations, I could attach words and meaning to objects. My study of art history reached a turning point when, in 2012, I took a class entitled Identity in a Post-Identity Art World: Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Trans/Nationality, 1990 to the Present. The course endowed me with another lens with which to examine works and, more importantly, shed light on representations of marginalized identities. As a result, I was introduced to the writings of Judith Butler and Simone de Beauvoir, both seminal theorists who inspired my own analyses. I enjoyed every minute of conducting research and forming arguments to support my claims. Ultimately I was interested in developing my understanding of issues in contemporary art further and sought to accomplish this by engaging with a larger

Indira Bailey is a PhD student in the Department of Art Education and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies dual degree program at Pennsylvania State University. Bailey’s research interests include the relationship between African-American female artists and feminism. Ms. Bailey received her B.F.A in Illustration from Pratt Institute in New York and a MA in Educational Leadership and Supervision from Kean University in New Jersey. She is the recipient of several Fulbright Fellowships to South Africa, Japan and Morocco. Bailey exhibited her artwork in the New York tri-state area and is currently creating paintings documenting the life of Portobello, Panama from her artist residency.

Throughout the book, Janie reveals herself as a strong feminist because she searches for love that she always desired ever since she was a little girl. As stated by Zoey Neale Hurston, the author of the book, "She had been spending every minute that she could steal from her chores under that tree for the last three days. That was to say, ever since the first tiny bloom had opened. It had called her to come and gaze on a mystery” (Hurston, 11). Janie is captivated by the blooming pear tree in her nanny’s backyard and spends as much time as she can there. She was drawn to its transformation which foreshadows a transformation within herself. For Janie Crawford, it took her three marriages to fully achieve her goal of becoming a feminist. Her

The poems “The Raven” and “Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe have many similarities, as well as many differences. They have two different dates they were published. “The Raven” and “Annabel Lee” have much in common when it comes to their themes or their motifs, they also have differences in their themes. These poems are alike and unlike in imagery and figurative language. Lastly, they can be compared and contrasted in their form, structure, and their sound devices.

Art was a way for women to highlight inequality and prejudice they faced. Their art reflected the unfair treatment that endured. Though not too much feminist art was produced at this time it did pave way for activism. Frida Kahlo was a female painter who was well known for depicting feminist themes in her paintings. Some of her paintings exposed unhealthy marriages, domestic violence, and the effects they had. Though she didn’t have a feminist intent, Kahlo became a representative for the feminist movement, and many of her paintings were used as

The “Rejection Quintet” was finished in the order of “Chicago Rejection Drawing”, “Childhood Rejection Drawing”, ‘Female Rejection Drawing”, “Rejection Fantasy Drawing” and finally “Rejection Breakthrough Drawing”. The series’ exploration begins with the first line of “Chicago Rejection Drawing” which asks “How does it feel to be rejected?”. Chicago describes an exhibition her husband was having her hometown. She explains she felt a little jealous so she was interested when a friend of hers told her about a gallery owner who would possibly be willing to give Chicago a show in her hometown. Ultimately the gallery owner rejected her work and turned her down and Chicago was devastated. The second drawing in the series “Childhood Rejection Drawing” addressed the contradiction between Judy Chicago’s “rhetoric” and art. She calls it a gap and explains that the structure that masks her content stems from her time in graduate school where artists would reject her work that lacked structure. Chicago realized that she could not artistically be herself if she wanted her degree. She goes on to describe the rejection she felt from her father because he disapproved of what she exposed. ‘Female Rejection Drawing” is very profound in it she explains how male culture denies that women have separate experience. She addressed the contradiction between her art and rhetoric and explains that it comes from her attempt to use the male established art language to explain her female experience. She ends this piece with what feels like a call to action she uses anaphora to ask how many people will move forward and appreciate women? “Rejection Fantasy Drawing” describes Chicago’s fear of rejection from her mother and friend after they read her manuscript for a book she continues

Judy Chicago (artist, author, feminist and educator) has a career that now spans five decades. In the late 1960s, her inquiry into the history of women began a result of her desire to expose the truth of women’s experiences, both past and present. She still continues on a crusade to change the perception of women from our history, “Women’s history and women’s art need to become part of our cultural and intellectual heritage.” (Chicago, 2011) Through our history women - their struggles, accomplishments and contribution to history, have been overlooked, downplayed and even completely written out of a male dominated society and culture. In anthropologist Sherry Ortner’s 1974 essay “Is Female to Male as Nature Is to Culture?” she supports this view, writing “…woman is being identified with—or, if you will, seems to be a symbol of—something that every culture devalues,” (Ortner, 1974) Where Mendieta's work primarily came from a striving to belong and an understanding of where she came from, I feel that Chicago's aim was to find a place for all women, past and present in this world, starting with herself in the art world. Chicago did explore her peronal heritage in later works entitled 'Birth Project' and 'Holocaust Project'.

“Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?” 3 by Linda Nochlin explores art history to expunge this idea of women being neglected within the arts. Through the use of investigation of global events and characterizations of prior virtuosos, Nochlin is able to construe possible narratives that accumulate to why woman artists were not held up to par. Nochlin makes points in her text about, feminism, stature, upbringing, and gender roles. By using these techniques and factoids, we can now identify the masses and analyze whether some artists may be the next Leonardo Di Vinci.

Personally, I am not a feminist but i know many women who are and i support them in every way. In this case with Mina Loy’s view on Feminist i find very interesting and intriguing. My view on “Feminist Manifesto”is that Mina Loy is trying to prove a statement to the reader about how women need to start a revolution against men and prove that woman can achieve power. An example of this is when she says “Women if you want to realise yourselfs-you are on the eve of a devastating psychological upheaval- all you pet illusions must be unmasked-....” (Loy 338). I feel like this is saying how if women want to prove and make a stand for themselves be prepared for battle. The “mask” that women wear will be taken off because they will not hiding anymore

There is some disparity between the way critics and philosophers like Judith Butler view Cindy Sherman's work and the way that Cindy Sherman speaks of her photographs. It may be the disparity that exists between many modern artists, who often operate on an intuitive level, and the philosopher critics who comment upon them from a theoretical perspective or a pre-established framework. On one level, Cindy Sherman may only be playing "dress-up" (as she herself admits) in her famous History Portraits (1989-90) (Berne, 2003). On another level, however, her "dressing-up" may be indicative of a deeper problem in modern gender identity theory which is the problem of "becoming" woman (Butler, 1994) or, as Judith Butler sees it, the problem of performativity. In the History Portraits, Sherman may certainly be said to be "performing" and perhaps even attempting to "become" the male and female characters she represents in her work. Indeed, it is upon such a premise that philosopher critics and gender theorists find her work so engaging. This paper will examine Cindy Sherman and her History Portraits in relation to Judith Butler's gender theory, the portrayal of the self, and how gender identity has changed throughout the course of modern history. It will examine representations of womanhood from Romantic Idealism to Post-Modernism and will also