Women Artists

Georgia O’Keeffe was born to the parents of Francis Calyxtus O’Keeffe and Ida (Totto) O’Keeffe on November 15, 1887 near Wisconsin. Georgia was the second oldest child and by the age of ten she knew she wanted to become an artist someday. Her first aspiration was doing abstracts. She was selective about what she painted, but often times she would paint to please others and not herself. Her paintings were thought of as sexual paintings because of the way they were drawn and painted in which she would say is one’s own opinion. Georgia O’Keeffe was best known for her flower canvas and southwestern landscapes. Her husband who is a famous photographer by the name of Alfred Stieglitz used to paint nice portraits of her. She was very fond of him, they both liked what each other did as far as how they were making ends meet, and he just didn’t want her to sell any of her paintings. He would often times tell people “No” so they wouldn’t buy any of her paintings because he wanted them all to himself. She had an interest in nature and used bright colors in her paintings.

“Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has known.” -Oscar Wilde. Women are wild, sensitive, magnificent, mysterious, and above all: individual. Art’s many different medias allowed artist throughout the ages to capture women at both their strongest and most vulnerable points. It has the power to capture a woman: as a naïve, young girl clutching her brother as they are painted into a lasting portrait, a golden statue of an angel sent down to Earth to help a saved man take his first steps into an eternal life with God, to the powerful goddess, Artemis, transforming a hunter into a deer and having his hunting dogs tragically attack him. The six pieces of art chosen express the individuality of each women who has walked, walks, and will walk the earth.

Cindy Sherman, well known for her photography of her representing issues that commonly represent both the roles of being an artist, being a woman and the two combined. Sherman grew up in a large family that did not have any interest in art. Her knowledge of art growing up was very minimal until she went to college. She, then, started to paint. She quickly realized she did not like painting because of the lack of intimacy or recreation of a particular setting. She did, however love photography and started pursued an interest in that.

In the twenty first century there are a few men in this world that admits when you think of artist, you don’t typically think of women. Women rights and racism play a strong role when it comes to African American female artist. For decades’ African American woman have always had a permanent double bull’s eye on their back. Their skin and gender was their worst enemy. In the 1700 century women rights movements started to rise. But if you look up women right movements starting in the 1700 century, the face of women rights is predominantly white women. Between books and the internet, they show that it was mostly white women who helped woman rights. If we still struggle to shine light on African American Women now in the 21st century, you cannot

Have you ever looked at a piece of art and wondered how it could be based on real life, because it was just so beautiful? Well Elisabeth Vigee Le Brun was able to paint in such new and exciting ways; people were left wondering just this. Elisabeth Vigee Le Brun was a woman of many talents. In her life time she came up with new ways of painting, revolutionized fashion in France, and overcame any prejudice thinking because she was a woman. Before dying at the age of eighty-seven, she had gained the respect of women and men all across the world. Being a female artist in the eighteenth century was not easy, especially when you had to keep a career and your life together during the

There are many important women who significantly contributed to Jazz and left a legacy of women artists. In the early years of Jazz, it was considered a male professional and women who tried to be part of Jazz faced obstacles. This was from male musicians, critics, record producers, club-owners, concerts and also racism. Despite the obstacles, women forced their way to be part of Jazz and pushed for equality and visibility (“Gender Discrimination, 2014).

1985 (Figure 2) first appeared in 1985 plastered on billboards around New York City. The piece is illustrated in monochrome colours so to not distract viewers from the meaning of the poster. The harsh contrast in colours between the black writing and white background make the piece stand out and draw the attention of bypassers. Written on the artwork is a list of well-known museums in New York City and beside them is a score of how many women artists have had one-person exhibits there in the past year. The results showed that the Guggenheim, Metropolitan and Whitney museums each had zero, whilst the Modern museum had one. These results are supposed to shock the audience and make gallery curators feel a sense of guilt, that it’s clear the art world don’t appreciate women artists like they do men. Whist they are confronting the public with that truth they are also providing another critical message with this piece. The Guerrilla Girls identified these museums by first name, not out of convenience, but to make a statement, that the only museums to allow women artist some form of respect like male artist do was the ‘modern’ museum. Emphasising the fact that gender discrimination and bias nature in the art world should be in the past, and the only museum that realises and recognises this is the modern one. The poster’s main message challenges the patriarchal world of art and confronts art galleries

“Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?” was written with a passion both intense and familiar. Reading Nochlin’s words, I found myself thinking, several times, “I’d always wondered the same thing,” or “I feel the same way.” I even formulated some of my own thoughts on the subject, responding to the title question with another, asking, “What makes an artist an artist?” Upsettingly, it would seem it is not by her own choice or talent. It is decided by the world around her, including the men and “social institutions.” However, it would also appear that hope is always in reach for those who will wake up and grab it. Nochlin left us with this stirring advice:

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

In the today’s society, it may appear that women’s rights have been propelled forward by equal opportunity sanctions. However, taking a more concise look at different spectrums, such as the art world, it appears that many women are still being snubbed despite their artistic abilities. In

A review of the world’s great artists conjures familiar images: Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel; Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night; Pablo Picasso’s The Tragedy. There are many more, of course: Monet, Moya, Warhol, Rembrandt, Kandinsky. What is immediately noticeable, however, upon any brief study of art, is the significant absence of women as heralded artists—not only in our ancient pasts, but even today, amongst valiant efforts for gender equality.

(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

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.

Instead, if we look at art as the total of toleration and production and purpose, we see that there was a whole system in place that excluded women from creating the type of work that made artists like Michelangelo and Raphael famous. So, why haven't there been any great women artists? Nochlin's answer is two-fold: first, the myth of artistic genius, which has been a part of art writing since Pliny, makes it seem that anyone with true artistic gifts would naturally make

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