In 1971 the art historian Linda Nochlin published a groundbreaking piece entitled “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?”, sparking further debates which carried on into the 1980s centring around the ways women have been depicted in great works of art, and how gender has affected representation.
Since the 1970s many female artists have begun creating art exploring the female body and women’s experiences and later pieces which deconstruct the idea of gender, conformity and femininity altogether. These pieces have collectively been labelled Feminist Art and consist of political messages, self expressionism and a redefinition of what is seen as traditionally feminine art, such as cross stitching and embroidery. Bringing the palette to the political, we examine the multitude of ways in which artists have created feminist and politically and socially motivated art pieces and how these have been revisited contemporarily.
Poster Girls”
One of the first feminist activist groups who sought to make an impact through their protest art was the Guerrilla Girls, who fought racism and sexism through expressing societal observations, concerns and ideals in art taking the form of posters, billboards, pamphlets, museum exhibitions and public appearances. The anonymous group is still active today, continuing to protest a lack of equality and representation in popular media, working under the motto ‘Reinventing the “F” Word: feminism!”. One of the groups earliest and most famous pieces was a thought provoking poster entitled ‘Do Women have to be naked to get into the Met. Museum’, which served to make a name for the girl group as defiers of traditional sexist rhetoric and imagery surrounding women’s bodies.
A more contemporary piece of feminist “poster style” art that has recently taken the internet by storm comes from activist artist Alex Bertulis-Fernandes, who created a piece tin retaliation to an art teacher who told her to “dial down the feminism”.
“Stitch Bitches”
Art forms such as embroidery, stitching and textile work, which have traditionally been seen as feminine media have been resurrected by feminist artists. One of the most famous pieces is Judy Chicago’s ‘Dinner Party’; a multi-media art installation consisting of ceramics, needlework, embroidery, painted china and other mediums traditionally associated with “women’s work”. The piece which was displayed as a large dinner table aimed to reclaim and commemorate the hard work of the women whose labours in the mediums displayed have gone unrecognised and the artistic value of which is under appreciated.
Other modern multi-media artists, such as Zoe Buckman have repurposed the art of embroidery and stitch to present feminist slogans and imagery. In one collection entitled ‘Every Curve’, Buckman embroidered and displayed vintage women’s lingerie reworked with feminist messages and lyrics from iconic rappers. The lingerie, acting as a window of female objection is stitched with both violent and misogynistic language, as well as more appreciative and sympathetic lyrics, giving an insight into female representation and everyday sexism.
Portrayal in Portraits
Visual portrayal of the self and of others has been a very important shaping factor in feminist art. One of the most traditional forms of art is that which captures the essence of a person, and for the feminist, traditional artworks have ignored the complexities of women. Women are represented as mother and child, innocent and naked, and disallowed the full range of emotion, personality, passion and identity given to their male counterparts.
Feminist artists such as Mary Beth Edelson and Marilyn Minter, who depicts hypersexualised portraits of real women, have aimed to shatter this so called male gaze. Edelson’s work often revisits classic artwork, revamping it with a feminist message and reimagining history more inclusive of women. Her most famous piece “Some Living American Women Artists / Last Supper”, a reimagining of Leonardo da Vinci’s iconic last supper, depicting Christ and his disciples, replacing the men with images of famous female artists to represent how women’s roles in religion have been diminished in history and excluded from popular narrative.
A more abstract approach to portraiture is taken by Carol-Anne McFarlane, who takes the traditionally over sexualised silhouette of a woman and transforms it into a black and white target, alluding to the harassment women endure daily. The piece specifically addresses the male gaze and how women are objectified and told what to do with their bodies.
It is clear that many methods which first inspired women of the art revolution have continued in use today. However regardless of wether methods and mantras change, feminist artists continue to bring use their palette, or in some cases needle, to promote powerful messages about equality, gender representation, society and politics
Lucy Young
https://trouge.com/feminist-art/