eLecture: Feminism in the Arts

Feminist Art as a Movement
The feminist art movement was an international effort that began in the late 1960’s. Although the movement thrived in the 1970’s, the feminist art movement still survives today. The movement refers to feminist artists who create art that reflects the lives and experiences of women and betters the way in which society receives the female gender. Feminist art explores an important question: what makes women and woman artists different from men and the art they produce? Feminist artists have tried to escape the male-dominated society they feel has been established both throughout the art world and the rest of society.

Judy Chicago
Judy Chicago. has been one of the pioneers of the feminist art movement. Chicago is a trained artist who received both her BA and MA from UCLA, in painting and sculpture. She founded the first feminist art program at California State University, Fresno, in 1970. In Fresno, Chicago and fifteen of her female students helped pave the way for and shape the feminist art movement in its earliest stages. Chicago then went on to found the feminist art program, with Miriam Schapiro, in Los Angeles and in 1972 helped create the installation, WomanHouse – one of the first ever feminist art exhibitions ("Judy chicago," 2009).

The Dinner Party (1974-79). is one of Chicago’s most famous feminist works. It is a permanent installation consisting of a triangular shaped dinner party with thirty-nine place settings, each commemorating an important woman from history. The table is adorned with runners, chalices and plates and encompasses a vulva and butterfly motif. In addition to the thirty-nine woman commemorated on the table, there are an additional 999 names of women engraved into the tile floor ("Judy chicago," 2009).

The Dinner Party; Judy Chicago; 1974-79; Mixed Media:
Ceramic, Porcelain, Tile; Brooklyn Museum

Annie Leibovitz
Annie Leibovitz. originally started her college career as a painter; however, after a summer vacation to Japan, realized her love of photography and quickly changed majors. Leibovitz has quite an impressive career. In 1970, she was given her first assignment for Rolling Stone magazine: shoot John Lennon. In 1972, Leibovitz was named chief photographer of Rolling Stone magazine. While shooting for Rolling Stone, Leibovitz captured some of her most famous images, including a nude John Lennon curled up with a clothed Yoko Ono. The very day Leibovitz captured this image, Lennon was shot outside his apartment in New York City (Somerstein, 2009).

In 1983, Leibovitz began shooting for Vanity Fair magazine. She also shot some very famous people throughout her work with Vanity Fair: a nude and pregnant Demi Moore, Ellen DeGeneres, Mikhail Baryshnikov, and George W. Bush.

Despite all he Leibovitz’s success throughout her career, her greatest contribution to the feminist art movement came in her book, Women (1999). Women is a compilation of images of both famous and unknown women. The book explores issues such as domestic violence, power, and the definition of beauty. Women is best described by Susan Sontag as, “an anthology of destinies and disabilities and new possibilities…” (Sontag, & Leibovitz, 1999).

(see) http://www.nytimes.com/library/photos/leibovitz/bourgeois.html

Louise Borgeoise, Sculptor, New York City

Martina Navratilova, Tennis Player, Dallas, Texas

Barbara Anne Smith, Victim of Domestic Violence, YWCA
Women’s Shelter, Bridgeport, Connecticut

The Guerilla Girls
The Guerilla Girls. is a group of women, brought together in 1985 to combat sexism and racism in the arts. These women wear a guerilla mask in public and have taken the names of famous feminist artists throughout history, such as: Frida Kahlo, Eva Hesse, Paula Modersohn-Becker, Käthe Kollwitz, Gertrude Stein, and Georgia O'Keeffe ("Guerilla girls," 2008). The Guerilla Girls use propagandistic art (posters, postcards, stickers, books, and public apperences) to promote equality in the arts – in particular women’s’ rights.

The Guerilla Girls, 2007

The Guerilla Girls, 2002

Questions for Discussion:
1. How have women’s rights changed since the 1960’s? How do you think feminist art has played a role in these changes? Are these changes positive, negative, or both?
2. If artwork has a political message, should it be labeled as propaganda?
3. Do you think feminist art is only for women? Can men enjoy and create feminist art as well?
4. Do you feel that the Guerilla Girls are creating art? Would you call their work fine art? Why or why not?

Studio Activity:
Students are to research a woman from history whom they admire. Students will then write a one-page paper on why they admire this particular woman. Students will then create a work of art (any available medium is acceptable) portraying the essence of this female.

In Conclusion:
Students will present their paper and their studio piece to the class.

References:

(2008). Guerilla girls. Retrieved from http://www.guerrillagirls.com/

(2009). Judy chicago. Retrieved from http://www.judychicago.com/

Somerstein, R. (2009). Annie leibovitz: life through a lens. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/annie-leibovitz/introduction/16/#at

Sontag, S., & Leibovitz, A. (1999). Women. New York, NY: Random House.