Feminist art movement
The feminist art movement refers to the efforts and accomplishments of feminists internationally to produce art that reflects women's lives and experiences, as well as to change the foundation for the production and perception of contemporary art. It also seeks to bring more visibility to women within art history and art practice. The movement challenges the traditional hierarchy of arts over crafts, which views hard sculpture and painting as superior to the narrowly perceived 'women's work' of arts and crafts such as weaving, sewing, quilting and ceramics. Women artists have overturned the traditional view by, for example, using unconventional materials in soft sculptures, new techniques such as stuffing, hanging and draping, and for new purposes such as telling stories of their own life experiences.
The objectives of the feminist art movement are to deconstruct the traditional hierarchies, represent women more fairly and to give more meaning to art. It helps construct a role for those who wish to challenge the mainstream narrative of the art world. Corresponding with general developments within feminism, and often including such self-organizing tactics as the consciousness-raising group, the movement began in the 1960s and flourished throughout the 1970s as an outgrowth of the so-called second wave of feminism. It has been called "the most influential international movement of any during the postwar period."
History
1960–1970
The 1960s was a period when women artists wanted to gain equal rights with men within the established art world, and to create feminist art, often in non-traditional ways, to help "change the world". This movement was actually started in the United States and Great Britain in the late 1960s and is often referred to as "second-wave" feminism. And In the 1960s and 1970s, many artists began to practice art that showed their own reality in their works. The artists at the time realized that it was wrong for art historians and museums to pay more attention to male artists and only to their paintings, and that women should further integrate topics such as the social treatment of women, and the frequent discrimination against women into their works.Louise Bourgeois and German-American Eva Hesse were some early feminist artists.
On 20 July 1964 Yoko Ono, a Fluxus, avant-garde artist, singer, and activist, presented Cut Piece at the Yamaichi Concert Hall, Kyoto, Japan where she sat still as parts of her clothing were cut off of her, which meant to protest violence against women. She performed it again at Carnegie Hall in 1965. Her son, Sean, participated in the artist performance on 15 September 2013 at the Théâtre le Ranelagh in Paris. The Guardians Jonathan Jones considered it "one of the 10 most shocking performance artworks ever."
Mary Beth Edelson's Some Living American Women Artists / Last Supper appropriated Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper, with the heads of notable women artists collaged over the heads of Christ and his apostles. Benglis was among those notable women artists. This image, addressing the role of religious and art historical iconography in the subordination of women, became "one of the most iconic images of the feminist art movement."
Women artists, motivated by feminist theory and the feminist movement, began the feminist art movement in the 1970s. Feminist art represented a shift away from modernism, where art made by women was put in a different class to works made by men. The movement cultivated a new feminist consciousness, a "freedom to respond to life... by traditional male mainstream." Or, as Griselda Pollock and Rozsika Parker put it—a separation of Art with a capital "A" from art made by women produced a "feminine stereotype". The Dinner Party by Chicago, an art installation symbolically representing women's history, is widely considered the first epic feminist artwork which was very significant in Feminist art. There are 39 elaborate place settings on a triangular table for 39 mythical and historical famous women. And each place setting includes a hand-painted china plate, ceramic cutlery and chalice, and a napkin with an embroidered gold edge. And the goal of the artwork was "end the ongoing cycle of omission in which women were written out of the historical record." Moreover, Chicago said she was "scared to death of what I'd unleashed," however, she was also "I had watched a lot of young women come up with me through graduate school only to disappear, and I wanted to do something about it."
This demand for equality in representation was codified in the Art Workers' Coalition's Statement of Demands, which was developed in 1969 and published in definitive form in March 1970. The AWC was set up to defend the rights of artists and force museums and galleries to reform their practices. While the coalition sprung up as a protest movement following Greek kinetic sculptor Panagiotis "Takis" Vassilakis's physical removal of his work Tele-Sculpture from a 1969 exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, it quickly issued a broad list of demands to 'art museums in general'.
Alongside calls for free admission, better representation of ethnic minorities, late openings and an agreement that galleries would not exhibit an artwork without the artist's consent, the AWC also demanded that museums 'encourage female artists to overcome centuries of damage done to the image of the female as an artist by establishing equal representation of the sexes in exhibitions, museum purchases and on selection committees'.
1980-1990
The feminist art movement in the 1980s and 1990s built upon the foundations laid by earlier feminist art movements of the 1960s and 1970s. Feminist artists throughout this time period aimed to question and undermine established gender roles, confront issues of gender injustice, and give voice to women's experiences in the arts and society at large. A wide range of artistic disciplines, such as painting, sculpture, performance art, photography, video art, and installations, were included in the movement.The portrayal of women in art was one of the main issues feminist artists in the 1980s and 1990s focused on. They challenged and subverted standard representations of women as passive objects or muses while criticizing the male-dominated art canon. Many feminist artists investigated topics of sexuality, identity, and the social construction of gender while reclaiming the female body as a source of power. Moreover, The 1980s and 1990s feminist art movement placed a strong emphasis on the examination of both individual and group experiences. Photographic and collage techniques were used by artists like Cindy Sherman and Barbara Kruger to explore themes of identity, self-representation, and the formation of gender roles in popular culture. They questioned the idea of a rigid and fundamental feminine identity and emphasized how gender is performative.
In detail for the example of artists, Barbara Kruger, Sherry Levin since the late 1980 s. Cindy Sherman, Louis Bourgeois, Rosemary Trokel, Kiki Smith, Helen Chedwick and others stood out. Cindy Sherman gave a visual shock through photographs she took while transforming into a specific character or acting herself. Sherry Levine intentionally reproduced the works of masters to reveal the fiction of originality and artistry. Kiki Smith urged people to reflect on the lives of modern people through damaged human ridicule.
Institutional critique emerged as a prominent component of the feminist art movement in the 1980s and 1990s. Along with producing their own works, feminist artists also looked at and opposed the patriarchal structures and restrictive practices that prevail in art institutions. They sought to remove the obstacles that prevented women from participating fully and being taken seriously in the art industry. Here are a some examples of how artists of this time engaged in institutional criticism: Guerrilla Girls which was a collective of anonymous feminist artists, emerged in the 1980s.,The Museum of Modern Art Protest in 1984 which the protesters criticized MoMA for its exclusionary practices and demanded more representation for women and artists of color, and The "Bad Girls" Exhibition in 1994, which was aiming to upend the currently male-dominated art world and make room for the perspectives and experiences of female artists.
These illustrations show how feminist artists participated in institutional critique by contesting the discriminatory attitudes and practices that exist in art institutions. They planned demonstrations, interventions, and shows to challenge the current quo, demand more representation for female artists, and draw attention to racial and gender disparities in the art world. Feminist artists made a contribution to the continuous evolution of the art world by promoting inclusivity and providing opportunities for upcoming generations of female artists.
Overall, Women's art in the 1980s developed more diversely, by also the magazine ARTnews in the U.S. published praise for female artists being in a leading position without being subordinate to male art. However, as the overall flow of the art world tends to return to traditional styles and materials, feminists also have neo-expressionism. He showed a tendency to ride with new conceptualism.
There are also feminist forms of postmodernism which emerged in the 1980s. Feminist art movements emerged in the United States; Europe, including Spain; Australia; Canada; and Latin America in the 1970s.
The women's art movements spread world-wide in the latter half of the 20th century, including Sweden, Denmark and Norway, Russia, and Japan. Women artists from Asia, Africa and particularly Eastern Europe emerged in large numbers onto the international art scene in the late 1980s and 1990s as contemporary art became popular worldwide.
2000s
The contemporary feminist art movement is now following various directions with the development of electronic technology and the new forms of entertainment in the 21st century.Major exhibitions of contemporary women artists include WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution curated by Connie Butler, SF MOMA, 2007, Global Feminisms curated by Linda Nochlin and Maura Reilly at the Brooklyn Museum, 2007, Rebelle, curated by Mirjam Westen at MMKA, Arnheim, 2009, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang! 45 Years of Art and Feminism curated by Xavier Arakistan at Bilbao Fine Arts Museum, 2007, Elles at Centre Pompidou in Paris, which also toured to Seattle Art Museum. have been increasingly international in their selection. This shift is also reflected in journals set up in the 1990s like n.paradoxa.