The best known artists throughout history such as Picasso, Leonardo Da Vinci, and Monet are all men. The feminist art movement of the 1960s and 70s however, finally gave women artists a voice. The world could finally see some of the great art they were missing. Here’s five women artists who we should celebrate for their incredible talent, and dedication to promoting a positive feminist message.
1. Frida Kahlo
Frida Kahlo, a surrealist painter, grew up in Mexico City. After getting severely injured in a bus accident, she started painting as a distraction from her injuries and almost constant pain. Her paintings consist mostly of self portraits. Kahlo’s work is reminiscent of Mexican national and indigenous traditions as well as an uncompromising view of the female experience. She would often paint herself alone because as she put it, “I paint myself because I am so often alone and because I am the subject I know best.”
2. Georgia O’Keeffe
Georgia O’Keeffe is now known as one of America’s most important American artists. Some even call her the “Mother of American Modernism.” Her paintings of enlarged flowers, New York skyscrapers, and New Mexico landscapes stand out among some of the most talented artist’s work. O’Keefe’s painting career launched when Alfred Stieglitz showed her work in his 291 gallery in 1916. The two later married, divorced, and then O’Keeffe retired to New Mexico where she remained inspired by the desert landscape for the rest of her life. She is still remembered as one of the best American artists in history and a strong feminist example.
The men liked to put me down as the best woman painter. I think I’m one of the best painters.
Georgia O’Keefe
3. Judy Chicago
Judy Chicago changed her last name to Chicago to challenge male-centric naming conventions. Chicago chose to devote her life to fighting the patriarchy. Chicago’s most famous piece of art involves a large triangular-shaped, ceremonial banquet table called The Dinner Party. The table has thirty-nine place settings commemorating important women in history. 999 other women’s names are inscribed on a tile floor in the center. The piece attempts to rewrite and reclaim a history where women are an integral part.
4. Betye Saar
Betye Saar is a collage and assemblage artist, creating works out of old photographs, old hankies, and anything else she collects which has a history of its own. At the same time the feminist art movement took off in the 1960s and 70s, Saar was a part of the Black Arts Movement challenging racial stereotypes. She fought against both racism and sexism, and her art is reflective of that struggle. One of her most famous works, The Liberation of Aunt Jemima, addresses the stereotype of African American women. She reclaims a caricature commonly found on a brand of pancake mix. Saar states the piece is specifically about “the way African-American women were treated as sex objects, as domestic soldiers. And it was about this particular woman’s revolt to be free of that image.”
5. The Guerrilla Girls
The Guerrilla Girls are a group of anonymous women who wear gorilla masks in public, assuming the identity of dead women artists as pseudonyms. They produce art that provokes discussion around, and reveals sexism and racism in politics, the art world, and in general culture. One of their posters, “Do women have to be naked to get into the Met. Museum?” (as seen on this Guerrilla Girl’s t-shirt) calls attention to a male-dominated art world.
Although severely underrepresented in the art world, women artists have accomplished many great things. In the future hopefully we can learn to include the amazing talent of women artists who changed history in our textbooks, museums, and galleries.
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