In conclusion... again

Since I was working on the blog for two different classes, I've sort of had to forgo a clear theme. But, I have kind of tried to stick to one, this being protest art. The gist of the artists that appeal to me are generally protesting against something. I fell like they all have a strong message to say, so I also view them as protesting. I just wanted to say a few words about each artist and why I chose them:

I first started off with the Guerrilla Girls because I loved that they were so strongly rooted in protest art. They have important messages to get out, and they get them out effectively. They have an interesting way of protesting, with the gorilla masks and taking on the names of dead feminist artists, that I think makes them easily recognizable. This way of protesting will also get people to notice them. How can you ignore people outside picketing in gorilla masks?

I chose to do Cindy Sherman next because she's become one of my new favourite artists. I love that she uses herself as the subject in her photography. Her protest, I think, is that of the stereotyping of women. She does this to herself in her artwork to show people how a woman feels when she's put in that position. If you look at the faces of her girls in her photographs, they usually don't look happy. They look sometimes scared, disgusted, etc. I think she does this especially well in her Cosmo Cover Girl photo. This girl is the exact opposite of any woman you'd see on the cover of Cosmo. I think it says a lot about body image as well. She's protesting about so many things, but she's an artist you have to know this about before you see her work. To some, she may seem to be enforcing the stereotypes rather than protesting them.

Louise Bourgeois is another woman who has fast become one of my new favourite artists.I respect her for working as an artist for as long as she has, especially in the areas of sculpture and instillation. I feel like she's protesting against the male artist who are doing the same work as her, since her areas are male dominated. I also feel like she's protesting against domisticity as well. She rejects the idea that women need to be in the household. I see this especially in her Cell and Womanhouse pieces.

Judy Chicago isn't one of my favourite artists, but I think it's hard to talk about feminist/female artists and not mention her. For me, she's clearly protesting against the view of a woman's body. She wants women to embrace their bodies and feel free to express themselves using their body. She wants everything to be out in the open that is usually kept quiet. She really protested against the traditional views of women artists. Without her, I don't think that there would be nearly as many woman artists today.

Käthe Kollowitz is clearly a protest artist as well. She may not really be a feminist artist, but she is an important female artist. She is using a means of creating her art to get it out to the people quickly to protest what she's seeing around her. By using wood cuts and lithographs as a fast means of production. She did this to raise awareness, just like the Guerrilla Girls are doing now. Instead of protesting for the feminist movement, she was protesting for more humanitarian reasons. She was fighting for the people.

I have to say that Frida Kahlo is one of my all time favourite artists. She has an incredible story that influences her artwork so much. I have also always loved surrealism, so of course I'm going to love Kahlo. I feel as though she's protesting pain. Now, that may seem like a stupid think to protest, but that's the feeling I get from her. I see so much strength through her artwork. She doesn't want to show pain, so she'll paint her pain instead of wear it on her face. I see her as promoting strength to women. She's saying stay strong instead of feeling victimized.

I have briefly mentioned Barbara Kruger here, but I do like her work a lot. Her and Jenny Holzer are the most influential protest artists, I feel. Their styles are so similar, and I think that they work well for the public. Holzer's Truisims are curt and to the point. They're clear as day so the average American can figure out easily what she's trying to say. Kruger's graphic style is eye catching and easily recognizable. Here they are obviously protesting for feminist rights, and really, rights for everyone. They have the sort of style that they can post on any public place for people to see, and I like that about them. Their style really works well in today's society.

I chose to include Hannah Hoch because I love the Dada movement. She was a pioneer in the photomontage area of the Dada movement, and one of the only women in who participated in the movement in Berlin. Her pieces have messages in them, but if they arn't translated, they're harder to understand. But I feel that these messages are still a form of protest. Dada itself was a form of protest against art.

I discovered Sue Williams last semester in Contemporary Art. I love that she uses the illustrator style and sayings in her work. She protests against violence against women. She had a history of domestic violence in her life, so she uses much of her history in her artwork, just like Kahlo. And also like Kahlo, I get a sense of empowerment from her work. I like that she uses her own history and things that have been said to her in her artwork. This way I feel like more women can connect with her and take more away from her work since it's so real.

Finally, I chose Kara Walker because I love the simplicity of her work. Who knew a simple silhouette could have so much power? There is so much representation in those black shapes. Here she is clearly protesting against the stereotypes of black people, most notably black women. Her style is simple and effective. Like Sherman, she uses these stereotypes in her artwork for the viewer to deconstruct. The viewer needs to read into what she is saying exactly in order to get the message.

I have really enjoyed working on this blog. I've discovered some artists who will stick with me for a while and learned more about others. These women are so influential not only to the art world, but also to feminist movement. Feminists need women like this to get their messages out in a creative manner. All of these artists have different ways of doing this. Some target the galleries, while others target the public. I think they really show how all women can be different, but still fight for the same cause. Different ways of going about it, but all with the same goal.

I'd like to give a big THANK YOU to these women who have worked so hard!

Kara Walker - Feminist Artist

Kara Walker is an artist who uses a victorian style of silhouettes cut from black paper and pasted onto the walls of the gallery. She "uses over head projectors to throw coloured light onto the ceiling, walls, and floor of the exhibition space. When the view walks into the installation, his or her body casts a shadow onto the walls where it mingles with Walker's black-paper figures and landscapes. With one foot in the historical realism of slavery and the other in the fantastical space of the romance novel, Walker's nightmarish fictions simultaneously seduce and implicate the audience."

Walker, like Cindy Sherman, uses stereotypes in her work. She will use the stereotypes of black people, women mostly, to get her message through. You can see in the picture on the right, Do You Like Cream in your Coffee and

Chocolate in your Milk? (1997), the use of stereotype. There's the dancing slave with a coconut bra and a leopard skin toga. Today we see this as a shocking image because we feel, as Americans, this is an ignorant image of the past, not today. And, as we all know, racism is still quite alive today, and I think that's what Walker is trying to say with her wor

k. We see these stereotyped images that she produces and we think we're past that sort of idea of inequality. But in reality, we're really not. People are still racist and why not put that racism in their faces to make them see that.

Also, look at the woman's face and her body stance. She's obviously not happy. She has a collar and chains around her neck. I see this as a comment on racism as well. Black pe

ople may not look like this today, but they still feel that way. They feel like they have a collar and chains around their neck because they're still, unfortunately, seen as unequal to white

people.

Another interesting point I noticed about this piece is that the woman's skin isn't even coloured, but yet you know she's black. The stereotyped features and her clothing immediately clue you in on the fact.

"Blackness became a very loaded subject, a very loaded thing to be—all about forbidden passions and desires, and all about a history that’s still living, very present…the shame of the South and the shame of the South’s past; its legacy and its contemporary troubles."

- Kara Walker (Walker Art Center, NA)

The piece on the right is called Slavery! Slavery! Presenting a GRAND and LIFELIKE Panoramic Journey into Picturesque South Slavery of "Life at 'Ol' Virginny's Hole' (sketches from Plantation Life" See the Peculiar Institution as never before! All cut from black paper by the able hand of Kara Elizabeth Walker an Emancipated Negress and leader of her Cause (1997). Through this title,

I think you can see the humour that Walker manages to put into her work as we

ll. "The impulse to find these images funny comes from the deep sense of discomfort they cause. Walker’s amusements intersect with shame when one realizes one is laughing at suffering. In this way, Walker navigates the limits of humor and challenges the viewer’s sense of what is comical." (Walker Art Center, NA)

Also through this piece, you can see how Walker's art also tells a story. It's usually a story of slavery in some way. But, the plot line is never really clear. It's really up to the viewer to figure out what's going on, or even interpret the story their own way. Some scenes and images are easily recognizable, but some you have to look at for a while. I love her super simplified style that she uses. It's simply just black cut outs on a wall. The black of the paper is signific

ant here of course because of the issue with racism. But in all of this simplicity, there is the representation that those silhouettes stand for.

I think she fits in well with the other protest artists that I've covered because she is protesting racism in this country. She's showing us the stereotypes that have always been used and that were created by us. She's throwing them back into our faces and making people notice that this is still happening, whether we want to believe it or not. She's not only dealing with the stereotypes of black people, but also of women.

Out of all oppressed groups out there, I think that black women have it the worst. And they alw

ays have. She's fighting that stereotype by using it, just like Cindy Sherman does. I think her simplified style works wonderfully for what she's doing. I love how creative she gets with using it as well, with the colour filter projections on the wall and how the shadows of the viewer is not interacting with the scene on the wall. Maybe if the viewer feels as though they are a part of this world that they're looking at, maybe they'll think differently about what issues Walker is trying to hit on.

Sources:

Art21. "Kara Walker: Biography." Art21. Art21, Inc, 2007. Web. 29 Apr 2010. http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/walker/index.html.

Walker Art Center . "The Art of Kara Walker: A Companion to the Exhibition." Walker Art Center. Walker Art Center, NA. Web. 29 Apr 2010. http://learn.walkerart.org/karawalker?n=Main.HomePage.

Sue Williams - Feminist Artist

"Sue Williams work has been driven by the desire to understand and interpret the psychological world of the human condition and the ever-increasing pressures that drive us to behave in certain ways. The inspiration has been founded on the notion of the ‘….tit bits…’ a play with reality and fantasy from a feminine perspective, often subverting the truth through image and text, in both a serious and playful manner. The main thrust in the work is drawing - drawing been used as an urgent and immediate tool for visualizing my responses..." (Williams, 2010)

Sue Williams is another artist that relies heavily on her past as an inspiration for her artwork today. She uses both words and drawing to convey her message. She has been in brutal relationships, one of which she was shot and left for dead. She often draws the phrases that she uses in her artwork from things that have been said to her. The autobiographical nature of her work acknowledges that other women go through this violence as well. (Smith, 1992) "I couldn't imagine doing any of these things a little while ago. I think men don't know the experience of being a woman, just like I don't know the experience of being black. There's just so much more that you don't know until it's put out there." "It became an outside anger instead of just my life."

‘I am a woman making self-reflective work, this naturally leads to its categorization as feminist art, though I have not tried to define my practice in that context.’ ‘My work partly focuses on my own vulnerability, and at this time it has to be said, ‘as a woman’.

The piece above is called Irresistible (1992). It's a rubber sculpture of a woman, laying in the fetal position, beat up with words written all over her body. She has bruises all over her body as well as cuts and boot marks. Some of the statements are "The No. 1 cause of injury to women is battery..." "Look what you made me do." "If you don't care about yourself..." To see all of these statements you need to walk around the whole piece and read them. This isn't something that you can glance at and then walk away, gaining nothing.

Just like Kahlo, I see Williams' art as empowering. She frankly shows a beaten and broken woman, but you know that that woman can rise from her ashes. She exposes the violence against women and wants to make it known that it is horribly wrong. Her pieces are thought provoking, I think. She's shedding light into what happens to women in the private world. She's showing that feminist mantra that "the private is political" is quite true. She's saying "domestic violence happens - and here's what it looks like. Look at it. Recognize it."


Sources:
Smith, Roberta. "Up and Coming: Sue Williams - An Angry Young Woman Draws a Bead on Men." New York Times (1992): n. pag. Web. 26 Apr 2010. http://www.nytimes.com/1992/05/24/arts/up-and-coming-sue-williams-an-angry-young-woman-draws-a-bead-on-men.html?pagewanted=1.

Williams, Sue. "Info." nomorepink.com. nomorepink.com, 2010. Web. 26 Apr 2010. http://www.nomorepink.com/home.html.

Hannah Höch - Feminist Artist

Hannah Höch was one of the few women who participated in the Dada movement that happened in Berlin. She was the only female artist to show at the First International Dada fair in 1920. (Printz, 2010) "...one of Höch's primary preoccupations was the representation of the 'new woman' of the Weimar Republic, whose social role and person identity were in a complex process of redefinition in the postwar period. ... Juxtaposing photographs and text to both endorse and critique existing mass-media representations, Höch parodied elements bourgeois living and morals and also probed the new, unstable definitions of femininity that were so widespread in postwar media culture." (Dickerman, 2005)

For some reason, I've always been drawn to the Dada artists. I love the 1920s era and I love the absurdity of the Dada artists. They were anti-art, but yet they created an art movement. Höch was one of the artists who perfected the photomontage. I love looking at her pieces because there is so much to look at. You could spend a good amount of time looking at every aspect of one of her photomontages.

The piece on the right is titled Cut With the Kitchen Knife Dada Through the Last Weimar Beer-Belly Cultural Epoch in Germany.(1919-1920) It's hard to see anything with the picture being so small, so click on the link to see a bigger version.
Strewn throughout the piece are sayings about the Dada movement that have been cut and pasted from newspaper articles. One says, roughly, "He he, the young man / Dada is no art movement" and "the anti Dada." The photos she's put together are some of a woman's body with a man's head, a dancer who's head has been removed and put into her arms, a woman who's face has been cut out, and so forth. She really likes to remove other people's heads and place them on different bodies. This is an example of how closely you must look at one of her photomontages to see everything she's done.

The next image on the right is called DADA-Dance. (1919-1921) Chadwick states: "Höch's DADA-Dance juxtaposes machine parts with a female dancer and a model who is elegantly dressed and posed but whose head has been replaced by that of a black. Violent distortions of scale and a rejection of conventionalized femininity undermined the commodification of the idealized female body and its relationship to mass-produced goods." (Chadwick, 2007)
This idea of challenging the view of the idealized female body seems ever present in Höch's work. This seems to fit with the ideas of the 1920s. Women were become, really, more free. You had the flappers and women expressing their sexuality more freely. You also have the industrial age starting too, so this feeling of the 'mass-produced goods' is very present in her work as well. She's using images taken from newspapers or magizenes to make her work, which are, of course, mass-produced. You can also easily make the connection from Höch and the photomontagists to Warhol and the Pop Artists as well.

One major drawback for me with the Dadaists is the language barrier. If you don't know German or French, then you're not going to get the satire in the piece. Höch incorporates so much text into her pieces, I see it as an important part of understanding her message. The piece on the right, Proverbs to Live By (1922), I really wish I could understand what she's written on it.
But even despite this, I still love the Dadaists. I think that they're such a unique movement with so much to say. If only I could understand it...


Sources:
Chadwick, Whitney. Women, Art, and Society. 4th. New York, NY: Thames & Hudson World of Art, 2007. 270-271. Print.

Dickerman, Leah. DADA. New York, NY: National Gallery of Art, Washington and D.A.P. Inc, 2005. 90-93, 474-475. Print.

Printz, Ali. "The Dada Movement." Dada and Dadaism: Berlin. Dadart, 20 Apr 2010. Web. 20 Apr 2010. http://www.dadart.com/dadaism/dada/022-dada-berlin.html.

Jenny Holzer - Feminist Artist

"Holzer has carved texts into marble and written them in blood-red ink on flesh. Often the phrases hurtle by with ferocious speed, sometimes too fast to read. But the resistance that Holzer encounters in choosing them remains central to the challenging experience of reading them, and to her contentious engagement with subjects that are themselves of surpassing difficulty: injustice and deprivation, political and sexual violence, death, rage, grief." (Princenthal, 2007)

I've already mentioned Jenny Holzer in my previous post, but I'd like to revisit her again. I love her words, even though she's proclaimed, "I hate to write. I really hate to write." (Princenthal, 2007) I much prefer she short, concise messages to her longer ones. I think these pack more of a punch and can be more easily recognizable. The every day person can walk by and read this message. They don't have to stop and read the whole thing, they can read it quickly and get the message.
I think that's so important to both the feminism and art movements. People today don't want to have to go into a gallery and look at art. They want something public, something that they can walk by every day. Something public that gets people talking about the subject. Be loud, be brash, and be out there. I don't think there is any other way to better get what you want to say out there.

Holzer states: “I want the meaning to be available but I also want it sometimes to disappear into fractured reflections or into the sky. Because one’s focus comes and goes, one’s ability to understand what’s happening ebbs and flows. I like the representation of language to be the same. This tends not only to give the content to people, but it will also pull them to attend.” (Shindler, 2007)

The thing I like most about Holzer is how she spread her Truisms. "Printed cheaply and without emphasis on visual style, they were pasted by night on walls and windows in the SoHo and less art-friendly Manhattan neighbourhoods." (Princenthal, 2007) Some of these Truisms include: "Everything that's interesting is new", "Any surplus is immoral", "Children are the cruelest of all", "An elite is inevitable", and "Crime against property is relatively unimportant." (Princenthal, 2007)

Since Holzer's work is so straightforward, I would just like to post a few of her word art pieces. I feel that they speak sufficiently for themselves.
















Sources:
Princenthal, Nancy. "Jenny Holzer: Language Lessons." After the Revolution: Women Who Transformed Contemporary Art. New York, NY: Prestel, 2007. Print.

Shindler, Kelly. "Spotlight on Protest: Jenny Holzer." Art:21 Blog. Art:21, 1 Nov 2007. Web. 19 Apr 2010. http://blog.art21.org/2007/11/01/spotlight-on-protest-jenny-holzer/.

In Conclusion...

I think this piece by Barbara Kruger says it all. She also states: "I mean, making art is about objectifying your experience of the world, transforming the flow of moments into something visual, or textual, or musical, whatever. Art creates a kind of commentary." (BrainyMedia)Kruger works mainly in this graphic style with short, concise messages. This particular piece is making a statement about abortion, but I feel that it can have a much broader statement on feminism in general.

I really like the graphic arts. I think the simplified messages are more powerful than the long, drawn out ones. A simple graphic, or maybe only just words (see Jenny Holzer at the bottom of the page). Clear. Concise. And to the point. Something that captures your attention and makes you think a little bit.
Women in the art world have come a long way. They've had to fight their way to be recognized by the art world and art historians. They've also used emerging styles and made them somewhat uniquely theirs. One of these styles was postmodernism.
"Feminist art and art history helped to initiate postmodernism in America. We owe to the feminist breakthrough some of the most basic tenets of postmodernism: the understanding that gender is socially and not naturally constructed; the widespread validation of non-'high art' forms such as craft, video, and performance art; the questioning of the cult 'genius' and 'greatness' in Western art history; the awareness that behind the claim of 'universality' lies in aggregate of particular stand-points and biases, leading in turn to an emphasis upon pluralist variety rather than totalizing unity. " (Broude, Garrard 10)
Postmodernism questions everything. So clearly this is going to work well with the feminism movement in art. An artist like Cindy Sherman will question the stereotypes of women in her photographs. Louise Bourgeois questions the woman's placement in the house. Kollowitz questions what she's seeing right on her doorstep. Kruger is questioning the pro-life movement.

I have only been able to simply touch on a few of the important feminist artists that are out there. I've picked the most recognizable women to touch upon, but there are many, many more who are still out there. Some more famous than others, but still trying to get their messages through. Art history, among other disciplines as well, have left a large number of women out of their canon simply because they are women. It's still thought that the male artist is the superior. These women, both past and present, need to have their voices heard. So I hope that I have let them speak sufficiently for themselves here.

Sources:
BrainyMedia, . "BrainyQuote." Barbara Kruger Quotes. BrainyMedia, 2010. Web. 7 Apr 2010. http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/b/barbarakru243789.html.

Broude, Norma, and Mary Garrard. "Introduction: Feminism and Art in the Twentieth Century." The Power of Feminist Art. New York, NY: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1994. Print.

Frida Kahlo - Feminist Artist

Frida Kahlo is another feminist artist who is very well known in the feminist movement. She was born in Mexico in 1907 and worked until her death in 1954. The style she uses is known as Surrealism.
Her story is so famous, it may even out shadow her own artwork. When she was 6 years old, she contracted polio which left one leg shorter than the other. The main event that changed her life was in 1925 when she was in a bus accident. She had injuries to her right leg, pelvis, and she could no longer have children. She also had to have many surgeries on her back which left her constantly in pain. To overcome this, she painted pictures of her suffering and of herself. (Lucie-Smith, 2010)

Chadwick states: "...Kahlo's The Broken Column (1944)... reinforces the woman artist's use of the mirror to assert the duality of being, the self as observer and observed. ... Kahlo used painting as a means of exploring the reality of her own body as her consciousness of its vulnerability; in many cases the reality dissolves into a duality, exterior evidence versus interior perception of that reality." (Chadwick, 2007)

The Broken Column (right) clearly shows Kahlo dealing with her pain. It may be hard to see in this picture, but Kahlo painted herself in the back brace that he had to wear and with nails embedded all over her body. The column represent her broken back that she received from the bus accident.
Not only does she deal with pain, but she also deals with self image. She's constantly looking at herself through her self portraits.

She's stated, "I paint my own reality. The only thing I know is that I paint because I need to, and I paint whatever passes through my head without any other consideration." (Kahlo, 2007)


Another part to her story is that she had suffered a miscarriage. She, of course, turned to painting to deal with her suffering. This happened in 1932 while her husband, Diego Rivera (11 years her senior), was painting murals in Detroit. He later said, "Frida began work on a series of masterpieces which has no precedent in the history of art - paintings which exalted the feminine qualities of endurance of truth, reality, cruelty, and suffering. Never before had a woman put such agonized poetry on canvas as Frida did at this time in Detroit." (Mencimer, 2002)
The painting on the right is titled My Miscarriage in Detroit and was done in 1932. You can see how it affected her and how she expressed these feelings. Even though she was told she could no longer have children, she still wanted to be a mother.

Some have felt that Kahlo's work represents the quality of the "quietly suffering female" instead of any feminist empowerment views. "Kahlo painted herself as the quietly suffering female. In every possible sense, the mass-culture Kahlo embodies that now-poisonous term: victim-hood. She was the victim of patriarchal culture, victim of an unfaithful husband, and simply the victim of a horrific accident. But that's probably one reason why she's so popular."(Mencimer, 2002)
I must say I believe the opposite. Kahlo is one of my favourite artists and when I look at her work I see an empowering picture. I see a strong woman who has no other way of dealing with her pain other than painting it. "She dramatized the pain in her paintings, while carefully cultivating a self-image as a 'heroic sufferer.'" (Mencimer, 2002)



Sources:
Chadwick, Whitney. Women, Art, and Society. 4th. New York, NY: Thames & Hudson World of Art, 2007. 315. Print.

Kahlo, Frida. "The Quotations Page." Quotations by Author. The Quotations Page, 2007. Web. 1 Apr 2010. http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Frida_Kahlo/.

Lucie-Smith, Edward. "The Artchive." Frida Kahlo. The Artchive, 2010. Web. 1 Apr 2010. http://www.artchive.com/artchive/K/kahlo.html.

Mencimer, Stephanie. "Washington Monthly." The Trouble with Frida Kahlo. Washington Monthly, 6/2002. Web. 1 Apr 2010. http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2001/0206.mencimer.html.

Käthe Kollwitz - Feminist Artist

Käthe Kollwitz was a female artist working in Germany. She was born in 1867 and died in 1945. She's generally known for her German Expressionistic style while working in drawing, etching, lithography, and wood cuts. The drawing on the right is a self-portrait done from 1891-92.
She, like most artists, had been drawing since she was little. She officially started taking private art classes with members of her community when she was 14. She needed to do this because the Königsberg Academy did not allow female students, like most art academies of the time. She married a physician, moved into a working-class neighborhood, and had two sons. That neighborhood and her husband's patients were her models. She based her work off of these hard working people and also decided to start making prints, because they were less expensive and more graphic. (The Women's Museum, 2010)
Kollwitz suffered many losses in her life that may have contributed to her studying the suffering of people. "...a series of personal tragedies which included the death of a son in the First World War and the loss of a grandson in the Second. Documenting the suffering that results from war and poverty led Kollwitz away from the expression of individual torment..." (Chadwick, 2007)

Whitney Chadwick writes of her:"Käthe Kollwitz was committed to an art of radical social content unrivaled in her day. Her choice of graphic realism as a style, her exclusive use of printmaking media, and her production of poster ad humanitarian leaflets, all contributed to her devaluations of her work and is dismissal by art historians as 'illustration' and 'propaganda'."
Chadwick also writes: "Kollwitz replaces the archetypal imagery of female abundance with the realities of female bodies marked by a poverty which often prevents women from nourishing their children or enjoying their motherhood. " (Chadwick, 2007)

In the lithograph above is titled Death Seizes the Children and it was done in 1934. You can see how she's dealing with the death and suffering that she sees around her. You can also get a sort of mothering feeling from her. She is concerned here with the suffering of the children, as a mother would be. This print also has this sort of graphic, shock value to it. It's something to make you step back and take notice of what she's commenting on.

Kollwitz won fame with Attack which is commenting on the Weaver's Revolt done during 1895-97. This was based on a play by Gerhart Hauptmann, The Weavers, and was about the revolt of the Silesian weavers in 1844. This proved to be a hugely politically effective work when it was displayed in 1898. The Kaiser refused to give her the medal that she had won for it. (Chadwick, 2007) The Kaiser said, "I beg you, gentlemen, a medal for a woman, that would really be going too far... Orders and medals of honor belong on the breasts of worthy men!" - Kaiser Wilhelm II, 1898 (Johnson, NA)
This print had done what Kollwitz intended. It was socially acclaimed and clearly showed the conditions that she saw around herself. Also, the Kaiser's comments show the thoughts of men from that time as well. Even though her artwork was being socially acclaimed, she did not deserve a the medal she earned because she was a woman.

The next woodcut is called The Widow I. You can see how emotional the German Expressionists were through something as stark as a woodcut.
Kollwitz is showing the people the impoverishment that is in society. She wants them to act up and take notice of what's going on around them. She may not necessarily be a feminist artist, but she's doing what other feminist artist are doing when it comes to pointing out social injustices. She does play on the care taking ideas that some feminists share, and also the mothering aspect.

An artist doesn't need to be a feminist artist in order to be an important woman in art history. I think Käthe Kollwitz proves this. The feminist ideas don't need to be so heavy handed that the feminist message she's trying to get across is as clear as day. Kollwitz is also one of the persona that the Guerrilla Girls have taken on. So this, agian, proves that you don't HAVE to have a FEMINIST message to get across through artwork. You just have to have a message and a cause that is worth spreading.

Sources:
Chadwick, Whitney. Women, Art, and Society. 4th. New York, NY: Thames & Hudson World of Art, 2007. 286, 290 - 292. Print.

Johnson, Denise. "Modernism." The Slide Projector. Chaffery College, NA. Web. 31 Mar 2010. http://www.theslideprojector.com/art6/art6lecturepresentations/art6lecture10.html.

The Women's Museum, . "National Museum of Women in the Arts." The Permanent Collection. National Museum of Women in the Arts, 2010. Web. 31 Mar 2010. http://www.nmwa.org/collection/profile.asp?LinkID=511.

Judy Chicago - Feminist Artist

It's hard to talk about feminist artists without mentioning Judy Chicago. She has pioneered the idea of feminist art starting in the 1970s through art and art education in California along with Miriam Schapiro. (Chicago, 2010)
Probably her most notable piece is The Dinner Party which is an instillation. You can see part of this piece behind Chicago in the photograph on the right. After many years of being in storage, this piece has now found a home at the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum. I will be taking a look at The Dinner Party a little later on in this post.

Chicago is also known for her "central core" imagery. This image on the right is titled Through the Flower. This series of images were done from 1972-74 and they all deal with the same imagery. This central core imagery was to represent the vagina and the body. She believed that women needed to take their bodies back from the "male gaze" that they've received from male artists. She also believed that women should make art that is body based. This theme has become very important throughout her whole body of work.
Because of this whole idea of the body, her art has a certain shock value. She deals graphically with the body and isn't afraid to hide anything. She wanted to invent a new language for feminism based totally on the body.
She states, along with Schapiro in 1972: "[T]o be a woman is to be an object of contempt, and the vagina, stamp of femaleness, is devalued. The woman artist, seeing herself as loathed, takes that very mark of her otherness and by asserting it as the hallmark of her iconography, establishes a vehicle by which to state the truth and beauty of her identity." (Brooklyn Museum [2], 2010)

Now, onto The Dinner Party. There have been many who have written articles about this piece. It's one of those pieces that you either love or hate - it's very controversial.
The Brooklyn Museum explains it as, "The Dinner Party (1974-79) by Judy Chicago is an icon of feminist art, which represents 1,038 women in history—39 women are represented by place settings and another 999 names are inscribed in the Heritage Floor on which the table rests. This monumental work of art is comprised of a triangular table divided by three wings, each 48 feet long." (Brooklyn Museum [1], 2010) This instillation was also a collaborative project. Many different artists worked together to put this piece together. One artist made the place mat, another the tableware, and another the vagina. Chicago created the ideas and chose the artists that made the pieces.

These "place settings" include a placemat that was embroidered by an artist and a full place setting (cups, silverware, plate). On the plate was a sculpture that looks like a vagina which represents that woman. An example of one of these place settings is on the right which represents Emily Dickinson. This is just one example of these representations for the famous women being presented here. The Sackler Center offers a virtual tour of this piece, so if you'd like to see more, click on the virtual tour link. There you can look at each setting individually and gather a lot of information on each setting and how/who it represents.
Here she is also using the "woman's work" crafty type materials. Like her counterpart Schapiro, Chicago is trying to elevate these craft like artwork into the world of fine arts. But this can also be balanced by the fact that it is an instillation. During this time most instillation were done by men. So this, of course, is challenging the art world on two fronts now.

The main message behind all of this is empowerment towards women. Different people get different messages from this piece, but I am not one who finds this piece to be necessarily empowering. I think it's great to get these women out there into the public, but I don't think the greatest way to represent them is through their vagina. The question is also raised if the vagina is there to represent that woman, or are they serving a vagina to that woman?
Why not chose to represent each woman through what they're famous for? I would think that a woman is worth more than her vagina. I know, personally, if I were to be represented somewhere, I would like to be represented as what I'm known for. Is this saying that this woman is important simply because she is a woman? Sure the vagina is personalized (supposedly) for her, but does it truly represent her? If you didn't know who Emily Dickson was, would you have figured out she was a writer from her place setting?
This piece has also been criticized because of the hierarchy involved in its creation. Chicago requested samples of the artists' work before they were allowed to continue on to create their contribution to the piece. So she could have rejected you as a contributor to the project if she did not like you're work. This idea of hierarchy is not usually one that is considered good when dealing with feminist ideas. Since feminism is all about seeking equality, shouldn't all women first be considered as equals?

Another notable collaborative work she's known for is Womanhouse. She worked with some of the more important feminist artists of the time to create this huge art project. Click on the link to check out more about Womanhouse and the various rooms within it.

Whether you love her or hate her, Judy Chicago has been an incredible influence on the art world. She's inspired many feminist artists through her teachings and through her artwork. There is much more to her life that I haven't the time to touch on. But she's inspired a generation and really kick started the feminist art movement. Like I said at the beginning, it's hard to talk about feminist artists and not mention Judy Chicago's influence.

Sources:
Brooklyn Museum, [1] . "Brooklyn Museum: Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art." The Dinner Party. Brooklyn Museum, 2010. Web. 30 Mar 2010. http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/dinner_party/home.php.

Brooklyn Museum, [2] . "Brooklyn Museum: Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art The Dinner Party." Central Core Imagery. Brooklyn Museum, 2010. Web. 30 Mar 2010. http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/dinner_party/core_imagery.php.

Chicago, Judy, and Donald Woodman. "Biography." Judy Chicago. Judy Chicago and Donald Woodman, 2010. Web. 30 Mar 2010. http://www.judychicago.com/?p=biography.

Louise Bourgeois - Feminist Artist

Louise Bourgeois is a French artist who was born on Dec. 25, 1911 and is still working today. The photograph (Mapplethorpe, 1982) on the right is one of Bourgeois holding one of her sculptures called Fillette (French translation - Young Girl). She is considered a feminist artist because her life and feminist subjects are main parts of her work. Her life is a large influence in her work. She's stated: “My childhood has never lost its magic, it has never lost its mystery, and it has never lost its drama.” (PBS, 2007)

Helaine Posner writes of her childhood, "Born in Paris in 1911 to an affluent family who were in the business of repairing and selling 17th and 18th century tapestries, she was the middle child of a capable, nurturing mother, who headed the famil'y restoration workshop, and a handsome, flirtatious, often volatile father, for whom she was named and whose attentions she courted. ... During her formative years, her father invited his English mistress, Sadie, into the household to be the children's tutour; while her mother accepted this situation, it was intolerable to the young Louise, who was required to ignore her father's blatant infidelities, endure his betrayals, and accept Sadie, the hated rival for her father's love. The anxiety, jealousy, and rage born of this bizarre family drama have fueled aspects of her passionately expressive art throughout her career..." (Posner, 2007)

Posner also writes of Bourgeois, "Bourgeois's body of work (including painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, and installation) constitutes a profound, life-long examination of her complex inner workings, often intense and fragile relationships, and personal anxiety. She has simply stated, 'I identify myself with extreme emotions,' and the sensations her work evokes resonate deeply with the viewer. These emotional states and the imagery the artist created from them are based on her difficult experiences growing up in a largely patriarchal society. Fear and pain, anger and aggression, and sexuality and obsession frequently find expression in the artist's charged representations of the body - or body part - and the home." (Posner, 2007)

Bourgeois's Femme Maison (Woman House) paintings are some of her earliest works being created during 1946-1947. You can see these painting on the right. They clearly have feminist overtones, that being a woman's place is in the house. Posner writes, "...a house replaces or engulfs the head of a nude woman, negating her identity and isolating her from the outside world. Here the traditional domain and supposed haven of a woman is made a suffocating confinement, more a prison than a source of familial contentment." (Posner, 2007)
These painting do have an unnerving feeling an confinement. If a woman's place is in the house, shouldn't she feel happy, not confined, there? The shape and image of the woman's house is literal reflection on the woman here.

From here she then moves into sculpture. This is somewhat strange for a woman to do sculpture because it is generally dominated by male artists. Thus it was hard for her to really break into the sculpture scene. Especially since she was doing sculptures in wood and bronze, which is even more male dominated. If women were to do sculpture, it was more often seen to be more of the 'crafty' or textile sculptures. Something more suitable for women to be doing. Leave the heavy work to the men.

One of her newest series are her series of Cells.
The photo on the right is called Cell (Choisy) and was done during 1990-93. These cells are clearly based on her childhood drama in her home. Here we have a large house enclosed by wire fencing with a guillotine poised above the home. This is the large, industrial sculpture I was talking about before that was generally left for the men to do.
Again, Posner writes of the cells, "... [the] title [cells] may refer to a living organism, or more aptly, to an anxious site of enclosure, confinement, and solitude. The Cells are highly charged theater of memory. ...these collective works reveal a woman's interior life as an essentially fluid realm in which internal states and external reality merge. In these installations, references to the body and the home, ever-present in Bourgeois work, abound." (Posner, 2007)
These Cell installations are very reminiscent of her Woman House paintings. The feeling of confinement in the home and how women deal with that. How women feel that they must keep the family (the home) together is also present here, from my view. The guillotine ever poised to fall and cut the family apart at any moment. "A claustrophobic atmosphere of isolation, loneliness, tension, and threat envelops these works." (Posner, 2007)

As Bourgeois got older, she began work on a series of sculptures based on hands. The photograph on the right is a selection from Welcoming Hands from 1996 originally set in New York. These are bronze sculptures on granite blocks. Here we see a more material, caring focus on her artwork. Here there are two hands gently holding another hand. To more this speaks more of kindness and gentleness. A very feminine quality in such a hard, industrial format. I think it shows how a woman needs to be. Hard and stone cold on the surface, but gentle and caring on the inside. It speaks of unity and care to me.

We can see through out her career as an artist, that is still professing despite her age, Bourgeois as encompassed many feminist feelings. She's harboured feelings of anger because of how she grew up, but then eventually comes around to a more care-focused feminism. She's dealt with the home and how she feels it confines a woman, but yet that woman can extend her hand to the many to help or welcome them. Louise Bourgeois is truly an amazing feminist artist. "Bourgeois has been a singular and singularly influential presence, for feminist among other, and has, most likely with great ambivalence, attained the status of artistic mother of us all." (Posner, 2007)

Sources:
PBS, . "Art: 21." Art: 21. Louise Bourgeois. Biography. PBS, 2007. Web. 29 Mar 2010. http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/bourgeois/index.html

Posner, Helaine. "Louise Bourgeois: Intensity and Influence." After the Revolution: Women Who Transformed Contemporary Art. New York, NY: Prestel, 2007. Print.

Mapplethorpe, Robert. "Louise Bourgeois." thewitcontinuumn.wordpress.com. 1982. 29 Mar. 2010. http://thewitcontinuum.wordpress.com/2009/10/28/creepy-art-by-louise-bourgeois/

Cindy Sherman - Feminist Artist

Cindy Sherman is a postmodern photographer who started work in the 1970s and is still working today. She's been important in the areas of "studies of the decentered self, the mass media's reconstruction of reality, the inescapably of the male gaze, the seductions of abjection, and any number of related philosophical issues." (Heartney, 2007) She uses herself as the subject in almost all of her photographs except only a few. These are staged photographs that she takes in her studio. It's important that they're staged because we know that this is some sort of message embedded in them that she is trying to get across to us.

Eleanor Heartney also writes of her: "Though the photographs suggest a variety of scenarios, they differ from conventional film stills that tend to focus on moments of dramatic action between two of more characters. Sherman's heroines are always alone, nearly expressionless, and caught up in very private emotions. They seem to be women with impenetrable interior lives, caught in a moment of quiet contemplation." (Heartney, 2007)

Lets look at the photo on the upper right. This is a classic Sherman Untitled Film Still. This photo (Sherman, 1977) was taken in 1977 at the beginning of her career. The subject is located in a kitchen, at the sink no less. There is a pot on the stove and she's, of course, wearing an apron. This is clearly making a statement on "woman's place in the house." A few questions can be asked: why is that look on her face? is her husband out of frame berating her? why is she clutching her stomach? is she pregnant? is she hungry? These are the kinds of questions one has to keep in mind when looking at not only feminist artwork, but any artwork. You need to ask yourself why this artist has this particular staging and what it could possibly mean. The interpretation is totally up to you, you just have to look closely at what is being presented.

Sherman also deals with the stereotypes of women. Like the photo above (barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen?) and the photo (Sherman, 1978) to the right. Being a library science major, this photo appeals to me. When you think of a "librarian" don't you think of the woman who sits behind a desk and tells you to "shhhhh!"? Also, when you think of the people who enjoy reading, don't you think of women? This is what I'm getting from this photo. Sherman's photographs are making these comments on today's society as she sees it.

This photo (Sherman, 1990-91) that is called Untitled (Cosmo Cover Girl). You can easily see her social commentary. She's attacking the models that you usually see on the covers of glamour magazines, such as Cosmo. She states: "I like making images that from a distance seem kind of seductive, colorful, luscious and engaging, and then you realize what you’re looking at is something totally opposite. It seems boring to me to pursue the typical idea of beauty, because that is the easiest and the most obvious way to see the world. It’s more challenging to look at the other side." (Sherman, 1990-91)
Here she's addressing body image. How often do you see a real woman that looks like the cover models on Cosmo? More than likely you're going to see more women that look like the one Sherman is portraying on the right. You would never see someone who looked like that on the cover of Cosmo, but the women on the cover of Cosmo don't exist. Sherman's art is her way of fighting back against today's society.


Sources:
Heartney, Eleanor. "Cindy Sherman: The Polemics of Play." After the Revolution: Women Who Transformed Contemporary Art. New York, NY: Prestel, 2007. Print.

Sherman, Cindy. "Untitled Film Still #3." MoMA.org. 1977. 25 Mar. 2010.
http://www.moma.org/collection/object.php?object_id=56520

Sherman, Cindy. "Untitled Film Still #13." MoMA.org. 1978. 25 Mar. 2010.
http://www.moma.org/collection/object.php?object_id=56576

Sherman, Cindy. "Untitled (Cosmo Cover Girl)." MoCP.org. 1990-91. 25 Mar. 2010.
http://www.mocp.org/collections/permanent/sherman_cindy.php

The Guerrilla Girls

"What is your philosophy for making activist art?

"We try to be different from the kind of political art that is angry and points to something and says 'This is bad.' That's preaching to the converted. We want to be subversive, to transform our audience, to confront them with some disarming statements, backed up by facts—and great visuals—and hopefully convert them. We carefully craft everything we do. We try to twist an issue around and present it in a way that hasn't been seen before. We usually test-drive a project by showing it to a few people beforehand to gauge their response. We've also learned that focusing on one aspect of an issue is better than trying the change the whole world in a single work."*

The Guerrilla Girls started in 1984 and they state that they are "a bunch of anonymous females who take the names of dead women artists as pseudonyms and appear in public wearing gorilla masks. We have produced posters, stickers, books, printed projects, and actions that expose sexism and racism in politics, the art world, film and the culture at large. We use humor to convey information, provoke discussion, and show that feminists can be funny. We wear gorilla masks to focus on the issues rather than our personalities. Dubbing ourselves the conscience of culture, we declare ourselves feminist counterparts to the mostly male tradition of anonymous do-gooders like Robin Hood, Batman, and the Lone Ranger. Our work has been passed around the world by kindred spirits who we are proud to have as supporters. It has also appeared in The New York Times, The Nation, Bitch and Bust; on TV and radio, including NPR,, the BBC and CBC; and in countless art and feminist texts. The mystery surrounding our identities has attracted attention. We could be anyone; we are everywhere."

They have created various posters and other means of advertisements that easily capture the attention of the public. They use art as both a means to get their message out and as the reason of their protests. They see themselves as "reinventing the "F" word - feminism!"

I love the idea that they want to take feminism and add some humor to it. They show that you can still fight for a cause and make it fun. I think you attract more attention by having a fun, outrageous demonstration than by having the normal protest.

The art world is, of course, largely dominated by men. Most disciplines always have the argument of the canon, most notability the literary world. This also happens in the art world. There has always been the question of why have there been no great women artists? You have the old masters such as Michelangelo, Raphael, Leonardo, etc... but where are the women? And what's worse is that the museum, like the canon, has very few women artists on display.

Check out the stats, courtesy of the Guerrilla Girls, of the percentages of male artists in museums and of their colour. I also like the Guerrilla Girls in that they also look at other forms of discrimination other than just gender. They are trying to be all inclusive in their fight and recognize that they're not the only ones being discriminated against. If people come to museums to learn about the history of art, then they need to realize that they're probably not getting the whole story. Tons of women artists have been left out of both the canon of the art world and in museums as well.

The Guerrilla Girls use their typical humor in one of my favourite pieces of advertisement: The Advantages of Being a Woman Artist. Obviously, women artists do strive to be world renowned, but this advertisement shows how women in the art world are treated.

The Guerrilla Girls not only deal with art, but also in politics. They started out in the art world, but have moved onto other subjects that have historically discriminated against women. They've attacked the Republican Party about a woman's right to control her body. Also, they've attacked them about health care back in 1991.

This shows that they clearly want change not just for women, but all oppressed groups. Their advertisements are clear, concise, funny, and to the point. I think their tactics are a great way to gather attention and raise consciences. They are clearly one of the more radical feminist groups out there, but I think they're doing their job well. They're gathering the power of the people anonymously and getting their messages out virally. Since the internet is a a great way to get your messages out to the masses quickly, this way of working anonymously works wonders. I think that the Guerrilla Girls are on the right track to raising awareness of not only what's happening in the art world, but also the world of women.

[All pictures and quoted text comes from the Guerrilla Girl's website at: http://www.guerrillagirls.com/ ]

[Check out more posters and advertisements from the Guerrilla Girls' campaign at: http://www.guerrillagirls.com/posters/index.shtml ]

[Listen to the Girls talk about who they are at the Museum of Modern Art in 2007: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHVBZh5HBgc&feature=player_embedded# ]