Post 4

Can you name 5 women artist?

         I never tough that taking this class will take me to this extraordinary world of female artist, revolutionists, and activists who have been constantly working for recognition, but also have been asking society to portray women from another perspective. Unfortunately, gender and social roles have been an enormous barrier for women artist to developed in the artistic world, hence male domination presence has suppressed, and dictated female limitations, and their capabilities. This bottle with society and men still up until today, and in past centuries had been so tragic that as consequence not all women's work and legacies were able to be  written throughout the history. At the beginning of the class, I couldn't even name one female artist and now I am just completely amazed by every single of their personal experiences, hard work, including been able to continue working with what are they passionate about, as well, the messages that each of their works created  for social conscious and own intimacies carrying themselves personal experiences.
       
          Females artist have cough my attention completely especially the reactions I didn't expect when in class we analyzed and interpreted their message in art and what amazed me the most as a Latina women is known that some of the most famous works recognized in the History of Western Art are from Latin American Women whose identities had been capture in their outstanding art work. These women  always remember their origins, culture, and traditions and were never left behind, and were always incorporated in their art work. These women are Judith Chicago, Frida Khalo, Ana Mendieta, and Doris Salcedo. Another artist who is not mention in Chadwick "Women, Art, and Society" book is Soraida Martinez which I will like to make her part of this extraordinary group of superwomen. This 5 females artists characterized by their devotion and passion towards art makes them who they are today. They are inspiring many artist and women to pursue their dreams, and fight for their rights and sexual liberation.

         On my trip to the Brooklyn  museum, I have the privilege to admired a magnificent masterpiece called
"The Dinner Party" by one of the most influencial women in feminist art, Judith Chicago. She was born July 20,1939, in Chicago, IL. Judith Chicago besides doing an outstanding art work, also managed her time to be an excellent educator, and artist.  As a feminist pioneer, Chicago decided to teach the first feminist art course at Fresco College 1970. Another success was the opening of Womanhouse where Chicago and Miriam Shapiro were the co-founders of The Califormia Institute of the Arts. Chadwick mentioned that Judith Chicago among other artist and students " explore into sexual, social, and psychological constructions of femininity". Chicago use abstracts forms to connected it with different parts of the female body (Chadwick, 357). 

 " The Dinner Party", was created by Chicagos's inspiration in women's collective histories. This creation is " a monumental testament to women's historical and cultural contributions, it incorporated sculpture, ceramics, china painting, and needle work (Chadwick, 376). The embroidery in the tablet runner is so incredible that after I saw it with my own eyes I couldn't believe it was created with such perfection. The Dinner Party presents 39 place settings of famous females, not only artist but also revolutionist women in general that have made history, as well. Each place setting has it own, utensil, napkin, plate, and a glass. The plates represent the female " Vagina" with wonderful colors. This triangular table masterpiece celebrate women in chronological order, beginning with Primordial Goddess and ended up with Georgia O'Keeffe. Many female volunteers participate in the creation of "The Dinner Party". This monumental piece has brought so many controversies, and even politicians have called this "pornography". Sexual liberation has always been an important issued addressed by Judith Chicago and will always be her major concern. 

Judy Chicago's picture.

 http://www.judychicago.com/about/bio.php

Chadwick points out " Chicago's desire to promote social change by creating respect for women's history and productions, to articulate a new language with which to express women's experience, and to address such a work to the widest possible audience was controversial (Chadwick, 376). 

Judy Chicago "The Dinner Party" 1974-79 

http://r-atencio.blogspot.com/2010/10/dinner-party.html

 http://r-atencio.blogspot.com/2010/10/dinner-party.html

Another famous artist is Frida Kahlo who wasborn in Coyoacan, Mexico City, in 1907. Kahlo's father was German Jew and her mother Spanish and indigenous. Frida Khalo's relationship with her father was better than with his mother because of her politics view and non religious believes. Khalo's father was a communist and Kahlo consider herlself a feminist, as well. Her compatibility with her father led her to have a better daughter/father relationship especially that she wasn't a religious person as her mother was. Kahlo followed her mother heritage by wearing the traditional indigenous clothes and hair style. When she was eighteen years old, she was in a bus accident which led her with severe injuries that even after some operations the were injuries were irreversible. The Guerrila Girls mentioned " thirty two operations in twenty-nine years ( and more miscarriages than I want to remember)" ( Guerrila Girls, 78). Kahlo through her paintings discover a way to express her feelings, and suffering due to the devastating accident that led inevitable consequences 

Frida Kahlo, Self- Portrait with Monkey, 1940,

Private Collection/Art Resource, New York. 

"Self Portrait with Monkey." - Frida Kahlo. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2013. <http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/frida-kahlo/self-portrait-with-monkey-1940>

for her to continue with a normal life. Khalo had a  difficult and hurtful relationship with Diego Rivera, a famous painter she met while she was young, and decide to marry him. This was the beginning of new self portraits to come. The Guerrila Girls poinst out Khalo nerver gave up making paintings because these were based on her Mexican identity and paint asking for something good to happen.

Chadwick states " Khalo used painting as a mean of exploring the reality of her own body and her consciousness of it vulnerability; in many cases the reality dissolves into a duality, exterior evidence versus interior perception of the reality" (Chadwick, 314). Surrealism, a cultural movement at that time, let Kahlo and many artist at that time express their inner emotions. Frida Kahlo died July 13, 1954, in Coyoacan, Mexico.  
 The Two Fridas, 1939. 

 Frida Kahlo Movie (2002)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOUzQYqba4Y

Another trend setter for her time was Ana Mendieta, a magnificent sculptor. She born in 1948, Havana, Cuba. She came to the United States as a refugee with her sister. She studied art at University of Iowa. The Guerrilla girls declare she was an Avant- garde New York artist. She was one of the first feminist. Mendieta most famous work was a silhouette series that took place in the 70's and became one of the most significant art work. The images are part of a photograph. She destroyed all her work after she would finish it. By this time, women was able to use their body and turn this from an object to a subject. Mendieta was living in a male dominating world. In her work Untitled from Silueta,1978, she left her body printed on the earth. She never try to sell her work. She made something and then destroy it. Also, Mendieta's work always expressed her relationship with the earth.  She was not in the
  “Untitled” (Facial Hair transplant, moustache) 1972 performance.
private art  market. By this time, men work with nature, as well but hers were different in the concept that were more personal.

 Ana Mendieta has always used her work to talk about her identity, and tell the world who she really was. The Guerrila Girls described her work as " conceptual and performance based. Silueta series  in which she lay down, traced the outline  of her body in the earth, then lined it with sticks, stones, and flowers, then ignited it with gunpowder and firecrackers"( Guerrillas, 89).
Mendieta brought her indigenous side on her work. She was a non-white and non-christian. In her love life, she got involved with a white rich man, minimalist sculptor, who she end up
 Ana Mendieta, Untitled from Silueta, 1978.
 marrying. She has a very passionate and her relationship with her husband became public. She died in 1985, New York City. 


Doris Salcedo is a present artist that has been working with heritage and identity in her sculptors throughout her artistic life. She was born in 1958, Bogota, Colombia. Her participation in exhibitions such as Mona Hatoum, 1988, mark her trajectory ( Chadwick, 432). Chadwick states " The growing visibility and influence of international art events during the 1990s also coincided with shifts of emphasis in academic curricula. Many universities and collages now offer courses in post modern critical theory". Salcedo comes from a country were war and danger, corruption, were put together into her taught. Colombia's stereotype has always been that people who care from  there are must selling or consuming drugs. She had to deal with that stereotype all her life. She came to The United States to expand her knowledge. She believe an artist needs to learn from different cultures and learn different fields. While, she was in Colombia she didn't have the advantage to enjoy such beautiful museums like the ones that are here in the United States. Her knowledge about art came from books.

Miss Salcedo, makes use of ordinary household objects to create art. She would use chairs, tables, etc. The used of this objects express her suffering of Colombia's tragedy and political conflicts, and experiences her people live everyday who became victims of violence and murder. Salcedo mission with her sculptors is to raise public awareness of the injustice Colombia still suffers up until today.


Doris Salcedo, installation at 8th International Istanbul Biennial, 2003.

Soraida Martinez born in July 30th, 1956, in Harlem, New York City with Puerto Rico descent. She is a Latin feminist artist and designer. She is known by the creation of "Verdadism"since 1992. She encourages people about their experiences in  racism, intolerance, injustice, sexism and stereotype. Martinez  is seeking for equality and her messages are express in her paintings with the hope one day people values are reevaluated. Martinez wants people to become social aware about issues that must be address so future generations don't go have to deal with the same feelings of rejection because of gender or race.

             All her paintings has social commentaries based on her own personal experience on America Society. According to Wikipedia Martinez stated "My art reflects the essence of my true self and the truth within me...My struggle is for recognition, acceptance and inclusion; and, against racism, sexism and the dominant eurocentric male society, which never expected much from me but still did not allow my voice to be heard. My belief is that one must empower oneself with one's own truth...".
She wish society won't use the word minorities anymore. She wants to inspired people and teach young children to give their best in their abilities or even discover more.

 Works Cited:

The Guerrilla Girls' Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art. New York: Penquin, 1998. Print.

 Chadwick, Whitney. Women, Art, and Society. 4th ed. London: Thames & Hudson, 2007. Print.

"Soraida Martinez." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 12 Jan. 2013. Web. 01 Dec. 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soraida_Martinez>.

"Judy Chicago." Bio » About ». N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Nov. 2013. <http://www.judychicago.com/about/bio.php>.

<http://www.soraida.com/>