Post 4: Can You Name 5 Women Artists?

Before I decided to take this course, I did not know what was expected. I did not know ANY women artists except for Frida Kahlo. She was the only one that I actually heard of, but I did not know who she was and why she was well known. I was amazed at the fact that there were so many women artists that I've never heard before and it's cool that I got to learn so much about these women throughout this semester. I'm going to start off with Frida Kahlo, since she I got to learn more about her in this class.

Frida Kahlo was born in Coyoacan, Mexico City, in 1907. As a teenager, she was a victim of a horrible accident which changed her life entirely. She was an artist who inspired many people all over the world by her paintings. Her paintings was basically her life story and how she was feeling at the times of hardship. Many of her paintings were influenced by her lover, Diego. Frida was devastated when she found out that he was cheating on her with her own sister. She painted to express her anger and pain because of this tragedy. One of her most famouse paintings was "The Broken Column" which was painted towards the pain that she went through. In the painting below, you can see that the biggest nail is stabbed against her heart. This symbolizes that her experience with Diego was the most painful to her.

Frida Kahlo "The Broken Column" 

Not only was she in so much pain because of Diego, but also because she couldn't have kids of her own and she was paralyzed because of the accident. Frida is a woman, and mostly all of women's dream is to have kids of their own and to be a mother. It was probably painful to Frida knowing that she could not have a child of her own. Her painting, "Henry Ford Hospital" 1932, symbolizes the most important things that she wanted in life. You can see that she is crying in the painting because it was painful to know that she can't have children and that she is paralyzed forever. 

Frida Kahlo, "Henry Ford Hospital" 1932

Elisabetta Sirirani was born in Bologna in 1638. "Elisabetta Siriani was so accomplished a painter that she was accused of signing work her father had done" (Guerilla Girls, 30). In these lines, it shows how women were treated unfairly and were not treated equally as male artists. People believed that women were not artists and they were not allowed to create paintings and drawings. Elisabetta Siriani, however, still painted. After being accused of signing work her father had done, she began to paint in public to prove that it was her own work. Eventually she opened a school for women artists. 

One of Siriani's most famous paintings is "Portia Wounding Her Thigh". In the painting it shows that Portia wants to prove herself virtuous and worthy of political trust by separating herself from the rest of the other women. She is not beautiful in the painting and she is placed in the foreground where she is in another room separated from the other women because she is trying to distinguish herself from the image of gossiping and chatting. She is doing this because she wants to prove that not all women are the same. 

Elisabetta Siriani, "Portia Wounding Her Thigh"

Mary Cassatt was an American painter who was born in Allegheny (which is now Pittsburgh), Pennsylvania in May 1844. She was the only American artist whose work was respected and admired by the Almost-All-Male Club of Impressionists (Guerilla Girls, 56). She practiced a new form of art called Impressionism. Impressionism is more of visible brush strokes, movement and light, and the idea of recreation. They painted more of places like operas, cafes, etc. and the patterns were used to make everything look "cramped" up, dizzying, and flattening. Some impressionists painted more of landscapes and outdoor schemes. 

Mary Cassatt painted the "Woman in Black at the Opera" 1879. The painting consisted of a man staring at a woman while she is watching the opera. The woman is wearings all black because she is trying to emphasize that she does not want attention. The man staring symbolizes men's behavior in the society at the time. The stage in the center is lit and the other audiences are bright colored. This shows an example of the male gaze. The woman in black wants to be alone and is trying to disappear, but clearly she cannot because all men will all look at her no matter what because she is a woman, after all. 

Mary Cassatt, "Woman in Black at the Opera" 1879

Harriet Powers was an African American slave born in 1837. Her and her husband, Armstead, freed slaves who farmed a couple acres in rural Georgia, in 1890 (Guerilla Girls, 54). Many slaves were not able to read and write and Harriet was illiterate. However, she managed to memorize sermons and Bible stories in church along with folktales. Powers learned how to make traditional quilts in a plantation workshop where slave women produced all the clothing and fabric the estate needed. 

Her famous quilt, The "Pictorial Quilt" showed how slavery was. It was very detailed with the patterns and it told a story about how slaves were treated. This is interesting because since slaves were unable to read and write, they communicated with pictures and symbols most of the time. I think that this unique quilt, was a symbol to slaves and I feel that Harriet Powers was trying to create what her life was like and what all the other slave's life was like at this time. The quilt was eventually put into the Smithsonian, Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. 

Harriet Powers, "Pictorial Quilt" 1895-98

Judy Chicago is an American Feminist artist who plays a huge role in women's history and culture. She has founded the first feminist art program in the United States. Her works incorporates skills  in a stereotypical way towards women artistically. She believed that all people including women should have equal rights and should be treated fairly. She started working on her massive multimedia project, The Dinner Party in 1974 and soon was known all over the world and was considered to be her greatest work. 

When I went to go visit the Brooklyn Museum, I was awed by "The Dinner Party" because there were so many women that all represented something. It told the history of women in Western Civilization. Each plate was designed for a women who achieved something and should be known all over the world. The pieces were beautifully detailed and the colors were just amazing. It just amazes me that I did not know all of these women and it made me realize that women are looked down upon because people don't know who these women are and how great they are. I would definitely like to go again and bring some of my friends because I know that they will be shocked of the fact that there were so many women that did great things and achieved something. 

Judy Chicago, "The Dinner Party"



Bibliography:

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

Google Images 

The Brooklyn Museum: 

200 Eastern Pkwy, New York, NY 11238