Feminist art movement

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".[3]This movement was actually started in America and Britain in the late 1960 which was "second-wave" feminism. And In the 1960s and 1970s, many artists began to practice a lot of art that showed their reality in their works. And the artists at the time realized in advance that it was wrong for art historians and museums to pay a lot of attention to male artists only to their paintings, and that women should further integrate topics such as social treatment of women, frequent, and discrimination against women into their works.

Louise Bourgeois (1911–2010) and German-American Eva Hesse (1936–1970) were some early feminist artists.[3]

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.[4] Her son, Sean, participated in the artist performance on 15 September 2013 at the Théâtre le Ranelagh in Paris. The Guardian's Jonathan Jones considered it "one of the 10 most shocking performance artworks ever."[5]

Mary Beth Edelson's Some Living American Women Artists / Last Supper (1972) 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."[6][7]

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... [Unimpeded] by traditional male mainstream."[8] 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".[9] 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.[10] 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."[11] 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."[12]

This demand for equality in representation was codified in the Art Workers' Coalition's (AWC) 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(1960) 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'.[13]

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 Art News 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,[14] including Spain;[15] Australia; Canada;[16] and Latin America in the 1970s.[17][18]

The women's art movements spread world-wide in the latter half of the 20th century, including Sweden, Denmark and Norway, Russia, and Japan.[19][20] 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.[21][22][23]

2000s till Now, Contemporary Feminist Art Movement are continued in various directions with the development of technology and various 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,[24] 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,[25] Elles at Centre Pompidou in Paris (2009–2011), which also toured to Seattle Art Museum.[26] have been increasingly international in their selection. This shift is also reflected in journals set up in the 1990s like n.paradoxa.[27]

One of the things that gives people the most entertainment in the modern era as the times progressed is the works of art from the media. For example, things like 'music', 'drama', 'movie', and 'game'. The development in music is particularly notable. In terms of Hip-Hop music, many hip-hop songs promote the art of feminism. Taking South Korea as an example, many female hip-hop singers will openly produce hip-hop songs about feminism to speak out for some unequal gender issues in society. For example, the Korean female rapper BIBI released a song called "Animal Farm" this year, which expresses women's resistance to gender discrimination against women in a patriarchal society and the issue of male coagulation by borrowing the classic footage from "Kill Bill".

During the 1970s and until now(21st century), performance art and the feminist Art movement well interact with each other, as the aspect of 'performance' is an effective way for women artists to communicate a physical and visceral message[28] The interaction of art with the viewer throughout performance art has significant impact emotionally. Moreover, as the artists and works are combined into one art and there is no separation, Performance art, and Feminist Art is also a nice element to evaluate the artists' actual experiences.

For example, Regina José Galindo, is a Guatemalan performance artist who specializes in body art. Galindo's female body works focus on two major representations: First, the representation of the "excessive, carnalized, grotesque and abject female body"; Second, on the "female body that has been subjected to violence at a private and public level". Galindo uses the body to explore "female sexuality, notions of feminine beauty, race or domestic and national violence".

Also, for another example, there is Karen Finley, a female performer who performs nude, by shocking her audiences with violent and sexually abusing stories. Within Finley's performance, she used to stand at the point as "victims of rape, child abuse, AIDS, domestic violence and racism". Finely is using her body and the nudity from her body performance to "speak for other women who are unable to speak for themselves...". Finely's body is a medium to present as a "site of oppression". Though, the critique Finely's nudity performances as "pornographic", Finely believes that a woman's body can become a representative of all the bodies of all women who had/have/will be suffered from those oppression.

Body art can be Tattoos, body piercing, branding, scarification, dermal anchors, and three-dimensional art or body modifications such as beading. Body art can be an example of Performance Art and they can be overlapped in Feminist Art. For example, there is Nil Yalter's film called 'The Headless Woman (Belly Dance)'. It focuses on a woman’s stomach on which text has been inscribed. And the woman keeps writing the text on the belly(Body Art). And as the woman begins her belly dance, all we see is the soft flesh of her undulating stomach, and the pulsing text.[29]

Starting in the Late 1960s, Video art appeared in the art world as a unique art form using video technology as a visual and sound medium. And unlike classic and traditional arts like painting and sculpture, video art was not only dominated by men in history. With the aid of new technology, female artists were able to tell their own stories and share their perspectives, resulting in new works about women that would serve as a repository for the feminist history of contemporary art. The video was seen as a trigger for a media revolution that could put the means of television transmission in the hands of the general population, giving the feminist art movement a huge opportunity to expand its audience. There were female artists who demonstrated feminism through video art such as Pipilotti Rist, Shirin Neshat, Martha Rosler, Chantal Akerman, Joan Jonas, Sadie Benning, and more.

• Juan Vicente Aliaga Gender Battle/A Battala dos Xeneros Spain, Santiago de Compostela, 2007.
• Juan Aliaga and Maria Laura Rosa Recuperar la Memoria: Experiencias feministas desde el Arte, Argentina y Espana, Ana Navarette and Mujeres Publicas Centro Cultural de Espana, Buenos Aires and CCEBE, Sede Parana, 2013.
• L. Anderson, A. Livion Ingvarsson, M. Jensner, A. Nystrom, B.Werkmeister, N. Ostlind (eds.) Konstfeminism Helsingborg, Sweden, Dunkers Kulturhaus and Lilevalch Konsthall, 2004.
• Kathy Battista Re-Negotiating the Body: Feminist Art in 1970s London, I B Tauris, 2011.
• Carla Bianpoen, Farah Wardani, Wulan Dirgantoro Indonesian Women Artists Jakarta: Yayasan Semirupa Indonesia:2007.
• Katy Deepwell (ed) New Feminist Art Criticism: Critical Strategies UK, Manchester, Manchester University Press, 1995.
• Sylvia Eiblmayr Die Frau als Bild: Der weibliche Körper in der Kunst des 20 Jahrhunderts Berlin, Dietrich Reimer, 1993.
• Isabelle Graw Die bessere Hälfte: Künstlerinnen des 20. und 21. Jahrhunderts Cologne, du Mont Verlag, 2003.
• Uta Grosenick (ed.) "Women Artists in the 20th and 21st Century" Köln: Taschen GmbH, 2001.
• Karen Hindsbo The Beginning is Always Today': Scandinavian feminist art from the last 20 years Norway: Saarlandets Kunstmuseum, 2013.
• Johanna Householder and Tanya Mars (eds) Caught in the Act: an Anthology of Performance Art by Canadian Women Toronto:YYZ Books, 2003.
• Lucy Lippard From the Center:Feminist Essays on Women's Art New York. Dutton, 1976.
• Rozsika Parker and Griselda Pollock Framing Feminism: Art and the Women's Movement, 1970–1985 London. Pandora/RKP, 1987.
• Bojana Pejic (ed) The Gender Check Reader Vienna, MUMOK and Erste Foundation, 2010
• Griselda Pollock (ed) Generations and Geographies London, Routledge, 1996.
• Helena Reckitt (ed) Art and Feminism London, Phaidon, 2001
• Hilary Robinson (ed) Visibly Female London, Camden Press, 1987
• Hilary Robinson (ed) Feminism – Art – Theory: An Anthology, 1968–2000 Oxford. Blackwells, 2001.
• Araceli Barbosa Sanchez Arte Feminista en los ochenta en Mexico: una perspectiva de genero Mexico: Casa Juan Pablos Centro Cultural, Universidad Autonoma de Estado de Morelos, 2008.
• Ella Shohat (ed) Talking Visions: Multicultural Feminism in a Transnational Age Cambridge, Massachusetts, MIT:1998
• Bridget Tracy Tan Women Artists in Singapore Singapore, Select Books and Singapore Art Museum, 2011.
• Jayne Wark Radical Gestures: Feminism and Performance Art in North America Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2006.
• Women Down the Pub (a.k.a. N.Debois Buhl, L.Strombeck, A.Sonjasdotter) Udsight – Feministiske Strategier i Dansk Billedkunst / View – Feminist Strategies in Danish Visual Art Denmark, Informations Vorla, 2004.