Feminism in Art in the 1970s Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays

FEMINISM IN ART DURING THE 1970’S Name Course Date Introduction Feminist art explicitly focuses on the aspect of female gender, or rather one’s experience as a woman so that women themselves are artists, viewers, subjects and patrons.1 Feminism arose during the late 1960s in the United States, at a time when there were also very vibrant Civil Rights and Anti-war sentiments, and was eventually actualized in the early 1970’s, spurred on by the Civil Rights Movement.2 Feminist art was a revolutionary move that would redefine the role of women in art from the 1970’s henceforth. This paper discusses the development of feminist art during the 1970’s and the effects its introduction had on the art scene. Feminist art in the 1970’s arose as a reaction to the marginalization that women faced in institutions in addition to the resistance that met any art work that expressed the aspect of gender at the time. Feminists henceforth tried to assert a new role for women in the industry, so that they would be subjects rather than objects and active speakers rather than passive themes in art.3 Up to the late 1960s therefore, most female artists felt the need to ‘de-gender’ so as to improve competition with their male counterparts in a field that was completely tilted in favour of men.4 The beginning of modern feminist is traceable to 1971 when Linda Nochlin published an essay in ARTnews titled ‘why have there been no great women artists?’ in which she argued that there had just been too much discrimination to allow it, with women in even being denied fundamental art training.5 The criteria being in defining what makes a great artist were also culturally and historically determined, and women were not thought of in it. Men were not any better than women, but just had greater opportunities to achieve the set criteria for being great artists.6 This inspired a lot of change and up to the mid-1970’s, works were created to reflect a deviation from established norms perpetuated by many prominent thinkers for instance Immanuel Kant who conceptualized an artist as a male genius.7 Text relating to feminism during the 1970’s had the political aim of explaining female exclusion from art production and hence history in general.8 New approaches to social analysis were adopted as part of the change occasioned by feminist art. For instance in the past, there was the belief that anything mainstream was neutral ideologically. However, this changed, and feminists declared art and its history as riddled with institutionalized sexism. They considered themselves disenfranchised and complained against historical bias in high art and crafts. The new push resulted in Pattern and Decoration during the mid-1970s.9 Feminist artists felt a need to change the world by means of art and focus on altering the existent historical art canon, practice and social interactions in general. Their main objective was influencing cultural attitudes hence transformation of stereotypes.10 All through the 1970s, feminist art’s meaning and the role of spirituality and politics in it were articulated through intelligent critics for instance Moira Roth and Lucy Lippard. By the decade’s end, the essentialist belief that there existed a female identity that was biologically determined and had to be expressed through women art faced a great challenge from feminists who argued that identity was either socially constructed or culturally determined instead.11 The controversies around feminist art at the time related to unequal representation noted in international art-related publications and institutions, the absence of gender in traditional production of artworks and the relationship between identity and image, which has always been a source of debate.12 The feminist movement comprised of curators, artists, art historians and critics that arose in the art scene during the early 1970’s in a variety of cities worldwide.13 In New York City, a place that had a well established museum and art gallery system, women female artists were mostly preoccupied with equal representation win art institutions. There was formation of organizations such as the AIR Gallery and Women Artists in Revolution (WAR) to communicate their concerns and call for their rights within the community. The organizations would protest against museums that did not have enough works by female artists, a factor that helped to create opportunities and therefore increase in female artist numbers during the 70’s. In California, there was the struggle to create separate, new spaces exclusively for women art instead of fighting against the system examples of which are the Woman’s Building and the Feminist Studio Workshop (FSW).14 Feminists adopted a variety of art forms and although their message was the same, that of gender and feminist experience, different forms were adopted.15 Performance art was for instance common, alongside body art, self-mutilation for shock and expression purposes, video art and textile art. Textile art especially got a lot of emphasis for historical reasons and it was intended to eliminate the distinction between ‘craft’ and ‘high art’ that were traditionally female and male respectively. There could for instance be works that combined paint and fabric with other materials by use of women's techniques such as hooking, piercing, sewing and cooking among others as a way of complicating the idea of ‘high art’.16 With further growth in women liberation, female artists had decided to seek new ways to express themselves apart from sculpture and painting and they managed to, with performance being considered the best way of rejecting the idea of a feminist aesthetic.17 One of the most significant contributors to the effort was Judy Chicago, a political activist, painter and sculptor. In 1973, she founded the first ever feminist Art program within the California state university. This offered feminist artists adequate training for the profession, all of which were structured to deal with a system that was hostile to women. She taught on construction of personal studio space, negotiation of business transactions and through group activities, encouraged the students to bring in their personal experiences to art and bringing in similarities from other people’s experiences so as to build project collaborations. They also addressed female sexuality in both study and artwork that they made.18 In the United Kingdom, art critics in England such as Griselds Pollock and Rozsika Parker in 1973 established the Women's Art History Collective to push for change that would include women in the Western Art canon.19 Feminist art tried to draw attention to the serious political and social issues that women encountered due to usually unchallenged oppressions that came with a patriarchal society. The artists also collaborated in large projects for instance The Dinner Party, an initiative led by Ms. Chicago and in which each artist provided their personal skills to create the eventual product.20 The piece is a good example of the objective and nature of feminist art. The Dinner Party, 1979 Fig1. The Dinner Party Table and its Controversial Individual Seating Space The Dinner Party is an installation art piece comprising of a triangular dinner table measuring 14.6 metres and seating spaces and set for 13 guests on each of its sides. The 39 total spaces are to be occupied by famous historical or mythological women arranged according to era. On one side, there are those from between The Revolution in America to the 1970’s, on the other those from prehistoric times to Roman Empire times and on the third from Christian times up to the Reformation. 38 of the plates on the table interestingly take a vaginal structure. The settings are mostly embroidered using different creative needlework styles and on the tiled floor, there are 999 names of historic women written in gold colour. Each guest is allocated a chalice, china plate, fork, spoon, knife and a gold-embroidered napkin. Most importantly, all the art work at the scene is feminine ‘craft’ rather than the fine arts usually associated with men.21 The intention of The Dinner Party was to bring back women into history at a time when the system was seemingly forgetting them. Chicago especially researched and drew up historical women's names that were to be included in the party. There were no serious research works on for instance goddesses or even female dominated ancient societies as at the 1970’s. Past female rulers for instance were also rarely remembered. The Dinner Party drew renewed interest in these figures hence the effort especially by women to engage in new scholarship relating to historical and mythological women as from the 1970’s.22 Being an unusual feature, the artwork raised controversy. There were a lot of negative criticisms to feminist art due to their aesthetic appearance. The use of typically feminine media for instance ceramics and needlework was criticized as problematic and in the complex debate about low and high media, critics believed that using such makes artwork too craft-like and therefore against the haute couture environment created by modern art galleries and museums. There was also the criticism based on its very common displays of female sexuality. The use of vaginal forms as exemplified by the Dinner Party was often judged as being crude, brash and pornographic. The use of such was viewed as an attempt to use shear shock instead of aptitude to draw the attention of viewers.23 The Dinner Party notoriously drew the US Congress’ attention after Chicago tried to donate it to the University of District of Columbia, upon which the idea of having it permanently displayed to the general public raised debate to the extent that the issue ended up in the House of Representatives as many people and leaders questioned the overt reference to female genitals and whether it was appropriate for a university settings. The appearance of the dinner plates and their vaginal appearance were especially criticized as ‘obscene’ and even ‘pornographic’. Chicago eventually had to withdraw the donation and it was only in 2004 that it was placed at the Brooklyn Museum of Art.24 Another effective example of the typical shock effect of feminist art was Lynda Benglis’ Artforum Advertisement. The Artforum Advertisement Fig2. Lynda Benglis’ Artforum Ad, 1974 In the self-image, Benglis appears nude, wearing dark glasses and holding a double-headed dildo usually associated with lesbians against her oiled body. It was an advertisement on Artforum issue of November 1974 and for which she paid. It would obviously raise controversy considering the extent to which feminine sexuality was considered private.25 The piece of art could have been intended as a total response to critics that he knew would emerge. The image is intended as a critique of the kind of sexual politics that existed at the time in the world of art.26 She portrays herself as a hermaphrodite probably in the process communicating her ambivalence to society’s expectation considering the sexual and gender absolutes present at that time. The image was not an expression of her sexual or identity disposition, but rather a sign that she refused to be part of the binary categories of gender and how they were applied to her artistic practice. She believed that hermophroditism was ideal as it represented a good contradiction in itself. In terms of the visual aspect, the oversized dildo expressed how difficult it was to be in such a state, let alone to accept it. The image displays an exploratory fantasy, illustrating an excessive, imperfect but dynamic embodiment state. As expected, it was also a source of much debate and controversy, with for instance head teachers withdrawing their subscription to the magazine for their schools.27 Although faced with resistance however, the efforts of the 1970’s opened up opportunities for female artists and also created a foundation for the activist art and identity art that characterized the 1980s.28 In conclusion, modern feminist art may be easily traced to the early 1970’s, which was also a time of great social awareness especially in the United States. It was a reaction to the oppression and even exclusion of women from the art scene. They therefore produced new literature institutions and even style of art, although they was no single approach to their work. The Dinner Party and Artforum ad are good example of the emancipator art that was produced. However, as expected, they drew negative reactions as they were against the norm, especially due to their sexual overtones. Overall however, the 1970’s created a good starting point for gender and feminist art globally. Annotated Bibliography Art History. Feminist Art Beginnings. 2014.Retrieved on 22 March 2015 from This page gives a step by step history of the development of feminist art, from the late 60’s, during the 1970’s, 1980’s and afterwards. It describes the various forms that the art took and the influences of concurrent events on the development of the movement. There is the discussion of the main organizations and establishments created towards the cause and also the various significant names and their roles in it. The author concludes that although the feminist agenda continues in art, it is not very visible as the artists do not identify themselves as such. Battista, Kathy. Renegotiating the Body: Feminist Art in 1970’s. London: I.B.Tauris, 2013 In this book, the author argues that feminist artists lack any unique aesthetic and even though the body, sexuality and domesticity are commonly referred to, they are not. It reviews several, mostly controversial works from the beginnings of the feminist movement, especially those with the female body as the production or exhibition site for art and tries to analyse the issue, supplementing the information with interviews with experts. It concludes that it is not possible to come up with an Essential Feminist Aesthetic as is believed by many. Brodsky, Judith and Olin, Ferris. Stepping out of the Beaten Path: Reassessing the Feminist Art Movement. Journal of Women in Culture and Society. Vol. 33, No. 2 (2008): 329- 342. In this article, the authors discuss transformations in the world of art due to the feminist movement. With visual evidence from past feminist artists, the authors argue that the feminist art movement was the basis of postmodernism, unlike the common belief that its beginnings go back to architecture. It revisits the contribution of feminist curators, artists and historians especially after 1975and note that the innovations they brought about have become so normal that many people have even forgotten their source. . D’Alleva, Anne. Methods and Theories of Art History. London: Laurence King, 2005. This book presents the debate that constitutes art historical theory. In it the author sets forth introductory understandings to various theoretical approaches to the examination and analysis of art. It also reveals various controversies, opinions and viewpoints by various scholars. There are six chapters, each of which handles a given approach to the matter, and these are practically applied to respective pieces of art work Heartney, Eleanor. Art and Today. London Phaidon, 2009 Heartney’s book is a survey of the developments in contemporary art since the 1980s. She revisits issues such as the relation between popular culture and art, and the role of globalism in art development. The book touches on more than 400 artists, and in 16 chapters various related themes are covered, one of which is feminism and its beginnings Lind, Amy and Brzuzy, Stephanie. Battleground: M-Z. Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2008 This book analyzes contemporary debates and issues relating to the lives of women in the USA and elsewhere in the world. It specifically looks at the interaction of culture and science and how they determine people’s desires, identities, social roles and relationships. Through essays, the authors express their basic conclusion that women are generally viewed in conflicting and differing ways, with some seeing them as either liberated and others as not. Others also consider their gender roles as being defined by biology yet others think it is by culture Museum of Contemporary Art. Feminist Art. 2010. Retrieved on 22 March 2015 from This page offers a brief introduction to feminist art. It is noted that although there had previously been some female artists especially in the 1950s and 60’s, their work content was not feminist as it didn’t meet the criteria of representing women’s issues. It was only at the end of the 60’s that this changed. It then outlines the measures that were taken by feminist artists and concludes that later works especially after the 1980’s are less overt in their feminism, but this is mainly because feminist principles are now a norm Richmond, Susan. Lynda Benglis: Beyond Process. London: Tauris, 2012 In this text, the author argues that Lynda Benglis has effectively managed to challenge status quo in a daring manner that few have in the past. The author reviews works that may not seem to have much significance to bring out Bengli’s attempts to provoke thought. Richmond concludes that the sculptures she made are a celebration of creation as they well combine feminized sensuality with architectonic abstraction. Taylor, Brandon. 'Victory and Decline: The 1970s’ in Art Today: Art Since 1970. London: Laurence King, 2005 In this book, Taylor explains the practices and ideas behind contemporary art globally. Aspects covered range from conceptualism and Minimalism to the use of film and video and traditional art to more modern forms such installation and performance. Through its various topics, it shows the roles played by various factors in the development of art. The main idea is that it has benefitted in its development due to interactions with other areas of the world. The book goes further to analyse the impacts digital art and the internet on art practice. Read More

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