The Modern Forms of Arts and Several Developmental Periods - Article Example

Institution : xxxxxxxxxxx Title : xxxxxxxxxxx Tutor : xxxxxxxxxxx Course : xxxxxxxxxxx @2016 Women in Australian Art Introduction Australia Council for the Arts (2015) report cited arts as an integral part of everyday life for not only men but also women in Australia. The report showed increased efforts of involvement and active participation in arts among Australian women as compared to the ancient times. It is vital to understand that arts play an imperative role in a culturally ambitious country. Today, women in Australia have expressed a rapid transformation propelled by creativity and innovation. Australia had never witnessed such dramatic twist and improvement among women in participation, engagement and curiosity about art and culture in their everyday lives (Australia Council for the Arts, 2015). According to the Australia Council for the Arts (2014) report, Australia has a great story to narrate in relation to its improved citizen’s active involvement in arts. The entire nation is proud to have its origin in the world’s oldest living culture, which later became enriched by an implausible breadth of diversity all over the world. Today, the country exists as a precarious part of the Asia Pacific region with strong, deep and harmonious ties to other parts of the world. The Australian arts continue to transcend borders and boundaries as the Australia Council strengthens its commitment to empower and support increased cultural exchange and artistic collaboration championed by women (Australia Council for the Arts, 2014). This paper will discuss women participation in the Australian art by providing history, describe five different artists, their artist artwork and how their artwork helped to empowered women. History of Australian Women Involvement in Arts The ancient beliefs and traditional gender discriminative principles compelled women from taking a lead role not only in Australia but also in other nations. Traditionally, women worked as companions and helped men to take a lead role in arts. Women could perform weak roles such as singing and assisting men to play some musical instruments. Clear historical analysis concerning the involvement of Australian women in art reveals that women were inactively involved in Arts during the ancient times (Burke, 2010). When studying the Australian female artistic movement, the perception that art can effectively represent progressive thought values and processes is clearly evident. Hammond (2015) reveal that the social pressures experienced in the Australian society during the 19th and early 20th century, proselytized the values that have repressed women in modern society. These pressures saw only the strongest and brilliant women follow their desires and ambitions. However, many women with incredible talents faced intimidation and withdrew from the struggle. Women who followed their dreams and remained focused towards their fulfillment faced judgment from their male counterparts. As the struggle continued, more efforts gave the Australian women viable reasons to smile and continue working hard. The 1930s and 1940s modernist period played an essential historical role by breaking down numerous pre-conceived notions of the past (Topliss, 2013). This period saw the cultivation of a healthy respect for confident female artists including Thea Proctor, Margaret Preston, and Grace Cossington Smith. Topliss (2013) ascertain that the tremendous struggle accounts for the modern improved participation of Australian women in art. Resolution of values involving gender equality was then implemented in the contemporary society. Today, the reverence hold by the entire nation for its current female artists describes the path into the future. Judy Cassab who was Australia’s first female artist to win the Archibald twice provides the best example for the efforts put in place to increase women participation. Australia as a country recognizes that building greater comprehension of national arts its dimension, scale, participants as well as contributors will help the entire nation to work collaboratively and jointly to back up strong future development. According to the Australia Council for the Arts (2015), the entire nation has a commitment developing a variety of imperative indicators to measure and analyze growth and change of women involvement in art over time. They are, hence, investing in reports to not only empower women active participation in the arts sector but also engaging and captivating an increased amount of audience. The council believes that its efforts in collaboration with the government will help increase the awareness and popularity of Australian art and artists all over the world (Hammond, 2015).Their report is, therefore, an essential primary step in establishing consolidated and meaningful knowledge about their Australian arts. Australian Female Artists and their Artistic Works According to Burke (2010) artists account for the most highly educated Australian professionals. However, the entire nation is prone to suffer from a diminishing growth in numbers of tertiary students of creative arts. Other studies indicate that professional artists are less likely to live with disability than the overall workforce and are less culturally diverse. The greatest challenge facing female artists is that most of them have minimal chances of being nominated to contest in the Australian arts awards (Australia Council for the Arts, 2014). However, the chances of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists being nominated are higher than the population benchmarks. Some of the prominent Australian female artists included Jane Claude, Clara Southern, Inge King, Mirka Mora and Aelita Andre Jane Claude Formally known as Jane Dorothea Claude, Claude was born in 1822 in Berlin Huguenot and grew up in Liverpool. She was a school teacher, an artist and a charity worker. After marriage her family migrated to Melbourne in Australia where she began exploiting her brilliant drawing talent. She was the first lady to draw and design the Melbourne townscapes and buildings which remained significant records in the Australian history. Before her death at the age of 38 years due to tuberculosis in Madera, Portugal, she spent her times writing imperative sketchbooks that could change the lives of many women in the later Australia. Her letters and sketchbooks are exist as part of the collections read in the National Library of Australia in Canberra and Trinity College in Oxford. Significance of Claude’s Artistic Works Claude’s buildings serve an imperative historical role in in Canberra's Civic Centre. They were the first buildings constructed by private enterprise playing focal points in the townscape design. The buildings were established to control drawings as the individuals owners built each section and filled the interior space to fulfill the clients’ needs. Claude’s work proved an influential point that women could also draw design and built up beautiful structure that could transform the entire building and construction industry. Clara Southern Also known as Australian Impressionism, Southern was an Australian female artist associated greatly with Heidelberg School. She was born in 1861 in Kyneton, Victoria and evolved into a famous artist who went on setting up an artistic community of younger landscape painters at Warrandyte in Melbourne. Some of the admirable artistic works included an Old Bee Farm, Warrandyte Hotel, and the Cabbage Patch. Additional works included the 1905 County Washhouse, 1909 Artists Home, and 1912 kitchen, 1900 Evensong, 1918 Cool Corner, 1911 Audrey and Chickapick as well as the 1914 Bush Camp. Below are the images and the descriptions of her artistic works. The Old Bee Farm Held by the National Gallery of Victoria, this artistic work came as one the 56 major paintings that made up the Lloyd O'Neil's of the Classic Australian Paintings. Kay Schaffer's used this painting as a cover illustration of his book written in 1988 and titled as “Women and the Bush: Forces of Desire in the Australian Cultural Tradition.” The Cabbage Patch This artistic work is an illustration of a tranquil mood demonstrated by the cabbage patch on an illumination with the late afternoon soft light. Offered for sale through Sotheby’s, cabbage patch demonstrated the ability of women to grow and transform the entire world when given time, motivation, resources and effective empowerment. Warrandyte Hotel Created and painted in 1910, Southern painted the Warrandyte Hotel from a close range of both the Webb Street and Main Street, currently referred to as the Yarra Street Warrandyte intersection. The hotel was later constructed in 1956 and ‘The Grand’ still stands today, despite the considerable modifications made on initial building. Inge King Born in Germany, Inge King became an Australian citizen and a famous sculptor playing an essential role in the empowerment of women. Kings has received numerous and influential public commissions. Most of her artistic works in preserved in both private and public collections. Apart from the forward Surge which is the most famous and kown artistic works of herself, King enjoys being the founder of the Portrait of Käthe Kollwitz used on the 1991 German postage stamp shown in the image below. Mirka Mora Born 1928 Mirka Mora provides the best example of an Australian female artist who is investing a plethora of resources and efforts to empower women all over the world. She is a prominent and famous Australian female visual artist contributing largely to the development and enhancement of contemporary art in Australia despite the fact she was born in France. Some of her influential works of art include sculptures, mosaics as well as paintings. However, Mora employs a vast variety of media as her artistic works features strongly in the permanent collection of the Heide Museum of Modern Art found in Melbourne, Australia. Mora is not only a symbolist but also a colorist whose paintings are usually bold and bright, drawn heavily on a stable of recurring motifs – innocent but wide-eyed children, dogs, cats, angels, snakes and birds. The artist conducts countless numbers of workshops in soft sculpture and mosaics and painting. Countless numbers of Australian women as well as female artists continue to learn from her artistic works such as the one shown below. Aelita Andre Despite of her young age Andre is an influential force to reckon in modern Australian art. Born on 9 January 2007, Aelita Andre is openly exploiting her painting talent and acting a vast challenge to the whole female fraternity. She uses the Surrealist painting style. At the age of 9 months, Andre began painting. Her work was once displayed publicly in a group exhibition shortly after turning she turned two years. At the age of four years old, Andre opened her first solo exhibition in New York City in June 2011. Conclusion Women have equal chances of involvement and active participation in art just as their male counterparts. Research proves that female artists played an essential role in empowering their fellow women and the entire world on the need of active involvement in art. However, the modern forms of arts passed through doldrums of amendments and changes to evolve into what we see today. For instance since time in memorial the world has dramatically witnessed several developmental periods including the Baroque, Romantic, Renaissance as well as the Enlightenment period. It is, therefore, imperative for the government in collaboration with other key players in the economy such as private and non-governmental organizations to join efforts and improve the art sector. This practice will help to raise more talents and encourage more investors to allow women exploit their unused talents. Bibliography Australia Council for the Arts, 2014, Arts in Daily Life: Australian Participation in the Arts Retrieved on 10th April 2016 from: http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/workspace/uploads/files/research/arts-in-daily-life-australian-5432524d0f2f0.pdf Australia Council for the Arts, 2015, Arts Nation: An Overview of Australian Arts, 2015 Edition, Sydney, Australia. Retrieved on 10th April 2016 from: http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/workspace/uploads/files/arts-nation-final-27-feb-54f5f492882da.pdf. Burke, J., 2010, Australian women artists, 1840-1940. Collingwood, Vic, Greenhouse Publications. Hammond, V., 2015, A century of Australian women artists: 1840s-1940s. Malvern, Vic, Deutscher Fine Art. Topliss, H., 2013, Modernism and feminism: Australian women artists 1900-1940. Roseville East, NSW, Craftsman House [u.a.]. Read More