Despite the institutional and societal limitations women artists have faced, portrait art has long been regarded as a feminine preoccupation. Since ancient times, female artists have excelled in portraiture. While male portrait artists are more celebrated, women seem to excel in this over other genres of art. This post was born after I read two essays: Linda Nochlin’s Why Have There…
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Reclaiming the Canvas: Suzanne Valadon
From sculptures of Greek goddesses in ancient temples to high-fashion models on Vogue covers, we can see women everywhere in art; rich or poor, young or old, impeccably dressed or completely naked. However, less common are the females behind the canvas: history provides us with a dearth of well-known female names. I’ve talked about this in previous posts – I…
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Behind the Movement: The Women of Surrealism
My latest art obsession is Surrealism, especially the female artists involved with the movement. Several courses I took last semester were about modern art, and I finally started paying attention to Surrealism, which I’d previously written off, having only knowing its male participants and their infamous sexism. Surrealism was certainly rooted in a chauvinistic and phallocentric narrative, but many women…
