The Feminist Art movement emerged and flourished alongside the women's rights movement of the late 1960's and through the 1980's, going through its peak in the 1970's to become one of the most influential of post-World War II art movements on the global front. … (read more)

The Feminist Art movement emerged and flourished alongside the women's rights movement of the late 1960's and through the 1980's, going through its peak in the 1970's to become one of the most influential of post-World War II art movements on the global front.

The artists of the feminist era were predominantly interested in what art could be used to say more than art for art itself. Feminist Art draws attention and question the differences between men and women and the differences in the art created by men versus the art created by women and how these differences shape how each gender views art. Another major theme surrounds the role of obscenity in art: what constitutes obscenity or pornography, and what that says about how men and women are differently portrayed in art. These themes are drawn from the feminist movement's concern with what history has dictated as the traditional feminine role in a patriarchal society.

Prior to the late 1960s women artists generally sought to create work that would not be differentiated by the gender of the artist, as it would otherwise make it impossible for them to engage in an art world was almost exclusively male. Some of the pioneers in the first half of the 20th century included Georgia O'Keefe and Frida Kahlo, some of the first and best-known feminists to create art. Before the 20th century, however, the accomplishments of successful women artists as Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1653) and Angelica Kauffmann (1741-1807) have not staying power through the years.

Contemporary art critic Linda Nochler's 1971 article, "Why are there no great women artists?" was seminal in bringing academic scrutiny behind the question of why women had heretofore played so stunted a role in the arts. The art community was once again called to respond with Lynda Benglis' controversial ArtForum ad, in which she was photographed nude, pin-up style, save for a pair of demure white sunglasses and a giant latex dildo.

The Guerrilla Girls, an anonymous group of feminists who assembled in 1985, took a very different approach, distributing posters, stickers, postcards, books, and various other viral media. They were another entity to gain notoriety in highlighting the exclusion of women in the art world. Their humorous and provocative print media sought to bring light to sexism in a broad range of societal forums, from politics to the work-place.

The Feminist Art movement is credited with pushing art toward the paradigm in which art is made as much for what the social or political message it conveys as much as is created for its appearance and composition. This thinking paved the way for much of modern artistic practice and claims significant responsibility a the far-reaching diaspora of art forms in contemporary art.

Watch a video of Yoko Ono's seminal performance, Cut Piece, in which the audience is invited to cut pieces away from her clothing with scissors while she sits in front of an auditorium of viewers:

Watch a video of Brooklyn Museum's Bringing Down the House: Building a Feminist Collection:

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