Reforming art- The Feminist Art Movement

"What was revolutionary in feminist art…was not its forms but its content. Feminist artists’ insistence on prioritizing experience and meaning over form and style was itself a challenge to the modernist valorization ‘progress’ and style development…” (Broude, and Garrard, 10)

The Feminist Art Movement began in the 1970s with women discussing and thinking about their identities, bodies, and experiences as women in society and how this looked and felt in the art realm. They “differed from past women artists of the fifties and sixties most of all in the deliberate grounding of their art in their socialized experience as women and—the corollary of that position—in their acceptance of women’s experience as different from men’s but equally valid” (Broude, and Garrard, 21). They began to search for an understanding of women’s collective circumstances and how this affected gender and society. The female body became a central focus point and many feminist artists defined their goal to be “‘the de-colonizing the female body,’ reclaiming it from masculine objectification” (Broude, and Garrard, 22).

Feminist artists began to consider the body (both male and female) and how they relate with society. Many artists “created body images for the female viewer…directed to the lesbian gaze” (Broude, and Garrard, 22). By creating the images in mind for females, the artist takes away the connotations and implications of the male gaze towards the female form. The body became a site of celebration and acceptance (see my post on ‘cunt art’ for examples during this time period) as well as sexual desire. Other artists focused on love between males and females, such as Joan Semmel who “sought gender balance through images of men and women in bed together, ‘sensuality with the power factor eliminated’” (Broude, and Garrard, 22). Still other artists aimed their imagery in re-envisioning the male form with negative societal connotations. These artists looked to the body as an impact full and culturally significant form which conveyed a particular message to a particular audience.

The feminist artists within the movement began to think consciously and critically about their intended audience and how this could change the perception of art. Artist strove to create “a dialogue—between art and society, between artist and audience, between women artists of the present and those of the past—and with collaboration as a creative mode” (Broude, and Garrard, 22). These artists strove to create not only visually beautiful and emotional pieces, but also work which sought out a social context.

Nevertheless, feminist artists of the seventies have since been labeled essentialist. Although I disagree with this labeling, their connections between the biological female form and feminine characteristics have been viewed as a form of essentialism. I feel, on the other hand, that the exploration of the female body by the artists of the feminist art movement was not intended to be seen as biological determinism but more as a representation of a positive view of female anatomy not seen in previous years through society nor art. I feel that this movement advanced the acceptance and understanding of women’s identity through art and is a very significant period in feminism.

Do you consider these feminist artists to be essentialists?

Broude , Norma, and Mary D. Garrard. "Introduction: Feminism and Art in the Twentieth Century." The Power of Feminist Art. Ed. . Norma Broude and Mary D. Garrard. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc, 1993. Print.