i student paper
Second-Wave Heroines:
Feminism and Feminist Art of the 1980s
The vast accomplishments of innumerable women artists have influenced not only the art world, but also society as a whole. Both those artists who have identified as explicitly feminist, or simply as woman-artists, have made huge strides in the creation of visual works and in changing a problematic social frontier— politically, economically, sexually, and educationally. In order to fully grasp these contributions, it is necessary to acknowledge the actions of revolutionary women within the context of the times that they lived. An understanding of the happenings and leading ideologies that composed each decade within the twentieth century can provide a basic frame of reference in approaching women artists during their respective periods. The conditions in which women artists were able to persevere are particularly inspiring to all men and women who have been oppressed in some way. Women artists, and subsequently, the guiding philosophies of feminism, have motivated wholehearted crusades in humanism.
The perspective of women has truly entered the art world within the last century, but has been most powerful within the last fifty years. While there is still an issue with representation of women and persons of color within artistic spaces, the works that have been selected by galleries and other prestigious places have made groundbreaking achievements in communicating the perspective of women in the artworld and in society. This viewpoint would inspire a perpetual socioeconomic discourse among viewers, challenging sexist understandings of women on a public level. There has been no medium limiting feminist work; women have employed diverse means of creation, including traditional oil and acrylic palettes, alternative media such as fabric and fibers, a number of objects within large and small sculptures, photography, video, and the execution of performance works.
Feminist art was able to truly surface in the 1960s. This decade has been coined as the beginning of second-wave feminism, and was an era that would last until the 1980s and ‘90s ("The 1960s-70s American Feminist Movement: Breaking Down Barriers for Women.”). According to activist and author bell hooks, Visionary Feminism, the most influential and necessary type of feminism, was founded in the 60s: “ . . . Visionary thinkers were present dreaming about a radical, revolutionary political movement that would in its reformist stage grant women civil rights within the existing white supremacist capitalist patriarchal system while simultaneously working to undermine and overthrow that system" (hooks 110). These feminists, who were founded upon the Civil Rights Movement, forced rapid progression of women’s rights among social reformists. Activism of all sorts would challenge a predominantly patriarchal society and women’s place in that society: the feminist art of Lee Bontecou and Niki de Saint Phalle, the publication of The Feminine Mystique (Friedan), and the advent of post-war civil rights movements which sought inclusion for women and persons of color.
The contributions of women artists and activists of the ‘60s, ‘70s, and ’80s would lay the foundation for third-wave feminism. The 1980s was a particularly significant time for women around the world, in terms of litigation, legislation, activism, education, employment, and the recognition of a number of remarkable females. The most notable achievements of women during this decade included Gerda Lerner’s creation the America’s first Ph.D. program for Women’s History, Sandra Day O’Connor’s position as the first women to serve as a Supreme Court justice, Sally Ride becoming the first American woman in space, sexual harassment being outlawed in the workplace, and March 1987 being declared America’s first Women’s History Month.
Feminist ideas would also penetrate popular culture with the widespread praise of songs such as “Bad Reputation” and “I’m Coming Out”. “Bad Reputation” was released along with Joan Jett's debut Bad Reputation album in 1980. This song was undeniably Jett's most popular within her first album, and continues to represent feminist principles today, while also imploring the independence and acceptance of all persons. “I'm Coming Out” was a single from Diana Ross' tenth studio album. The song has been popular with the LGBT community as 'coming out' is commonly shorthand for 'coming out of the closet'. It has been named one of several unofficial gay pride anthems due to this; it’s main themes lie in acceptance, unity, pride, and self-confidence.
But sometimes penetrating popular culture was not so easy, requiring an extensive amount of time and efforts of women who cared to make a difference for themselves. The Guerrilla Girls, formed in the '80s, aligned to change the presence of women's art in major museums, the homes of collectors, literature, and the world. Wielding gorilla masks and using adopted pseudonyms of important historical women to hide their identities, these women joined in order to protest the artworld. Their activism was new wave-- a result of watching the 'outworn tactics' of feminists of the 1970s: "We had to have a new image and new kind of language to appeal to a younger generation of women" (Popova qtd. in Chave 104). The Guerrilla Girls would employ a 'sly, sardonic' humor, its sarcasm would find conservatives laughable and offenders of women in the art world uninformed and dated (Chave).
A major instrument utilized by the Guerrilla Girls was institutional critique. An example of the Guerrilla Girls' success was seen in 1992. When the Guggenheim's director Tom Krens had planned a show featuring exclusively male artists, the Girls bombarded him with pink postcards. With a humorous undertone, but serious substance, the Girls wished him "lotsa luck" in the "Four White Boys at the White Boys' Museum" show. They also protested the show at its initial public opening. Later Louis Bourgeois would be added, allegedly a member of the protest on the first day of the “Four White Boys” show. Happenings such as these would force exhibitionists, curators, museums, and ultimately other public and private spaces, to consider the sex and race of its participants going forward (Chave 109-110).
Perhaps the most important ingredient guiding the Guerrilla Girls' activism in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s, was their emphasis on anonymity. Their effort to present the facts, disarm bodies of the artworld who were discriminatory, and openly question representatives of that world, were extremely brave, and this braveness seems to be brought at least in part because of the classic gorilla mask. The emphasis wasn't on these women's careers in activism, but on the activism itself: "... anybody who was a Girl by 1991 would have added to their career" (Thomas qtd. in Chave 110). It was not only the Guerrilla Girls who utilized mass communication in communicating feminist political statements in the ‘80s; Artists like Jenny Holzer and Barbara Kruger used visuals and thoughtful slogans to address the culture of the time. Cindy Sherman was also a representative women artist of the 1980s, but didn’t draw on visual vocabulary as much as her counterparts. Instead, she would harness photographical self-portraits to represent herself as hundreds of different but relatable women.
Jenny Holzer (b. 1950, American) was born in 1950 in Gallipolis, Ohio. She would study at several institutions, Duke University, Ohio University, and Rhode Island School of Design, before participating in the Whitney Museum’s Independent Study Program (“Jenny Holzer”). There, in New York City, is where Holzer would spend the majority of her adult life. She rose to prominence in her conceptual and mixed-media artistry, using her words and imagery and placing them in public spaces: “Media employed in Holzer’s practice vary. Writing is programmed into electronic signs; printed on posters and t–shir ts; carved in stone benches, floors, and sarcophagi; cast as bronze and aluminum plaques; or etched on silver” (“Jenny Holzer”). Jenny Holzer is most known for her poetic Truisms (1977-9), a series of short, simple statements, which provoked thought in both public and private audiences. These Truisms would be publicized through a variety of mediums especially thought the early ‘80s.
Protect Me from What I Want (1988), one of Holzer’s Truisms, was installed atop the Piccadilly Circus in London in 1988. Here, an LED display and spectacolor board was used. Protect Me from What I Want, tastefully installed where an advertisement might reside, speaks to the rapidly expanding consumer culture of the 1980s. This installation asked onlookers to question the values of contemporary society as a whole. In manipulating several methods of mass communication such as this, Holzer turns traditional advertisement on its head, attacking real issues and inspiring change on a public level.
Barbara Kruger (b. 1945, American) is an American conceptual artist. Born and raised in Newark, New Jersey in 1945, Kruger would later attend Syracuse University and Parsons School of Design, spending the majority of her child and adult life in New Jersey and New York. As a post-graduate, she worked as a graphic designer for a number of magazines— which would become a fundamental component of her art. Kruger would eventually provide an active commentary on feminist culture, consumerism, and lust, through her artworks. Her work is identifiable in her use of found photographs and text, using a primarily red, white, and black palette. The captions within her work challenge modern authority and coercion. While mostly untitled, the themes in Kruger’s work are explicitly feminist, employing phrases such as : “Your body is a battleground”, “Your gaze hits the side of my face”, and “Pro-life for the unborn - Pro-death for the born”. She also involved her audiences by using many direct pronouns, such as I, you, we, and they (“Barbara Kruger”).
Untitled (Your gaze hits the side of my face) (1981) features a woman staring ahead, ignoring the “gaze” of a potential audience. As the viewer follows the text down the woman’s face towards her body, he or she notices that it is a stone block. It might occur to the viewer that the woman being depicted doesn’t have any arms or legs, and no way of avoiding the public gaze other than simply looking away. It becomes apparent that the women depicted does not want or require the viewer’s attention. Kruger’s word choice, ‘gaze’, can be deduced to a woman ignoring or refusing the ‘male gaze’— which in feminist terms, is a phrase which defines the objectification of women by males.
Untitled, (We Are Not What We Seem) (1988), portrays a triptych of a woman. The three parts of this image don’t seem to come together correctly in the center, as the left and right of this work illustrate a woman who might be putting on makeup or adjusting her face. In the center of the triptyc h is an enlarged image of the woman directing a contact lense into her eye. Around this center image are the words “We are not what we seem”, a homage to women’s intelligence and ability to recognize the patriarchy within society.
Cindy Sherman (b. 1954, American) is another woman artist who rose to popularity in the 1980, and pursued her artistic career in New York City after graduating from college. An American photographer from Glen Ridge, New Jersey, Sherman is most known for her Untitled Film Stills (1977-80). These “stills” were a compilation of 69 photographic self-portraits, each of which depicts Sherman as different cliche women-protagonists (“Cindy Sherman”). Her work notoriously illustrates and analyzes the role of women in historical and modern settings. Untitled Film Stills (1977-80) was a black-and-white series that illustrated multiple representations of women in society: the pin-up, the housewife, the prostitute, the damsel in distress, the librarian, the model, and more. Sherman has denied any intentional narratives within her work. These statements, along with the fact that her works are left untitled, allow audiences create either basic or intricate narratives of the photographs that Sherman’s self-portraits. While this artist’s photographs are largely self-portraits— Cindy Sherman never appears as herself, appearing as an unnamed and separate entity in each photograph.
Untitled No. 122 (1983) i s a photograph of Sherman, which was part of a series where she modeled several designer garments. Contrary to typical fashion imagery, Sherman is clearly apprehensive and unkept. Fists clenched, eyes bloodshot, and clothes attached to her taut frame, she illustrates the female identity as more than what is portrayed in typical fashion photography and advertisement. Still, an audience certainly questions the reason behind the model’s evident displeasure. Another notable quality of this photograph gives insight to the era that it was created, as the women’s power suit was a marker of ‘80s fashion— speaking to the prevalent Wall Street culture.
Holzer, Kruger, and Sherman were major figures in the art world and in the public during the 1980s. Holzer and Kruger dominated in their respective mediums, presenting powerful slogans as if they were advertisements, truly inspiring an assessment of popular culture by all persons. Sherman, a nondescript model and photographer, became representative of all women in her works. The combined efforts of these artists truly connected with the public on a level that cannot be easily duplicated: Holzer in writing and installing her relatable Truisms, Kruger in addressing her audience with pronouns and directing them towards social change, and Sherman in symbolizing women archetypes of modern and historical society. The Guerrilla Girls are also credited to this period, and still today, in their constant efforts to make women visible in the art world.
The 1980s was an important age in women’s rights and feminism. Outspoken heroines: Sally Ride in outer space, Gerda Lerner’s extensive study of women, artists like Holzer, Kruger, and Sherman, along with the Guerrilla Girls— allowed ‘80s feminism to have a backbone in popular culture. Whether these women identify as feminist or not, they are exemplary models of Visionary Feminism, as described by bell hooks, in their purposeful shifting of women’s identification in society. Women’s ‘place’ in culture was sought to be eliminated completely by feminists, in ordered to end gender-bias in all professions and lifestyles. A fundamental aspect of women’s oppression has been seen in women’s identification as “other”, and primarily lesser, beings. Most problematic is that men have, by default, been considered to be the ideal toward which women should aspire to be. In order for feminism to move forward, the attitudes surrounding oppression and inequality must be set aside, not so women can aspire to be men— but so women can aspire to be themselves: “The only way for a woman, as for a man, to find herself, to know herself as a person, is by creative work of her own” (Friedan 472).
Work Cited
"Barbara Kruger." The Art History Archive. The Lilith Gallery Network, n.d. Web. 1 Dec. 2015. <http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/feminist/Barbara-Kruger.html>.
Chave, Anna C. "The Guerrilla Girls' Reckoning." Art Journal. Summer 2011: 102-11. Print.
hooks, bell. Feminism Is for Everybody: Passionate Politics. Cambridge, MA: South End Press, 2000. Print.
Friedan, Betty. Feminine Mystique. New York: Penguin , Limited, 1992. Print.
"Jenny Holzer." Cheim & Read. Cheim & Read, n.d. Web. 1 Dec. 2015. <http:// www.cheimread.com/artists/jenny-holzer>.
"The 1960s-70s American Feminist Movement: Breaking Down Barriers for Women." Tavaana. E-Collaborative for Civic Education, n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2015.
<https://tavaana.org/en/ content/1960s-70s-american-feminist-movement-breaking-down-barriers-women>.
-----------------------------------------------------
ii student paper
Andrea Kennedy
Women in the Visual Arts
The 1980s was a period of great change for the United States and for the world. Widespread loss of national self-confidence during the 1970s due to the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal led to significant political distrust of the Reagan administration, amidst national crises such as the Iran hostage crisis and the continually accelerating arms race and space race with the Soviet Union. The 1980s, then more than ever before, had people tossing out a structuralist viewpoint that enforced binary modes of thinking and began questioning authority with post-structuralist frames of mind. With antiquated expectations of gender roles slowly dissipating – but by no means disappearing – more and more women artists created feminist artworks that called attention to the way we exist in the world, and encouraged viewers to question what we accept as true, even down to the way words have shaped our society. Several artists emerged who began to use post-structuralism as a tool in their work to express themes of disgust towards location of power, racism, and sexism and gender roles: the Guerrilla Girls, Adrian Piper, Jenny Holzer, and Barbara Kruger all notably used the visual power of words in their work to achieve a radical upheaval of former accepted values.
In response to the main component of structuralism which proposes that inherent human linguistics designate a hierarchy through defining “that which is” and “that which is not”, post-structuralism emerged to question the “intellectual claim that all human culture may be understood by a common structure that is modeled on language” (Pepper). As a result, language became a subversive tool in the art world to examine outdated frames of mind. Barbara Kruger and Jenny Holzer often criticize consumerism and the intersection with female identities, while the Guerilla Girls and Adrian Piper question sexism and racism in the art world as being reflective of surrounding culture. When words are integrated into anything, especially artwork, viewers are compelled to read it before even realizing what the words are saying – which can be a very powerful tool for those artists who really need you to hear what their work is saying.
The Guerilla Girls, an anonymous group of feminist activists advocating for an end to sexism and racism in the art world, formed in 1985 in response to the Museum of Modern Art’s 1984 exhibition "An International Survey of Recent Painting and Sculpture". This exhibition was intended to be a full international survey of the best artwork of the time, and sadly only 13 artists were female (out of 165) (Brenson). The show itself was intended to be a response to critics’ and artists’ observation of the lack of representation of living artists in museums and galleries, so to begin with, the show’s purpose was to prove critics wrong. There was a lackluster protest to the content of the show put on by various women’s groups, but the Guerilla Girls felt that more was needed. They protested themselves, and began papering the city with their propaganda calling attention to the lack of female representation in museums and galleries, as well as lack of representation of artists of color. The group was sick of white, male artists profiting off their work significantly more than women artists, and knew the only way to effect change would be to continuously and unabashedly call out those responsible to amend their actions. They initially did not include race in their critique, but later began to include artists of color as part their battle cry, in keeping with views that systematic oppression and binary constructs do not only affect gender but race and class as well (hooks). In the years following, they developed a strong presence in the art world of New York City, and remained anonymous because they felt it shouldn’t be about any of their work specifically but should remain about the issue. The Girls use pseudonyms, appropriating names of women artists who they feel have not gotten nearly their share of recognition, such as Käthe Kollwitz, Frida Kahlo, and Rosabla Carriera (Chave). One of their most famous posters begs the question, “Do women have to be naked to get into the Met. [Metropolitan] Museum?... Less than 5% of the artists in the Modern sections are women, but 85% of the nudes are female.” The poster depicts the famous nude Odalisque by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, but the nude sports a gorilla mask, the preferred public disguise of the Guerilla Girls (See Figure A). They began a full-scale postering campaign in the late 1980s, peppering billboards around the city with their messages, slapping posters in every visible place, including on galleries. They also sent out postcards and letters to curators, directors, and gallery owners, critiquing their shows for lack of female and non-white representation. With their confrontational approach, outspoken claims, and seemingly no personal agenda, anyone who saw their propaganda began to question the norms they had been accepting: that women and non-white people cannot be successful artists, and that even at their best they wouldn’t make much money. Slowly but surely they began to enact change with their public projects, although certain members of the group consider it to be art while others don’t: “ ‘What we were doing we weren’t labeling art. What we were doing, we were labeling activism,’ asserts Carriera, though Guerilla Girl I interjects, ‘I felt it was art.’... Their pithy graphics nonetheless garnered some respect from critics… Work consisting strictly of text, or of photos and text combined, had been intrinsic to conceptual art practices since the 1960s” (Chave). While the Girls seem divided as to whether or not their activism could be considered art, it certainly used elements of design to speak to an audience to communicate their viewpoints, and is therefore at the very least art-adjacent, if not outright art.
However, as radical as their actions may seem, they are not considered radical feminists. Author, feminist, and activist bell hooks describes the difference between revolutionary feminists and radical feminists as being that revolutionary feminists sought to find a way for women to fit in to the existing system as equals to men in every arena, where radical feminists sought to destroy the patriarchal system entirely and rebuild a utopian society where every human has intrinsic equality to one another (hooks). Both systems are somewhat problematic, and lead to a further divide between different feminist groups as to which practice is more effective and realistically applicable in the long run. The Guerilla Girls seem to fall more into the former group, radical acts aside: “Downplaying the utopianism historically instrumental to feminist theorizing, the Guerilla Girls tended to represent themselves as pragmatists, asking only for their fair share of the proverbial art-world ‘pie’, not the outsize job of conceiving and baking an entirely new dessert” (Chave). When Louise Bourgeois herself donned a gorilla masked and protested with the Girls at the Guggenheim in 1992, it “[signified]… a kind of tipping point: a moment after which no one could plan an exhibition… in the contemporary art world any longer without considering the gender and complexion of the participants, and [have] a compelling defense ready if those elements were homogenous. Such self-monitoring became… mandatory and reflexive, even within the most conservative bastions of the art world” (Chave). Through their use of powerful words, the Guerrilla Girls helped many artists and art activists realize that the were no longer willing to accept the established hierarchy’s unjust representation of women and people of color in the art world, in keeping with the tenets of post-structuralism.
Adrian Piper, born 1948 and a self-identified mixed race black woman, emerged on the art scene in the mid-1960s with a background in philosophy, specifically Kantian philosophy (Piper). Like the Guerilla Girls, Piper sought to call attention to both major and minor acts of racism and sexism in current culture. In earlier works, such as her combination performance piece/series of drawings titled The Mythic Being, Piper donned a male disguise and participated in public interactions with people, “[acting] out stereotypes of antisocial behavior, cruising women in the street, even staging a fake mugging. A single piece in the show catches the spirit: it is a head shot of the bewigged artist with a thought balloon that reads, ‘I embody everything you most hate and fear’ “ (Cotter). Her work in the 1980s however, became more obviously subversive and text-based, notably with her self-portraits with titles written directly on them such as “Self-Portrait Exaggerating My Negroid Features” (1981), and later, “Self-Portrait as a Nice White Lady” (1995) (See Figure B). Her drawings often feature thought bubbles pertaining to both stereotyped inner thoughts and actual inner thoughts. Because of her mixed heritage, she is no stranger to the concept of passing as white or passing as black, depending on how she presents herself. Piper uses language in her work to call attention to structural systems of thought with aims to abolish social notions of race, class, and gender, which she believes are not actual categories that exist beyond the constructs of the human mind:
What interests Piper is Kant's notion that the human mind requires preconceived categories in order to make sense of the flux of external experience. Piper takes Kant's idea of the preconceived category and applies it to race… She suggests that race is a structure of the mind rather than something with an independent existence. As such, it allows us to impose coherence on our otherwise bewildering experience of human difference. But because this mental structure is necessarily inadequate to the complexity of experiences it attempts to make sense of, race is, in Piper's words, a product of pseudo-rationality (Heartney).
Piper’s performance piece My Calling (Cards), echoes this philosophy. From 1986-1990, she handed out cards to people around her “when someone makes an unwelcome sexual advance or someone in her presence, unaware of her racial background, makes a racist joke” (Heartney). One card begins, “Dear Friend, I am not here to pick anyone up, or to be picked up. I am here alone because I want to be here, ALONE…” and speaks to gender roles, while the other calls out small acts of racism and begins “Dear Friend, I am black. I am sure you did not realize this when you made/laughed at/agreed with that racist remark…” (See Figure C). Piper’s work “[favors] the confrontational over the conciliatory” and, like the Guerrilla Girls, seeks to radically shift accepted societal views in favor of inclusion for all (Cotter).
Jenny Holzer, born 1950, is a conceptual artist, though she started her artistic career working as a painter. She began using text as her primary medium after completely the Whitney Independent Study Program, where she was encouraged to use more word-based content in her work (Holzer in K Smith). “I used language because I wanted to offer content that people - not necessarily art people - could understand,” Holzer reflects (Holzer in K Smith). The result of Holzer embracing the power of words led to some truly fantastic works that are almost entirely text-based. Her first series, Truisms (1977-1979), manifested in the form of declarative aphorisms, musings, and commands that were pasted onto every surface around New York City. Although officially the Truisms series ended in 1979, it continued for decades after in the form of large-scale projections, installations, and other obvious works of art, as well as in ubiquitous items such as clothing, pencils, hats, and the like. When asked, “What do you think is the difference between making art and making T-shirts?” Holzer responds, “I like placing content wherever people look, and that can be at the bottom of a cup or on a shirt or hat or on the surface of a river or all over a building” (Holzer in K Smith) (See Figure D). Three similar series followed, Living (1980-1982), Survival (1983-1984), and Inflammatory Essays (1979-1982), which led Holzer to be the first woman to represent the United States at the 1990 Venice Biennale. Holzer’s blunt statements suggest ways to live, blatantly state division of power, and comment on the sad state of current culture with sentences like “Rechanneling destructive impulses is a sign of maturity”, “Abuse of power comes as no surprise”, “Expiring for love is beautiful but stupid”, and “Romantic love was invented to manipulate women” (Holzer). Her work appears on LED billboards, postcards, bronze plaques, stone benches, marquees, and t-shirts, all in an attempt to catch the viewer unaware and cause them to consider her views (See Figure E). Holzer continues to create work and encourages the use of her statements by others (for example, embroidered onto fabric or printed on clothing) to further distribute her ideas (Singleton). “Ms. Holzer has never shied away from language's terrifying conjuring powers” (R Smith), a statement which beautifully summarizes the ability of words to affect people. In Feminism is for Everybody, bell hooks expresses her frustration that feminist ideas and literature seem to exist mostly at the academic level, further refining the group of people with access to and understanding of these ideas, when more accessible forms of media such as television do not adequately or accurately present feminist ideas (hooks). Holzer, though she possesses a rich academic background, uses language as a primary medium in her art as a way to reach a wider non-academic and non-artistic audience with her words. Her radical phrases stick with you in a way that doesn’t easily dissipate, calling into question existing systems of gender – “Raise boys and girls the same way” - of consumerism – “Any surplus is immoral” – and of expressing emotion – “It is in your self-interest to find a way to be very tender” (Holzer) (See Figure F). Interestingly enough, the Guerrilla Girls actually drew inspiration from Holzer’s highly successful use of public space in her work, and followed in her footsteps of “simultaneously [honoring] the value of language to communicate and [critiquing] its ability to control and contain” (K Smith).
Barbara Kruger, born 1945, is an American artist whose work could be considered conceptual, Pop Art, and Op Art all rolled into one. With a background in magazine work and design, Kruger uses found images as a background for bold text statements. Like Holzer, Kruger believes in the subversive power of words, and there is a lot of overlap in the claims they put forth. Kruger and Holzer’s overlap in word art even led them to share a 1986 exhibition in Jerusalem, Israel (“Jenny Holzer”). Kruger’s famous phrases include “I shop therefore I am”, “You want it, you buy it, you forget it”, “Plenty should be enough”, and “Your body is a battleground”, and, like Holzer, have been reproduced onto marketable items such as bags and t-shirts (Kruger) (See Figure G). Kruger’s work often features a black and white photograph as the background with the textual element in red. The optic effect of the red against the black and white is a pulsing, vibrating, visually grabbing image, unable to ignore, and sparks discourse on consumerism and on women’s roles. In reference to her 2012 piece in the Black Friday edition of the New York Times, under the “For Sale” section - “You want it, you buy it, you forget it”, Bollen observes:
The direct address is disarmingly direct. Certainly, the "you" implicates the reader - a shopper, a consumer, a part of the capitalist enterprise, guilty of impulsive buying habits. But the "you" is also a general composite - that annoying, far more guilty every person - and the reader sides with the artist in condemning this sector of the population who is greedy, wasteful, and irresponsible. So already - and almost always in a graphic Kruger text piece - a haunting repositioning occurs in the mind of the viewer: judged and also judging; agreeing with the charges even as she or he is charging others… It creates these moments of internal identity confusion in which we don't know if we are acting as victim, oppressor, or witness. Usually, we are all of the above (Bollen).
Through the shifting perspective in her statements, Kruger implicates the viewer personally in all of her work. “I shop therefore I am” is an appropriation of 17th century philosopher Rene Descartes famous existential realization, “I think therefore I am”, and implies that shopping is the element which defines human, and possibly female, existence (See Figure H). By using such a well-known statement and redirecting it, Kruger uses words to question accepted systems of thought down to basic epistemology. Kruger does not feel that her appropriation is criminal, though, and instead feels that certain instances of copyright law are an attempt at corporate control: “You know, I never call myself an appropriation artist. Critics do that. But the issues around copyright and so-called intellectual property, which, for me, is a euphemism for corporate control in so many ways . . . I believe in copyright. I do. But it's been taken to such lengths” (Kruger in Bollen). Kruger has also printed her work on billboards, buses, and in other public arenas in order to reach a wider non-artistic audience in the same way that Holzer does. Kruger, like Piper, Holzer, and the Guerrilla Girls, has no interest in being controlled by an oppressive system and continues to fight it through her continuous work.
Through their artwork, the Guerilla Girls, Holzer, Kruger, and Piper have used the post-structuralist ideals of the 1980s through text-based art as a way to engage and direct the public towards a more inclusive and non-binary society. In the 1980s, and again now, the minds of American people, and the world, were and are ready and willing to question authority in a time so filled with distrust of all systems around them. The potent statements made in the works of these artists are so confrontational and un-ignorable, that when combined with such accessible methods of viewing, have successfully contributed to efforts to change the paradigm in both the art world and in American society overall. In a time when it was more possible than ever before for artwork to enter the minds of the American public, the work of these women came at exactly the right time.
Figure A
Figure B
Figure C
Figure D
Figure E
Figure F
Figure G
Figure H
WORKS CITED
Chave, Anna C. "The Guerilla Girls' Reckoning." Art Journal 70.2 (2011): 102-11. Anna Chave. College Art Association. Web. 7 Dec. 2015.
Cotter, Holland. "Adrian Piper: A Canvas of Concerns -- Race, Racism and Class." Arts: Art Review. The New York Times Company, 24 Dec. 1999. Web. 5 Dec. 2015.
Guerilla Girls. Do women have to be naked to get into the Met. Museum? 1989. Print. N.p.
Heartney, Eleanor. "From the Archives: Adrian Piper’s “Blacks, Whites and Other Mythic Beings”." Art in America Magazine. Brant Publications, 29 May 2015. Web. 6 Dec. 2015. <http://www.artinamericamagazine.com/news-features/news/from-the-archives-adrian-piperrsquos-ldquoblacks-whites-and-other-mythic-beingsrdquo/>.
Holzer, Jenny. Abuse of power comes as no surprise. 1990. T-shirt. Venice Biennale.
Holzer, Jenny. If you aren’t political your personal life should be exemplary. 1998. Bronze plaque. N.p.
Holzer, Jenny. It is in your self-interest to find a way to be very tender. 1983. Marquee. N.p.
hooks, bell. Feminism Is for Everybody: Passionate Politics. Cambridge: South End, 2000. Print.
Kruger, Barbara. Untitled (I shop therefore I am). 1987. Print. N.p.
Kruger, Barbara. Plenty should be enough. 2014. T-shirt. Whitney Biennial.
Piper, Adrian. My Calling (Cards). 1986-1990. Paper. N.p.
Piper, Adrian. Self-Portrait Exaggerating my Negroid Features. 1981. N.p.
iii student paper
Paige Songer
The Influential 1970's
The 1970s played a rather large role in the feminist movement which includes the development of feminist art and literature. This is most likely due to the fact that the 1970s are infamous for their countless sexual and social revolutions. Events during the previous decade paved way for numerous changes, both positively and negatively impacting feminist efforts of the 70s. A lot of feminist art in the 1970s focused on gender and sexual differences, as well as the human body, and everyday stereotypes (Reckitt 68,110). While women in general were fighting for their place in the world, and feminist artists were fighting for recognition, every struggle seems to have been depicted through artwork as a whole.
On May 9th, 1960 The FDA approved the first oral contraceptive pill for sale as a form of birth control in the United States (Napikoski). On February 17th, 1963 The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan was published which examined the role of women as mothers and housewives in American homes (Koster 4). In the article The 1960s-70s American Feminist Movement: Breaking Down Barriers for Women, the author states “Friedan stunned the nation by contradicting the accepted wisdom that housewives were content to serve their families, and by calling on women to seek fulfillment in work outside the home. While Friedan's writing largely spoke to an audience of educated, upper-middle-class white women, her work had such an impact that it is credited with sparking the “second wave” of the American Feminist movement” ("The 1960s-70s American Feminist Movement: Breaking Down Barriers for Women"). On June 19th, 1963 Congress passed the Equal Pay Act which allowed women to become more economically independent than they had been prior (Napikoski). This push for equality in the workplace in the 60's also led to a push for equality in the home in the late 70's which ultimately led to an increase in the divorce rate. This realization inspired the feminist movement to spread the idea of feminism through consciousness-raising groups which also helped to eliminate taboos. Women began to feel comfortable expressing concerns such as abortion, sex, marriage, and divorce (Hernandez). In 1966, The National Organization for Women (NOW) was founded and became one of the largest groups geared towards women's rights in the United States (Koster 4). In The US Women’s Art Movement in the 1970s: Feminist Politics, Media and Aesthetic, Rosanne Koster states “Art is a representation of life. It reflects the thoughts and experiences of those within its spatial and temporal context. In the course of history we see that art depicts changes in mentality and society, portraying contemporary ideas, always inspired by the zeitgeist” (Koster 6). However, the feminist art scene in the 1960s seemed to be progressing without the rest of the world. Again, Koster states “With society largely occupied with emancipation and democratization processes, the art world remained isolated and self-centered” (Koster 6). However, all of the political and social turmoil of the 70s had a way of being expressed in the art world and this was when feminist artists began to really interrupt the scene.
On August 26th, 1970 NOW organized the Women's Strike for Equality on the 50th anniversary of Women's Suffrage, which was demonstrated by women and men across the nation. Despite all of the efforts, America continued to favor a patriarchal society. In 1971 The Supreme Court case Reed v. Reed declared sex discrimination a violation of the fourteenth amendment, and the art journal Women and Art began publication ("1970s Feminism Timeline"). Also in 1971 Linda Nochlin (1931), an art historian from Brooklyn, New York, published her famous essay Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists? in ArtNews (Koster 7). For the first time people were beginning to question why the art world rarely celebrated the greatness of women artists. Nochlin initially poses questions to the reader which are examples of the wrong questions, questions that only lead to fallacies. Then, Nochlin poses the right questions to the reader along with the answers. One reason that female artists hadn't been viewed as successful is that women are not typically expected to use nonconventional or 'rough' mediums in their work, and that art created by women and art created by men are thought to have two (or more) separate ideas of greatness. What makes a piece by a man successful might not make a piece by a woman successful. Nochlin says that the main reason why the separation continues is that education and professional institutions pose the biggest issue (Nochlin). In 1973 feminist artist Judy Chicago (1939), art historian Arlene Raven (1944-2006), and Sheila Levrant de Bretteville (1940), a graphic designer, founded the Feminist Art Program at California Institute of the Arts, following the founding of the women's studies program at San Diego State University and Cornell University (Koster 8 & "1970s Feminism Timeline"). Students from the feminist art program at CalArts (led by Judy Chicago and Miriam Schapiro) created Womanhouse in 1973. Womanhouse was an installation and performance exhibit which explored the relationship between women and the home. The exhibit was held inside an abandoned home in Los Angeles ("1970s Feminism Timeline"). Women were faced with the opportunity of choice in 1973 when the Supreme Court ruled that abortions performed within the first trimester of pregnancy were legal in the case Roe v. Wade, and later in 1976 the Supreme Court ruled that it was not required for a woman to provide written consent by her spouse prior to receiving an abortion in the case Planned Parenthood v. Danforth ("1970s Feminism Timeline").
The 1970s feminist movement pushed into the 80s with some weight behind it. In 1981 Sandra Day O'Connor became the first woman to serve as a justice for the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1983 Sally Ride became the first American woman to travel to outer space as a crew member, and the National Council of Churches rewrites a collection of biblical texts to eliminate sexism. In 1984 Geraldine Ferraro ran for Vice President and was the first female candidate of a major political party. In 1987 the Supreme Court ruled in California Federal S. & L. Assn. v. Guerra that employers may be required to provide greater pregnancy benefits than required by law. In 1989 President George Bush vetoes the legislation that could have provided funding for abortions for victims of rape or incest, and more than 300,000 pro-choice advocates march in Washington D.C. In favor of keeping abortion legal (Imbornoni).
While women artists continued to struggle for recognition in the art world, artist Judy Chicago decided that feminist are needed to adopt its own recognizable motif, something that made it desirable and stylish. That motif was the female genitalia. After five years in the making, Judy Chicago introduced The Dinner Party (1974-1979) to the world. It was a collaborative project which involved over 400 people. A large, triangular table incorporates 39 place settings for women who have made a remarkable change in feminist history, each plate crafted in some way to allude to vaginas. The floor was made up of 999 white tiles with other important female figures' names on them. Over 5,000 people came to the opening and then the piece had created an uproar. The Dinner Party was referred to as “weird, sexual art,” and “pornography” by curators as museums backed out of exhibiting it (Koster 8,9).
Feminism is an umbrella term for Humanism as well as Egalitarianism. Feminists, much like Civil Rights Activists fight to achieve equality for people of all genders, races, ethnicities, etc. Feminism cannot move forward without Racial Tolerance and vice versa... the two terms go hand in hand. Faith Ringgold (1930), an African American Feminist Artist from Harlem, New York, communicates this idea with her contemporary drawings/paintings and narrative quilts. Her 1970 piece, Peoples Flag Show Nov. 9 '70 (1970) does a great job at questioning what exactly the American Flag stands for. America was deemed 'Land of the Free' however, there are people on this land who experience oppression every single day. After reading Feminism is For Everybody by bell hooks, and questioning what exactly is a 'visionary lesbian,' a term that hooks seems to use frequently in her novel without very much explanation, readers might develop a sense of understanding the term after being introduced to this piece and pieces like this of Faith Ringgold's. Bell hooks indirectly defines a visionary lesbian as a feminist that is able to see the larger picture of feminism, someone that understands that Racial Tolerance and Feminism go hand in hand, that one cannot move forward without the other. Similar to how one simply cannot be a feminist and a racist, one simply cannot support Racial Tolerance and Equality and not be a feminist (hooks, 2000). Faith Ringgold is a visionary feminist, because her artwork displays that understands that there is a larger sum of people affected by oppression than solely minorities, or solely women. For The Woman's House (1971) is another example of Ringgold demonstrating visionary feminism. The piece incorporates a diverse assortment of women doing “womanly” things, this includes being a mother, a police officer, and playing basketball-- just to name a few. The majority of Ringgold's art is in some way or another relating to activism and fighting oppression, and that is what makes Ringgold a visionary feminist.
Margaret Harrison (1940), an English feminist artist, is one whose art reflects the sexual revolutions of the 1970s. A lot of her pieces from the 70s consider sexual identities and what it means to deviate from the norm for the time. Not only did her art reflect the countless sexual revolutions through the use of irony, but some also took a political stance. Harrison states that Captain America (1971), was not just a comment on the female gender being sexualized, but “also a comment on the Vietnam War” (Lutyens). In 1971 her first one-woman feminist art show, featuring her Captain America drawing, was shut down by police after the first day on the grounds of indecency, because her images of men were seen as demeaning... how ironic?! Women are often sexualized in the media, especially in the art world. This type of irony may have something to do with the domestic violence and sexism discussed in chapter 16 of Feminism is for Everybody. Sexism and domestic violence may occur in any relationship, whether it is a heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, etc. In chapter 17, bell hooks states “...there can be no love when there is domination” (hooks, 2000, p 103). Maybe love has the power to transform domination and its stereotypes, however, if there is dominant and submissive roles within a relationship it shall be consensual. Often people assume that these gender roles within relationships are okay because of how the media portrays men, women, and sexualization. Margaret Harrison's images display a lot of sexualization and how not just one single gender experiences this type of oppression.
Starting in 1974 Ana Mendieta (1948), a Cuban-American sculptor and performance artist, created her Silueta Series. The series was a collection of performances where Mendieta used the Earth as well as other natural materials to create her medium. Each piece related to the power of spirituality and femininity, enveloped in a mysterious yet ancient-like vibe. Mendieta was one of the feminist artists that used 'rough' mediums and images that made viewers uncomfortable in order to communicate the message. The figures in her Silueta Series which did not include her body in a physical manner were in fact modeled after her body, but typically resembled a goddess-like figure- something that was emerging from the Earth. The series depicts a relationship with spirituality, which is discussed in chapter 18 of Feminism is For Everybody, by bell hooks. Both this chapter in the novel and Mendieta's work in her Silueta Series examine religion by considering religions that follow the patriarchy, and religions where the God or Gods are sex-less. Religions like Pantheism practice identifying God with the universe and nature, which Mendieta touches on in her series, rather than Christianity where God is identified as a male figure. Religions where God is sex-less teach a lot more about self-love than religions that follow the path of patriarchy. Bell hooks explains that this self-love people are taught in these types of religions is a direct correlation to achieving respect for oneself and therefor respect for other people, which is a rather large piece of feminism (hooks, 2000).
Feminist artists like Judy Chicago, Ana Mendieta, Faith Ringgold, and Margaret Harrison all had a rather dramatic effect on the feminist art movement, even though their art may not follow all the same suit. The 1970s hold a special place in the feminist art movement as well as the second wave of feminism. It was a decade dedicated to dissecting sexualization and the human body, uncovering the harsh realities of oppression and making them visible to the public, embracing the idea of self-love and respect, pushing to prove that art produced by females was just as powerful and unique as art produced by males, and celebrating the journey that the feminist movement had taken so far. The feminist art movement in the 1970s paved way for great things to come from the 80s and so forth. While things are still not as ideal as they should be, the 70s played a large role in demanding an even greater change in the first place. It is highly possible that we have feminist art and literature to thank for that.
Work Cited
"1970s Feminism Timeline." About.com Education. Web. 23 Sept. 2015. <http://womenshistory.about.com/od/feminism-second-wave/a/1970s-Feminism-Timeline.htm>.
Chicago, Judy. Wing One. 1979. The Dinner Party, Brooklyn. Judy Chicago. Web. 23 Sept. 2015.
Chicago, Judy. Wing Two. 1979. The Dinner Party, Brooklyn. Judy Chicago. Web. 23 Sept. 2015.
Harrison, Margaret. Captain America. 1971. London. The Guardian. Web. 23 Sept. 2015.
Hernandez, C. "Feminism and the Rise of Divorce in the US during the 1970s." ThirdSight History. 8 Feb. 2014. Web. 18 Nov. 2015. <http://social.rollins.edu/wpsites/thirdsight/2014/02/08/feminism-and-the-rise-of-divorce-in-the-us-during-the-1970s/>.
Hooks, Bell. "Feminist Spirituality." Feminism Is For Everybody: Passionate Politics. Cambridge, MA: South End, 2000. Print.
Imbornoni, Ann-Marie. "Women's Rights Movement in the U.S." Infoplease. 2009. Web. 14 Oct. 2015.
Koster, Rosanne. "Cunt Art." The US Women’s Art Movement in the 1970s: Feminist Politics, Media and Aesthetic (2012): 4-17. Amsterdamse Hogeschool Voor De Kunsten. Web. 18 Nov. 2015.
Linen Closet. 1972. Womanhouse, Los Angeles. Womanhouse. Web. 23 Sept. 2015.
Lutyens, Dominic. "Margaret Harrison: A Brush with The Law." The Guardian. 7 Apr. 2011. Web. 22 Sept. 2015.
Mendieta, Ana. Untitled. 1976. Silueta Series. Web. 23 Sept. 2015.
Mendieta, Ana. Weepling. 1974. Silueta Series. Web. 23 Sept. 2015.
Menstruation Bathroom. 1972. Womanhouse, Los Angeles. Womanhouse. Web. 23 Sept. 2015.
Napikoski, Linda. "What Happened for Women's Rights During the 1960s?" About.com Education. Web. 15 Sept. 2015. <http://womenshistory.about.com/od/feminism-second-wave/a/1960s-Feminism-Timeline.htm>.
Nochlin, Linda. "Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?" 1971. Web. 1 Sept. 2015. <http://davidrifkind.org/fiu/library_files/Linda Nochlin Why have there been no Great Women Artists.pdf>.
Reckitt, Helena. Art and Feminism. London: Phaidon, 2012. 68, 110. Print.
Ringgold, Faith. For the Woman's House. 1971. Faith Ringgold. Web. 20 Nov. 2015.
Ringgold, Faith. Peoples Flag Show. 1970. Faith Ringgold. Web. 20 Nov. 2015.
"The 1960s-70s American Feminist Movement: Breaking Down Barriers for Women." Tavaana. Web. 18 Nov. 2015. <https://tavaana.org/en/content/1960s-70s-american-feminist-movement-breaking-down-barriers-women>.
