CONTENTS Foreword by Maria Balshaw Women’s Work Eileen Agar Anni Albers Louise Bourgeois Pioneers Sonia Boyce Claude Cahun Judy Chicago Pioneers Tacita Dean Tracey Emin Cao Fei Famous Art Schools Simryn Gill Guerrilla Girls Natalia Goncharova Women in the Picture Anthea Hamilton Barbara Hepworth Lubaina Himid Framing the Picture Critics and Curators Gwen John Joan Jonas Frida Kahlo 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50 52 54
Museums Around the World Yayoi Kusama Agnes Martin Ana Mendieta Did You Know Berthe Morisot Georgia O’Keeffe Behind the Scenes Paula Rego Bridget Riley Doris Salcedo Cindy Sherman Lorna Simpson Did You Know Dayanita Singh Gillian Wearing Rachel Whiteread Framing the Picture Collectors and Gallerists Lynette Yiadom-Boakye Fahrelnissa Zeid Quiz Art Terms Timeline Credits Suggested Websites Selected Bibliography About the Author About the Illustrator Index 56 58 60 62 64 66 68 70 72 74 76 78 80 82 84 86 88 90 92 94 98 100 104 108 109 109 110 111 112
Foreword Until very recently the story of art told in the Western world has been focused almost exclusively on the lives and work of male artists Whether in museum collections gallery exhibitions or art history textbooks women have been pushed to the margins and forgotten When Tate first opened its doors in 1897 only 5 out of 253 pictures on display were by women It is only in recent decades that we have started to shine a light on a richer more balanced history to hear the experiences and celebrate the creativity of women in all their diversity Of course this creativity is not in itself anything new Like all humans women have been making art for millennia From the women who first started making devotional paintings around three thousand years ago to Lubaina Himid who in 2017 became the first woman of color to win the Turner Prize there is an unbroken line of great artists who just happen to be women Centuries of discrimination have meant that many have not received the recognition their talents merited or even the opportunity to study work or fulfill their true creative potential The lives of many of these artists have been forgotten the names of many more were never recorded Thankfully over recent years that has started to change Just as our wider society has slowly been reshaped over the past century to be more inclusive of women and other diverse identities so their representation in the arts has gotten ever stronger This has not happened by chance but through the pioneering work of artists activists curators and critics women have been able to break down the boundaries that once held them back and to make their voices heard Groups like the Guerrilla Girls a collective of women artists and art professionals have used their work to highlight the discrimination and issues faced by women in the art world Many others have sought to explore issues of identity sexuality politics and history and by doing so to enrich our understanding of what art is and can be 6
This process has allowed us to re-evaluate the work and legacy of women artists from the past such as Berthe Morisot and Gwen John who battled against great odds to make their mark in a male-dominated society It has helped us to redefine the nature of art itself to see the significance of someone like Anni Albers whose work would once have been dismissed as the decorative arts It has allowed artists such as Joan Jonas and Ana Mendieta to break new ground in exploring how women’s bodies can be at the center of artistic expression And it has allowed the experience of women with diverse identities from around the world to come to the fore from Cao Fei examining the rapid transformation of Chinese society in the twenty-first century to Simryn Gill whose detailed work explores issues of identity and the power of community At Tate we have been making a big effort to increase the number of women artists in our collection and on display in our galleries in all their diversity But while progress has been made it is clear that much work remains to be done before we can say that there is equality This book aims to play a small part in helping reach that goal by inspiring informing and supporting the next generation of fearless female artists and their allies It looks at the many roles played by women in the art world from curators and conservators working behind the scenes and tells the stories of some great women artists from the nineteenth century to those working today The experience of each of these remarkable women is unique We also recognize today that artists and individuals may choose to identify in non-binary ways which we also celebrate Taken together this shows us that there is not one female art but art produced by a multitude of individuals each expressing something fundamental about what it means to be human That truly is a bigger picture worth celebrating Maria Balshaw Director Tate 7
