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
Women's Work What is art Is it a painting a sculpture a stained-glass window or also a quilt a pot a carpet if it is beautifully made For thousands of years anonymous makers have created beautiful objects with great skill and artistry In the West weaving sewing embroidery and painting on crockery were considered women’s work domestic art and craft they were not fine art like paintings or sculpture Instead they were known as decorative arts and their makers were not usually considered great artists This was not true everywhere In China decorative arts such as embroidery and calligraphy have for centuries been considered as precious as any painting or sculpture Islamic art has always highly prized garden design architecture and carpet-making But despite this the names of most female makers have been lost in history 8
Appreciation of what is great art is changing across the world thanks to many of the artists in this book Anni Albers Judy Chicago and Tacita Dean have used traditional craft techniques to express their ideas in ways that are wonderful and new Their work makes us see the world differently which is what all great art can do Now you might find a beautiful Albers woven textile on a gallery wall or a museum room dedicated to Chicago’s painted plates or Dean’s finely edited films Look out for sewing in the work of Louise Bourgeois Tracey Emin Anthea Hamilton or Doris Salcedo Are Simryn Gill’s book-page necklaces art or craft or both And what about the mobile museums Dayanita Singh makes to display her photographs Today even the internet can be art Cao Fei made an interactive project called RMB City on the online platform Second Life The nature of art is always changing as new artists come along to challenge what was there before What will women make in the future We can’t wait to find out 9
