First, it was Pissarro (Impressionism) and van Gogh (Post-Impressionism). Then, German Expressionism and Cubism. Between these movements came Fauvism. While short lived, it had a remarkable impact. It liberated color from its descriptive role and introduced simplified form and decorative abstraction.
Read More
Photograph: Philip Mauro
Mary Heilmann: Playful Californian Wit
Mary Heilmann (b. 1940) is a contemporary abstract artist based in New York and Long Island. She creates paintings along with sculptures and furniture. Rather than referring to her works as paintings or sculptures, however, she typically refers to her work as “objects”. In recent exhibitions, she has included benches and chairs which guests are encouraged to use. The idea, as Heilmann explains, “is that people will sit down and stay awhile”.
Her light-hearted nature is evident both in her art and her demeanor. In reference to her woven seats, she said, “It’s such a mortal sin to use art as décor. But I love the confusion”.
Born and raised in California, she grew up among beatniks and embraced “surf culture”. For her undergraduate degree, she studied literature and poetry at UC Santa Barbara. For her MFA, she studied sculpture at Berkeley. Between the two degrees, she also received a teaching license. Like many artists, she taught to help finance her art practice.
Mary Heilmann, Horizontal Yellow, Red and Blue, 1976.
She departed from sculpture and took up painting in the 1970’s despite its lack luster popularity (painting was deemed dead at that time).
She calls it “non-verbal math”. She plays with logic by way of juxtaposition and combination.
I love her candor and optimism. She does the work but doesn’t take herself too seriously. Her Art21 interview is the most entertaining and joyful segments in the series to date.
She is playful yet rebellious. In the 1970’s, she made works that referenced minimalism and color field paintings… and used PINK. More recently, she adopted the colors of “The Simpsons”.
Tehachapi #2, Mary Heilman, 1979, Acrylic, 48 x 72 x 2 1/2 in
Lovejoy Jr., Mary Heilman, 2004
(named after the church in The Simpson)
Meditation, looking and walking all have a place in her art practice. Every morning, she wakes before 6AM, drinks coffee and looks at her work for an hour. She then begins to work. At 1PM, she eats and takes care of chores and business. Later in the afternoon, she returns to the studio. By 5pm, she leaves the studio, takes a walk or swims and goes to bed early. Purposeful and idyllic.
Mary Heilmann in her studio, Art21, 2009
I like Mary Heilmann, and I enjoy her work. However, her works feels lopsided. The majority (if not all) of her work is playful and witty. She doesn’t explore sadness or grief in her work. The only pieces that feel the least bit melancholic are Rosebud (1983) and some of her works from the 1970s.
"Rosebud," 1983, Oil on canvas, 60 × 42 inches
"Little 9 x 9," 1973, Acrylic on canvas, 21 7/8 × 21 7/8 inches
Her 1970’s finger paintings were inspired by her teachings with very young children.
Learn more about Mary Heilmann and her work:
•Farago, Jason, “Artist Mary Heilmann: the Californian surfer still making waves in her 70s”, The Guardian, 6 June 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/jun/06/mary-heilmann-unsung-heroine-american-art-david-hockney#img-4
•Hawksley, Rupert, “Mary Heilmann: in the studio”, The Telegraph, 17 June 2016, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/art/artists/mary-heilmann-in-the-studio/
•Samet, Jennifer, “Wild, Punk and Slightly Off-Kilter: An Interview with Mary Heilmann”, Hyperallergic, 12 January 2013, https://hyperallergic.com/63358/wild-punk-and-slightly-off-kilter-an-interview-with-mary-heilmann/
•Sheets, Hilarie M., “Mary Heilmann’s New Dia Show Places Her among the (Male) Icons for Minimalism”, Artsy, 30 June 2017, https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-mary-heilmanns-new-dia-places-male-icons-minimalism
•Spears, Dorothy, “Swimming With the Big Fish at Last”, The New York Times, 3 October 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/05/arts/design/05spea.html
•Yablonsky, Linda, “The Composer: Mary Heilamann’s Rhythmic Abstractions Find Their Place in the Sun”, ARTNews, 8 March 2016, http://www.artnews.com/2016/03/08/the-composer-mary-heilmanns-rhymthic-abstractions-find-their-place-in-the-sun/
Currently reading:
The Last Painting of Sara de Vos, Dominic Smith
90s Bitch: Media, Culture, and the Failed Promise of Gender Equality, Allison Yarrow
Currently listening to:
Alex Talks to an Early Facebook Insider, StartUp
Reducing Traffic Deaths, And A School Dress Code for Parents, Houston Matters
ARKA Art's Inaugural Art Show
This past weekend, I exhibited three of my works at ARKA Art’s Inaugural Art Show. It felt momentous, and it was fun. I met 11 emerging artists based in Houston and shared my artwork with a large audience in my hometown.
The most common question I received was how I got to be included in the show. I’ll share. I stumbled upon ARKA’s open call for artists for their inaugural show in late February of this year. I stumbled upon it by searching for it… I spend at least 2-3 hours per week looking for opportunities to show or develop my work. That doesn’t include the time I spend working on the actual applications.
While the idea of artists painting, drawing, sculpting and creating all of the time is romantic, it is impossible. In reality, artists spend 50% of their time funding their work with a day job or applying for grants, 10% researching/playing around with ideas, 20% administration & cataloguing, 10% making actual work. I’ve made this conclusion based on personal experience, talking with other artists, and listening to interviews of successful artists.
Back to ARKA Art. I loved showing my work alongside 11 other emerging Houston artists. I enjoyed meeting the artists and connecting with a group of individuals who were taking on similar endeavor while juggling jobs, etc.
After hanging my artwork, I met with fellow exhibitors at Axelrad.
Thank you Estefania, the Director of ARKA Art, for showing my work and organizing the show. Thank you Oluwah Akinyemi, Nala Alan, KaDavien Baylor, Kirby Gladstein, Macy Partain, Hugo Perez, Amanda Powers, Jamie Robertson, Pia Roque, Troi Speaks and Alex Zapata for showing your work alongside mine. Finally, thank you to all who came to the show!
Currently reading:
The Last Painting of Sara de Vos, Dominic Smith
90s Bitch: Media, Culture, and the Failed Promise of Gender Equality, Allison Yarrow
Currently listening to:
Tapping into the Art World’s Potential to Make Us Feel Empowered, Hyperallergic
How to Zine It Yourself, Unladylike
The Remote Control Brain, Invisibilia
Feeling or Thought
“The world of reality has its limits; the world of imagination is boundless.” - Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Are you a romantic or a realist? Do you prefer to feel or think? What is more important - imagination or reason?
Realism followed Romanticism which followed Neoclassicism which followed Rococo. Between 1700 and 1900, western art’s values bounced between feeling and reason over and over. Neoclassicism, defined by rationalism and classical antiquity, developed in reaction against the ornate and delicate Rococo style.
The leap from Rococo to Neoclassicism is apparent in the following paintings. The Swing (1766) is delicate, intimate and fanciful. It exemplifies the Rococo style. Portrait of Louise-Antoinette-Scholastique Guéhéneuc (1814), on the other hand, is orderly, formal and noble. Its reflects the moral values of Neoclassicism. Between 1766 and 1814, western art jumped from sentimental to rational.
This jump in values occurred yet again with the development of Romanticism. Reason and science were the guiding forces of the late 1700s. However, by 1800, the benefits of technological advances and reason were questioned. Romantics argued that freedom was only real if men had freedom of thought, feeling and imagination. And so, western art became infatuated with feeling yet again.
There are many great Romantic artists, writers and philosophers. Eugène Delacroix is one of them. His painting Liberty Leading the People (1830) is an exciting example of Romantic art. It is dramatic, expressive and heroic. Liberty defiantly leads Parisians against Charles X . The triumph of freedom is tragic, emotional and glorious. Traces of Neoclassicism are hard to find.
Romanticism also gave rise to the genre of landscape painting. While artists were certainly celebrating nature’s beauty, they were also using landscapes to comment on spiritual, moral, historical, and philosophical issues. Artists felt and expressed their feelings by way of landscape. Caspar David Friedrich, John Constable, and J.M.W. Turner are the most well known Romantic landscape artists. Friedrich explored nature’s transience and divinity. Constable instilled nostalgia for the past before the Industrial Revolution. Turner underscored turbulence and emotion.
Realism, developing just after and somewhat alongside Romanticism, focused on “real” experiences and the everyday. While I respond well to Romanticism’s emphasis on nature and emotion, I also find Realism’s insistence on empiricism noble and important.
Realists turned their attention to the everyday. For the first time, ordinary people and trivial activities were brought to the forefront and (eventually) became relevant to the general public.
In Gustave Courbet’s The Stone Breakers two working-class men break stones. The scene documents a real event without drama and accurately depicts details. Using what was in front of him, Courbet makes a conclusion and shares his theory: poverty is inescapable. The young man on the left will remain in poverty and will likely continue breaking stones through old age like the older man to the right.
Of course, Realism and its strong emphasis on rationality were left by the wayside with Impressionism. Again, the arts swung back to feeling over thought.
These swings between thought and feeling ring true to my everyday. My own values seem to swing between the two on a daily basis. Do I listen to my instincts or my thoughts? Do I create artwork that reflects my immediate response or that is carefully planned? It is easy to get stumped between the choices. However, the best course of action, is to make a choice and take a step forward.
All of my sources on the time periods discussed derive from the emphasis textbook Gardner’s Art Through the Ages.
Currently reading:
The Last Painting of Sara de Vos, Dominic Smith
Walk Through Walls: A Memoir , Marina Abramovic
Should Every American Citizen Be a Yoga Teacher?, Alice Hines, The New York Times
Re-Imagining Yoga Teacher Training, J. Brown
90s Bitch: Media, Culture, and the Failed Promise of Gender Equality, Allison Yarrow
Currently listening to:
Social and Emotional Artistic Learning (SEAL), Art Ed Radio
Empire State of Mind, On the Media
The End of Empathy, Invisibilia
The Roman Mazda Virus, Reply All
Alice Neel, Linda Nochlin and Daisy (1973)
The Museum of Fine Arts Boston
Celebrating Women Artists
“What is important is that women face up to the reality of their history and of their present situation, without making excuses or puffing mediocrity. Disadvantage may indeed be an excuse; it is not, however, an intellectual position. Rather, using as a vantage point their situation as underdogs in the realm of grandeur, and outsiders in that of ideology, women can reveal institutional and intellectual weaknesses in general, and, at the same time that they destroy false consciousness, take part in the creation of institutions in which clear thought–and true greatness–are challenges open to anyone, man or woman, courageous enough to take the necessary risk, the leap into the unknown.” - Linda Nochlin, Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists
Bunny bunny foot foot! March, Women’s History Month, has come to a close. Everyday for the month of March I shared a brief summary of a woman artist past or present on my Instagram account. Before March, I had only a weak connection to a few well known artists like Georgia O’Keeffe, Frida Kahlo, and Mary Cassatt. Now, my knowledge of the art world has expanded to include to so many more women, and I am excited to continue expanding my vision.
These are the women who now accompany me in my studio thanks to Women’s History Month.
Corita Kent (1918–1986)
Sally Mann (b. 1951)
Sofonisba Anguissola (1532-1625)
Annie Leibovitz (b. 1949)
Kara Walker (b. 1969)
Rebecca Morris (b. 1969)
The Guerilla Girls
Jay DeFeo (1929-1989)
Elisabet Ney (1833-1907)
Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1653)
Alma Thomas (1891-1978)
Mary Heilmann (b. 1940)
Louise Bourgeois (1911-2010)
Judy Chicago (b. 1939)
Amy Sherald (b. 1973)
Mary Swanzy (1882-1978)
Agnes Martin (1912-2004)
Yayoi Kusama (b. 1929)
Rosa Bonheur (1822-1899)
Julie Mehretu (b. 1970)
Hilma af Klint (1862-1944)
Mary Cassatt (1844-1926)
Friedl Dicker-Brandeis (1898-1944)
Mary Beth Edelson (b. 1933)
Paula Modersohn Becker (1876-1907)
Anni Albers (1899-1994)
Shara Hughes (b. 1981)
Elaine de Kooning (1918-1989)
Susan O’Malley (1976-2015)
Dorothy Hood (1918-2000)
If you don’t recognize any of these names, look them up! I enjoyed learning about each and every one of them. By sharing these artists, I did not mean to imply that their artwork was/is better than that of their male contemporaries. Rather, I wanted to recognize and celebrate them (also I really enjoyed some of their artwork). They were/are women who created art consistently and courageously, and they did that without society’s institutions supporting them. Perhaps I making them out to be martyrs.
While reading Linda Nochlin’s essay Why Have There Been Been No Great Women Artists?, I was confronted by the somewhat gross realization of why I had initially became interested in pursuing art… I wanted to be seen as a genius…and a martyr. That makes me uncomfortable to think about. The myth of the “Artistic Genius” has a striking resemblance to Christian martyrdom. Think of Vincent Van Gogh. He created beautiful, mystical and emotional artworks while suffering from mental illness and seizures. It’s an intoxicating and romantic narrative. I idolized it.
That’s probably worth exploring later on. For now, this will do.
Did you recognize any/all of these artists? Who is your favorite?
Currently reading:
The Last Painting of Sara de Vos, Dominic Smith
Walk Through Walls: A Memoir , Marina Abramovic
Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?, Linda Nochlin
Broad Strokes, Bridget Quinn
Currently listening to:
The Perils of Following Your Career Passion, WorkLife with Adam Grant
Fabergé Eggs, The Art History Babes
A Museum Hires a Full-time Therapist, Hyperallergic
Meritocracy, Reasoning & the 90's
I have been under the weather for the past week. So rather than deep diving into a particular topic, I will share the topics I’m interested in and some art I’ve been working on. If you are interested in any of these topics, please share your thoughts in the comment section below or email me. I would love to hear your thoughts, learn a new perspective and have a worthwhile conversation.
-Meritocracy, Exclusivity, and how my education/upbringing relates
-Masculine Reasoning vs Feminine Feeling (Plato vs Holism)
-The Breakdown of Rational Thought
-90’s Feminism (girl power vs the bitch/”bad” mother)
-Houston’s Energy Industry, Deer Park and Chernobyl
Currently reading:
The Last Painting of Sara de Vos, Dominic Smith
“How Parents Are Robbing Their Children of Adulthood” by Claire Cain Miller and John Engel Bromwich, The New York Times
“The Gray Market: What the ‘Operation Varsity Blues’ College Admission Scandal Has to Do With the Art World (and Other Insights)” by Tim Schneider, ArtNet
Currently listening to:
How to Free the 90's Bitch, unladylike
Epis.# 239: Rainey Knudson continued (part 2 of 2), on stepping down from Glasstire, Houston heroes, and the evils of social media, The Conversation Art Podcast
The Meritocracy Show, Hysteria
How to Fire People, Without Fail
Judy Chicago, “The Dinner Party” (1979), collection of the Brooklyn Museum, gift of the Elizabeth A. Sackler Foundation (© Judy Chicago / Artists Rights Society, ARS, New York; photo © Donald Woodman/ARS NY)
Judy Chicago's Monument to Women in History
I had my first encounter with The Dinner Party in 2011. I stumbled upon it while visiting the Brooklyn Museum with my Tisch classmates. I was mesmerized but nevertheless ran past it. I was in a rush to see everything and keep up with the group. I filed it away to research later… that research is happening now, nearly eight years later.
The Dinner Party is a massive ceremonial banquet arranged in the shape of an open triangle—a symbol of equality—measuring forty-eight feet on each side with a total of 39 place settings for the “guests of honor”.
The first wing of the dinner table begins with prehistoric figures like “Ishtar” and continues chronologically. The third wing makes it way all the way though the Women’s Revolution. The last place setting is for Georgia O’Keeffe.
Wing 1: From Prehistory to Rome
Primordial Goddess
Fertile Goddess
Ishtar
Kali
Snake Goddess
Sophia
Amazon
Hatshepsut
Judith
Sappho
Aspasia
Boadaceia
Hypatia
Wing 2: From Christianity to the Reformation
Marcella
St. Bridget
Theodora
Hrosvitha
Trotula
Eleanor of Aquitaine
Hildegarde of Bingen
Petronilla de Meath
Christine de Pisan
Isabella d’Este
Elizabeth R
Artemesia Gentileschi
Anna van Schurman
Wing 3: From the American Revolution to the Women’s Revolution
Anne Hutchinson
Sacajawea
Caroline Herschel
Mary Wollstonecraft
Sojourner Truth
Susan B. Anthony
Elizabeth Blackwell
Emily Dickinson
Ethyl Smyth
Margaret Sanger
Natalie Barney
Virginia Woolf
Georgia O’Keeffe
Of the 39 women, I recognized only 15. I fixed that by reading about each woman I didn’t know. You can do the same on Brooklyn Museum’s website.
Of the 24 women I did not recognize, Sophia, Theodora and Mary Wollstonecraft were the most interesting.
Judy Chicago (American, b. 1939). The Dinner Party (Sophia place setting), 1974–79. Mixed media: ceramic, porcelain, textile. Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Elizabeth A. Sackler Foundation, 2002.10. © Judy Chicago. Photograph by Jook Leung Photography
Sophia was the mythical goddess of wisdom and the female counterpart to Jesus. She was one of the central figures of Gnosticism which dates back to ca. 180. In terms of mythical goddesses, I had only really identified with Athena. Now, I might choose Sophia.
Judy Chicago (American, b. 1939). The Dinner Party (Theodora place setting), 1974–79. Mixed media: ceramic, porcelain, textile. Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Elizabeth A. Sackler Foundation, 2002.10. © Judy Chicago. Photograph by Jook Leung Photography
Theodora (b. 500) was the empress of the Byzantine Empire. She ruled the empire equally with her husband Justinian I. I recognized Justinian, because he is famous for having codified roman law. He is also featured in the enchanting mosaics in the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna. Apparently, Theodora was as well… but that wasn’t emphasized when I learned about (and visited!) the basilica. Having been born in the lower classes of Byzantium, Theodora fought for the persecuted and passed laws that expanded the rights of women and prostitutes. Admittedly… I often played as Theodora on the video game Civilization, yet I failed to learn more about her.
Judy Chicago (American, b. 1939). The Dinner Party (Mary Wollstonecraft place setting), 1974–79. Mixed media: ceramic, porcelain, textile. Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Elizabeth A. Sackler Foundation, 2002.10. © Judy Chicago. Photograph by Jook Leung Photography
Jumping forward 1000+ years, Mary Wollstonecraft (b. 1759) wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. (If anyone knows why she used “woman” instead of the grammatically correct “women”, please share.) It is considered the earliest and most important treatise advocating for equal rights for women.
The Dinner Party recognizes more women in history by way of the “Heritage Floor”. The floor is made up of 2,300 hand-cast tiles and includes the names of 999 mythical and historical women. Someone (or likely a team of people) put together a list of the women included on the “Heritage Floor”. While I was tempted to continue learning about the women I had not heard of, I decided that I would have to do that at a later date since it would likely become a project in itself.
I’ve shared my experience learning about the women at the dinner table to highlight my own ignorance of women’s contributions to society. I was given a great education. Yet, I didn’t learn about these women. Yes, I could have righted this wrong by learning more on my own or by taking a class on Women’s Liberation or Feminism in college, but I think it’s ludicrous that we most go out of our way to learn about women’s contributions to history.
The Dinner Party is both a monument to women and an art piece. While the looks of it don’t particularly appeal to me aesthetically at times (the plates for example), I believe The Dinner Party is an incredible work and a great tribute to women’s history.
Currently reading:
How—and Why—’The Dinner Party’ Became the Most Famous Feminist Artwork of All Time, ArtNet, Sarah Cascone
How Emotions Are Made by Lisa Feldman Barrett
Walk Through Walls: A Memoir by Marina Abramovic
Just My Type: A Book About Fonts by Simon Garfield
Currently listening to:
No. 67: How Judy Chicago Pioneered the First Feminist Art Program, The Artsy Podcast
The Fifth Vital Sign, Invisibilia
Epis.# 238: Rainey Knudson, editor of Glasstire, on having a critical eye, the Houston (and Texas generally) art communities, and more (part 1 of 2), The Conversation Art Podcast
Self-portrait as the Allegory of Painting, 1638-1639
Artemisia Gentileschi
Oil on canvas
38 in x 29 in
Royal Collection Trust
Strong and Feminine in the 17th Century
Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1653) was the most renowned woman painter in Europe during the first half of the 17th century. She is recognized as a significant feminist figure because of her skill, resilience and empowering depictions of women. In her paintings, women are powerful Biblical heroines rather than temptresses.
Gentileschi had the opportunity to become a painter thanks to her father Orazio, a reputable painter in Rome. At the time of her career, women were not allowed to have apprenticeships with men, so she would not have had access to painting if not for her father. Orazio began training her at an early age.
Self Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria, ca. 1615-17
Artemisia Gentileschi
Oil on canvas
The National Gallery, London
Both father and daughter was heavily influenced by Caravaggio. Artemisia used chiaroscuro (bold contrasts of light and dark) and tenebrism (extremes of dominating darkness pierced by bright, insistent spotlights) in the majority of her work. These stylistic choices emphasized drama and created an element of theater.
Artemisia’s career and life was greatly influenced by a series of events that took place as she was just launching her career. At age 17, she was raped by artist Agostino Tassi. Her family and Tassi went to court for a seven-month trial. During the trial, she was publicly humiliated and forced to undergo sibille, a torturous lie detector test. While the Gentilesschis won the case, the events left a dark cloud over Artemisia’s career.
Susanna and the Elders, 1610
Artemisia Gentileschi
Oil on canvas
Susanna and the Elders (1610), an early work of Artemisia’s, depicts a biblical scene where two older men spy on Susanna while she is bathing and attempt to blackmail her into having sexual relations with them with false accusations of adultery. In other artists’ depictions of this scene, Susanna is either unaware or flirtatious. Artemisia, on the other hand, emphasizes Susanna’s distress and active response to the intruders.
Artemisia Gentileschi’s assertive and strong-feminine voice is most apparent in Judith and Holofernes (1620). The story of Judith is biblical and is similar to David and Goliath. Judith, a Jewish widow, kills the Assyrian general Holofernes to help save her village. In Artemisia’s depiction of the decapitation, Judith and her maidservant are muscular and strong. They work hand-in-hand to courageously and powerfully complete the task. They are remarkable to say the least. Blood is spurting everywhere, and the job is dirty. Holofernes looks vulnerable, weak and humiliated. The decapitation by Judith feels very much like a victory.
Judith and Holofernes, ca. 1620
Artemisia Gentileschi
Oil on canvas
78 3/10 × 64 in
Galleria degli Uffizi
Both Caravaggio and Artemisia’s father made similar paintings, yet their depictions of the scene contrast drastically with Artemisia’s. In Caravaggio’s work, Judith is uncertain and much less powerful. The maidservant is nearby but not in union with Judith. It doesn’t feel like a victory. Rather, it feels almost shameful. I feel sorry for everyone in this Caravaggio painting.
Judith Beheading Holofernes, ca. 1598-1599
Caravaggio
Oil on canvas
57 x 77 in
In Orazio’s depiction of the same narrative, the act of decapitation is taken out completely. The women look away from Holofernes’s head and present it as if they just happened to have come upon a decapitated head. They appear completely powerless and at the service to whomever they are presenting the head to. The painting also feel much less dramatic and soft thanks to the color choices and emphasis on linens.
Judith and Her Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes
Orazio
Oil on canvas
In addition to admiring her artwork, I admire Artemisia’s character! She had the confidence and will to stand up for her work. In letters written to Don Antonio Ruffo, Gentileschi condemns his bigotry, and asserts her skill and right to good pay:
I fear that before you saw the painting you must have thought me arrogant and presumptuous…. [I]f it were not for Your Most Illustrious Lordship… I would not have been induced to give it for one hundred and sixty, because everywhere else I have been I was paid one hundred scudi [Italian coins] per figure…. You think me pitiful, because a woman’s name raises doubts until her work is seen.
I was mortified to hear that you want to deduct one third from the already low price that I had asked… It must be that in your heart Your Most Illustrious Lordship finds little merit in me.
I am most inspired by Artemisia’s dare to be great. She painted women powerfully at time when that wasn’t done. She was a professional woman artist when that wasn’t done. She defended her work and herself when that wasn’t done. She did believed in herself, her artwork and her womanhood.
While the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston does not have any works by Artemisia Gentileschi, it does have a painting by her father which depicts Artemisia as a sibyl (a woman in ancient times supposed to utter the oracles and prophecies of a god).
Learn more
Artemisia: Her Passion Was Painting Above All Else, The New York Times
Artemisia’s Moment, Smithsonian Magazine
National Gallery buys Artemisia Gentileschi masterpiece for £3.6m , The Guardian
Artemisia Gentileschi, Art History Babes (podcast)
Sofonisba Anguissola (1532-1625) was one of the first, if not the first, women to paint a self-portrait.
Sofonisba Anguissola
Self-Portrait at the Easel
1556
Oil on canvas
26 × 22 3/8 in
Muzeum-Zamek, Łańcut
#5WomenArtists and my Sister Corita
“There are many great women artists. And we shouldn’t still be talking about why there are no great women artists. If there are no great, celebrated women artists, that’s because the powers that be have not been celebrating them, but not because they are not there.” - Joan Semmel
Can you name 5 women artists? That’s the question that the National Museum of Women in the Arts poses during Women’s History Month.
Okay, now actually ask yourself that question. Can you name 5 women artists?
Did you say Frida Kahlo and Georgia O’Keeffe? Who else? Leave your answers in the comments below.
You may have named 5 women artists and that is great! Or maybe you didn’t, okay. Let’s change that. This question’s purpose is to show that women’s achievements have either been ignored or inadequately honored. The art world/community has been particularly guilty of this. That is probably why you can name many more men artists than women artists. Some quick facts before moving on…
Only 26% of the winners of the Turner Prize, one of the most well known visual art awards, have been women—though 6 women won since 2010. In 2017, Lubaina Himid became the first woman of color to win.
From the 16–19th centuries, women were barred from studying the nude model, which formed the basis for academic training and representation. (Women, Art, and Society)
A recent data survey of the permanent collections of 18 prominent art museums in the U.S. found that out of over 10,000 artists, 87% are male, and 85% are white. (Public Library of Science)
On average, only 30% of artists represented by commercial galleries in the U.S. are women. In Australia, it’s about 40%; in China, 25%; in Hong Kong; 22%; and in Germany, less than 20%.
Women earn 70% of Bachelors of Fine Arts and 65–75% of Masters of Fine Arts in the U.S., though only 46% of working artists (across all arts disciplines) are women.
The top three museums in the world, the British Museum (est. 1753), the Louvre (est. 1793), and The Metropolitan Museum of Art (est. 1870) have never had female directors.
I experienced both the art world and the general community’s disregard for women artists by simply not being exposed to women artists until recently. Growing up, I was familiar with the work of Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Picasso, and Dali. And, I loved Vincent Van Gogh. I even dressed up as him in 6th grade. Yes, at some point, I was introduced to Frida Kahlo and Georgia O’Keeffe, but that was about it.
In high school, I pursued photography and left my paint brushes and pencils by the wayside. I felt more confident taking photographs. Women were included in photography’s history since its inception. I figured I had a better chance of sharing my voice if I was photographer. I had the work of Dorothea Lange, Imogen Cunningham, Diane Arbus, Cindy Sherman, Sally Mann, and Annie Leibovitz to keep me company.
The Guerrilla Girls, a group of women artists and arts professionals founded in the 1980s, fight discrimination in the art community.
The group reframes the question: “Why haven’t there been more great women artists throughout Western history?” Instead, they ask: “Why haven’t more women been considered great artists throughout Western history?”
This month, I will uncover and celebrate the work and lives of women artists both past and present. Join me each week on this blog or follow me for my daily posts on Instagram at @ereedlee.
Learn more about #5womenartists or take a pledge by visiting, the National Museum of Women in the Arts.
I will begin by diving into the work and life of Corita Kent.
To quickly introduce her, I will use The Corita Art Center’s summary.
Corita Kent (1918–1986) was an artist, educator, and advocate for social justice. At age 18 she entered the religious order Immaculate Heart of Mary, eventually teaching in and then heading up the art department at Immaculate Heart College. Her work evolved from figurative and religious to incorporating advertising images and slogans, popular song lyrics, biblical verses, and literature. Throughout the ‘60s, her work became increasingly political, urging viewers to consider poverty, racism, and injustice. In 1968 she left the order and moved to Boston. After 1970, her work evolved into a sparser, introspective style, influenced by living in a new environment, a secular life, and her battles with cancer. She remained active in social causes until her death in 1986. At the time of her death, she had created almost 800 serigraph editions, thousands of watercolors, and innumerable public and private commissions.
Some keywords: She was a printmaker, a nun, and a teacher. She did the majority of her work in LA and Boston. She was a contemporary of Andy Warhol. Oh, by the by, a serigraph is the fine art way of referring to a silkscreen. Silkscreens were associated with commercial art and advertising, so Carl Zigrosser coined the term to improve the practice’s reception. Since most screens are no longer made from silk, the process is often referred to as screenprinting today.
I started Women’s History Month with Corita Kent, because I was most awestruck to have not her of her until recently. As a pop artist who incorporated positive messages in her work and a nun, it seems ridiculous that her life and her work were never shared with me in the Catholic school I attended. WHY DID I ONLY FIND OUT ABOUT HER BY WAY OF A RANDOM PODCAST?
Corita Kent
succeeding
1979
Serigraph
She would have been a great source of inspiration and hope. I was a very religious and spiritual kid. At one point, I wanted be a nun. I wanted to be like Sister Maria in The Sound of Music. Eventually, I lost faith in Catholicism and associated Catholicism with rigidity and self-hatred. Looking at back it now, however, I believe much of what had become Catholicism for me was caused by my experience of it. How it was taught and how I interpreted it. Corita Kent’s experience and interpretation were very different from my own.
Corita Kent
god made the world
1957
Serigraph
Her work was uplifting in subject and color. She brought the spiritual to everyday symbols. The G in General Mills no longer stood for “Goodness” but rather “God”. Kent's work was also democratic. Prints could be purchased by the everyday person.
Corita Kent
only speak of hope
1965
Serigraph
She was an incredible teacher. She taught students the fine art of looking. She gave students grand assignments that both challenged and invigorated their creative spirits. An assignment might be to create fifteen giant banners by the end of the week or come back tomorrow with five hundred questions about the Eames film you have just watched. She sounds like my teacher Charlotte Cosgrove at the Glassell Studio School.
Immaculate Heart College Art Department Rules, lettered with hand-carved stamps by calligrapher and former Corita student, David Mekelburg
As her work revolved more around social justice and her art practice became more demanding in the late 1960’s, she decided to leave the religious order at age 50.
There is much more to Corita and her work, so please continue to learn by clicking the links below.
See more
Read more
Corita Kent: Nun with a Pop Art Habit, Harvard Magazine
Corita Kent and the Language of Pop, Susan Dackerman
How to Free Your Creative Spirit, According to Sister Corita Kent, Artsy
Listen more
A Nun Inspired By Warhol: The Forgotten Pop Art Of Sister Corita Kent, All Things Considered, NPR
Corita Kent: Patron Saint of Pop Art, The Art History Babes
Watch more
“The artist is never alone, in that everyone else is going through the same process—each with her own unique sound. So we are really all in it together, and there are no people who are not artists.” - Corita Kent, 1979
Peter Doig
Hitch Hiker 1989-90
Oil on postal bags
Peter Doig, a Contemporary Romantic
I found Peter Doig’s work oddly lovely and intoxicating, so I began researching his work and incorporating some his style into my own. Doig is a contemporary painter based in Trinidad. He was born in 1959 in Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
Peter Doig
Young Bean Farmer 1991
Oil on canvas
His work is figurative. Since he first started showing his work in the 1980’s, he has painted pictorial scenes. It wasn’t trendy at the turn of the century. Art critics and collectors had declared painting “dead” since the 1970’s. Beginning in 1962 when Clement Greenberg wrote in his essay “After Abstract Expressionism”, “good” art would now be predicated on conception alone. Subject matter and skill were no longer meaningful. Donald Judd, the artist who put Marfa on the map for the artworld, strengthened this belief when he asserted the irrelevance of painting in his essay “Specific Objects” in 1965. By the 1990’s, the works of Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin were popular, while the work of Peter Doig…. not so much. Painting, particularly figurative painting, had been “exhausted”.
The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living
Damien Hirst
1991
2170 x 5420 x 1800 mm | 85.5 x 213.4 x 70.9 in
Glass, painted steel, silicone, monofilament, shark and formaldehyde solution
Peter Doig paid no mind to this. As Catherine Grenier writes in her essay “Melancholy Resistance”, “his painting wastes no time with denials or references to a conceptual background”. I love it. I find that to be incredibly liberating. He didn’t get distracted by the art market or whatever was fashionable at the time.
Peter Doig
Concrete Cabin 1991-2
Oil on canvas
What I most enjoy is the sense of in-betweeness, pause and reflection created by his work. He places you somewhere between the real and the imaginary. He seems to step back from what is happening here & now and look back to try and make sense how we/he got to where we are now. But Doig’s paintings also look forward. It causes me to feel as if I am standing at the edge of what Grenier identifies as a “scheduled disappearance” of the world “undermined by the corrosion of the virtual”. It’s that feeling you get when you first look down the Grand Canyon in person. Everything is quiet and larger than. You feel so little, yet you feel embraced by a great sense of overwhelming opportunity.
Peter Doig
Milky Way 1990
Read more about the so called “death of painting” in Back When Painting Was Dead by John Yau.
To learn more about Peter Doig’s life and artwork, read The Mythical Stories in Peter Doig’s Paintings by Calvin Tomkins.
One of my works in progress. Influenced by the work of Peter Doig.
Scott David Gordon
Print Exhibition and Innovative Techniques
This past weekend, I visited Austin to see PrintAustin: The Contemporary Print at Big Medium. One of my works was included in the show, and I was looking forward to seeing the exhibit before it closed on February 16th.
The exhibit featured artwork from 35 artists and explored both traditional and innovative approaches to printmaking. My piece Coast in Distance #1 represents a traditional approach. It is a monotype that I created by inking a plexi plate with etching ink, removing ink using brushes and swabs, placing printmaking paper on top of the plate, and passing it through the press. Edgar Degas used this technique, which MoMa covers well in this video.
Coast in Distance #1 at Big Medium
I recognized techniques like screen printing, lithography, intaglio, etching, and linoleum cut block printing. However, there were many less familiar processes like “soap ground and spit bite aquatint and drypoint”, “photopolymer gravure”, “solarplate intaglio”, “mezzotint”, and “collagraph”.
Thankfully, YouTube provides an endless library of videos to research some of these processes. After watching these videos for a couple of hours, I came to the conclusion that it was impossible to learn about every process in a single night, so I moved on. Below are some of my favorites.
I find printmaking, particularly when it involves a press, to bring together the best elements of drawing and darkroom photography. There is a mark making component, but there are also multiple steps, sometimes intricate steps, that involve machinery and tools that you can only have so much control over. It creates a mystique that you have to respond to and build upon.
At the exhibit, I was drawn to a piece by Christine Meuris. It combined screen printing and sewing. The piece Ivory Bargello Refraction is second to the right in the photo below.
Sarah Frankie Linder
In her artist statement, Meuris explains that she “sew[s] paper as a way to reinterpret and explore the continuing value of handicraft traditions in our times”. Whatever the purpose, her work inspires, excites, and calms all at the same time.
I have been interested in the juxtaposition of threadwork since I was first introduced to it in 2011 while I was studying photography at NYU. Carolle Benitah’s Photo-Souvenirs were exhibiting at VII Gallery which I visited with my class. I enjoyed how Benitah drew (with thread) on top of her family photos. The threadwork added commentary, revealed, and foreshadowed. Most importantly, it questioned what was originally portrayed.
Les Cafards / The Cockroaches
Carolle Benitah
The Contemporary Print was was organized in partnership with PrintAustin and juried by Dr. Anna Katherine Brodbeck, Associate Curator of Contemporary Art at the Dallas Museum of Art. Big Medium, where the exhibit was held, produces the East Austin Studio Tour, the West Austin Studio Tour, and the Texas Biennial. It is located at Canopy in East Austin which is similar in many ways to Winter/Spring Street in Houston.
After The Contemporary Print, I visited Mass Gallery which is located in a standalone building in East Austin. Their exhibition INTERWOVEN features the work of six arts who work in textiles. In other words, I saw more stitch work!
Works by Orly Cogan and Fort Lonesome drew me in. Cogan’s work undoubtedly explores the feminine and the role of women. I enjoyed how she uses embroidery, a medium historically reserved for women, to create imagery that confronts and questions feminine archetypes. Stylistically, it is whimsical yet serious.
Fort Lonesome’s work at Mass Gallery
Fort Lonesome’s work, on the other hand, focuses on landscapes and the unique qualities that chainstitch embroidery can create. I am having trouble identifying exactly why I enjoyed her work. I just know I did enjoy it.
Next, I visited Women & Their Work. They are located near The University of Texas on Lavaca. In their main gallery, Women & Their Work is showing Hedwige Jacobs’s exhibition If I could, I would cover everything with my drawings. No, embroidery is not featured. Part installation and part video, the exhibit is a meditation of observation.
Tiny Drawing Series
Hedwige Jacobs
2018
Pen and Ink on Paper
Jacobs’s work is playful yet contemplative. I felt joy and calm throughout the exhibit. Something about the exhibit invites the viewer closer and farther away at the same time.
Yes, I thoroughly enjoyed my weekend in Austin. While The Contemporary Print is no longer showing, you can still visit INTERWOVEN through March 2nd and If I could, I would cover everything with my drawings through February 28th. If you do visit these exhibitions, please share your thoughts on either or both in the comment section below.
————
Currently reading:
How Emotions Are Made by Lisa Feldman Barrett
Walk Through Walls: A Memoir by Marina Abramovic
Severance by Ling Ma
Happy Yoga by Steve Ross
Currently listening to:
#136 The Founder, Reply All
Hyperallergic Editors Reflect on Warhol’s Superbowl Commercial, MoMA Expansion, and More, Hyperallergic
Barnett Newman: Seeking The Sublime
"I hope that my painting has the impact of giving someone, as it did me, the feeling of his own totality, of his own separateness, of his own individuality." - Barnett Newman
Barnett Newman was a member of the New York School, which included Abstract Expressionists like Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning.
Newman found his “voice” when he completed Onement, I in 1948. The “zip”, first appearing in Onement, I, was a visual device that both separated and united the figure-ground relationship without referencing a single object. Newman used “zips” in the majority, if not all, of his work following Onement, I.
The art world didn’t like it at first. Not even by his fellow New York School friends. At his first one-man show, Newman did not sell a single piece of work. To add insult to injury, Robert Motherwell told Newman: “We thought you were one of us. Instead your show is a critique against all of us.” After his first show, many of his fellow artists distanced themselves from him. Only Jackson Pollock is said to have stood by Newman. I find this both remarkable and terrifying. Newman continued to make his “zips” despite the poor press and a lack of support from his colleagues. He must have been incredibly confident to be so faithful to his work.
Alexander Liberman
Portrait of Barnett Newman
ca. 1961
The Menil Collection
By 1951, Newman turned his attention to scale. Vir heroicus sublimis (“Man, heroic and sublime.") is nearly 8 feet tall and 18 feet wide. It is a large red painting disrupted by zips of various colors at irregular intervals. While I have not experienced Vir heroicus sublimis in person, I can image (to some extent) that is very much an experience to be had. It is enormous. Standing 3 feet away, your whole field of vision would be filled with an expanse of red yet the zips would infiltrate and cut your peripherals as you attempted to take the whole composition in.
This expansiveness and emphasis on the experience relates back to Newman’s concept of the “Sublime” which he defined as “something that gives one the feeling of being where one is, of hic et nunc—of the here and now—courageously confronting the human fate, standing without the props of ‘memory, association, nostalgia, legend myth,’” according to Hal Foster in Art Since 1900.
Interestingly, Newman destroyed all of his early work. He controlled his legacy and very intelligently developed an image of both himself and his work to be used later on in art history. Another noteworthy tidbit, Newman considered Piet Mondrian his nemesis! Foster argues that Newman considered Mondrian’s work to be simply “good design” and nothing more.
Yes, Newman’s work was not immediately accepted by the art community–in fact, his work has been attacked multiple times. However, Newman was very articulate and a good writer. I believe he managed to remain confident and continue creating his work because of his ability to discuss and defend it well. He was bibliophile and a theorist. The Barnett Newman Foundation lists all of the titles in Newman’s private library.
Photo: J. Griffis Smith
If you are in Houston, you can view Newman’s work at The Menil Collection. They have several of his paintings in their collection. Broken Obelisk, one of Newman’s few sculptures, is located in front of The Rothko Chapel.
Inspired by Newman’s work and his will to create an experience of totality and hic et nunc, I created my own “zip” painting. I wanted to show that the future, particularly my own, is undefined. Whatever happened in the past does not define the future. Rather the past is just a backdrop. The background, while it cannot be erased, can be added to and developed. The now and the future are always different. Time passing is the only constant.
————
Currently reading:
How Emotions Are Made by Lisa Feldman Barrett
Walk Through Walls: A Memoir by Marina Abramovic
Severance by Ling Ma
Happy Yoga by Steve Ross