The rise of feminist art in the 1970s marked a significant turning point in both the art world and broader cultural discourse. This movement emerged as part of the larger feminist movement, which sought to challenge the systemic inequalities faced by women in all spheres of life, including art. Feminist artists of this period not only aimed to create a space for women in the art world, which had long been dominated by men, but also to radically redefine what art could be by introducing new subjects, materials, and methodologies. The rise of feminist art in the 1970s laid the foundation for future generations of artists and had a profound impact on the evolution of contemporary art.
The feminist art movement emerged against the backdrop of the second-wave feminist movement, which began in the late 1960s and continued into the 1980s. This wave of feminism focused on issues such as workplace inequality, reproductive rights, and the representation of women in media and culture. Women artists, who had long been marginalized in the art world, began to organize and advocate for greater visibility and recognition.
In the 1960s, women artists found themselves largely excluded from major galleries, museums, and exhibitions. The works that were exhibited often adhered to the male-dominated norms of the time, with women’s contributions either dismissed or pigeonholed into minor roles. This marginalization was reflective of broader societal attitudes toward women, but it also stemmed from the deeply entrenched patriarchal structures within the art world itself.
One of the earliest and most influential initiatives in the feminist art movement was the Feminist Art Program, founded in 1971 by artists Judy Chicago and Miriam Schapiro at the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts). The program was designed to create a supportive environment where women artists could explore their own identities and experiences without the constraints of the male-dominated art world. The Feminist Art Program encouraged collaboration, experimentation, and the exploration of new forms and materials.
A landmark project that emerged from the Feminist Art Program was Womanhouse (1972), a collaborative installation organized by Chicago and Schapiro, along with their students. Womanhouse was a radical exploration of the domestic sphere, traditionally considered a “woman’s place.” The installation transformed a dilapidated Hollywood mansion into a series of rooms, each one addressing different aspects of women’s lives and experiences. For example, the “Kitchen” featured fried eggs and sausages mounted on the walls and ceiling, a commentary on the objectification of women’s bodies and the domestic roles to which they were often confined. Womanhouse was a powerful statement about the intersection of art, gender, and domesticity, and it challenged the traditional boundaries of what could be considered art.
Feminist artists of the 1970s sought to challenge the male gaze, a term popularized by feminist film theorist Laura Mulvey, which described the way in which women have been traditionally depicted in visual culture from a male, patriarchal perspective. Feminist artists aimed to subvert this gaze by reclaiming the female body as a site of empowerment rather than objectification. This led to the creation of works that explored female sexuality, identity, and the experience of being a woman in a patriarchal society.
A central theme in feminist art was the exploration of the female body and its representation. Artists like Carolee Schneemann used their bodies as both subject and medium, challenging traditional notions of femininity and the objectification of women. Schneemann’s performance piece Interior Scroll (1975) is a notable example, in which she stood naked and extracted a scroll from her vagina, reading aloud the text written on it. This piece confronted the taboo surrounding female sexuality and reclaimed the female body as a source of artistic power.
Feminist artists also sought to challenge the traditional hierarchy of artistic materials and techniques, which often privileged “high” art forms like painting and sculpture over “low” or craft-based art forms like textiles and ceramics. Miriam Schapiro, for instance, incorporated elements of traditional women’s crafts, such as quilting and embroidery, into her work, creating what she called “femmage.” This term blended the words “feminine” and “collage” and aimed to elevate these historically undervalued forms to the status of fine art. This focus on craft and materials associated with women’s work was a deliberate strategy to critique the gendered divisions within the art world.
Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party (1974-1979) is perhaps the most iconic work of feminist art from this period. This large-scale installation featured a triangular table with 39 place settings, each representing an important woman from history or mythology. The settings included intricately designed plates, many of which featured vulva-like imagery, and embroidered runners that celebrated women’s artistic and cultural contributions. The Dinner Party was a monumental statement on the erasure of women from history and the need to acknowledge and celebrate their achievements.
The rise of feminist art also led to an increased awareness of the systemic inequalities within art institutions. Feminist artists and critics began to challenge the male-dominated nature of museums, galleries, and art history itself. In 1972, the activist group Women Artists in Revolution (WAR) protested the exclusion of women from the Whitney Museum’s annual exhibition. This and other actions highlighted the pervasive sexism within the art world and pushed for greater representation of women artists in major exhibitions and collections.
The Guerrilla Girls, a group of anonymous female artists formed in 1985, although slightly later, continued the work started by feminist artists in the 1970s. They became known for their provocative posters and actions that used humor and visual art to expose gender and racial discrimination in the art world. Their 1989 poster “Do Women Have to Be Naked to Get into the Met. Museum?” famously highlighted the stark gender disparities in museum collections and exhibitions.
The feminist art movement of the 1970s had a profound impact on the art world, opening up new possibilities for women artists and changing the way art was created, viewed, and understood. It challenged the traditional hierarchies and definitions of art, introduced new subjects and materials, and laid the groundwork for the diversity of artistic practices that followed. The movement also played a critical role in the broader feminist movement, providing a visual and cultural language through which the complexities of gender and identity could be explored and communicated.
Feminist art also influenced subsequent generations of artists, both women and men, who have continued to engage with issues of gender, identity, and power in their work. The legacy of feminist art is evident in the ongoing exploration of these themes in contemporary art, as well as in the increased visibility and recognition of women artists in galleries, museums, and the art market.
