From Artemisia Gentileschi to Milo Moira. The editors of Buro 24/7 remember the main feminists in the arts who fought for women's rights. The next time you're asked the stupid "Why aren't there any female artists like Leonardo or Michelangelo?", quote Linda Nochlin and our list of 15 names.
Today, the collections of modern museums do not reflect the real diversity that exists in the art world."The art world is run by billionaires and their art dealers, they buy works that reflect their value system, says an activist from the Guerrilla Girls. - We believe that art should reflect culture as a whole, and not meet the interests of individual, quite specific people. Most often, men. If in artthe most progressive industryhuman activity, dSince gender discrimination still exists, what can we say about the rest? We have selected 15 artists who, through their work, are trying to overcome the existing inequality and talk about the problems that concern the progressive women's community.
Artemisia Gentileschi
Artemisia Gentileschi became the first woman to be admitted to Europe's oldest Academy of Fine Arts in Florence. Like the few other artists of that time, she was the daughter of a painter. As a child, Artemisia experienced an act of violence. After a humiliating trial, her rapist was sentenced to a year in prison. So her famous "Judith beheading Holofernes" appeared with a reference to Caravaggio.
This plot was then often repeated in her other works - "Jael and Sisera", "Esther before Artaxers". Artemisia was not a feminist, she did not fight for the rights of women, but she was perhaps the first to shake the usual patriarchy of art.
Eunice Golden
American Eunice Golden became one of the founders of feminist art, having become famous in the 50s of the last century for her explicit images of nudes. The main difference between her works was that her models were men, thus the artist expressed her protest against objectification female body. Her most famous paintings are Landscape 160 and Nothing But Nudes. On them, the male body appears defenseless.
Yayoi Kusama
Yayoi Kusama rose to prominence in the 1960s after moving to New York City for her signature pattern of repeating dots. Critics immediately noted her unconventional avant-garde approach to painting, installation and performance. Kusama is considered one of the artists of the first feminist wave.
In 1962, Yayoi presents the work "Accumulation No. 2" - a sofa upholstered with soft fabric shoots. The protrusions covering the objects are like a parody of male "phallic" power. Around the same time, Kusama began creating installations and performances, Infinity Mirror Room - Phalli "s Field - all her work is concentrated around the human body. One of the most famous works of that time - the performance Grand Orgy To Awaken The Dead in 1969, held with the participation of many naked people. In 2014, Kusama became the most expensive female artist. Her work White No. 28 sold for $7 million at Christie's.
Judy Chicago
The 70s finally and irrevocably marked art-feminism in art. In 1971, Linda Nochlin published the essay "Why are there no great female artists?", in which an art historian discusses the reasons for the lack of Michelangelo-ranked artists among women. Nokhlin saw the problem in the system of public institutions and the inaccessibility of education. At the same time, the artist Judy Chicago appeared on the scene, who to this day is considered the "first generation feminist artist" - it was Chicago who coined the term "feminist art". Her most popular work is the Dinner Party installation. The work has the form of a triangular banquet table for 39 people, the seats behind it are reserved for the great women of Western civilization. "Dinner Party" first shown to the general public at the Museum contemporary art San Francisco in 1979, the work attracted over 100,000 visitors in three months. It has been on permanent display at the Brooklyn Museum since 2007.
Martha Rosler
Another no less important person of art feminism is Martha Rosler, who, like Judy Chicago, personifies the American critical art of the 70s. Rosler worked with collages in which she compared photos of women from glossy magazines with various kitchen items. Rosler harshly stated how a woman and her body in modern society reduced to the level of household items, and the goal is to serve and perform the functions assigned to them.
Ana Mendieta
Cuban artist Ana Mendieta was one of the first to use photography in feminist art. In 1972, Ana began staging performances. The main theme of her politically oriented, shocking works, often with the use of animal blood, is violence against a woman (in childhood, Ana fled Cuba with her family). Along with body art, land art, she created body prints in various natural environments - stone, clay, sand. But Ana's most famous series of works are photographs of the Facial Hair Transplants project, which tells about the fragility of gender boundaries.
Cindy Sherman
American Cindy Sherman, famous for her endless series of self-portraits, is called the most influential artist in the world of contemporary art. Throughout her childhood, Cindy dressed up in old clothes, most often she came up with the roles of old women, witches and monsters. This childhood passion shaped the further work of Sherman - a continuous self-portrait, which never ceases to amaze. During her productive life, Cindy has created at least a thousand photographs - from black-and-white stylizations in the spirit of cinema melodramas to characters in the paintings of classical masters. But the glory of the icon of feminist art Cindy acquired precisely after a series of cinematic works. embodying the stereotypical female images, she exposed the unnaturalness of these roles and asked what influence they have on everyday life ordinary woman. At the same time, she showed how a fake image is created with the help of photography.
Linda Benglis
Linda Benglis became one of the last bright representatives of the wave of the 70s. Her works made of latex, wax and polyurethane brought her fame, but her most striking work was a series of photographs, one of which the artist poses naked with a dildo. This work was a response to the male-driven art system of the time. The photograph was published in the highly influential contemporary art magazine Artforum and earned Benglis the title of an art feminist icon.
Nan Godlin
The era of the 80s would be impossible to imagine without the work of the photo artist Nan Goldin. Nan took her first photographs at her sister's funeral. She recalled that these pictures were for her a means of self-identification, a way of self-awareness. Later, Goldin began to document in detail all the details of the life of the creative bohemia of the 80s - nightclubs, drug addiction, endless parties.
In 1986, Nan Goldin published The Ballad of Sexual Addiction, a so-called photo diary, which was a tremendous success and put the author on a par with the best photographers of the 20th century. Thus, Goldin finally secured for the artists the right to paint, to capture the nude in all its forms. Sex is no longer taboo.
Guerrilla Girls
The Guerrilla Girls, an anonymous group of art activists founded in 1985, deals with issues of gender and racial discrimination in the art world. In 1984, An International Survey of Painting and Sculpture opened at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. It presented 169 artists, among whom were only 13 women. On June 14 of the same year, a group of artists went to the museum building with a protest action, which can be considered the first public appearance of the Guerrilla Girls. For 30 years, female artists have done a great job of redressing the gender imbalance in the art world. However, judging by the recent results that the band announced on the Stephen Colbert Tonight Show, there is still a lot of work ahead. "The irony is that many believe that sexism flourished in art in the 70s and 80s, and then the problem was solved. This is not so. We are still seeing horrific statistics, which is exactly why the Guerrilla Girls are still forced to continue their activity",– said a participant named Zubeida. The Guerrilla Girls became known for their provocative posters. The most common is Do Women Have To Be Naked To get Into Met. Museum?
Orlan
The French artist Orlan gained popularity in the 90s thanks to a series of works dedicated to plastic surgery. By using her body as a material for her art, she not only expanded the possibilities of visual art, but also drew attention to the dubious beauty standards imposed on women by a patriarchal society. In the late 90s, Orlan went through several plastic surgeries, changing her body and face. This performance was a demonstration of how pointless unnatural interventions in the human body are.
Jenny Saville
British artist Jenny Saville stands apart among contemporary artists, as she prefers to work in the genre of classical painting. Her main media are canvas and acrylic. Despite this traditional approach, the first exhibition was very successful - then it was noticed by the collector and philanthropist Charles Saatchi. He bought all the works and offered the artist an 18-month contract. Under his patronage, Saville was favorably received by critics for creating conceptual art based on the use of the classical standard - painting of the female nude. Most of her work is notable for the distortion of the scale of the human body. The artist herself says that she is inspired by gender philosophy and a feminist approach, and also draws inspiration from the work of Cindy Sherman.
Tracey Emin
Tracey Emin is an English artist, director and actress, one of the representatives of the Young British Artists group. Her installation "My Bed", shortlisted for the Turner Prize, was best known. In July 2014, an art project that included an unmade bed surrounded by household rubbish was sold at Christie's for $4.3 million.
Critics have different attitudes towards the work of the artist: some believe that most of her works are based solely on shocking, without carrying a specific idea, while others believe that Tracy characterizes new wave women's contemporary art. In any case, Tracey Emin is one of the most commercially successful artists of our time - at the moment she is under the auspices of the collector and art dealer Charles Saatchi.
Milo Moire
We are witnessing the last wave of art feminism now. Many young artists have emerged, choosing more radical means of self-expression. Milo Moire is a Swiss artist known for her candid performances. Milo gained notoriety after her performance The PlopEgg Painting, during which she "gave birth" to eggs filled with paint, standing over a white canvas in one of the squares of Cologne. Eggs were broken on a white sheet and formed patterns. The artist held her last action in Cologne, expressing support for women who have been attacked and sexually harassed. The artist went to the main square of Cologne naked with a poster: "Respect us, we are not game, even if we are naked."
Shamsia Hassani
There is a boom in feminist art in Muslim countries, where the issue of gender inequality has only begun to be raised in the last few years. Afghan-born Shamsia Hassani, 25, started painting graffiti in 2010. For two years she was the only street artist in Afghanistan. Many of her works depict women in veils, but with a lively silhouette, prominent hips and angular shoulders. Other characters in her work are fish imprisoned in aquariums. Shamsia talks about what women have to deal with on the streets of Kabul: even those who go out in a veil that completely hides the body can hear comments about the hands or ankles, sometimes offensive and even dangerous attention is almost impossible to avoid.
Yes, yes, I'm not afraid of this word, great and that's it. And I'm not afraid of the word "artist". After all, he draws, albeit in a special way. In general, the purpose of her messages to the world is "expanding the boundaries of consciousness", nothing more, nothing less.
You know, she actually succeeded. My consciousness expanded, as did my eyes:
However, like her vagina, judging by the effort with which she was given creativity:
Or here is another example of artistic intent:
The artist walks wide, she will go far!
Here's what I don't understand. And what if a non-artist does the same thing on the same streets? Want to piss artistically? Or poop? Or instead of a woman, a man will walk naked down the street? I cease to understand, where is the creative idea, and where is the usual desire of an exhibitionist to shake a member in front of squealing women? And why should they squeal if it's a performance? Should applaud. Well, or the desire of a lady to ventilate her crotch with a phallus in a subway car, out of boredom - why not?
They have all the time, when it comes to some socially significant action, so be sure to undress. Femenki indulge in this, the artist sent for a psychiatric examination, who at one time nailed his scrotum to the paving stones, also "shone" with us. There are also some nude bike rides. There are already many such examples, when nakedness, painted and in its natural form, is openly presented to the eyes of the public, as yet bashfully seasoned with "art" or "action", but I understand one thing - they hate to hide their body under clothes.
Why isn't the ban on nudity lifted then? Be honest with yourself. If it is possible to walk naked as "art", and the process is filmed, the name of the artists is promoted on the news, and then intellectual articles about the work of these geniuses are written with the most intelligent look, why not discard the ghostly cape of conventionality and not allow people to get naked there and then, where and when will people want it?
Once upon a time, people of such views set a goal to lift the ban on the topic of sex. Happened. But - with a restriction - in a public place is unacceptable. Now on to nudity. Thanks to the seasoning of "art" walk down the street naked, no one will judge, the police will not be lucky to the police station, but the nudity itself is fine if it is female. There are restrictions everywhere. And where is the promised freedom and boundless expansion of consciousness? Or does the great artist Milo Moira need not only to give birth to chicken eggs, but also to move from larger objects, for example, to ostrich eggs? Maybe then people who remain in the slavish chains of conventions will realize that the human body is so beautiful that it should not be hidden under clothes, and human sexual needs are so natural that they cannot be limited by prohibitions. And without distinction by sex, by age.
In the meantime, most commercials are still retouched with black squares that cover the nipples and crotch. I had a hard time finding an uncensored plot.
Gentlemen, either put on your shorts or take off your cross. Well, you can’t be so inconsistent in your activities - on the one hand, thoughtfully talk about the greatness of the performance of a Swiss artist and the political background of a scrotum pierced by a nail, and then bashfully cover it all with fig leaves.
Nudity and free sexual relations huh? Or is it still not? When will you finally decide? In Russia, it seems, there are strict limits on showing genitals and female breast exists, but already someone without panties is shown in public
but, again, everyone sees that there are no panties, but there is something similar to a dress on the singer.
When will you all decide and stop driving your own nose? Nudity exactly "YES"? Well, go ahead! Men, women, children - in all public places, and not only as a performance, political intention or in specially designated places. Russia is often criticized for being inconsistent in its moral decisions, and I am aware of how many contradictions are concentrated in our society. But I also see, despite the declaration of freedom and the presence of performances like Milo's work, they also have a lot of contradictions. Only we talk about conservatism and firmly insist that nudity in a public place is prohibited, and they rip off clothes from the female body with one hand, and the photographers filming this performance are all buttoned up to the last button, and no one has yet lifted the ban on free exposure in a public place.
Milo Moire
Milo Moire (Moire) (Milo Moire). Born in 1983. Swiss conceptual artist, model and psychologist.
Milo Muare (Moire) was born in 1983 in Switzerland.
The girl has Spanish-Slovak roots.
Since childhood, she wanted to become an artist, was fond of the work of Francis Bacon, HR Giger, Frida Kahlo, Käthe Kollwitz, Maria Lassnig and Edvard Munch.
However, the key influence on Milo was the work of two other outrageous masters. Firstly, Marina Abramovic- a Yugoslav artist who has been called the "grandmother of performance art", who opened up a new concept of identity through the involvement of observers in the creative process and the focus on "opposing pain, blood and the physical limits of the body." Secondly, Joseph Beuys, a German artist, one of the main theorists of postmodernism, the founder of "fluxus" - a specific type of performance art (the most common in Germany), in which the artist addresses the audience with imperative propaganda energy, using shockingly unusual objects as art objects.
In her youth, Milo Moiret was fond of sports, in particular, she played tennis well.
After graduation high school studied at a college in Lucerne, graduating in 2001.
She worked in modeling agencies as a model, won the Miss Bodense contest.
She studied psychology at the University of Bern and received her master's degree in 2011.
According to Milo, "pictures come only from a physical sensation in the head and only with my body can I make these feelings be transmitted to others". For her, physicality is an absolute and powerful source of inspiration.
Moire claims that "when the outer shell of clothing is removed, the human body regains the ability to communicate without the distractions of money, fashion, ideology, or even time".
Her first nude performance was in 2007.
But for the first time she loudly declared herself in 2013 with the performance The Script (“Script”), which was noticed all over the world and caused controversy in the media about the admissibility of using the female body in art.
Milo herself notes that she uses her body consciously and consistently to express her artistic intentions.
Moire says that there should be no limits to art and that only death is the only limit she accepts.
She deliberately placed herself at the intersection of art and pornography.
And regarding the controversy that regularly arises around her performances - whether it is art or pornography, she emphasizes: "art can be pornography, just as pornography can be art".
The actions organized by Milo Muare constantly become the object of media attention and cause a scandal.
In 2014 she held a performance PlopEgg Painting ("Painting with Falling Eggs"). The artist pumped up chicken eggs with paint with a syringe, then placed them in her vagina and dropped them onto the canvas from a height, pushing them out of her body with the muscles of the vagina. Eggs fell, broke, and the result was an abstract painting. She herself commented: "to create a work of art, I use the original source of femininity - my vagina".
In February 2015, the artist visited a museum in the German city of Münster, where she walked around completely naked with a baby doll in her arms.
Also in 2015, Moiret was arrested by French police and spent the night in a cell after posing naked for everyone to take a selfie with her in front of the Eiffel Tower.
In January 2016, she The girl went completely naked to the square in front of the central railway station of Cologne, where new year's eve migrants staged organized attacks on the residents of the city. Milo Muare held up a banner reading "Respect us! We are not defenseless victims, even if we are naked."
In June 2016, she was arrested in London for her action mirror box which took place in Trafalgar Square. She invited passers-by to touch her breasts and other intimate parts. There was a mirror box on it, where not only men, but also women could stick their hands for 30 seconds. The author of the performance did not allow those who were younger than her defined age group to participate in this action.
Despite the fact that most people clearly liked the idea of "touching the art", someone still called the police, and the girl had to spend about a day behind bars, and also pay a large fine.
Prior to that, she held the same action for the residents of Amsterdam and Düsseldorf.
According to the artist, with the performance she tried to draw general attention to the issues of sexual violence against women, which are of great relevance in modern world. The artist believes that her performance aroused particular interest among the ladies, and the main idea of the action is that any woman has the right to decide for herself who exactly and when can touch her.
"I stand here in defense of women's rights and the possibility of sexual self-determination. Women have sexual needs, as well as men. But we must decide for ourselves how and where to allow us to be touched and whether to allow at all," she said through a megaphone.
Performances by Milo Moiret
Height of Milo Muare: 176 centimeters.
Personal life of Milo Muare:
Lives in a de facto marriage with the German photographer Peter Hergarten, better known under the pseudonym Peter Palm (Peter Palm).
They live permanently in Düsseldorf (Germany).
Milo and Peter themselves do not consider their relationship a "marriage", since they do not recognize such an institution at all. They just live together, but at the same time remain free and free to do whatever they want. In particular, Peter's bisexuality and his relationships with men are known.
Peter Palm is the main photographer for the outrageous photo shoots of Milo Moiret. He also shoots her for calendars, on which Milo, of course, appears either in a nude style or close to it.
