Modernism

Modernism is a movement that came to be in the late 19th century and early 20th century.  This movement emerged for several reasons.  There was an embracing of an industrial age.  There was also a change in science and philosophy.  With this, artists began to experiment with pushing boundaries that held them back before.  Women artists began to have more artistic freedom to address issues such as sexism and racism in their work.  They also began pushing aesthetic boundaries.  Modernism began the use of abstraction for many artists and women had a big role in this.  Chadwick explains; “Abstraction in painting and sculpture developed simultaneously in a number of European capitals during the first decade of this century.  It’s course , inextricably bound up with the formal developments of Post-Impressionism and Cubism, and with a desire to break with nature and infuse the resulting art with a profound spiritual content, has been extensively traced” (Chadwick 252).

One artist who doesn’t get the credit that she well deserves is the French artist, Sonia Delaunay.  Her husband Robert Delaunay seems to get most of the credit for the work that they were doing together.  They both helped to found the movement called Orphism.  Orphism uses bright colors and geometric shapes.  Sonia Delaunay’s knowledge in textiles and fabric helped with the concept of putting big shapes of color together on a canvas.  Her designs in fashion inspired many artists.  Chadwick writes, “Their patterns of abstract forms were arranged both to enhance the natural movement of the body and to establish a shimmering movement of color” (Chadwick 262).  One can even argue that Sonia really pushes abstraction more than her husband did.  Many of his paintings include geometric shapes but also include a recognizable subject matter.  Her works focus more on the colors and shapes. 

 Sonia Delaunay. Electric Prisms. 1914

Another woman artist who has been overshadowed by her male contemporary is Lee Krasner.  She was an American abstract expressionist painter.  As many women artists, she struggled to find her identity as a female artist.  This is because women were not yet fully accepted by their male contemporaries.  She even had to sign her paintings with her initials to be taken more seriously.  She began to be involved with Jackson Pollock and working side by side with him.  Pollock is highly credited for his abstract expressionist paintings that have a feeling of all overness. However, Lee Krasner was doing this before him.  We now know that it was Lee Krasner who influenced Pollock to begin his drip paintings.  The Guerilla Girls write staging themselves as Lee Krasner saying; “For twenty years I painted and painted and finally in the seventies the art world was ready to acknowledge that an important woman artist could have been married to an important male artist” (Guerilla Girls 87).  

Lee Krasner. Noon. 1947

In the Dada movement, Hannah Hoch was known as the “good girl”.  Dada was a movement that was created as a reaction to World War I.  These works were politically charged and very critical of society.  Even so, Dadaists were hesitant in including woman and addressing issues of women.  Hannah Hoch was never truly accepted with the Dadaists.  The Guerilla Girls write; “She did designs for embroidery and lace and won awards for them, but the guys thought her commercial work cheapened her real art” (Guerilla Girls 66).  She became one of the first artists to include photographs into collage.  However, this still didn’t give her the recognition she deserved in the Dada community.  Because of this, Hoch began making art that was critical of patriarchy.  She also began using androgynous figures in her collages and also portrayed same sex couples in her work.  

Hannah Hoch. Da Dandy. 1919.

Gunta Stoltzl was a student of the Bauhaus.  It wasn’t easy for the masters of the Bauhaus to be accepting of women students.  Because of this, women were placed in the “women’s department”.  Here is where women would work on textiles and craft work.  Gunta Stoltzl was a determined student and she worked her way up to becoming a master and weaving instructor.  The male masters of the Bauhaus criticized these works as not being real art.  The Guerilla Girls explain; “Female instructors were underpaid or, in the case of Anni Albers, unpaid.  Gunta had to fight for raises and was denied a pension” (Guerilla Girls 68).  After the Bauhaus shut down Gunta moved to Switzerland and continued her weaving.  Her work was finally acknowledged by several museums after that.  

Gunta Stoltzl. Design for a Runner. 1923

Within the Surrealist movement we can discuss the work of Frida Kahlo.  She does not however consider herself to a Surrealist because her work is very real.  Other Surrealist artists took it upon themselves to label her as a Surrealist.  However, her paintings are very real depictions of her experience of life.  Surrealists were interested in the metaphysical and the subconscious.  Frida’s paintings do not address these things.  Her paintings include symbols that relate to the pain that she has endured throughout her life.   She married Mexican muralist, Diego Rivera.  This relationship caused her a lot of pain in her life and is a common theme in her paintings.  Another common theme in her paintings is her body.  She was involved in a terrible accident as a young woman that left her in pain throughout her entire life.  It also left her unable to bare children.  This is something that Frida references many times in her paintings as well.  Unfortunately, Frida didn’t get to have her own solo exhibition until one year before her death.  From Guerilla Girls, Frida Kahlo “As She Lay Dying”; “The world just loves women artists who are sad and dead.  But I was the hero of my own life” (Guerilla Girls 79).  Regardless of her circumstances, Frida was able to make the best of her life up until her death.  

Frida Kahlo. The Two Fridas. 1939.

These five women artists mentioned show us how although Modernism took a huge step towards artistic freedom and pushing boundaries, women still had to struggle to be respected in the art world.  Whether it be that they were overshadowed by their partners or overlooked by art institutions, they all had to work harder to put their work out there.  

Works Cited

Chadwick Whitney. Women, Art, and Society. Fifth Edition. New York: Penguin, 2002. Print.


Guerrilla Girls. The Guerrilla Girls' Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art. New York: Penguin, 1998. Print.

Links

http://nymag.com/arts/art/features/40979/

http://www.idesigni.co.uk/blog/greatest-female-artists-of-the-20th-century/