Modernism

        Modernism is the movement in art from the 19th to the 20th Centuries which collectively comprises Impressionism, Futurism, Constructivism, Dada-ism, Surrealism, Expressionism, Abstract expressionism, etc. Modernism became propelled by social and political intentions. Architect Arthur Erickson asserted that “Modernism released us from the constraints of everything that had gone before with a euphoric sense of freedom.”

        Consistent with all other aspects of life, women were also disenfranchised in art. The archetype of a woman did not delineate her as an artist, and men dominated the art world. Discrimination was ubiquitous, and critics claimed that a female’s art was inferior to her male counterpart’s work (Guerrilla Girls, 59). Women sought equality in society and endeavored to achieve it. Despite being disenfranchised, women artists in Europe influenced the techniques and development of modernism and the movements of Abstraction, German expressionism, Dada, and Surrealism. Moreover, “women functioned both as producers of this new visual culture and as the signifiers of its meaning” (Chadwick, 252).

        According to Whitney Chadwick in Women, Art, and Society, fashion emerged as a means of achieving change for women. Chadwick likens the alteration of dresses to create more comfortable clothing to the act of females freeing themselves of the constraints of society and making significant strides in representation. Clothing also allowed a woman to create her own individual identity and express herself. Furthermore, “[The] experiments in fashion design also take into account the practical goals of the reform movement. [Such] designs are important in identifying women’s fashion as one of the arenas within which modernist artists, determined to free themselves from representation, explored new kinds of meaning” (Chadwick, 254).

        Artist Sonia Delaunay’s work is representative of abstract art. Delaunay held that modernity could be depicted best in colors and in their relationship to one another as color is “the skin of the world.” Delaunay experimented with color and furthered this with the theory of simultaneity in which movement in color became apparent in the orientation of particular colors. Delaunay’s works include bright colors and geometric shapes. She extended this practice by creating a simultaneous dress - the abstraction of the dresses allowed the garments to draw attention to the body’s movement and the complexity of the colors. In this way, the female body became a means of representing modernity (Chadwick, 262). Delaunay's Fashion Illustrations (c. 1920s) are examples of the presence of color and shapes in her dresses.

Sonia Delaunay. Fashion Illustrations. c. 1920s.

        
        Delaunay’s influence is apparent in this image of a dress with bright colors and geometric shapes. Her Fabric and Feminism is heightened on in this article of the same name.

Dress Inspired by Sonia Delaunay

        Gunta Stöltzl, a student at the Bauhaus (a German design school) during her time, epitomized the plight of a woman artist. After a year at the Bauhaus, Stöltzl earned a full scholarship and oversaw the weaving workshop. Stöltzl excelled at fashioning sophisticated fabrics and tapestries that sold well - her Tapestry (1926-27) serves as a testament to the beautiful intricacies of such pieces. Despite such success, the masters at the Bauhaus reduced the weaving to “women’s work.” After the Bauhaus ceased to exist because of attacks, Stöltzl relocated to Switzerland to continue her work as a weaver. She remained in Switzerland until her death (Guerrilla Girls, 68-69).

Gunta Stöltzl. Tapestry. 1926-27.

        Hannah Hoch is attributed with being the “mama of Dada” - Dada is an art movement that defied all conventions and norms with the exception of male supremacy while condemning bourgeois society after World War I. Hoch created photomontages and is esteemed as being a pioneer of photomontage. Hoch made photomontages with caricatures of the modern female as desired by the German media. This archetype of a female smoked, dressed sexily, worked, and voted. Hoch stated that her male contemporaries desired the modern female and yet were unwilling to adopt different attitudes in accepting such a woman. She also created photomontages of androgynous figures and same-sex couples. Such men were also highly critical of her craft (Guerrilla Girls, 67-68). An example of a piece that met criticism is the photomontage below.

Hannah Hoch. Photomontage. c. 1928.

        Frida Kahlo is associated with Surrealism and is often considered a Surrealist artist. Kahlo disavowed this by stating that, “They thought that I was a Surrealist, but I wasn’t. I never painted dreams. I painted my reality.” Kahlo suffered tremendously throughout her life - at the age of 18, she was involved in a trolley accident when it collided with the bus she was on. The accident left her immobile and bound to her bed. Kahlo began painting as her compromised state permitted little activity. As an adult, Kahlo became romantically involved with fellow artist, Diego Rivera - the two married and their marriage was marked by infidelity and mistrust. Both the trolley accident and her marital woes color the emotional content of her work; her art is an extension of her emotions (Guerrilla Girls, 78).

        Tree of Hope, Keep Firm (1946) is representative of Kahlo’s extension of her emotions into her art. In this work, an anesthetized Frida under the sun is on the left and a stoic but tearful Frida under the moon is on the right. On the left, Frida is depicted with incisions and on the right, she is holding an orthopedic corset, a reference to the brace she wore after the accident. Moreover, Tree of Hope, Keep Firm depicts Kahlo’s resiliency from being operated upon to struggling with the long-term consequences of the accident. This resiliency is shared by all aforementioned women who met adversity in the pursuit of art.

Frida Kahlo. Tree of Hope, Keep Firm. 1946.

Works Cited

1. Chadwick, Whitney. Women, Art, and Society. 2012. Reprint. Thames & Hudson, 2015. Print.

2. Guerrilla Girls. The Guerrilla Girls' Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art. 1998. Penguin Books. Print.