The first artists that needs much acknowledgment is artist, cartoonist, and women's rights activist, Nina Allender. Allender was born in Kansas in 1872. She studied art in the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and continued her studies in places such as Spain and London. Around 1910, Allender began becoming active in the women's suffrage movement and devoted much of her time to supporting the women's suffrage cause. She became the president of the National American Womens Suffrage Association. Through her involvement, soon activist Alice Paul began to take notice of her and she then became a lifelong member of the National Women's Party.
Because of her experience being an amazing artist, Alice Paul took notice and begged Allender to become a political cartoonist for the National Women's Party and publish her work in The Suffragist. Her work was displayed continuously in the newspaper and she became wildly known for being a woman cartoonist. Her work was political and she set herself apart from many other women and men of the time. What made her so unique and different from the works of other men was her depiction of women. She made the modern activist women look energetic, young, and full of life. She made the modern woman not only a wife and a mother but also a student and an activist. Allender's work as an activist set her apart from other women because she became involved now in more ways than one. She petitioned and rioted with the other women as well as making cartoons for all people to see. She had a power that many other women did not have and she used it to the benefit of women everywhere. She paved the way for women by showing that women are capable of anything a man can do and not only through the suffrage movement but as artists as well.
The second artists that is certainly worth mentioning is African American artist Harriet Powers. Powers was an exceptional woman who overcame the odds against her as an african american woman who was born into slavery. Powers was born into slavery in Georgia in 1837. In Powers's quilt, she kept alive Southern African quilting which depicted astronomical events, passed down stories, and biblical stories. Her quilts held so much importance to her, however due to extreme poverty, she was forced to sell her quilt to a Southern white woman artist, Jennie Smith. Jennie admired her quilt for being unique and depicting something she has never seen before in other quilts. Powers sold her the quilt for only five dollars, but she came to visit her quilt in Smiths home regularly.
Although is pained her to have to sell her quilt, it paid off in the long run because now she is a well known artist and her quilt hangs in the Simthsonian. Powers, too, is a trail blazer not only for women as whole but more specifically for African American women. African American women are oppressed far more than any other type of people because of their double minority, however Powers shows just what exceptional work and African American woman can do. She shows to young African American girls that despite the odds women of color can achieve great things. Although her work was recognized many years later, she still proves to be one of the most important women artists in American history.
This third artist is a much more modern artist because she is still producing work to empower women everywhere even today. Judy Chicago was born in Chicago in 1939. She is known for being an artist, a writer, a feminist, and an educator. Chicago is a feminist artist who has been challenging men since the early 1970s. She celebrates the achievement of all amazing feminist women who paved the way for women all over. She depicts this is her artwork "The Dinner Party" which is displayed in the Brooklyn Museum. "The Dinner Party" shows 39 place settings on a triangular shaped table all reserved for amazing famous women in history. Below the table she inscribes more than 950 women that should be recognized for their work. Chicago today shows the power of artwork and she uses this as a way to educate others. She uses art for social change and because of her commitment to the feminist movement she is recognized just about worldwide for her work.
The last two artists are both hispanic artists that stood out with their exceptional artwork despite competing in a male dominated field of art. I put Sandra Fabara, also known as Lady Pink, and Frida Kahlo together because Lady Pinks work reminds me of Kahlo's. Lady Pink is a graffiti artist of Ecuadorian roots but was raised in Queens, NY. She began to graffiti in 1979 after her boyfriend was sent back to Puerto Rico due to being arrested. Lady Pink depicted her grief in her artwork and tagged her boyfriends name in her artwork across the city. Because of this she reminds me of a modern Frida Kahlo who was a Mexican born artist in 1907 who also depicted her tormenting grief through her artwork. Both of these women dominated with their work despite competing with men who dominated the art scene. They both show abstract and beautiful images that depict their grief and through this they show that they can be strong women and prevail amongst the men that surrounded them.
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| Lady Pink |
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| Lady Pink |
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| Frida Kahlo |
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