Postmodern Art and Feminism

For most of the history of art the field was dominated by men. However,during the Postmodern movement many women artists have emerged to showcase their ideas and values. One of the themes these women have tackled is feminism, the idea that women should be treated the same as men. They have used art to critique the media and the ways that women have been painted in the past. Whether or not you agree with their views, through their art,we can see a generation of female artists not afraid to make a political statement and stand up for a cause they believe in.

Judy Chicago

Judy Chicago is an artist who is not afraid to criticize the ways women have been portrayed in art in the past. She mocks what she sees as sexist art and introduces art that represents women.

Her most famous work is The Dinner Party, which was completed in 1979 in her New Mexico art studio and resides in the Brooklyn Museum. The idea of the piece is that women have often been forgotten about in art history and just history in general.This work has 39 settings for important women in history so as to bring attention to their contributions. I think it is a beautifully crafted work. Very visually interesting, the shape alone adds drama to the work. The way each place setting is different just brings your attention to how much work went into this piece.

Above we have Hatching the Universal Egg, finished in 1984 in her studio. It is not a painting, but rather embroidery on silk. Chicago believed that while Western art had plenty of scenes of marriage, death, and other life events the fact that it did not have many paintings about giving birth was sad. The embroidery depicts women as strong and powerful. the muscles and stance just radiate strength.The color red does, as well. It is not my favorite work, because it is just so plain, but I can appreciate the simple strength of it.

Finally from Chicago, we have Driving the World to Destruction, painted in 1985 in her New Mexico art studio. Chicago took the image of a muscular male figure out of the Renaissance sculptures and put put him in a less heroic setting. She shows her belief that men have done harm to the world, despite how the art of the Renaissance would portray them, as being blessed by God. I do not enjoy this piece of art because the colors seem rather garish, though I think that is intentional. The man also looks freakish, though that is because he is meant to be a caricature of Renaissance men and their exaggerated physical beauty.

Cindy Sherman

Cindy Sherman used art to expose the ways that popular culture and media portrayed women. Her art criticizes the way that art and film portrays women in a limited way and only shows a limited idea of female beauty. I should warn you that the last picture of the three is very sexually risque and may be disturbing to some readers. Sometimes art is meant to shock and disturb us, so as to make us think.

The first work from Sherman is Untitled Film Still #13, part of a series completed in 1978 and shot in New York. Here Sherman shows one of the stereotypes portrayed in the films of the day, that of the innocent young schoolgirl. She brings awareness to the limited ways that films and art show women. I really like this series. The pictures are simply composed but make their point without any words. The way we are looking slightly up and from the side at the women makes it seem as if we have just happened upon her in the library. They do indeed evoke old school films, which were often very sexist.

Untitled #92, done in 1985 in New York, does the same thing by showing the vulnerable girl trope common in horror movies. The picture looks exactly like a still from a movie. The way Sherman looks in the photo, with the wet hair and scared look, makes it immediately evident what she is trying to make you think of. It is an aesthetically interesting piece, the lighting focusing on Sherman and dimming in the background is a nice theatrical touch. It makes you aware of how horror movies and other media show women as being vulnerable and weak.

In art we are used to seeing beautiful women nudes, so Sherman shocks us with her Sex Pictures, completed in 1992 in New York. They are meant to show how women are dehumanized and treated as sex subjects in art. By making these pictures scary, Sherman sort of tests how far we will go to sexualize women. The pictures are very shocking, and this is one of the tamest of the lot. I wouldn’t say they are beautiful, no, they are not supposed to be. The way the people are posed and the weird objects around them are not meant to be nice to look at but rather to make it seem ridiculous. I appreciate the thought that went into posing them a certain way.

Conclusion

Women like Judy Chicago and Cindy Sherman are using art to make a statement and draw attention to the ways art and our culture treat women. These pieces are often very extreme and controversial so as to make their point and drum up conversation. Whether or not you agree with the artists, the point is to make you think about women and feminism and in that I think they are successful.

“Cindy Sherman.” The Art Story. Accessed 9 Nov. 2016. http://www.theartstory.org/artist-sherman-cindy-artworks.htm#pnt_1

"Components of The Dinner Party." Brooklyn Museum. Accessed 9 Nov. 2016. https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/dinner_party/home/

“Judy Chicago.” The Art Story. Accessed 9 Nov. 2016. http://www.theartstory.org/artist-chicago-judy-artworks.htm#pnt_4