Useful quotes

Feminism changed the definition of art, what it could do, what it could be; feminism widened the boundaries of art, where it could go, what it could include. Ironically, the leaders of feminism and the best works of feminist art were relegated almost at once to history as “examples of” a genre. The pioneers found themselves to be historical figures in their own lifetimes, often in mid -career. Historicization of feminism had the effect of sidelining its importance while appropriating its impact. The artists who benefitted from feminism were often male artists, such as Eric Fischl who was at the California Institute of the Art when Judy Chicago and Miriam Schapiro were teaching in the Feminist Art Program. His figurative and representational paintings were intensely personal narratives, full of symbolism.-http://arthistoryunstuffed.com/the-influence-of-feminism-in-art/


The strength of the feminist movement allowed for the emergence and visibility of many new types of work by women.-Source: Boundless. “The Influence of Feminism.” Boundless Art History. Boundless, 10 Jun. 2016. Retrieved 19 Nov. 2016 from https://www.boundless.com/art-history/textbooks/boundless-art-history-textbook/global-art-since-1950-ce-37/dematerialization-235/the-influence-of-feminism-837-11049/



Before the late 1960s most women artists, struggling to participate in the male-dominated art world, had overwhelming disincentives to put feminist meanings into their work, and sought to de-gender their art. Often, on the basis of appearance alone, their work could not be identified as woman-made. Several countercultural movements arose simultaneously with feminism in the 1960s. At this time the United States experienced social upheaval coming with the Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War, economic prosperity, the arrival of oral contraceptives, reforms in the Catholic Church, nostalgia for the presidency of John F. Kennedy, and experimentation with psychotropic drugs. Many other countries experienced social unrest of various kinds during this period.-http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/feminist/

 By producing posters, books, and performances, the Guerrilla Girls achieve their the goal of “exposing acts of sexism and racism in politics, the art world, film, and culture at large.”page 2- http://www.drake.edu/media/departmentsoffices/dussj/2013-2011documents/GuerrillaHanson.pdf

“How Women Get Maximum Exposure in Art Museums” was the Guerrilla Girls’ response to a request in 1989 from the Public Art Fund in New York to design a billboard that would appeal to a general audience. The headline of the poster reads, “Do women have to be naked to get into the Met. Museum?” and underneath, “Less than 5% of the artists in the Modern Art sections are women, but 85% of the nudes are female.”18 Beside the text is a reclining nude woman wearing a gorilla mask with disproportionately large teeth and holding a fan that is distinctly phallic. The woman is an appropriation of Auguste Dominique Ingres’s 1814 painting Grand Odalisque, the gorilla mask similar to those worn by Guerilla Girls during appearances in public to hide their identities. The advertisement for the Met’s exclusionary exhibiting practices ultimately appeared on busses instead of billboards – The Public Art Fund rejected the design with the reasoning that it was not clear enough. The Guerrilla Girls instead rented ad space on New York busses until the company canceled their lease due to the opinion that the image of the Odalisque and the phallic fan were too suggestive.-page 7-http://www.drake.edu/media/departmentsoffices/dussj/2013-2011documents/GuerrillaHanson.pdf