Entering the Picture: Judy Chicago Introduction: Judy Gerowitz started the Feminist Art program (FAP) at Fresno State in 1970. The program began with 15 female students that she personally recruited. She also launched the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) program in Valencia a year later (Jill Fields, 1). She legally changed her last name afterwards from Gerowitz to Chicago. She was an undergraduate at UCLA (Chicago, 102). Gerowitz was recommended by Oliver Andrews, one of her sculpting professors at UCLA, for teaching at Fresno State. According to Gail Levin, “As a first step this new aim ‘required moving away from male-dominated art scene and being in an all-female environment where we could study our history separate from men’s …show more content…
The Fresno FAP program gave students the belief to find their ability and to make their own decision in life. This program helped to create and develop their creativity. FAP changed the life of the women (Harper 96). Some women who were living with men or boyfriends were criticized by the program and encouraged to stop their relationships with them. The Feminist Art Program (FAP) required a lot from female students (Harper, 97). Some women felt that FAP actually strengthened their lives, but some felt that “FAP had failed to prepare them for the shock of the world of men in which they would have to compete” (Harper, 99). According to Chicago, women think they are weak because they are women. They failed to determine the artist in themselves, and one of her goals for the Fresno FAP was to stop this. Some students felt intimidated by Chicago because how she was strict to commitment with art and how strongly she discouraged them appearing overly feminine. She also encouraged students to like their body as it is. Students said that Judy Chicago made everyone made feel confident into their own …show more content…
Chicago did not like to face people’s emotional problems. When she found out that one of her students was sexually involved with two male professors, she was shocked and frustrated. When she started the Feminist Art Program (FAP) her motive was to prevent this behavior from happening. She did not want women to be emotionally or physically involved with men. Chicago’s main motive was to make women artists and to express their feelings through art, not through romantic or interpersonal relationships with men (Levin,
One famous quote from Barbara Jordan is “If you’re going to play a game properly, you’d better know every rule .” Barbara Jordan was an amazing woman. She was the first African American Texas state senator. Jordan was also a debater, a public speaker, a lawyer, and a politician. Barbara Jordan was a woman who always wanted things to be better for African Americans and for all United States citizens. “When Barbara Jordan speaks,” said Congressman William L.Clay, “people hear a voice so powerful so, awesome...that it cannot be ignored and will not be silenced.”
As students sit in class and look up at their female professors they do not think of all of the women who sacrificed themselves for the opportunity for other women to be seen as societal equals. Each of us should place ourselves in the birthplace of the women’s movement that Constance Backhouse depicted in her book Petticoats and Prejudice. After reading this book all man ought to be ashamed of being part of the heritage that contributed to the hardships that were forced upon women of the 19th century. The misfortunes that Zoé Mignault, Amelia Hogle, Mary Hunt, Ellen Rogers, Emily Howard Stowe, Euphemia Rabbitt, and Clara Brett had throughout their lives are something that nobody would want to experience themselves.
Whitney Chadwick, Women, Art, and Society 3rd ed. (NY: Thames & Hudson world of art, 2002), 153-160.
Jackson, P. (1992). (in)Forming the Visual: (re)Presenting Women of African Descent. International Review of African American Art. 14 (3), 31-7.
No other artist has ever made as extended or complex career of presenting herself to the camera as has Cindy Sherman. Yet, while all of her photographs are taken of Cindy Sherman, it is impossible to class call her works self-portraits. She has transformed and staged herself into as unnamed actresses in undefined B movies, make-believe television characters, pretend porn stars, undifferentiated young women in ambivalent emotional states, fashion mannequins, monsters form fairly tales and those which she has created, bodies with deformities, and numbers of grotesqueries. Her work as been praised and embraced by both feminist political groups and apolitical mainstream art. Essentially, Sherman’s photography is part of the culture and investigation of sexual and racial identity within the visual arts since the 1970’s. It has been said that, “The bulk of her work…has been constructed as a theater of femininity as it is formed and informed by mass culture…(her) pictures insist on the aporia of feminine identity tout court, represented in her pictures as a potentially limitless range of masquerades, roles, projections” (Sobieszek 229).
During the Art Deco era the calla lily became one of the most popular flowers around. Whether in florist shops or on artist canvases the calla lily became a recurring theme. Like many flowers before it the calla lily came to be more than a flower on its own but it represented the idea of femininity. The calla lily was used by artists such as Tamara de Lempicka, Diego Rivera and Georgia O’Keeffe as a symbol of femininity and feminism. Through examining their works, in relation to their own lives and the events of the day, I will explore how the calla lily came to represent a new type on femininity and feminism.
Terror and mockery come together in the portraits of Cindy Sherman on display at the Crocker Art Museum. Walking into the large, dimly lit ballroom, one may begin to feel a slight sense of trepidation as the viewer looks around to find nine sets of beady eyes watching one’s every move. Sherman produced her History Portraits during the late eighties and early nineties, nine of which are displayed at the museum. In her portraits she uses lush fabrics, lavish jewelry, and false body parts to decorate herself in these self-portraits. Her portraits have been know to cause discomfort in the viewers who find the general stereotypes, depicted in her portraits, amusing, yet confusing and terrorizing.
From the moment a woman is born, she is automatically expected many things from her. Wear a dress, have no body hair, be with a man, don’t be too loud, etc. The list of “norms” that a woman is anticipated to uphold to goes on for days. And often times, women that decide to branch out from those “norms” are viewed as less valuable or obscene. In Robyn Ochs essay, “Bisexuality, Feminism, Men and Me”, she discusses the revolutionary moment when she realizes that living up to the assumptions of what it means to be a woman systemically limits us from our true potential. As presented in the movie “Frida”, a brilliant artist is often times overshadowed by her promiscuous relationships with women and men. A woman’s life does not dwindle down to the
...er the last century women have made enormous contributions in the sciences, art, and medicine, proving that those fields are not just for men. By completing their education women have proven that they can handle the many stresses that go along with college, such as dealing with others, exams, and receiving a diploma. Women have also been dealing with immense stress through the years, with both having children and maintaining their families.
Mary Cassatt once said, “There’s only one thing in life for a woman; it’s to be a mother…A woman artist must be…capable of making primary sacrifices.” Mary Stevenson Cassatt was born on May 22, 1844 in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania. Her father was a highly respected real estate and investment broker, and this resulted in her family’s high social class. Her schooling provided an opportunity for her to become a proper wife and mother. She took multiple classes in areas such as homemaking, embroidery and music. Even though women during her time were discouraged from pursuing a career, Mary Cassatt did not let that stop her (Mary Cassatt, para 1-2).
Doordan, Dennis P and Ellen Mazur Thompson. "Alms for Oblivion: The History of Women in Early American Graphic Design." Design History: An Anthology. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 1995. 64. Print.
“There is a double standard here that shapes our perceptions of men and women in ways that support patriarchy as a system. What is culturally valued is associated with masculinity and maleness and what is devalued is associated with femininity and femaleness, regardless of the reality of men’s and women’s lives”,( Johnson 64). In the movie Mona Lisa Smile, Betty’s mother was pressurizing Betty to make her husband read a poem at the wedding not just to act like he enjoyed the marriage but mainly because it was a tradition for men. When Betty said she didn’t care about it, her mother refused and still insisted that she should do it. Women are looked down upon when it comes to the assignment of gender roles and this is because of labels that the society has placed on the female gender. In a home, the father is always the head of the home, providing food and clothing for every family member but there are some women who like to be independent and would also love to work and make money and cater for the family. In the 19th century, women were told they were home makers and were not allowed to endeavor further in higher educational studies. Wellesley College was a college built to raise future wives and not future leaders meaning that society had already placed women below the ladder without any intention or thoughts of them climbing back
Many modernist art movement moved away from traditional medium, topic and form in attempt to change the world through their art, including the influential feminist art movement who, through the efforts of individuals such as Judy Chicago and groups like the controversial guerilla girls, effectively altered the world and the way in which woman are viewed. The successfulness of the feminist art movement had on changing the world is reliant on individual opinion
During the feminist movement women sought to gain gender equality and they turned to art to get their message out there. Feminist art set the bar higher for women so they can be seen more equal to men. It redefined the way women were seen and gained them a lot more power in the world. Women were able to use feminist art to be able to show the world that they were just as capable of being successful artists just like men were. Artist like Judy Chicago help set ideas of gender equality become a reality. “Inspired by the women 's movement and rebelling against the male-dominated art scene of the 1960s.” (the art story). Judy Chicago stood for women being equal to men and fought against how men were the ones in charge of the world. She used her art as a weapon to combat gender equality. Many other artists like Chicago used their art to fight gender equality. Feminist art helped explore ideas of gender equality and exchanged it around the world. Her art served as a way of breaking societal expectation by incorporating controversial
The movie, “Mona Lisa Smile” is an inspirational film that explores life through feminism, marriage, and education lead by a modernist teacher at the end of a traditional era. It begins by introducing the lead character, Katherine Watson (Julia Roberts), a liberal-minded novice professor from California, who lands a job in the art history department at a snobbish, all-girl college, called Wellesley, in the fall of 1953. Despite warnings from her boyfriend Paul that a Boston Brahmin environment was out of her element, Katherine was thrilled at the prospect of educating some of the brightest young women in the country however, her image of Wellesley quickly fizzles after her first day of class, in which, was more like a baptism by fire. Her smug students flaunted their exhaustive knowledge of the text and humiliated her in front of a supervisor. However, Katherine, determined not to buckle under pressure, departs from the syllabus in order to regain the upper hand. She quickly challenged the girls’ idea of what constituted art and exposed them to modern artist not endorsed by the school board. She dared them to think for themselves, and explore outside of their traditional views. This form of art was unacceptable by the students at first however, overtime Katherine penetrated her student’s distain and earned their esteem.