Women (artists) invisiblised by history: evidence under our noses

[MsTiggywinkletoyou]

We all know about "behind every great man stands a surprised woman". Well, I read this story and count myself a very surprised woman now.

Evidence suggests the famous urinal Fountain, attributed to Marcel Duchamp, was actually created by Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven. Why haven’t we heard of her, asks Siri Hustvedt

A woman in the men's room: when will the art world recognise the real artist behind Duchamp's Fountain?

On a similar note there's a podcast about the first woman artist to be considered by the Royal Academy (painter of The Roll Call). It's really interesting, but pretty sad. The podcast is
Revisionist History and the episode is called the lady vanishes

I found this pretty shocking when I first saw it

Fascinating, thank you OP!

The stats about the number of women artists in the National Gallery are pretty poor, too. Of course, any historical gallery will have that problem, because mostly women weren't trained or sponsored as artists, so there just aren't so many past works by women artists anyway - but even if you accept that, it doesn't mean women artists are fairly represented for what they did produce.

On a similar note there's a podcast about the first woman artist to be considered by the Royal Academy (painter of The Roll Call)

The Royal Academy did initially have two female members when it was founded in the eighteenth century (and then not again until 1936). One was a flower painter, but the other, Angelica Kauffman, was a history painter, a very unusual trajectory since training for this kind of work involved studying the male nude in life classes, which it was inappropriate for women to do (she had a very enlightened father, who oversaw her training and possibly arranged life models for her to study from). There’s an interesting group portrait of the Royal Academicians in the life class in which the two female members appear as portraits on the wall because they’re not supposed to be in that space (not even to study from female models):

www.tate.org.uk/tate-etc/issue-43-summer-2018/lives-of-the-artists-angelica-kauffman-martin-myrone

One was a flower painter

Whom you have just "invisibilised"

Are Jan Brueghel the Elder, Ambrosius Bosschaert’ and Arcimboldo "flower painters"?

Whom you have just “invisibilised”

Well, being a flower painter was not that unusual for women artists; it was a genre in which women did have a degree of visibility by the eighteenth century. But her name was Mary Moser.

Well, being a flower painter was not that unusual for women artists; it was a genre in which women did have a degree of visibility by the eighteenth century. But her name was Mary Moser

I didn't say it was unusual. My point was in a thread talking about women in being "invisibilised" in art a poster, with a stunning lack of irony, does exactly that. Couldn't even be bothered naming the "flower painter"- despite her being only 1 of 2 academicians at the time.

If you are on Twitter then #WOMENSART@womensart1 is well worth a follow. Lots of fantastic work by women.

Art activist Barbie is also worth following on Twitter for shining a light on this

TheGod oh I didn't know that - at the time of the paint the academy was firmly all Male I understand (the painting was 1874)
The podcast is very interesting- I really recommend it (it's a Malcolm gladwell one).

Definitely check out Art Activist Barbie (infact do tweet it to her)

Plus- this is an absolute must watch. I think it's on amazon prime at the mo. Warhol and a few others stole some key famous ideas from Kusama. When she went to NY women were t even allowed solo shows.

She also performed the first gay marriages in New York State.

The misogyny she experienced throughout her life sent her into extreme depression and she lives permanently in a hospital in Japan and goes to her studio daily.

Great article, thanks op.

If you follow @WomensArt1 on twitter you get a fabulous variety of art and styles; plus info. This came up today:

Artists who died due to complications re pregnancy/childbirth, Eva Gonzales (1883), Joanna Boyce (1861), Paula Modersohn-Becker (1907), Marietta Robusti (1590), Catharina Sperling-Heckel (1741), C.C. van Asch van Wijck (1932), Pauline Boty (1966), T. K. Padmini (1969) #womensart