Women who marked art
We invite you into the universe of 5 women who have marked the History of Art. These female artists have left a real imprint on time by shining with their audacity, their genius and their will to impose themselves in a world that was supposedly not intended for them. Whether they are painters, visual artists, photographers, followers of impressionism, rococo or modern art, they certainly leave a lasting memory.
Niki de Saint Phalle
Undoubtedly one of the most outstanding artists of the middle of the twentieth century. Niki de Saint Phalle learned of herself painting after a traumatic event when she was only 11 years old. At the turn of a stay in a psychiatric hospital, she realizes that the way to go is that of art. As if to extricate herself from her psychic violence and a heavy burden to bear, she creates a performance entitled The Shooting Boards, during which spectators are invited to shoot on boards with a rifle to make the colors burst out.
His universe isn’t just dark. It is also decorated with colors, joy, a childish spirit, among others inspired by Gaudí, Dubuffet and Pollock. His Work was able to occupy the public space, as evidenced by the Igor Stravinski Fountain in Paris and the Tarot Garden in Tuscany.
Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun
Born in 1755, Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun is one of the greatest portraitists of her time. Her self-portraits reveal a lot about her personality. A simple woman, with a bohemian style and not relying on the habits of fashion. She brilliantly pursued her career as an artist at a time when women were virtually non-existent in the art world.
She painted with a constant concern for idealization, delivering to each of her female models a particular grace and elegance. In the representation of men, the result was not the same. The artist seemed to give up the erasure of roughness, for a less flattering rendering. A way for her to give women a fair share!
Frida Khalo
It is impossible to talk about the women who have marked the History of Art without mentioning Frida Kahlo, a Mexican artist born in 1907. As a child, she was struck by polio, a disease that earned her the nickname of “little lame”. At the age of 18, when she was returning from her art school, the bus she was on violently hit a streetcar. An iron bar seriously wounded the artist, leaving serious scars. What saved her? Painting.
Her works carry with them the pain of a young artist who nevertheless continued to enjoy the pleasures of life despite the tumultuous relationship she had with Diego Rivera. It was in her bed and facing her reflection that she painted most of her works, self-portraits. It has also been very involved in the development of the status of women and the emancipation of women
Artemisia Gentileschi
Born in 1593 in Rome, Artemisia Gentileshi was introduced to painting by her father when she was still a child. At the age of 17, she signed her first work entitled Suzanne et les vieillards. But it is possible that the real author is his father, Orazio Gentileschi, a well-known painter and close friend of Caravaggio. The existence of the young artist takes a turning point when she is the victim of an assault by a collaborator of her father.
In Artemisia’s Work, the painted figures are mainly women. She will always reject the status of victim, brilliant by his talent and the myth that surrounds his characters, strong women, heroines. She has succeeded – for a woman – in enrolling in the Academy of Drawing in Florence. According to Roberto Longhi, Italian art critic of the early 20th century, “Artemisia was the only woman in Italy who knew what painting was” (Gentileschi padre e fligia, 1916)
Cindy Sherman
Cindy Sherman did not intend to make great art and yet she is one of the greatest photographers of contemporary art. His numerous series of self-portraits provide us with a critique of postmodernity. The history of art is never far away since it appears as a model in a series of self-portraits featuring large paintings.
By regularly staging herself, this American artist born in 1954 sometimes plays a luscious blonde or a housewife by radically disguising herself with the help of makeup, clothes, wigs, sometimes even prostheses. It highlights the stereotypes and diktats that women face in terms of cinema, fashion, advertising and pornography. Cindy Sherman goes further by questioning our true identity. What if we also played a role?
