What? No Ashcan School? No German Expressionists? No Hudson Valley School? No pulp magazine cover paintings? Sigh.
Each time you reference new art, new shows, old works, its mostly men. Even when you do throw female artists a bone, its usually leisure, leaves, landscapes, and women of leisure enjoying those things. How about women painting real women. How real women feel. Live. Experience the world. It's oppression.
The Frida Kahlo exhibit running in Budapest is a far better suggestion and worth a trip. While none of the artists you recommend speak to the current culture or climate for women, this exhibit solidly does. Controversial too, given Hungary's current politics. It's the one and only Frida exhibit that honors what Frida represents to women today, even incorporating modern pop, art, fashion, and notable celebrities who have honored and been inspired by her work. And then there is Francine Turk, who I can't seem to get your paper to pay any attention to. Francine's early and haunting work embodies the shame and darkness that speaks to a generation of women who have been reduced to the objectification of their bodies, her subjects mostly turned away from the artist, in shame(?). It isn't just these nudes, but also her mixed media works. She honored African American musicians prominently before it was in fashion to do so. Please, please don't suddenly realize in 75 years that Francine matters, only to be far too removed from her impact for it to matter to the women it would speak to today, if they knew her. Like Frida who was also underappreciated in her lifetime.
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@Underhiseye
This should not be another war of the sexes, which gets tedious. A recent show at the Clark Museum in Williamstown, MA was focused on women artists in Paris between 1850 and 1900. Quite a good show, with women painting women, as you note. Yet interestingly, in the intro to the show, it was remarked how difficult, how much a struggle it was, for women artists at the time. Yet with virtually each description of the artwork, it became clear that the women artists were quite well ensconced, often having impressive connections to other artists at the
time. Also, at the entrance to the show, there is a large photograph of women taking an art class in Paris at the time, all of whom seemed to be enjoying themselves quite a bit.
@Peter Lobel
The "war of the sexes" seems tedious to men!
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