Women and Art

Yesterday I read Maura Reilly's Art News article on gender disparity in the art world.  It wasn't surprising after recently seeing the Guerrilla Girls show and hearing two members of the group lecture at Pomona College Museum of Art, but it was disheartening.  Half of the world are women, and yet only 30% of art shown in public institutions is made by women.  It makes for a culture that is incomplete and out of balance, missing the different perspectives that come with different experience: whether that is the experience that comes from being a woman, of a non-white or mixed ethnic background, of non-heterosexual orientation, having a physical or mental disability or disease, or anything else that makes one's experience unique, distinct, unusual, an important addition to the full story of what it is to be human.

Here is a small selection of my favorite (representational) painters who are also women.

Gwen John   The Convalescent   oil on canvas  1923-1924

Christiane Pflug   Kitchen Door with Ursula   oil on canvas   1960

Louise Moillon  Still Life with Cherries, Strawberries and Gooseberries   oil on panel   1630

Rachel Ruysch  Nosegay on a Marble Plinth   oil on canvas  1695

Fede Galizia  Still Life with Apples and Peaches   oil on canvas  1607

Sofonisba Anguissola   The Chess Game    oil on canvas   1555

Clara Peeters   Still Life with Cheeses, Artichoke and Cherries   oil on panel  1625

Frida Kahlo   Tunas: Still Life with Prickly Pear Fruit   oil on panel  1938

Georgia O'Keefe   Oriental Poppies   oil on canvas  1928

Joan Brown   Self-Portrait   oil on canvas   1970

Suzanne Valadon   the Blue Room   oil on canvas  1923

Alice Neel   Hartley   oil on canvas  1965

Mary Cassat   Young Woman Sewing in the Garden   oil on canvas   1880-1882

Berthe Morisot   Summer   oil on canvas   1880

Paula Modersohn-Becker   Self Portrait   oil on panel  1907

Jane Frielicher  In Broad Daylight   oil on canvas  1979

Meria Sibylla Merian   two botanical watercolor paintings   about 1665