Women in Art - Final Study Guide

Impressionism

Art movement emphasizing modern life, visible brushstrokes, light, and everyday scenes.

Women in Impressionism

Women artists often faced restrictions on where they could travel and what subjects they could paint.

Mary Cassatt

American Impressionist known for paintings of women and children.

Child's Bath

Mary Cassatt, 1891

The Bath

Mary Cassatt, 1890

In the Loge

Mary Cassatt, 1878

Berthe Morisot

Leading female Impressionist painter.

The Cradle

Berthe Morisot, 1872

Orphism (Orphic Cubism)

Style emphasizing abstraction, color, rhythm, and movement.

Abstraction

Art that does not attempt to represent reality directly.

Sonia Delaunay

Artist who worked in painting, textiles, fashion, and design; major figure in Orphism.

Prismes électriques (Electric Light)

Sonia Delaunay, 1914

Blanket

Sonia Delaunay, 1911

Simultaneity Dress

Sonia Delaunay, 1913

Surrealism

Movement inspired by dreams, the unconscious mind, and irrational imagery.

Sigmund Freud

Psychologist whose ideas about dreams and the unconscious influenced Surrealism.

Meret Oppenheim

Surrealist artist known for transforming ordinary objects into strange, unsettling artworks.

Object

Meret Oppenheim, 1936

American Modernism

Movement exploring modern life, abstraction, and new artistic forms in the United States.

Georgia O'Keeffe

Known for flowers, skyscrapers, and landscapes of New Mexico.

Radiator Building—Night, New York

Georgia O'Keeffe, 1927

Black Iris

Georgia O'Keeffe, 1926

Ranchos Church, New Mexico

Georgia O'Keeffe, 1931

Skyscraper (O'Keeffe)

Symbol of modern urban life; O'Keeffe painted New York skyscrapers in the 1920s.

Alfred Stieglitz

Photographer, gallery owner, and husband of Georgia O'Keeffe who promoted modern art.

Feminist Art Movement

Movement beginning in the 1960s–70s that challenged sexism and increased visibility for women artists.

Art Canon / Canon Critique

Questioning why certain artists are considered "great" while others are excluded.

Art vs. Craft

Debate over why media associated with women (textiles, ceramics, quilting) were often labeled "craft" instead of "fine art."

Central Core Imagery

Art imagery associated with female anatomy and women's experiences.

Postmodernism

Movement skeptical of universal truths and traditional artistic hierarchies.

Judy Chicago

Major feminist artist.

The Dinner Party

Judy Chicago, 1974–1979

Guerrilla Girls

Anonymous feminist group criticizing sexism in museums.

Do Women Have to Be Naked to Get into the Met. Museum?

Guerrilla Girls, 1989

Betye Saar

Artist known for assemblage and confronting racist stereotypes.

The Liberation of Aunt Jemima

Betye Saar, 1972

Assemblage

Art made by assembling found objects into a new work.

Barbara Kruger

Uses text and images to critique power, gender, and society.

Untitled (Your Body is a Battleground)

Barbara Kruger, 1989

Activist Art

Art created to promote social or political change.

Civil Rights Movement

Movement fighting racial discrimination and inequality in the United States.

AIDS Epidemic

Public health crisis beginning in the 1980s that inspired activist art.

Farm Labor Movement

Movement advocating for rights of agricultural workers.

Ester Hernandez

Artist whose work addresses labor rights and social justice.

Sun Mad

Ester Hernandez, 1982

Sue Coe

Artist known for politically engaged and activist artworks.

AIDS Won't Wait, The Enemy is Here Not in Kuwait

Sue Coe, 1990