4/11/2019
Modernism was an artistic movement that took place in the 19th and 20th centuries. It is a collection of impressionism, post impressionism, fauvism, cubism, futurism, constructivism, dadaism, surrealism, expressionism, and abstract expressionism (Guerrilla Girls 59). During this time women had won the right to vote, therefore they were granted more freedom and were able to pursue artistic careers more easily. People believed that women had all these new lifestyles and freedoms. The new woman was idolized, she was sexualized, hard-working, and independent. The German’s glorified this ideology of “the new woman;” they defined her as a woman who was “independent, a modern female, free to smoke, wear sexy clothes, vote, and work” (Guerrilla Girls 66). While women were no longer considered property to the men in their lives, women still faced many limitations to their newly given freedom. Chadwick states that “despite rhetoric about rights and liberation of women, despite coherent imagery celebrating sexually liberated women… there was no fundamental changes in women’s traditional roles” (Chadwick 278). Women were still expected to be happy little homemakers and bear children. For this reason, many female modernist used their artwork to reject these stereotypical gender roles forced upon them.
Female artist focused a lot of their work around the female body, and the ways in which male artist depict the female body. Specifically, the restrictions male artist placed on the female body. Women began to reform the way women dress, they “replaced exaggerated corsets and constricting curves with more flexible serpentine curvature” (Chadwick 254). Changing the way a typical woman dresses is significant to a woman’s role in society. Corsets, for example, are very restricting on the activities that a woman can do, while pants allow women to have more freedom or even to work. Women are also often blamed for violence against them based on their clothing. Women modernist used these female stereotypes to make a political statements about gender roles and the female body.
One particular female artist, or dadaist, that used her artwork to make a political statement against the male gaze was Hannah Hoch. Dada played a significant role in challenging the stereotypical woman, gender roles, and the role of women in a patriarchal society. Many dada pieces incorporated “violent distortions of scale and a rejection of conventionalized femininity” which undermined the commodification of the idealized female body and its relationship to mass-produced goods” (Chadwick 270). Hannah used clippings of female bodies in various ways, she usually focuses on the lips and the legs, typically the female features that are sexualized by men. In one of her famous pieces, Made for a Party 1936 (shown on the right), Hoch portrays a female body in a short skirt and a tank top. In the piece, we cannot see the top half of the woman’s face because Hoch is trying to signify that the woman’s identity does not matter; she is an object for society to view. The most important part of this piece is the male eye she places on the bottom left corner, this eye literally signifies the male gaze watching this unidentified woman.
Although females were granted the right to vote, they were still bound to stereotypical gender roles. Many women artist were forced to express themselves through “women’s work,” which mainly included weaving. When weaving work became popular and successful, most of the women artist were not given the credit. Most of the female workers were underpaid or not paid at all.
Hannah Hoch was not alone in wanting to change the way the female body was viewed. All of other female artist were following suit because “the representation of the female body has been organized for male viewing pleasures” (Chadwick 280). Artist like Suzanne Valadon, Romaine Brooks, and Georgia O’Keeffe were pushing boundaries to change the way the female body was viewed. Suzanne Valadon used her work to portray the realities on the female bodies. She used models in their natural state. Valadon shows this representation in her piece The Blue Room 1923 (shown on the left). Valadon emphasizes the woman’s curves and her awkward body position, she does this to signify that the female model is in control of her own movement, rather than trying to appeal to the male gaze. 
Another modernist artist that contributed in forming the idea of the “new woman,” was Romaine Brooks. Brooks specialized in portraiture, but she became famously known for painting women in androgynous and masculine clothing. One of Brooks more famous pieces was self-portrait 1923 (shown on the right). In this self portrait, Brooks is wearing typically masculine clothing, the top hat and long black jacket with a white button up shirt is not something a housekeeper would wear. Along with the androgynous clothing, Brooks also incorporated a gloomy emotion with the colors she chose. The grey gives off a somber feeling to show the viewer that not all female artwork has to be stereotypically feminine.
Women were integral in applying the techniques and craft of modernism into their artwork by making it a feminist movement. They took the typical female nude and male gaze and flipped it on its side. They showcased their own experiences and body types. A lot of the modernist emphasized realistic bodies, masculine clothing, motherhood, and even erotic violence. Modernism allowed women to voice their own experiences. This was a great moment is western history because even to today there is still a “cultural identification of the female with the biological nature of the body which has long been used to assign women a negative role in the production of culture” (Chadwick 307).
While modernism was a uplifting and liberating moment for female artists, postmodernism had the opposite effect. “Postmodernism has been used to characterize the breaking down of the unified traditions of modernism” (Chadwick 380). This took place after World War II. Women were no longer welcomed as artists, they were expected to go back to being happy housewives. Fortunately, that was not the case for all female artist; some chose to use their artistic talents and make a political and feminist statement. A lot of postmodernism artist drew “heavily on existing representations, rather than inventing new styles,” they also derived “ its imagery from mass media and popular culture,” and “focused attention on the ways sexual and cultural differences are produced and reinforced” (Chadwick 380).
One postmodernism artist that stood out to me was Barbara Kruger because she was continuously challenging women’s issues and many other American social problems. She was known for “emphasizing the ways in which language manipulates and undermines the assumption of masculine control over language and viewing, by refusing to complete the cycle of meaning, and by shifting pronouns in order to expose the positioning of woman as other" (Chadwick 382). In her untitled piece (shown on the left) Kruger focus on the female identity and how the male gaze is interpreted through the female experience. In this piece, the woman is unbothered by the man’s gaze.
Barbara Kruger also focused her work on other political social issues, rather than just feminism. As shown on the right, Kruger used political figures and the power of language to get her message out there. In this piece with George W Bush and the words “Pro-life for the born. Pro-death for the born,” Kruger is trying to signify that pro-lifers have no regard for the living, they are only concerned about the well-being of an unborn fetus. 
Another popular postmodernism artist is Gina Pane. Most of Pane’s work centered about women's issues and feminism. In one of her exhibits titled Sentimental Action in 1973 (Shown on the bottom), was a women only performance. During this performance there was a woman holding a bouquet of roses, and with her arm extended began to pluck rose thorns out of her forearm. The fact that Pane decided to make this a woman only piece signifies that women are united in their suffering and they share the same pain. Of course everyone lives different lives, but all women experience the same type of pain, in terms of women's issues. This was essential to postmodernism ideologies because postmodernist used their art to express their own pain and suffering in ways that society can either relate to or be shocked by. Click the links to learn more about Barbara Kruger and Gina Pane.
http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/feminist/Barbara-Kruger.html
https://3x3artxwork.wordpress.com/2017/12/11/artwork-gina-pane-azione-sentimentale-1973/
Works Cited
The Guerrilla Girls, The Guerrilla Girls’ Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art (New York, Penguin Books, 1998)
Whitney Chadwick, Women, Art, and Society, 4th or 5th edition, (New York: Thames and Hudson), 2007.
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