Question 1: Discuss in detail how feminist art challenged the existing conventions and expectations of art practice (practice)
The feminist art movement began in the 1960’s as a result of various factors that based around the central premise of supporting women’s empowerment and equality and aims to equalise women in society. Feminist art practice challenged the conventions and boundaries established by previous art movements like Renaissance and Modernism, these were periods in art which were strongly male driven and male dominated. Feminism challenged this standard to various extents, as in many ways women in the art world were not entirely respected and their practice could not produce ‘fine art’. Instead females artists were only associated …show more content…
Judy Chicago was one of the pioneers of feminist art in the 1970s as she questioned the authority of the male-driven Western standard and posed one of the most significant challenges to modernism. As it was also during the Renaissance, the idea of the modern artist began to emerge; this established ‘the artist as a genius’, as a unique personality, as an individual with status and prestige in society. Chicago subverted this ideal and in particular she highlighted the underrepresentation of women in the art world and focused on female subject matter. This is evident in her most famous work ‘The Dinner Party’, a celebratory and an importantly collaborative work, which was based on the achievements of women that were often undermined in history, notably juxtaposing the previously established conventions. Notable in its incorporation of a collaborative working process as well as political symbolism, the piece's lasting importance lies in its defiance of fine-art tradition by representing a feminine history suppressed by patriarchal society, as well as its celebration of the traditional "feminine" …show more content…
Many of these artworks stirred controversy since they completely strayed from tradition and in some cases overtly mocked artworks that were historically considered some of the greatest. Barbara Kruger has a had a largely evolving practice, her earliest works (1969 – 1977) were graphic design and installation based, consisting of various wall hangings, composed of yarn, beads, and other types of materials these works exemplified a challenge towards traditional ‘feminine’ crafts. In the 1970’s Kruger moved into a photography based practice, she produced a series of black and white depicting the exterior details of architecture in particular buildings and houses, paired with her own textual ruminations of the lives of those who live inside. From the 1979 onwards, Kruger began to employ found images in her art, these images were mostly from mid-century American print-media sources, with words collages directly over them. Kruger's utilized graphic aesthetic and dramatic found imagery which place her works for example (Untitled) I shop therefore I am (1987) within the purview of postmodernism, tying it not only to contemporary critique, but to the larger social and cultural responses within the