The idea for this post happened while reading an article about a famous female artist and realizing that I was not familiar with her story. Yet at the same time, I realized I should have been. So it left me wondering--why wasn't I? Having a career in the arts for over 30+ years, it certainly was not an unfamiliar topic for me. And also, being an art educator for those 30+ years, I spent a great deal of time researching and teaching about famous artists, from all walks of life--different genders, ethnicity, different time periods, and all kinds of artistic styles, so that what was taught it my classroom would be inclusive. Yet, I was still not familiar with this artists' story, and it left me feeling that there were probably others out there like this--female artists that we should know, maybe we have even seen their work, but somehow their names and credit due to them was lost in translation, or lost in the past, due to the once historically male dominated world of fine art. But no longer! Now the art world is much more open to all different types of people and all different types of art. And because of this, now you can read about some of these incredibly talented female artists and know their stories. Here are just 5 you can start with--you can click on their names if you'd like to learn more or see some of their artwork. Be sure to pass this along to others, so they can learn their stories too!
Maya Lin was just a college student in 1981, when she entered a contest calling for designs for a Vietnam Veteran's Memorial in Washington D.C.--and she won the contest! There was initially some uproar about her winning, based on her inexperience, the design itself, and various other issues. However, since being built in 1982, millions of people from all over the world have visited the memorial and it has become widely beloved. The monument was just the start of her career in architecture and large scale sculptures.
Edmonia Lewis was born in 1844 in the American Northeast. She started creating sculptures and clay busts of abolitionists and Union Army generals in 1864. Her work became very popular and she was able to sell some of her reproductions. She eventually traveled to Europe, continuing to sculpt indigenous peoples and African Americans. One of her famous sculptures, Forever Free, shows two enslaved people breaking free from their chains.
Judith Leyster was a Dutch Golden Age painter in the early 1600's, mostly of portraits and still-life. Her work was highly regarded at the time, but became almost completely forgotten about after her death. Instead and incorrectly, most of her artwork was attributed to the artist Frans Hals or to her husband. It wasn't until the late 19th century that her work was rediscovered as her own and not a male counterpart. It was also discovered that she had obscurely signed some of her work with the letter "J" and a star by it.
Maria Sibylla Merian was a naturalist and scientific illustrator. She was one of the earliest European naturalists to observe insects directly. She published her first book of natural illustrations in 1675. She is considered to be among the more significant contributors to the field of entomology. She discovered many new facts about insect life through her studies, including having several new discoveries of species--nine butterflies, two beetles, and six plants, that were all christened with her name.
Mirka Mora was a French-born, Jewish 14 year old, when in 1942, her mother and 2 sisters were sent to Pithiviers, an internment camp used before deportation to the Nazi death camps. Eventually, they were freed from the camp, but spent the last years of the war hiding in the French countryside. Fearing another war in Europe, the family eventually migrated to Melbourne, Australia. Here, Mirka created all kinds of art--paintings, ceramics, soft-sculptures, intricate embroideries, and even theatre costumes. She and her then husband also opened several businesses: the Mirka Cafe. Cafe Balzac and the Tolarno Hotel.
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