Beyond the male gaze: five women artists who shattered the glass ceiling

By Ava Bourdeau, Staff Writer

As with the majority of fields, men have dominated the art world for a substantial period of time. This did not stop ambitious, creative women from working hard to showcase their talent and ideas. While many female artists have unfortunately remained obscure due to their gender, we are lucky enough to still be able to enjoy the work of several women who exercised their creative freedom when it was still controversial, and even sometimes dangerous, to do so. From lush Baroque paintings to conceptualist works of the 1960s, women have made groundbreaking artistic contributions throughout history. With Women’s History Month upon us, there is no better time to appreciate such innovators. The following are five female artists you should know if you are looking to expand your art history knowledge, celebrate powerful women or find creative inspiration. 

Artemisia Gentileschi

Artemisia Gentileschi was an accomplished Baroque painter from Italy who began her important art career at the young age of 15. She became a well-known name after being the first woman to join the illustrious Florence Academy of Design in 1616. Unfortunately, she spent the majority of her career struggling to make a name for herself in a male-dominated world, as well as dealing with the violence women faced at the time. Gentileschi’s art took on its characteristic vigor after she was raped by a family friend. Her anger incited by this, as well as other hardships, inspired slews of paintings which possess beauty and rawness that are impossible to ignore, such as her cataclysmic piece Judith and Holofernes. The work depicts the biblical scene of Judith beheading the tyrant Holofernes. A popular scene amongst many artists of the time, Gentileschi’s version stands out due to its utter lack of sanitation. Rather than depicting the female heroine delicately killing the sleeping villain, Gentileschi creates a scene steeped in blood. The dynamic emotions of the piece, as well as much of her other work, illustrate the artist’s anger as a result of being a victim of sexual violence, as well as the discrimination she faced being a woman in a field led by men.

Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun 

Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun was the preferred painter of Queen Marie Antoinette (who reigned from 1774-1793). She herself was not a member of the nobility, however, which can be seen through the relatively simple garments she often wore in her self portraits. As a woman, Vigée Le Brun’s career itself was incredibly controversial, and she was often demonized on the grounds of taking work from “real” artists. Vigée Le Brun became a permanent fixture in the world of art history after her portrait of Marie Antoinette depicted the extravagant queen in what was essentially her underwear. Today, the painting is almost regarded as prophetic, foreshadowing the queen’s fall from grace during the French Revolution. Vigée Le Brun’s rejection of tradition was not merely relegated to her subjects’ clothing. For example, the manner in which Vigée Le Brun often painted smiles was a way to reject traditional Western art. It was very rare for artists to depict their subject smiling with their teeth, but Vigée Le Brun did so on several occasions. This, along with other aspects of her work, marked the artist as a radical, which was only amplified by her being a woman. 

Augusta Savage

Augusta Savage was a trailblazing sculptor who helped drive the Harlem Renaissance, a movement of cultural expression amongst Black Americans beginning in the 1920s. Early in her career, Savage struggled a great deal to find any success. Despite beating 142 applicants for a spot at The Cooper Union’s School of Art, she faced a series of rejections due to her race and gender. Savage finally found success through her busts of prominent Black figures, which began after a commission from the Harlem Library. Her 1929 sculpture Gamin put her name on the map, allowing her to receive the opportunity to study at the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere in Paris. Upon her return, Savage opened up an art studio in Harlem which grew to become a community fixture. The studio operated until 1942, and encouraged artistic pursuits amongst the Black community. Savage went on to become one of four women to create art for the 1939 World Fair, and was the first Black artist elected to the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors. 

Frida Kahlo

One of the most recognizable modern female artists, Frida Kahlo, was known for shattering beauty standards and gender roles throughout her tragically short life. Kahlo’s iconic career began when she suffered horrendous injuries as a result of a bus accident in 1925, after which she picked up painting in order to cope with her recovery. Four years later, she married fellow artist Diego Rivera, and the two of them remained in a tumultuous and non-traditional affair which inspired further creativity within Kahlo. Most of her most famous pieces are surrealist self portraits, depicting her trademark unibrow and colorful natural motifs. Her 1939 painting entitled The Two Fridas reflects the pain she experienced during her difficult relationship with Rivera. One version of herself is shown wearing a blood-covered white dress, with her heart exposed and damaged. The other is donning colorful clothing and has a healthy, intact heart. These two figures represent the loved and unloved versions of the artist, both of which were brought out frequently by Rivera. Kahlo unfortunately died in 1954 at the age of 47, but her art continues to have an important impact on issues of politics, gender and finding beauty in suffering. 

Yoko Ono 

Yoko Ono is perhaps most famous for her scrutinized marriage to the late John Lennon. However, she is much more than that. Born in 1933 in Japan, Ono was raised amidst the backdrop of a world war. The daughter of a wealthy family, Ono was given several outlets in which to be creative, studying voice, piano, poetry and more as a child. After immigrating to the U.S. in 1952, Ono struggled for several years to find a creative niche for herself. In 1956, she began using her Manhattan loft apartment to display interactive art installations, many of which involved the audience creating the piece itself. In 1964 she created her most well-known project, Cut Piece. It involved Ono sitting passively in the center of the room while the audience was invited to use scissors in order to cut strips from her clothes. Audience members were hesitant at first, but grew bolder in participating as they saw others do it. The piece sent a message about the normalizaiton of sexual violence, and is still regarded as a landmark example of feminist art. Unfortunately, the antagonization she received from the media after being blamed for the Beatles’s breakup overshadowed her important work, causing many to view her as a villain rather than an incredibly talented artist.