Giving specific examples of works and/or artists to support your statements, discuss the impact of the feminist movement on art and artists. How have feminist artists created works that address issues of gender? What media, subjects, and themes have been and are used by feminist artists?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Responses will vary depending on the selection of artwork. Since the late 1960s, when feminism arose, women have been focused on what makes them different from men, and for feminist artists, what makes the art from women artists different from male art. Judy Chicago was a feminist artist who created works addressing gender in a variety of media, subjects, and themes. Judy Chicago's The Dinner Party is perhaps the most important work from the 1970s feminist movement. Arranged around a triangular table, this collaborative work that involved hundreds of women is 39 place settings, each created in honor of an influential woman. By using craft techniques such as ceramics, weaving, needlepoint, and embroidery, Chicago physically associated the piece with "women's work." The 13 places on each side invoke the seating arrangement of Leonardo's Last Supper, a reference to an all-male gathering that is a central work in Western art history.