ART CITIES:Hamburg-The Feminist Avant-garde of the 1970s
Featuring more than 30 international women artists, this wide-ranging exhibition highlights the early days of the feminist art movement. With over 150 major works drawn from the SAMMLUNG VERBUND* in Vienna, it documents how female artists in the 1970s began collectively reshaping the “image of woman” – something that had never happened before in the history of art.
By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Sammlung Verbund Archive
During the period of the ‘70s , increasing numbers of women who had been born during or just after the Second World War had the opportunity to study at an art school or academy, enabling them to emancipate themselves from the traditional role of artist’s muse or model. They went on to create artworks that challenged social norms and the mechanisms of the art business, developing radical new artistic practices and breaking with a male-dominated reality. Against the background of the civil rights movement and the women’s movement, feminist issues emerged as a matte rof public debate: the personal was now political. Within a very short period of time, women began raising awareness and gaining public recognition by organising collective actions, demonstrations and independent exhibitions. The artists of the “feminist avant-garde” have examined how traditional images determine the perception of women and how they construct their own personal and social identity. Their work addresses a wide range of themes, such as the relegation of women to the one-dimensional role of housewife and mother, the use of one’s own body in art, female sexuality, notions of beauty and violence against women. Many female artists are united in their rejection of stereotypical roles. Numerous women artists have turned to new media such as photography, film or video, due to the fact that these are not laden with art-historical baggage, others employ performanceor action-based art as their chosen means of expression. Female artists have often exploited their own bodies as art material and sometimes have pushed themselves to the very limits of physical endurance. Using humour, irony, subtlety and provocation, the artists of the “Feminist avant-garde” have deconstructed the traditional female iconography. Along with artists such as Cindy Sherman and Martha Rosler whose work is familiar to a wide audience, the exhibition also provides a rare opportunity to discover some equally accomplished but less well-known members of the “Feminist avant-garde”. Participing Artists: Helena Almeida, Lynda Benglis, Martha Rosler, Ulrike Rosenbach, Gina Pane, ORLAN, Leslie Labowitz, Cindy Sherman, Hannah Wilke, Francesca Woodman, e.ct.
*The SAMMLUNG VERBUND was founded in 2004 in Vienna by VERBUND, Austria’s leading producer of electricity from hydropower. The collection focuses on international contemporary art from 1970 to the present day, with a unique emphasis on the “Feminist avant-garde” of the 1970s. Dr Gabriele Schor, director of the SAMMLUNG VERBUND, coined the term “feminist avant-garde” to highlight the pioneering role played by these artists.
Info: “The Feminist Avant-garde of the 1970s”, Curating: Dr Gabriele Schor & Wien and Merle Radtke, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Glockengießerwall, Hamburg, Duration: 13/3-31/5/15, Days & Hours: Tue, Wed, FriSat, Sun:10:00-18:00, Thu: 10:00-21:00, www.hamburger-kunsthalle.de
