Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Women's History Month -- Artists, Known and Unknown

I want to start my web-log with a celebration of Women's History Month -- particularly women artists in history.  My mother was an artist and Art was her passion and her profession all her life.  When I was a child her portrait of me was exhibited in the Dallas Museum of Fine Art, but in the adjoining rooms of the museum I don't remember seeing any paintings by women artists hanging among the Peter Paul Rubens and the Vincent Van Goughs.  Because of my mother I knew talent wasn't dependent on gender, so where were the women's paintings in the museums?  Eventually I discovered the Morisots, Cassatts and O'Keefes, but the famous women artists seemed few and far between.  You can go through an entire book of famous paintings and not find even one.  So here's to women artists of the past, including the many women folk artists -- those who are known and the many who never signed their names.  This subject has been close to my heart for years -- especially in the last year while I worked on my picture book, Signed, Abiah Rose.  And here's to today's women artists (not history yet!), especially my fellow illustrator and painter pals.

3 comments:

  1. More trailblazers, like Frida Kahlo and Emily Carr (recognizing Mexico and Canada) come to mind. I raise my glass to all of them, and you as well (it's only water but the gesture is heartfelt).

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  2. Congrats on your first blog. Cheers to women artists past, present and future.
    Did you catch the Gearhart Color Block Print exhibit at PMCA this winter? Fascinating story about 3 sisters, all artists and teachers.
    http://www.uvm.edu/~hleitenb/Gearhart/index.htm

    Leif Peng at http://todaysinspiration.blogspot.com/ also celebrating women artists on another site http://femaleillustrators.blogspot.com/

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  3. Thanks, Cindy, for your good wishes. I did see the Gearhart exhibit -- wasn't it wonderful? I was able to talk to the curator, and the story of how the exhibit came to be was fascinating. Thanks, too, for the Leif Peng sites -- great blogs!

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