The Feminist Revolution

The Feminist Revolution
The feminist movement really opened up research into subjectivity in the arts. From investigation of intimate
detail right up to general social demands, feminism found in art history some basic material for the rewriting
of gender. For centuries, identification had been imposed between the real world and its representations: all
images basically began from a patriarchal, phallocentric vision of the world that had constantly denied women
the ability to represent themselves, to take control not only of their decisions (political, legal and egalitarian
financial representation) but also of their image (since art history relegated them to the role of objects).
In Spain, the urgent political situation created by the Transition meant that feminism was
consigned to a lesser position as a social movement, while women artists such as Eugènia Balcells (1943) analyzed stereotyped gender construction in the film Boy Meets Girl
(1978). Similarly, artists like Àngels Ribé (1943) and Esther Ferrer (1937) used images
of their own bodies to illustrate historical limitations that seemed unsustainable: from all
that is unsaid, undone and unseen through history (Ribé’s El no dit. El no fet. El no vist,
1977) to Ferrer’s presentation of her own naked body, after it had been painstakingly
measured by participants following the artist’s instructions in the action Íntimo y personal (1977).
In a more direct way, some representatives of Anglo-Saxon feminism documented specific situations. The Hackney Flashers Collective, formed by various artists among which
was Jo Spence (1934-1992), used the photo-novel format (regarded by publishers to
be for “female consumption”) in her work Who’s Holding the Baby? (1978-1979), a case
study of the problems of balancing work and motherhood that was a gesture of confrontation against the institutions, the last image of male power.
Feminism, rather than an isolated movement, was a revolution that opened the door to
a complete reassessment of marginalized art. The emergence of these women artists
was the pioneering first step for women from the role of object to that of creative subject,
supported by processes like way that the concept of the (male) author was falling into
disrepute and the nullification of the paternal relationship of artists to their work.
New acquisitions
Eugènia Balcells. Boy Meets Girl,
1978
Esther Ferrer. Íntimo y personal,
1977
Eulàlia Grau. Discriminació de la
dona, 1977
The Hackney Flashers Collective /
Photography Workshop Ltd. Who’s
Holding the Baby?, 1978-1979
Paz Muro. La prohibición agradece
y Libro blanco geometría de la paz,
1972-1973
Martha Rosler. Know Your Servant
Series #1: North American Waitress,
Coffee Shop Variety, 1976 / Copia
Bibliography
Aliaga, Juan Vicente. Orden fálico.
Androcentrismo y violencia de
género en las prácticas artísticas del
siglo XX. Madrid: Akal, 2007.
Aliaga, Juan Vicente (ed.). A voz e
a palabra. Coloquio sobre A batalla
dos xéneros. Santiago de Compostela: CGAC, 2008.
Butler, Judith. Cuerpos que importan. Sobre los límites materiales y
discursivos del “sexo”. Buenos Aires:
Paidós, 2002.
Chadwick, Whitney. Mujer, arte y
sociedad. Barcelona: Destino, 1992.
Mayayo, Patricia. Historias de
mujeres, historias del arte. Madrid:
Cátedra, 2003.
Nochlin, Linda. “Why Have There
Been No Great Women Artists”. Art
News, vol. 60, 1971.
Pollock, Griselda. Generations and
Geographies in the Visual Arts:
Feminist Readings. Nueva York:
Routledge, 1996.
Reckitt, Helena; Phelan, Peggy, Art
and Feminism. Londres: Phaidon,
2001.
Links
http://www.mav.org.es/
http://www.moca.org/wack/
http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/
eascfa/feminist_art_base/