20th Century Female Artists’ Overcoming of Societal Constraints and Impacts on the Future Art World

Abstract

Female artists have experienced long-term neglect and restrictions from society. Fortunately, the unequal representation of female artists has been ameliorated by numerous influential women artists throughout art history. It is important to recognize the effort these artists made and their contribution to future artists and the art world as a whole. This paper focuses on how artists in the 20th century used their talent and bravery to break through the dilemmas of social injustice and how their action has positively impacted future women artists. Following up on the Suffrage Movement in the mid-19th century, women gradually gained more rights (e.g. voting) and more representation. Linda Nochlin’s essay Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists? in 1971 corrected the cognition of female artists’ talents and sparked a fundamental shift in women’s position in the art world. This has been contextualized in Dinner Party (1974) by Judy Chicago, where 1038 women in history were represented and the richness of women's heritage was presented. Influenced by the previous generation, women artists (Lee Krasner, Elaine de Kooning, and Mary Cassatt) in the 20th century continued women’s legacy, promoting and fighting for their place in the art world. Through secondary research, this paper investigates how several significant women artists pushed beyond societal norms after marrying a male artist. By analyzing future women artists’ artworks and comparing them with 20th-century artworks, connections between past and present women artists were made, leading to the conclusion of how the past has influenced the future.