Modern Art by Artist Who Paint Large Women and Men

The history of art is littered with the names of corking men—Leonardo da Vinci, Vincent Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, etc. Merely what about the women who take helped shape the world'due south visual history? Equally with many other fields, women were historically discouraged from pursuing a career in the arts, yet in that location are many incredible females who persevered. These famous female artists accept more in common than their gender and career path—they are all trailblazers in their own right, with many breaking barriers in their personal and public life.

Of course, these women would most likely exist displeased to exist included in a list of female painters, preferring to be valued as artists outside of their gender. Unfortunately, as women go on to fight for equality in all fields, these infrequent artists are often still mentioned in terms of their gender. Luckily, more than ever, these women of distinction are existence held upwardly against their male peers and recognized positively for their contributions to fine art history. Organizations similar Advancing Women Artists work to ensure that the female talent of the past doesn't go left out of the history books.

A wait at some of the great female artists of the past is likewise a timeline of art history. Women take been leading figures in every artistic movement from the Italian Renaissance to American Modernism and beyond. Past weaving our way through art history—from a 16th-century court painter for King Philip Two to the 20th-century icon that is Frida Kahlo—let'due south take a look at the strength, graphic symbol, and talent of these exceptional women.

If y'all're an art lover, hither are 12 famous female artists that you demand to know.

Sofonisba Anguissola (1532–1625)

"3 Children with a Domestic dog" by Sofonisba Anguissola. circa 1570-1590. (Photo: Wikimedia, Public domain)

Painter Sofonisba Anguissola was a trailblazer during the Italian Renaissance. Built-in into a relatively poor noble family, her begetter made sure that she and her sisters had a well-rounded education that incorporated fine art. This included apprenticeships with respected local painters. This ready a precedent for time to come female artists, who until that point typically merely apprenticed if a family member had a workshop. Anguissola'southward talent caught the eye of Michelangelo, with whom she carried on an informal mentorship through the exchange of drawings.

Though, as a female artist, she was not allowed to study anatomy or practice drawing models due to its perceived vulgarity, she still managed to take a successful career. Much of her success was owed to her office equally a painter in the court of King Philip Ii of Kingdom of spain. Over the course of 14 years, she developed her skills for official court portraiture also as more than intimate portraits of nobility. Her paintings are known for capturing the spirit and vibrance of her sitters and can at present be found in collections around the earth.

Artemisia Gentileschi (1593–1653)

"Self-Portrait as the Allegory of Painting" by Artemisia Gentileschi. 1638–39. (Photo: Wikipedia, Public domain)

As the daughter of an accomplished painter, Artemisia Gentileschi was afforded access to the art earth at a young historic period. Early she was in her male parent'south workshop mixing paints and he supported her career when he noted that she was exceptionally gifted. Every bit a noted painter of the Italian Baroque menstruum, Artemisia Gentileschi did not permit her gender hold her back from her subject area matter. She painted big-scale Biblical and mythological paintings, just like her male counterparts and was the beginning woman accepted to the prestigious Art Academy in Florence.

Her legacy is sometimes overshadowed past her biography, with her bloody depictions of Judith and Holofernesoften existence interpreted through the lens of her rape at the hands of a beau artist. Nevertheless, her talent is undeniable and she continues to be recognized for her realistic depiction of the female class, the depth of her colors, and her striking use of light and shadow.

Judith Leyster (1609–1660)

"The Happy Couple" past Judith Leyster. 1630. (Photo: Wikipedia, Public domain)

Born in Haarlem, Judith Leyster was a leading artist during the Dutch Golden Historic period. Typical of Dutch artists during this menstruation, Leyster specialized in genre paintings, still life, and portraits. The details behind her artistic training are unclear, simply she was one of the first women admitted to the painter'due south guild in Haarlem. She subsequently ran a successful workshop with several male apprentices and was known for the relaxed, breezy nature of her portraits.

While she was quite successful during her lifetime, her reputation suffered after her death due to unfortunate circumstances. Her unabridged oeuvre was passed off as piece of work either past her contemporary Frans Hals or by her husband. In many cases, her signature was covered past collectors looking to brand a profit due to the loftier marketplace value of Frans Hals' work. Only in the late 19th century were these errors discovered and scholars began to gain a renewed appreciation for Leyster's skill every bit an artist.

Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun (1755–1842)

"Self-Portrait in a Straw Chapeau" by Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun. 1782. (Photo: Wikipedia, Public domain)

French portrait artist Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun created an impressive body of work totaling virtually 1,000 portraits and landscape paintings. As the daughter of a painter, she received early education from her begetter and was painting portraits professionally by the time she was a teenager. Her large career intermission came when she was named as Marie Antoinette's portrait painter and she was afterward granted entry to numerous art academies.

Her paintings bridge the gap between the theatrical Rococo manner and more than restrained Neoclassical flow. She enjoyed continued success in her career, even while in exile after the French Revolution, every bit she was a favorite painter of the aristocracy across Europe. Sitters enjoyed her power to put them at ease, which led to portrait paintings that were lively and lacking stiffness. The natural, relaxed way of her portraits was considered revolutionary at a time when portraiture oftentimes called for formal depictions of the upper classes.

Rosa Bonheur (1822–1899)

"The Equus caballus Fair" by Rosa Bonheur. 1852–55. (Photo: Wikipedia, Public domain)

Similar many female artists, Rosa Bonheur's father was a painter. The French Realist painter is considered one of the almost famous female artists of the 19th century, known for her large-format paintings that featured animals. She exhibited regularly at the acclaimed Paris salon and found success abroad in both the The states and United kingdom. Bonheur spent a keen amount of fourth dimension sketching live animals in movement, bookkeeping for her remarkable ability to capture their likeness on canvas.

Bonheur is also historic for breaking gender stereotypes. From the mid-1850s onward she wore men's dress, fifty-fifty obtaining police say-so to do and then. Though she was often criticized for wearing trousers and loose blouses, she connected to don them throughout her life, citing their practicality when working with animals. She was too an open lesbian, first living with partner Nathalie Micas for over 40 years and and then, afterwards Micas' decease, forging a relationship with American painter Anna Elizabeth Klumpke. By living her life openly in an era when lesbianism was disparaged by the regime, Bonheur staked her claim every bit a groundbreaking individual both in her career and her personal life.

Berthe Morisot (1841–1895)

"Lady at her Toilette" past Berthe Morisot. 1875. (Photo: Wikipedia, Public domain)

Considered one of the great female Impressionists, Berthe Morisot had art running through her veins. Built-in into an aristocratic French family, she was the cracking-niece of celebrated Rococo painter Jean-Honoré Fragonard. Initially, she exhibited her work at the respected Paris Salon before joining the first Impressionist showroom with Monet, Cézanne, Renoir, and Degas. Morisot has a particularly close relationship with Édouard Manet, who painted several portraits of her, and she eventually married his brother.

Her art often focused on domestic scenes and she preferred working with pastels, watercolor, and charcoal. Working mainly in small scale, her low-cal and airy work was often criticized as being too "feminine." Morisot wrote about her struggles to be taken seriously as a female artist in her journal, stating "I don't recollect there has ever been a man who treated a woman equally an equal and that'due south all I would take asked for, for I know I'm worth every bit much every bit they."

Mary Cassatt (1844–1926)

"The Kid'southward Bath" past Mary Cassatt. 1893. (Photograph: Wikipedia, Public domain)

American painter Mary Cassatt spent her adult life in France, where she became an integral part of the Impressionist group. Cassatt was born into an affluent family unit who kickoff protested against her desire to become an artist. She eventually left art schoolhouse later being frustrated past the carve up treatment that the female students received—they couldn't use live models and were left drawing from casts.

Upon moving to Paris at historic period 22, Cassatt sought a individual apprenticeship and spent her gratuitous time copying Old Chief paintings in the Louvre. Cassatt's career was already taking off when she joined the Impressionists and forged a lifelong friendship with Degas. At the same time, she was outspoken in her dismay at the formal art system, which she felt required female person artists to flirt or befriend male patrons in society to motility ahead. She created her own career path with the Impressionists, mastering pastels to create soft, calorie-free work that often highlighted women acting as caretakers. Throughout her life, Cassatt connected to support equality for women, fifty-fifty participating in an exhibition in support of women'due south suffrage.

Georgia O'Keeffe (1887–1986)

As an artist at the forefront of American Modernism, Georgia O'Keeffe is one of the well-nigh celebrated female artists in history. Her early drawings and paintings led to bold experiments in brainchild, with her focus on painting to express her feelings ushering in an era of "Fine art for Fine art's Sake." During her lifetime, her career was intertwined with her married man, Alfred Stieglitz. While the renowned lensman consort ideas that American fine art could equal that of Europe and that female painters could create art just as powerful as men, he also hindered interpretation of her work.

Stieglitz viewed creativity as an expression of sexuality and these thoughts, coupled with his intimate portraits of O'Keeffe, pushed forward an idea that her shut up paintings of flowers were metaphors for female ballocks. Information technology's a concept that the creative person has ever denied, though her work is undoubtedly sensual. O'Keeffe spent much of her career combatting her art'due south interpretation solely as a reflection of her gender. Throughout her life she refused to participate in all-female art exhibitions, wishing to be defined but as an artist, free from gender.

Tamara de Lempicka (1898–1980)

Polish creative person Tamara de Lempicka is known for her highly stylized portraits and nudes that exemplify the Art Deco era. De Lempicka spent much of her career in France and the United States, where her work was favored by aristocrats. I of her most famous paintings,Cocky-Portrait in a Green Bugatti, exemplifies the cool and detached nature of De Lempicka'due south figures. In the work, which was created for the comprehend of a German manner magazine, De Lempicka exudes independence and inaccessible dazzler.

Her paintings often independent narratives of want, seduction, and modern sensuality, making them revolutionary for their fourth dimension. De Lempicka enjoyed success until the outbreak of Earth State of war II, but there was a resurgence of involvement in her work equally Art Deco became popular again in the 1960s. Her immediately recognizable style makes her a particular favorite among fans of Art Deco painters and today her work is more popular than ever, with Madonna being a known collector of her paintings.

Frida Kahlo (1907–1954)

Currently, there's no other 20th-century female artist with a proper noun as recognizable atFrida Kahlo. While the drama of her tragic accident as a immature woman and her tumultuous human relationship with husband Diego Rivera have sometimes overshadowed her creative abilities, there is no denying the ability of her painting. She is particularly known for her self-portraits, which deal with themes of identity, suffering, and the human body.

Though she was sometimes written near solely as "Diego Rivera's wife" during her lifetime, her artwork has but gained momentum since her death. The well-nigh famous Frida Kahlo paintings belong to important fine art museums around the earth, while she has gained status as a champion of feminists, Chicanos, and the LGBT community.

Helen Frankenthaler (1928–2011)

Growing upward in Manhattan, Helen Frankenthaler pursued painting studies at the Dalton School and Bennington Higher. She began her extensive exhibition career in 1952, with the display of her painting Mountains and Sea. Having studied nether the creative person Hans Hoffman, equally a young artist she became an important figure in the abstract expressionism artistic motility. Her paintings featured colorful, organic shapes. In the early years of her career, these compositions tended to exist centralized on the canvas. By the 1960s, Frankenthaler'due south works often encompassed the entire sail. Her six-decades-worth of work displays a constant development in style.

Today, Frankenthaler is remembered as a pioneer of color field painting—a fashion which features large swaths of color as the painting's "field of study." To achieve the effect of a wash of brilliant colour, Frankenthaler thinned her paints with turpentine before applying them to the unprimed canvass. The result of this "soak stain" method was an near-watercolor-like appearance with colour built in organic layers. Hers and like works were included in the famous 1964 exhibit curated by art critic Clement Greenberg, entitled Postal service-Painterly Brainchild. Today, her work can be found in virtually major American art museums.

June Leaf (1929–Present)

Born and raised in Chicago, June Leaf briefly trained at the IIT Institute of Design before setting out to pursue her own independent learning in Paris at the tender age of 18. In 1954, she returned to Illinois to obtain her bachelor's and master's degrees in Fine art Education. However, in 1958 she returned to Paris with funding for her artwork from a Fulbright. Over the years, she developed an allegorical way across several mediums. Through pen and ink drawings, canvas paintings, and kinetic sculpture, Leafage'southward work embraces the abstruse and unusual. Her work oftentimes features the human being body—ofttimes incorporating her own imagined easily into the work.

Leafage and her hubby—filmmaker and lensman Robert Frank—separate their time between a Bleeker Street flat in New York and fishing cottage in Nova Scotia. In 2016, the Whitney Museum of American Art held a retrospective on her piece of work entitled June Leaf: Thought Is Infinite. Although Frank passed away in 2019, Leaf still creates. In a 2016 interview with Women'due south Habiliment Daily, she described her work equally a process of searching. She said, "Maybe I don't want public acclaim. I want to survive with that integrity that is then precious to me. The fact that I could make that cartoon [gesturing toward an easel] made me think 'Oh skilful, you lot're still a scientist who tin invent something that goes with your life.'"

This commodity has been edited and updated.

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