The Feminist Art Movement has shaped the art world as we know it today, establishing diversity and inclusion as central tenets of the 21st century cultural mainstream. But how did that cultural change occur? While feminist artists such as Judy Chicago, Cindy Sherman and Yoko Ono have become household names, far less has been said of the communities of activists that facilitated this shift. In this book, veteran feminist artist and curator Judith K. Brodsky tells the story of the women that worked at the edges of the art itself.Emerging from the second wave of feminism in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Feminist Art Movement fundamentally changed the way the world thought about art— it has consistently challenged the under-representation of female artists in galleries and museums, confronted the depiction of women within artworks, and questioned what media constitutes art in the first place. This book explores the role played by women-founded galleries, feminist art programs, and NGOs such as the Women’s Caucus for Art, in establishing and promoting these values across the United States. From gathering vital statistics on financial and representational disparity, to placing work by female artists in museums, to establishing the very vocabulary with which we discuss the movement and the disciplines that have emerged from it, 50 years of feminist practice cannot be understated. In times when the rights of women are increasingly being challenged in political spheres, the Feminist Art Movement continues to fight back.Brodsky, a keen observer of the movement as well as prominent participant, provides a concise yet detailed overview of its different strands: championing its accomplishments, challenging its biases and noting, especially, the frequently overlooked contributions of people of color. A unique combination of rigorous history and first-hand account, this is the first history of the Feminist Art Movement in the United States as a whole, exploring its successes, failures and future.
