The Hegemonic Female Fantasy

from Film Reader, No. 5, 1982
(Evanston IL: Northwestern University)



"We grow up in a world of received notions and attitudes, around which we shape our emotional life. We can analyze hegemony in terms of institutional compulsion or the way that institutions structure choices, we can also analyze how our desires and emotions often lead us to choose or settle for commonly held ideas about what our life as women should be."
Read more: http://pages.uoregon.edu/jlesage/Juliafolder/HEGEMONIC.HTML

Share your thoughts about hegemony in the comments below. 

Critic's Notebook: Beyonce's 'Lemonade' Is a Revolutionary Work of Black Feminism

“I tried to be soft, prettier, less awake.”
"The most disrespected person in America is the black woman," Malcolm X says early in the film in a sampled speech.

Read more:
 http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/critics-notebook-beyonces-lemonade-is-887240
http://verilymag.com/2016/04/beyonce-new-album-lemonade-tidal-music-news-2504

In the 21st Century, Art Is a Woman's Job Too

This makes me think we are still in the early 20th century, where marriage was a woman's real "job."

Read and comment your reaction → An 18th century exhibit that speaks to 21st century L.A.

Barbara Kruger - My Inspiration

• An American conceptual/pop artist 
• She developed an interest in graphic design, poetry, writing and attended poetry readings.
• Moved to New York where she began attending Parsons School of Design in 1965. 
• She studied with fellow artists/photographers Diane Arbus and Marvin Israel, who introduced Kruger to other photographers and fashion/magazine sub-cultures. 
• Kruger worked at Condé Nast Publications in 1966. 
• After she started to work at Mademoiselle magazine as an entry-level designer, she was promoted to head designer a year later.
• Later still she worked as a graphic designer, art director, and picture editor in the art departments at “House and Garden”, “Aperture,” and
• She did magazine layouts, book jacket designs, and freelance picture editing for other publications. 

Women artists in the 20th century: a changing landscape

"Women have always been artists, and there always have been glimpses of women’s art within male-driven societies. Still, women artists faced difficulty in the centuries that followed when trying to engage with the art world and canon." 

Eileen Agar, The Autobiography of an Embryo, 1933–4

Reflect on the following questions:

• How have women been represented, underrepresented, and misrepresented in art history?

• How should we tell the stories of forgotten women artists today?

Womanhouse

What is it?

Womanhouse was an art experiment that addressed the experiences of women. 

_________________________________________________________________________________

Who are they?

Twenty-one art students refurbished an abandoned house in Los Angeles and turned it into a provocative 1972 exhibit. Womanhouse received national media attention and introduced the public to the idea of Feminist Art.The students devoted enormous amounts of their time in late 1971 to refurbishing the house, which had broken windows and no heat. They struggled with repairs, construction, tools, and cleaning out the rooms that would later house their art exhibits.

_________________________________________________________________________________

When was it open to the public?

Womanhouse was opened to the public in January and February of 1972, gaining a national audience. Each area of the house featured a different work of art.

_________________________________________________________________________________

“Bridal Staircase,” by Kathy Huberland

Judy Chicago’s “Menstruation Bathroom.” 

For more information check out the link below:

Womanhouse

How the Feminist Movement changed the Art World

Women’s Artistic Liberation →  Historical Context →  Becoming a Movement in the 1970s → Feminism and Postmodernism →  Feminist Art and Diversity → Backlash

The Feminist Movement in Art