There seem to be fewer museum hangings of contemporary female nudes painted by men.
And a return to figurative art and realism.
Perhaps this is connected with what Philip Guston said when he abandoned Abstract Expressionism for realism in the 1960’s: I want, he said, to tell stories.
We are seeing more exhibitions of women’s work now and more and more in permanent collections even if there is some way to go towards parity (US).
Joan Semmel, Mythologies and Me, 1976.
Joan Semmel. American born 1932.
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Courtesy of Alexander Gray Associates, New York.
Woman 1, 1952-53, oil on canvas.
Willem de Kooning,1904-1997. American born the Netherlands. MOMA, NY
Four Rings, 2003, oil on canvas.
Joan Semmel, American born 1932.
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Courtesy of Alexander Gray Associates, New York.
The artist at 70.
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Saddle, 2000, rawhide.
Janine Antoni, American born 1964. On exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2018
Bee, New York, chromogenic print made in 2001.
Irving Penn, 1917-2009, American. Promised gift of the Irving Penn Foundation to the Smithsonian Museum of American Art.
Beneficial Bath, 2002, six-colour etching on paper.
Sarah McEneaney, American born 1955. Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Untitled #1, #2, #5, (Lesbian Beds); C-prints.
Tammy Rae Carland, American born 1965. Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia
Adult Female Sexual Organs, 2005, packing tape, fur, collage on found medical illustration paper.
Wangechi Mutu, American-Kenyan born 1972. Location unknown.
Eye Body (one of a series), 2005, gelatin silver print.
Carolee Schneeman, 1939-2019, American. MOMA, NY
Baby I am Ready Now, 2007, acrylic, rhinestone, and enamel on panel.
Mickalene Thomas, American born 1971. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
Din Avec La Main Dans Le Miroir, 2008, acrylic, rhinestones and enamel on wood panel.
Mickalene Thomas, American born 1971. Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia
Flesh, 2008, oil on canvas.
Susan Rothenberg, American born 1945. Philadelphia Art Museum
Woman with a Camera (The Last Sitting, Bert Stern), 2009.
Anne Collier, American born 1970 . Exhibited at the Whitney Museum of (North) American Art in
Memorial for an Art World Body (Nevermore), 2009, oil on unstretched canvas.
Jo Baer, American born 1929. MOMA, NY
Hispanic Ready Made, 2010, cutouts on vinyl. Kukuli Velarde, American born 1962.
The artist is commenting on the many stereotypes in the US of people of Meso-American and South American origin.
NUD Cycladic 9, 2010, Nylon, synthetic fiber, concrete, steel wire.
Sarah Lucas, British born 1962, Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY
E. Starbuck, 2010, acrylic on canvas.
Hope Gangloff, American born 1974. Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia
Self-portrait of the Artist as Supermodel, 1994, acrylic and collage on board.
Kelly James Marshall, American born 1955. Private loan to the Metropolitan Museum in 2016
The way in which African American women dress their hair is one of the fields of contention about African American experience, attitudes and politics in the United States.
Wigs Portfolio, waterless lithograph and felt, 1994.
Lorna Simpson, American born 1960. Privat loan to the Barnes Collection, Philadelphia in 2019.
The way in which African American women dress their hair is one of the fields of contention about African American experience, attitudes and politics in the United States.
afro.died, t, 2011, acrylic, pen, ink, marker and graphite on birch plywood panel.
Iona Rozeal Brown, American born 1966. Corcoran Collection at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
The way in which African American women dress their hair is one of the fields of contention about African American experience, attitudes and politics in the United States.
Woman in Interior, 2008, 22-colour lithograph and serigraph. David Driskell, 1931-2020.
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia
Women shopping in the market outside the temple of Badr Kali, the protectress of Ahmedabad, Gujerat, India. 2010
Spirit Sister, 2013, seriagraph.
Nelson Stevens, American born 1938. Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia
Places to Love For, 2013, oil on canvas.
Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, born Great Britain 1977. Private loan to an exhibition at the Baltimore Museum of Art
West African stallholders and Afro-American at the Odunde Festival, 2013, Philadelphia
Vukani II, Paris, 2014. gelatin silver print.
Zanele Muholi, South African born 1972. Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY
Janie, 2014, oil on linen.
Clarity Haynes, American born 1971. Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts
Statement of Janie Martinez, 1973-2019
What is there to say about a body that’s history + failings + accomplishments can be seen?
Does it see my lover’s body resting on my belly?
Does it see his lips kissing my breasts
Does it see my heart beating for him and him alone.
Ephemeral body. Fleeting moments
Captured ghosts of our psyche.
I was here.
I was alive.
I took up space.
I was somebody.
If we live through it, She will carry us back, 2014, paint, paper, lace, wood, beads and collage on vinyl.
Wangechi Mutu, Kenyan-American born 1972. Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia.
A work in the lineage of the utopian Afro-Futurism which posits a future in which black and brown citizens of the world control their own destinies.
Formed to Fit, 2015, cast bronze and fabricated steel.
Jennifer Ruben Gary, American born 1985. On exhibit at the Woodmere Museum of Art, Philadelphia in 2018
Fragments, 2016, pigmented inkjet print.
Aida Muluneh, Ethiopian born 1974. MOMA, NY
Sleep Seeing (Visitation), 2018, oil on panel.
Stephanie Fenner, Master of Fine Art in 2018 at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia. No other information
Double Vision, 2014, mixed media on paper.
Chitra Ganesh, born 1975. Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
trustful, blissful, felt, suffering, 2018, metal, velvet, wool, alpaca and yak hair, ceramic, worm shell.
Caitlin O’Dea Ott, 2018 BFA graduate, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia
Members of one of the Christian denominations of central Pennsylvania, descendants of the Anabaptists, visiting Longwood Gardens, Pennsylvania in 2015
Alexandra, 2015, oil on canvas.
Jennifer Packer, American born 1984. Current location not know.
The Plump Ones, ceramic, wire, 2015. Janet Martin-Aylam.
On view at The Clay Center, Philadelphia, in 2015.
The goddess, my neighbour, expressing her anger at the perfidy of a man, Philadelphia, 2016
Memorial to a woman who died on her bicycle when a car cut her off at a corner in Brooklyn, NY, 2016
Maine Portrait, 2016, oil on canvas.
Elizabeth Osborne, American born 1936 on exhibit at the Woodmere Museum, Philadelphia
Without a Handle, ceramic and enamel, 2017.
Jacintha Clark, American born 1986. Exhibited at the Woodmere Museum, Philadelphia in 2017
Drowning, oil on linen, 2017.
Maria Christina Jimenez. Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Dwell: Aso Ebi, 2017, acrylic, solvent transfer, coloured pencil.
Njideka Akunyili Crosby. The Baltimore Museum of Art
Portrait of Lezley McSpadden, Mother of Michael Brown from the Injustice Series.
Matthew Pring, American born 1972. Exhibited at Woodmere Museum of Art in 2017.
Michael Brown was 18 when he was shot dead by a policeman in Ferguson, Missouri on August 9, 2014.
The details are contested between the police and the man who was with Michael Brown. Protests erupted. This was one of many incidents which prepared the ground for the outrage and mourning when George Floyd was murdered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Untitled (undated), pastel on chipboard, iron frame.
Marisa Mertz, 1926-2019, Italian. Glenstone Museum, Maryland loan to the Philadelphia Art Museum in 2020
The sole female artist associated with Arte Povera, Marisa Mertz did not always date or title her work. Following the Arte Povera philosophy, she saw her work completely entwined with her daily life, her interests.
Planes, Rockets and the Spaces In Between, 2018, oil on canvas.
Amy Sherald, American born 1973. Baltimore Art Museum
Scraped Away From Center, 130lbs. (Night), glazed and pigmented stoneware, hardware.
Brie Ruais, born 1982. Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia
The museum notes that the artist tears and scrapes and spreads clay on the ground in quite large structures, sometimes. She then fires this in a kiln.
Her own body sets the size of her sculptures: 130 lbs. is her weight and it is the volume of the clay she uses; the dimensions of the work is determined by the maximum reach of her arms; and her strength and endurance shapes the artwork. The imprint of her fingers, fists and knees are visible in the piece.
This process seems to me to be analogous to the drip paintings of the Abstract Expressionist, Jackson Pollock, whose movement around and over his canvas are traceable in the reach and movement of his hands and fingers.
Rhythm I, mixed media sculpture, 2018.
Max Bowden, Bachelor of Fine Arts at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art in 2018. No other information.
Kitchen Suites, oil on canvas, 2018.
?Artist. Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Graduating Students Exhibition
Self-Portrait, 2018, oil on canvas (light interference)
Christina Leone, Bachelor of Fine Arts 2020, Pennsylvania Academy of Art, Philadelphia
Wall painting at 11th and Samson, Philadelphia
Amy Sherald, American born 1973, for the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program, 2019
Two Women. 2019, oil on canvas.
Tschabala Self, American born 1990. Rubell Museum, Miami on loan to the Baltimore Museum in 2021.
Riding Places, 2019, watercolour on paper.
Elizabeth Colomba, French of Martinique heritage born 1976. Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia
Stories, oil on canvas, 2020.
Sarena Johnson, Master of Fine Art at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia in 2020. No other information available.
Porcelain Drawing, porcelain underglaze, underglaze pencil, 2018.
Edith Garcia Monnet, Clay Works, Philadelphia exhibit in 2018
A Cloud’s Roots, 2018, collage with Japanese paper and watercolour on canvas.
Maria Berrio, Colombian born 1982 active New York. Promised gift to the Philadelphia Art Museum
Untitled, 2019, oil on canvas.
Jennifer Packer, American born 1984. Whitney Biennial 2019, New York
Self-Portrait in the Studio II, 2020, oil on aluminum.
Kelly Micca, Bachelor of Fine Arts, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia. No other information
That’s good news if there’s a trend to figurative and realistic art. I hoped I’d live to see the day!
The contention about black women’s hair, is it because they have the better styles and it doesn’t work on a white woman? Maybe it’s jealousy. I’m just guessing because I like to see the styles but could never do my hair like that.
There is definitely a trend towards realism and figurative art. I think it is connected to the so-called identity politics. People want to be seen. They want to be seen as they are and they are tired of the stereotypes and the norms.
Black hair: the ‘discussions’ have to do with the extent to which Black Americans are, want to be, or are not and don’t want to be assimilated to the so-called ‘white’ norms. Very touchy issue.
We haven’t reached a time when it doesn’t matter and when people wear their hair as they want to without it having to carry meaning!
Thanks for the comment. Sarah