Women Artists: The Female Gaze

Over centuries, women have been pictorially confined to the virgin, the mother or the temptress. The female gaze upon the female subject liberates women from these limiting boxes, a pursuit that was examined closely in this exhibition. Similarly, the display considered the obstacles faced by women artists working in the early 20th century and how their representations of women – and critics’ interpretations – have evolved to the present day.

The exhibition included early works by artists such as Suzanne Valadon (1865-1938) and Marie Laurencin (1883-1956). Valadon’s famous nudes depicted awkward, solid models, deemed unfeminine and ugly by her critics. This blatant defiance was contrasted by Laurencin employment of hyper-femininity. However, later feminist readings repositioned her ‘conventional’ portrayals of women as a defiant and subversive, given Laurencin’s own bisexuality.

The work of Dame Laura Knight (1877-1970) was also on display, who became a notable female success in the male dominated British art establishment, after teaching art herself at Nottingham School of Art from the age of 15. In 1936 she was the first woman elected to the Royal Academy since its foundation in 1768 and subject of a significant retrospective exhibition there in 1965.

Other artists represented in the exhibition include: Paula Rego, Shani Rhys James, Prunella Clough, Laura Ford, Cathie Pilkington, Cornelia Parker, Kiki Smith, Jessica Harrison, Joyce Cairns, Christine Borland and Moyna Flannigan.