Women were barred from the art scene in the early days due to the nudity of male models. And when they were able to participate, history forgot them. In the 1970s, the Guerrilla Girls began changing that, reminding people of women’s contributions to art.
Of course, art comes in a number of forms. In honour of International Women’s Day on March 8th, we’re celebrating women who have pushed themselves onto history’s stage despite the obstacles they faced. Here are just a few of the female creative geniuses who made their mark in the arts.
Artistically advanced
Did you know?
In 2013 Archaeologist Dean Snow of Pennsylvania State University looked at the hand prints near cave paintings in France and Spain. He determined that 75% of them belonged to women, suggesting that contrary to popular assumptions, the majority of those early painting depicting animals such as bison and deer, were in fact done by women.
Kora of Sicyon
Kora of Sicyon is credited with drawing the very first portrait in 650 BC. The story goes that Kora drew the face of the man she loved on the wall in charcoal. Her father, Butades, then modelled the man out of clay based on her drawing, creating the very first relief sculpture.
Artemisia Gentileschi
Artemisia’s talent was long overlooked due to her gender but her works speak to her skill as a painter. She was the first woman to be a member of Accademia di Arte del Disegno, and many of her works depict strong women from history. Particularly notable is her depiction of Judith slaying Holofernes. It was a popular subject at the time, but Artemisia’s version puts herself in the role of Judith, and her rapist as the struggling Holofernes, so through the medium of art, she is able to enact her revenge.
Literary legends
Did you know?
The Tale of Genji is often referred to as the world’s first novel, the first modern novel or the first romance novel, and it was written by a women. Japanese noblewoman Murasaki Shikibu penned the epic tale in early 11th century.
Selma Lagerlöf
In 1909, Selma Lagerlöf was the first woman to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature. It was awarded to the teacher and author “in appreciation of the lofty idealism, vivid imagination and spiritual perception that characterize her writings”.
She is most known for her children’s book Nils Holgerssons underbara resa genom Sverige (The Wonderful Adventures of Nils).
Edith Wharton
Edith became the first woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1921 for The Age of Innocence, her 12th novel. Known as America’s first lady of letters, she overcame the disinterest and discouragement of her family and social circle to become a much lauded author.
Despite having no formal education, she had a keen, literary mind, able to construct and dissect novels with equal aptitude. In 1924 she also became the first woman to be awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters degree by Yale University.
JK Rowling
J.K. Rowling’s amazing rags-to-riches story is well-known. What people may not know is that in 2004 she became the first and only person to become a billionaire as a novelist. She went from living in poverty as a single mother, struggling with depression and receiving rejection after rejection from publishers (who desperately regret that decision now…).
Harry Potter became the best-selling series in history and is responsible for kindling a love of reading in children worldwide. In 2012, J.K. Rowling lost her billionaire status due to her millions of dollars of charitable giving. She supports a number of causes including single parent families and children’s welfare, multiple sclerosis and reading programs.
Cinematic superstars
Did you know?
The first narrative film – the first film to have a plotline – is widely considered to have been written and directed by a woman – La Fée aux Choux (The Cabbage Fairy) by Alice Guy-Blaché.
Alice Guy-Blaché
French filmmaker Alice Guy-Blaché was the first female director. In 1894 she was hired as a secretary by photographer Léon Gaumont. When he went on to form a Gaumont Film Company, she went with him. She began learning the business, and was bored with the films being produced. She wanted to add narrative elements. In 1896, she made her first film, La Fée aux Choux (The Cabbage Fairy), a comedy about a woman growing babies in cabbages. It is one of the first, if not the first narrative films in history. She went on to direct, write and produce over 1,000 films during her 24 year long career as a filmmaker.
Kathryn Bigelow
Despite Alice Guy-Blaché’s pioneering talent and success as early as 1894, it wasn’t until 2010 that a woman won the Oscar for Best Director. Kathryn Bigelow won the accolade for her film The Hurt Locker, which also won Best Picture.
If there’s specific resistance to women making movies, I just choose to ignore that as an obstacle for two reasons: I can’t change my gender, and I refuse to stop making movies. – Kathryn Bigelow
Musical
Did you know?
The first radio dj was a woman, Sybil Herrold. While her husband Charles is known as a pioneer of entertainment broadcasting, it was Sybil who first began taking requests for songs on her Wednesday night program.
Her audience of radio amateurs – “little hams” – would call in requests, and she would borrow records to play from the local record store, which would subsequently sell out!
Arethra Franklin
The Queen of Soul Arethra Franklin became the first woman to be inducted in 1987. She has had 112 singles appear on the Billboard chart, the most of any female artist in the chart’s history. In 1986, the first year that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame named inductees, there were no women on the list. Since then, only a handful of women have been added. In fact, women make up only 15% of the inductees.
Kate Bush
With her haunting debut single ‘Wuthering Heights’, 19-year-old Kate Bush became the first first female artist to achieve a UK number-one with a self-written song and she’s had a ton of success ever since with songs like ‘Hounds of Love’, ‘Babooshka’ and ‘Running up that Hill’.
She was also the first female artist ever to enter the UK album chart at number one, with her third album Never for Ever. She often named as an inspiration by female singer-songwriters.
Fashion forward
Did you know?
Without Coco Chanel, there would be no little black dress.
Coco Chanel
Chanel pioneered comfortable style for women. For women’s fashion, it was all corsets and frills until Chanel began incorporating men’s style in her designs. Women were working for the war effort, and they needed more practical, less restrictive workwear.
She popularised pants for men and was the first to use soft jersey material in anything other than undergarments. When creating the iconic Chanel suit, she made sure her models could move freely while wearing it. And the now ubiquitous little black dress was debuted to the world by the forward thinking fashion designer in Vogue in 1926. Due to the war, more women were wearing black – Chanel made it stylish. Vogue likened the little black dress to Ford’s Model T – accessible to everyone.
