(re)FOCUS: Philadelphia Focuses on Women in the Visual Arts revisited 50 years later

FOCUS: Philadelphia Focuses on Women in the Visual Arts was held 50 years ago. Most of the city's visual arts institutions--the PMA, PAFA, Penn, along with commercial, university and college galleries participated in the three-month long program, which received national attention with copiously illustrated articles in Art in America, ARTnews, and the New York Times among others. FOCUS was one of the first (possibly the very first) feminist art project to receive NEA funding. There was a central national exhibition of 81 artists invited by Marcia Tucker, Anne D'Harnoncourt, and Cindy Nemser. Several artists of color such as Faith Ringgold, Howardena Pindell, Barbara Chase-Riboud were included. Many of the 81 became well known artists and were strong influences on the next generation. The goal of (Re)FOCUS was to honor that pioneering moment in feminist art, and to showcase artists who are women, binary, and gender nonconforming and racially diverse in Philadelphia’s and the nation’s community of emerging artists, designers, and makers. The two-part exhibition, held at The Galleries at Moore, comprised works by many of the original artists alongside recent and commissioned pieces created by Philadelphia and national contemporary voices—presenting an opportunity to reexamine FOCUS’s historical context through a new lens.