The Wars of Women Artists, 1937–1947
Session will present: In-PersonThis panel examines the diverse aesthetic practices of women artists during or in the immediate aftermath of World War II in the Soviet Union and war-torn Europe, including the Netherlands, France, and Czechoslovakia. Working clandestinely in their private homes or in isolation in Soviet forced labor camps, or producing war propaganda on state commissions, women artists engaged with the surrounding politics of violence using diverse means. Besides highlighting the various artistic methods, genres, and tactics that women used to participate in or disengage from politics during World War II, the papers also inquire about the gender wars they continued to experience as women artists. The panel thus proposes understanding women’s artistic and political struggles from an international and comparative perspective during this major conflict as one of the many wars that women artists had to wage while enduring social inequalities. Ultimately, the feminist approach of this panel seeks to decenter art histories of World War II in two ways. On the one hand, it brings so far rarely, if ever, studied women artists to the forefront of narratives that are almost exclusively male-centered due to the assumed “masculine” nature of the war. On the other hand, it offers a more nuanced understanding of the chronologies of World War II and its art histories by highlighting the different temporalities of women artists’ wars in each of these geopolitical contexts.
Field(s) of Study:
Time Period: Twentieth Century
Topics: Politics
Topics: Feminisms
Geographic Area: Western and Central Europe
Geographic Area: Soviet Union
Chair:
Audrey Sands, National Gallery of Art
Discussant:
Alissa Schapiro, Skirball Cultural Center
Abstract Submissions Closed