Women in Art

Dedicated to International Women’s Day

I collected in this post some iconic women in art from models to female artists. I dedicated this collection to the International Women’s Day. Enjoy 🙂

One of the most famous female portraits of antiquity: Nefertiti bust.

Thutmose (ancient Egypt) | Nefertiti Bust 1345 BC
limestone and stucco; Height: 48 cm – Neues Museum, Berlin, Germany

Portrait of Simonetta Vespucci as Nymph by Botticelli is very popular even today.

Sandro Botticelli (Italian, ca. 1445–1510) | Portrait of a Young Woman [Portrait of Simonetta Vespucci as Nymph] ca. 1480
Mixed technique on a poplar panel 81.8 x 54 cm – Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main

The Venus de Milo (Greek: Αφροδίτη της Μήλου, Aphroditi tis Milou) is an ancient Greek statue and one of the most famous works of ancient Greek sculpture. Initially it was attributed to the sculptor Praxiteles, but based on an inscription that was on its plinth, the statue is now thought to be the work of Alexandros of Antioch. Created sometime between 130 and 100 BC, the statue is believed to depict Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty. The statue is named after Aphrodite’s Roman name, Venus, and the Greek island of Milos, where it was discovered. This statue were the Greek ideal of women.

Visitor with Venus de Milo at Musée du Louvre, Paris 1960s

The painting is likely of the Italian noblewoman Lisa Gherardini, the wife of Francesco del Giocondo and known as Mona Lisa. This is one of the most popular painting of the world. Most of all her mysterious smile fascinates the viewers.

Leonardo da Vinci (Italian, 1452-1519) | Mona Lisa [Italian: La Gioconda, French: La Joconde] ca. 1503–06, perhaps continuing until ca. 1517
Oil on poplar panel 77 cm × 53 cm – Musée du Louvre, Paris

Girl with a Pearl Earring is an oil painting by Dutch Golden Age painter Johannes Vermeer, dated ca. 1665. Going by various names over the centuries, it became known by its present title towards the end of the 20th century after the large pearl earring worn by the girl portrayed there. Generally the English title of the painting was simply Head of a Young Girl, although it was sometimes known as The Pearl. One critic explained that this name was given, not just from the detail of the earring, but because the figure glows with an inner radiance against the dark background. This painting is very popular. The film with the same title helped promote it. Girl with a Pearl Earring is a 2003 romantic drama film directed by Peter Webber. The screenplay was adapted by screenwriter Olivia Hetreed, based on the 1999 novel of the same name by Tracy Chevalier. Scarlett Johansson stars as Griet, a young 17th-century servant in the household of the Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer (played by Colin Firth) at the time he painted Girl with a Pearl Earring (1665) in the city of Delft in Holland.

Johannes Vermeer (Dutch, 1632–1675) | Girl with a Pearl Earring ca. 1665
Oil on canvas 44.5 x 39 cm – Mauritshuis, Haag

Adélaïde Labille-Guiard (French, 1749 –1803) | Self-Portrait with Two Pupils 1785

Oil on canvas 210.8 × 151.1 cm – The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Marie Denise Villers (French, 1774–1821) | Marie Joséphine Charlotte du Val d’Ognes (1786–1868), 1801
Oil on canvas 161.3 × 128.6 cm – The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Unknown female artist in his studio, early 1900s

According to a story by Pliny the Elder, a Roman writer from the first century C.E., the first drawing ever made was by a woman named Dibutades, who traced the silhouette of her lover on a wall. Whether you choose to believe this account or not, it is worth noting that although Western mythology tells us that a woman was the first artist, her female successors received little attention until the end of the 20th century. The Little Shepherdness is one of artwork depicts this first female artist.

István Ferenczy (Hungarian, 1792–1856) | Little Shepherdness (The first drawing ever made was by a woman named Dibutades) 1820-1822
Marble 105 × 62 × 45 cm – Magyar Nemzeti Galéria, Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest Photo by Judit Szeifert

And now I collected some photos – for me kind and significant female artists.

 Gabriële Münter in Kallmünz Brücke 1903, carrying a fresh-painted canvas

Hannah Höch with her Dada puppets ca. 1920 – Photography by Willy Römer

Georgia O’Keeffe carrying her canvas ca. 1920 – Photo by Alfred Stieglitz

French artist Fano Messan, Paris 1921 – Photo by Emmanuel Sougez

Edith Bry american painter at work 1927

Tamara de Lempicka in front of the portrait of her husband Tadeusz ca. 1928

Painter and engraver Mariette Lydis (1887–1970) ca. 1930

Dora Maar in her Studio in Paris 1946 – Photo by Brassai

Marguerite “Peggy” Guggenheim (1898–1979) was an American art collector, bohemian and socialite. Born to the wealthy New York City Guggenheim family, she was the daughter of Benjamin Guggenheim, who went down with the Titanic in 1912, and the niece of Solomon R. Guggenheim, who established the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. Guggenheim collected art in Europe and America primarily between 1938 and 1946. She exhibited this collection as she built it; in 1949, she settled in Venice, where she lived and exhibited her collection for the rest of her life. The Peggy Guggenheim Collection is a modern art museum on the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy, and is one of the most visited attractions in Venice.

Peggy Guggenheim in the Greek Pavilion at the 24th Venice Biennale, where she exhibited her collection, while she hangs Seated Woman II (1939) by Joan Miró, 1948

Behind every man is a strong woman. Jackson Pollock’s wife, Lee Krasner was a great painter too, but she sacrificed her own career for her husband’s work. She was the background, a secure basis for Pollock.

Frida Kahlo with Portrait of her father 1951 – Photography by Gisèle Freund

Françoise Gilot at work in her studio, Paris 1955

Barbara Hepworth in the Palais studio with unfinished wood carving Hollow Form with White Interior 1963 – Photo by Val Wilmer