Rage against the history machine
Long ago I went to Powell's. Powell's is a maze of rooms stacked high with books, situated in an entire block in Portland. You can (and we did) spend hours in Powells, justifying any excess baggage allowance that we may face. One of my purchases there was The Guerrilla Girls' Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art. A perfect introduction to UWA (albeit one that isn't on the syllabus).
Women have been largely written out of art history, so it was great to read a book that actually celebrates women who have pushed boundaries within art. The book has some jarring quotations, such as the following from Renoir: "The woman artist is merely ridiculous, but I am in favour of the female singer and dancer". Check out the Guerrilla Girls website for how to get involved. Reading these horrors made me quite angry. I used a page in my sketchbook as an outlet for my rage.
Women have been largely written out of art history, so it was great to read a book that actually celebrates women who have pushed boundaries within art. The book has some jarring quotations, such as the following from Renoir: "The woman artist is merely ridiculous, but I am in favour of the female singer and dancer". Check out the Guerrilla Girls website for how to get involved. Reading these horrors made me quite angry. I used a page in my sketchbook as an outlet for my rage.
No comments:
Post a Comment