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50 Female Visual Artists

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50 of the most important women artists from the Renaissance until Today.

Rated 18 points - posted 14 years ago by paulT in category People.
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1.

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Frida Kahlo Report Abuse
Painter Sometimes referred to as the "Painter of Sorrows", much of Kahlo's work depicted graphic images of her physical and mental suffering, as she was involved in an accident at the age of 18, and, as a consequence, underwent multiple operations and was confined to bed for months at a time; she began to draw and paint while recovering in the hospital from the accident; her paintings, do, however contain an element that transcends the suffering; much of her work speaks to gender-roles and politico-social views; she had to attend her first show in her homeland of Mexico in her sick bed; by this time she had already exhibited successfully in New York and Paris; often described as a Surrealist, but rejected this label; she died at the age of 47 from pneumonia.
44 points - added 14 years ago by paulT - 3 comments
Comments:
Agree with the last person. Don't see why she is number one
Added 7 years ago by guest, 0 points Vote + to improve this comment's ranking Vote - to decrease this comment's ranking
Very self centered, art about self and her unibrow. I realize the portrait is of self but don't think her paintings of herself would be the top of the art world. Many other female artist have done a better job of compisition and use of light and textured. My opinion.
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she is the best artist EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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2.

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Mary Cassatt Report Abuse
Painter Although Cassatt was forced to stop painting due to failing eyesight 11 years before her death, she enjoyed a long and successful career as an Impressionist painter; she began studying art in Philadelphia, near where she grew up; she then studied in Paris and during numerous tours around Europe, before settling in Paris in 1845; Cassatt became friends with Edgar Degas, and was asked to join the "Independants", later known as the Impressionists; although most of her work was done in oils and pastels, she loved experimentation with different mediums, and also worked some in etching, drypoint, aquatints and Japanese printing techniques; Cassatt helped Monet and Degas become known in the US by mediating between the Impressionists and the American public; she is probably best known for her many paintings of the middle-class, often depicting the subject of mother and child.
37 points - added 14 years ago by paulT - 1 comment
Comments:
The first and best artist ever. Should be number one.
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3.

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Georgia O'Keefe Report Abuse
32 points - added 14 years ago by paulT - 1 comment
Comments:
First woman artist ever to exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art (1946); her work greatly inspired feminist art and art criticism in the 1970s & 1980s
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4.

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Ash Lethal - breakout visual artist Report Abuse
Ash Lethal is a new artist making waves in the underground art scene from the city of Atlanta, GA. This artist is bold and brave as she risks pouring out a disturbing mix of emotions and images in her paintings and drawings. Ash's web presence is thick and spreading through the online networks organically. She sells original work and prints that are both incredibly affordable and completely unique. Let this girl give you something to talk about.
30 points - added 13 years ago by guest - 3 comments
Comments:
i don't think she's good enough to be the first in the top 50
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well this list is obviously tainted
Added 12 years ago by guest, 4 points Vote + to improve this comment's ranking Vote - to decrease this comment's ranking
yeah, cool stuff, but in the top 50?...um.
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Cindy Sherman Report Abuse
23 points - added 14 years ago by paulT -

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Artemisia Gentileschi Report Abuse
Painter Only woman admitted to the Accademia del Disegno; with strongly expressive and dramatic expression of the figures in her paintings, and use of the chiaroscuro (contrasts of light and dark) style, her work was often compared to that of Caravaggio-one of the most important painters of the Baroque period.
20 points - added 14 years ago by paulT -

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Judith Leyster Report Abuse
20 points - added 14 years ago by paulT -

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Louise Bourgeois Report Abuse
19 points - added 14 years ago by paulT - 1 comment
Comments:
she should be up higher she built sculptures the size of buildings
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9.

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Emily Carr Report Abuse
Canadian painter, most notably of the BC coastlines, rainforests and the indigenous peoples of the area. She was a contemporary of the Group of Seven artists (although as a female, she wasn't allowed to join) and her autobiography was titled "Klee Wick".
18 points - added 13 years ago by guest -

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Barbara Kruger Report Abuse
17 points - added 14 years ago by paulT - 2 comments
Comments:
same
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My grandma is named Barbara
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11.

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Berthe Morisot Report Abuse
17 points - added 14 years ago by paulT - 1 comment
Comments:
A member of the Impressionist movement, Berthe exhibited at the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874, and managed to keep apace of new techniques despite being denied access to the cafes and bars where her contemporaries discussed painting theory.
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Rosa Bonheur Report Abuse
16 points - added 14 years ago by paulT -

13.

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Paula Rego Report Abuse
Rego is a prolific painter and printmaker, and in earlier years was also a producer of collage work. Her most well known depictions of folk tales and images of young girls, made largely since 1990, bring together the methods of painting and printmaking with an emphasis on strong and clearly drawn forms, in contrast to Rego's earlier more loose style paintings.
15 points - added 11 years ago by guest -

14.

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Nan Goldin Report Abuse
13 points - added 14 years ago by guest -

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Mona Hatoum Report Abuse
13 points - added 14 years ago by paulT -

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Eva Hesse Report Abuse
11 points - added 14 years ago by paulT -

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Elisabetta Sirani Report Abuse
11 points - added 14 years ago by paulT -

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Sophie Calle Report Abuse
9 points - added 14 years ago by paulT -

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Camille Claudel Report Abuse
8 points - added 14 years ago by paulT -

20.

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Kathe Kollwitz Report Abuse
60-year career; extensive output of prints and drawings along with 20 sculptures-combined with social and political issues of the day; experienced 2 wars, human suffering and social discontent, which was reflected in her work; series of prints influenced the development of 20th century graphics. Her commitment to peace and humanity is evident in her eloquent style, most notably in the execution of numerous commissioned works for flysheets and posters, such as the famous "Nie Wieder Krieg" (No More War).
7 points - added 14 years ago by paulT -

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Sofonisba Anguissola Report Abuse
7 points - added 14 years ago by paulT -

22.

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Lavinia Fontana Report Abuse
7 points - added 14 years ago by paulT -

23.

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Lee Krasner Report Abuse
7 points - added 14 years ago by paulT -

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Rachel Whiteread Report Abuse
6 points - added 14 years ago by guest -

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Rachel Ruysch Report Abuse
6 points - added 14 years ago by paulT -

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Jenny Holzer Report Abuse
5 points - added 14 years ago by paulT -

27.

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Ana Mendieta should be on this, without a doubt. Report Abuse
I question the art history knowledge of the person who put this together.
4 points - added 9 years ago by guest -

28.

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Yayoi Kusama Report Abuse
A precursor of the pop art, minimalist and feminist art movements, Kusama influenced contemporaries such as Andy Warhol and Claes Oldenburg. Kusama is now acknowledged as one of the most important living artists in the world, and an important voice of the avant-garde. Major retrospectives of her work have been held at the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum, and Tate Modern. The 84-year-old is the top-selling living female artist of all time, fetching $118 million total at auction.
4 points - added 10 years ago by guest -

29.

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Barbara Hepworth Report Abuse
4 points - added 14 years ago by guest -

30.

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Kiki Smith Report Abuse
Sculptor Subjects: Life and Death (The death of her father in 1988 led to her "real birth as an artist"), exposure to nature and the environment, human existence and the story of the human body. During the 1990's, she turned her attention to the relationship between Man, nature and the cosmos. Awarded the Skowhegan Medal for Sculpture in 2000.
4 points - added 14 years ago by paulT -

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Rosalba Carriera Report Abuse
4 points - added 14 years ago by paulT -

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Tracey Emin Report Abuse
4 points - added 14 years ago by paulT - 1 comment
Comments:
Tracey Emin has transformed contemporary art with installations which are both bold and sublime.
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Angelica Kauffmann Report Abuse
4 points - added 14 years ago by paulT -

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Tamara de Lempicka Report Abuse
4 points - added 14 years ago by paulT -

35.

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Julie Mehretu Report Abuse
Integrating the illusion of architectural space with painterly, gestural marks, she creates rich, dynamic art.
3 points - added 13 years ago by guest -

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Faith Wilding Report Abuse
3 points - added 14 years ago by guest -

37.

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Shirin Neshat Report Abuse
Photographer/Filmmaker Born in Iran in 1957; went to school in California in 1974; work focuses on social developments in contemporary Islam and, in particular, the strictly controlled situations of women; in 1999, won the First International Prize at the Venice Biennale; video work notes strong contrast between Western and Islamic cultures, men and women, individuals and society and control and desire.
3 points - added 14 years ago by paulT -

38.

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Pipilotti Rist Report Abuse
Video and Video Installation Artist Frequent Themes: Sexuality and eroticism, the difference between the sexes and the physical appearance of men and especially women. She utilizes a mixture of visual and musical elements in her work, often manipulated by computer.
3 points - added 14 years ago by paulT -

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Elizabeth Adela Armstrong Forbes Report Abuse
3 points - added 14 years ago by paulT -

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Rebecca Horn Report Abuse
3 points - added 14 years ago by paulT -

41.

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Barbara Longhi Report Abuse
3 points - added 14 years ago by paulT - 1 comment
Comments:
I just like to see retrospective reward and recognition given to women in the Arts from centuries ago. Like Gentileschi, it is even amazing that Barbara's paintings were documented in a male dominated world. How many more women artist's works from the Renaissance on, remain repressed and hidden in dark dusty vaults under prestige European museums, and were 'mother&child' subjects imposed on Longhi?
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42.

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Gabriele Munter Report Abuse
3 points - added 14 years ago by paulT -

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Niki de Saint Phalle Report Abuse
3 points - added 14 years ago by paulT -

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Isa Genzken Report Abuse
2 points - added 14 years ago by paulT -

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Marguerite Gerard Report Abuse
2 points - added 14 years ago by paulT -

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Hannah Hoch Report Abuse
2 points - added 14 years ago by paulT -

47.

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Hannah Höch Report Abuse
Hannah Höch is not just an important woman artist, but an important artist of the 20th century. Early in that century, she faced very serious gender discrimination, in art education and from male Dada artists. Nonetheless, her brilliant Dada collage/photomontage, "Cut with the Kitchen Knife," is probably the key pioneering Dada collage/photomontage and certainly the most artistically successful. In the late 1910s and 1920s, Höch also worked in both abstract constructivist collage that specifically included female craftwork and in feminist politically critical collage verging on surrealism. She worked at the edges of surrealism and symbolist art in the 1930s and 1940s until her work was banned by the Nazis. After World War II, she experimented billiantly with abstract expressionism (e.g., Fata Morgana, 1957) and continued her work with collage/photomontage to the end (see "Sunflowers"). Not all the years since the second wave of feminism began have produced such an important feminist artist.
1 point - added 11 years ago by guest -

48.

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ARINA Report Abuse
ARINA is a new star, who came to the art world to move it towards the Beauty! She is already doing it. ARINA's works are unique as well as her philosophy. She influences and inspires many artists following her ideas. She deserves to be in the list and to be highly ranked.
1 point - added 14 years ago by expert -

49.

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Sarah Maple Report Abuse
YBA new generation, Islamic cross-cultural look and embraced by NYC old guard feminism AND Tracey Emin. Self portraits that warrant death threats, the girl is undeterred. Multi-disciplinary in her message: digital art/photography, paintings, art videos. Already in her mid-20s, she's exhibiting at the museum level.
1 point - added 14 years ago by guest -

50.

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Tacita Dean Report Abuse
1 point - added 14 years ago by paulT -

51.

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Paula Modersohn-Becker Report Abuse
1 point - added 14 years ago by paulT - 1 comment
Comments:
Paula Modersohn-Becker developed the first modern fine art.
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52.

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Meret Oppenheim Report Abuse
1 point - added 14 years ago by paulT -

53.

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Nikki S. Lee Report Abuse
Powerful photography mixed with socialism and anthropology. In her "Projects" photographs, "she immerses herself into each American sub-cultures and creates an identity that is an extension of herself."
0 points - added 9 years ago by guest -

54.

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Maria Sibylla Merian Report Abuse
Illustrator/Watercolorist Studied plants, flowers and insects from a very early age; set up school for painting and embroidery in 1670; published the "New Book of Flowers" (1675-1680)-Watercolors of her observations and illustrations; 2 volumes of scientific illustrations-"The Wonderful Transformation of Caterpillars" (1679-1683) and a book on insects published Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamesium (1705); her publications were appreciated both for their aesthetic expression as well as scientific instruction.
0 points - added 14 years ago by paulT -

55.

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Constance Mayer Report Abuse
Painter Pupil of French painter Pierre-Paul Prud'hon, which later led to a love affair and artistic collaboration. In fact, Most of her work could not be easily distinguished from that of her former teacher. She suffered severe bouts of depression and anxiety, finally committing suicide in her studio in 1821.
0 points - added 14 years ago by paulT -

56.

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Maria Abramovic Report Abuse
0 points - added 14 years ago by paulT - 1 comment
Comments:
marina
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Adelaide Labille-Guiard Report Abuse
0 points - added 14 years ago by paulT -

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Clara Peeters Report Abuse
0 points - added 14 years ago by paulT -

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Anna Dorothea Therbusch Report Abuse
0 points - added 14 years ago by paulT -

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(Marie Luise) Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun Report Abuse
0 points - added 14 years ago by paulT -

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Giulia Lama Report Abuse
-1 point - added 14 years ago by paulT -

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Catharina van Hemessen Report Abuse
-2 points - added 14 years ago by paulT -

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Cecilia Beaux Report Abuse
-3 points - added 14 years ago by paulT -

64.

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Eva Gonzales Report Abuse
-3 points - added 14 years ago by paulT -
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