Trendswatch
Why women are becoming the focus
When Alice Strang, a senior curator at the National Galleries of Scotland, was researching a series of exhibitions on the Scottish colourists, she noticed the names of female artists appearing “around the edges”.
The desire to explore these artists was the impetus behind Modern Scottish Women (until 26 June) at Edinburgh’s Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. It displays pieces by 45 artists and sculptors who worked between 1885 and 1965, a period that saw an unprecedented number of Scottish women train and practice as artists.
Modern Scottish Women is part of a growing trend for exhibitions that focus on women’s experiences or include only female artists. Since 2013, the Wonder Women festival in Manchester, co-ordinated by the People’s History Museum, has held a range of feminism-focused exhibitions and events. And female cartoonists, from the 1800s to now, are being recognised in Comix Creatrix: 100 Women Making Comics at London’s House of Illustration.
Strang says it is valid to focus on gender in Modern Scottish Women: “The women’s personal lives are inextricably bound to their careers, in terms of their marital and maternal experiences.”
She says a group show was suitable because many of the artists had short careers. One died in childbirth aged 34, while others looked after ill husbands for decades. Other barriers facing female artists at the time included a lack of access to life- drawing classes as it was seen as indecent for women to see the nude human form.
A risk that any all-female exhibition faces is the charge of tokenism. A show at London’s Saatchi Gallery has been criticised on these grounds. Champagne Life (until 9 March) displays work by 14 female contemporary artists from around the world. Some works received praise, including Saudi artist Maha Malluh’s installation of used cooking pots, but some critics have said there are not enough thematic links between the artists and that the quality is mixed.
Nigel Hurst, the chief executive of the Saatchi Gallery, says that the selection of works was deliberately broad. “Although women artists are now better represented in commercial galleries, content by women is still largely yet to filter through to museum exhibitions and auctions,” Hurst says.
Nicola Euston, the museum manager at the Atkinson in Southport, is planning an all- female exhibition in June that will focus on “firsts”. The show will include Laura Knight, the first female artist elected to the Royal Academy of Arts in 1936, and Paula Rego, the first artist-in-residence at London’s National Gallery in 1989. Featuring about 25 artists and 40 works from the Atkinson’s collection, the show will cover a range of styles.
“We haven’t done this as positive discrimination,” says Euston. “We were updating our database and were struck by how amazing the women were.”
“A lot of historical facts have taken people aback. For instance, the Royal Scottish Academy was founded in 1886, but the first full female member wasn’t elected until 1944. “The experiences of these artists have an appeal to people who otherwise might not have come to an art exhibition. For example, the early 20th-century artist Anne Redpath took a career break to bring up her sons and then picked up her paintbrushes again to great success, so perhaps she can act as inspiration for working mothers.”
Alice Strang is a senior curator at the National Galleries of Scotland.
Modern Scottish Women runs until 26 June
The desire to explore these artists was the impetus behind Modern Scottish Women (until 26 June) at Edinburgh’s Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. It displays pieces by 45 artists and sculptors who worked between 1885 and 1965, a period that saw an unprecedented number of Scottish women train and practice as artists.
Modern Scottish Women is part of a growing trend for exhibitions that focus on women’s experiences or include only female artists. Since 2013, the Wonder Women festival in Manchester, co-ordinated by the People’s History Museum, has held a range of feminism-focused exhibitions and events. And female cartoonists, from the 1800s to now, are being recognised in Comix Creatrix: 100 Women Making Comics at London’s House of Illustration.
Strang says it is valid to focus on gender in Modern Scottish Women: “The women’s personal lives are inextricably bound to their careers, in terms of their marital and maternal experiences.”
She says a group show was suitable because many of the artists had short careers. One died in childbirth aged 34, while others looked after ill husbands for decades. Other barriers facing female artists at the time included a lack of access to life- drawing classes as it was seen as indecent for women to see the nude human form.
A risk that any all-female exhibition faces is the charge of tokenism. A show at London’s Saatchi Gallery has been criticised on these grounds. Champagne Life (until 9 March) displays work by 14 female contemporary artists from around the world. Some works received praise, including Saudi artist Maha Malluh’s installation of used cooking pots, but some critics have said there are not enough thematic links between the artists and that the quality is mixed.
Nigel Hurst, the chief executive of the Saatchi Gallery, says that the selection of works was deliberately broad. “Although women artists are now better represented in commercial galleries, content by women is still largely yet to filter through to museum exhibitions and auctions,” Hurst says.
Nicola Euston, the museum manager at the Atkinson in Southport, is planning an all- female exhibition in June that will focus on “firsts”. The show will include Laura Knight, the first female artist elected to the Royal Academy of Arts in 1936, and Paula Rego, the first artist-in-residence at London’s National Gallery in 1989. Featuring about 25 artists and 40 works from the Atkinson’s collection, the show will cover a range of styles.
“We haven’t done this as positive discrimination,” says Euston. “We were updating our database and were struck by how amazing the women were.”
Interest in women’s experiences
“I would say there’s a strong bias towards female visitors at Modern Scottish Women, which isn’t surprising. A broader interest in women’s experiences historically is part of the zeitgeist at the moment – look at the debate that ensued about featuring Jane Austen on a banknote.“A lot of historical facts have taken people aback. For instance, the Royal Scottish Academy was founded in 1886, but the first full female member wasn’t elected until 1944. “The experiences of these artists have an appeal to people who otherwise might not have come to an art exhibition. For example, the early 20th-century artist Anne Redpath took a career break to bring up her sons and then picked up her paintbrushes again to great success, so perhaps she can act as inspiration for working mothers.”
Alice Strang is a senior curator at the National Galleries of Scotland.
Modern Scottish Women runs until 26 June