Women Artist You Need to Know

The history of art is littered with the names of bully men—Leonardo da Vinci, Vincent Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, etc. But what about the women who take helped shape the earth'due south visual history? Equally with many other fields, women were historically discouraged from pursuing a career in the arts, however at that place are many incredible females who persevered. These famous female artists have more in common than their gender and career path—they are all trailblazers in their own right, with many breaking barriers in their personal and public life.

Of course, these women would most probable be displeased to be included in a list of female painters, preferring to be valued equally artists outside of their gender. Unfortunately, as women go along to fight for equality in all fields, these exceptional artists are oft nevertheless mentioned in terms of their gender. Luckily, more than than ever, these women of distinction are existence held up against their male peers and recognized positively for their contributions to art history. Organizations similar Advancing Women Artists work to ensure that the female person talent of the past doesn't get left out of the history books.

A look at some of the great female person artists of the past is besides a timeline of art history. Women have been leading figures in every artistic move from the Italian Renaissance to American Modernism and across. Past weaving our mode through fine art history—from a 16th-century court painter for King Philip II to the 20th-century icon that is Frida Kahlo—let's take a expect at the strength, character, and talent of these exceptional women.

If you're an art lover, here are 12 famous female artists that you need to know.

Sofonisba Anguissola (1532–1625)

"Three Children with a Domestic dog" by Sofonisba Anguissola. circa 1570-1590. (Photo: Wikimedia, Public domain)

Painter Sofonisba Anguissola was a trailblazer during the Italian Renaissance. Born into a relatively poor noble family, her father made sure that she and her sisters had a well-rounded education that incorporated fine fine art. This included apprenticeships with respected local painters. This set a precedent for hereafter female artists, who until that point typically but apprenticed if a family member had a workshop. Anguissola's talent caught the middle of Michelangelo, with whom she carried on an informal mentorship through the exchange of drawings.

Though, equally a female person artist, she was non allowed to study beefcake or exercise drawing models due to its perceived vulgarity, she still managed to have a successful career. Much of her success was owed to her role equally a painter in the court of King Philip II of Spain. Over the course of fourteen years, she developed her skills for official court portraiture besides as more intimate portraits of nobility. Her paintings are known for capturing the spirit and vibrance of her sitters and can now be found in collections around the world.

Artemisia Gentileschi (1593–1653)

"Self-Portrait as the Apologue of Painting" past Artemisia Gentileschi. 1638–39. (Photo: Wikipedia, Public domain)

As the daughter of an accomplished painter, Artemisia Gentileschi was afforded admission to the fine art world at a immature age. Early she was in her father's workshop mixing paints and he supported her career when he noted that she was exceptionally gifted. As a noted painter of the Italian Baroque menstruation, Artemisia Gentileschi did not let her gender hold her back from her subject matter. She painted large-calibration Biblical and mythological paintings, but like her male counterparts and was the first woman accepted to the prestigious Fine Fine art Academy in Florence.

Her legacy is sometimes overshadowed by her biography, with her bloody depictions of Judith and Holofernesfrequently existence interpreted through the lens of her rape at the hands of a swain artist. Yet, her talent is undeniable and she continues to be recognized for her realistic depiction of the female form, the depth of her colors, and her hit use of light and shadow.

Judith Leyster (1609–1660)

"The Happy Couple" by Judith Leyster. 1630. (Photo: Wikipedia, Public domain)

Built-in in Haarlem, Judith Leyster was a leading artist during the Dutch Golden Age. Typical of Dutch artists during this period, Leyster specialized in genre paintings, notwithstanding life, and portraits. The details backside her creative training are unclear, but she was 1 of the first women admitted to the painter'southward social club in Haarlem. She later on ran a successful workshop with several male person apprentices and was known for the relaxed, informal nature of her portraits.

While she was quite successful during her lifetime, her reputation suffered afterwards her death due to unfortunate circumstances. Her entire oeuvre was passed off as work either by her contemporary Frans Hals or by her husband. In many cases, her signature was covered by collectors looking to brand a turn a profit due to the high market value of Frans Hals' work. Merely in the tardily 19th century were these errors discovered and scholars began to gain a renewed appreciation for Leyster's skill as an artist.

Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun (1755–1842)

"Self-Portrait in a Harbinger Hat" past Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun. 1782. (Photograph: Wikipedia, Public domain)

French portrait artist Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun created an impressive trunk of work totaling nearly ane,000 portraits and landscape paintings. As the daughter of a painter, she received early on didactics from her father and was painting portraits professionally past the time she was a teenager. Her big career interruption came when she was named as Marie Antoinette's portrait painter and she was later granted entry to numerous fine art academies.

Her paintings span the gap between the theatrical Rococo style and more restrained Neoclassical period. She enjoyed continued success in her career, even while in exile after the French Revolution, as she was a favorite painter of the aristocracy beyond Europe. Sitters enjoyed her ability to put them at ease, which led to portrait paintings that were lively and lacking stiffness. The natural, relaxed manner of her portraits was considered revolutionary at a fourth dimension when portraiture often called for formal depictions of the upper classes.

Rosa Bonheur (1822–1899)

"The Horse Off-white" past Rosa Bonheur. 1852–55. (Photograph: Wikipedia, Public domain)

Like many female person artists, Rosa Bonheur's male parent was a painter. The French Realist painter is considered one of the most famous female person artists of the 19th century, known for her large-format paintings that featured animals. She exhibited regularly at the acclaimed Paris salon and establish success abroad in both the United states and Uk. Bonheur spent a swell amount of time sketching live animals in motion, accounting for her remarkable ability to capture their likeness on canvas.

Bonheur is also celebrated for breaking gender stereotypes. From the mid-1850s onward she wore men'southward apparel, even obtaining police authorization to do and so. Though she was often criticized for wearing trousers and loose blouses, she continued to don them throughout her life, citing their practicality when working with animals. She was also an open lesbian, first living with partner Nathalie Micas for over 40 years and then, subsequently Micas' expiry, forging a relationship with American painter Anna Elizabeth Klumpke. By living her life openly in an era when lesbianism was disparaged by the government, Bonheur staked her claim every bit a groundbreaking individual both in her career and her personal life.

Berthe Morisot (1841–1895)

"Lady at her Toilette" past Berthe Morisot. 1875. (Photo: Wikipedia, Public domain)

Considered one of the groovy female Impressionists, Berthe Morisot had art running through her veins. Built-in into an aristocratic French family, she was the corking-niece of celebrated Rococo painter Jean-Honoré Fragonard. Initially, she exhibited her work at the respected Paris Salon before joining the get-go Impressionist exhibit with Monet, Cézanne, Renoir, and Degas. Morisot has a specially close relationship with Édouard Manet, who painted several portraits of her, and she eventually married his brother.

Her art ofttimes focused on domestic scenes and she preferred working with pastels, watercolor, and charcoal. Working mainly in small scale, her light and airy work was oftentimes criticized as being too "feminine." Morisot wrote about her struggles to be taken seriously as a female artist in her periodical, stating "I don't think in that location has always been a man who treated a woman as an equal and that'southward all I would accept asked for, for I know I'm worth as much equally they."

Mary Cassatt (1844–1926)

"The Child's Bath" by Mary Cassatt. 1893. (Photo: Wikipedia, Public domain)

American painter Mary Cassatt spent her adult life in French republic, where she became an integral part of the Impressionist group. Cassatt was born into an affluent family who starting time protested against her want to become an artist. She eventually left art school afterwards being frustrated past the separate handling that the female students received—they couldn't employ live models and were left cartoon from casts.

Upon moving to Paris at historic period 22, Cassatt sought a private apprenticeship and spent her free time copying Old Master paintings in the Louvre. Cassatt's career was already taking off when she joined the Impressionists and forged a lifelong friendship with Degas. At the same time, she was outspoken in her dismay at the formal art system, which she felt required female person artists to flirt or befriend male person patrons in order to move ahead. She created her own career path with the Impressionists, mastering pastels to create soft, light work that oftentimes highlighted women acting as caretakers. Throughout her life, Cassatt continued to support equality for women, fifty-fifty participating in an exhibition in back up of women's suffrage.

Georgia O'Keeffe (1887–1986)

As an artist at the forefront of American Modernism, Georgia O'Keeffe is 1 of the most historic female artists in history. Her early drawings and paintings led to bold experiments in abstraction, with her focus on painting to express her feelings ushering in an era of "Art for Fine art's Sake." During her lifetime, her career was intertwined with her husband, Alfred Stieglitz. While the renowned photographer espoused ideas that American art could equal that of Europe and that female painters could create art just as powerful as men, he also hindered interpretation of her work.

Stieglitz viewed creativity as an expression of sexuality and these thoughts, coupled with his intimate portraits of O'Keeffe, pushed forwards an idea that her close up paintings of flowers were metaphors for female person genitalia. It'southward a concept that the creative person has always denied, though her work is undoubtedly sensual. O'Keeffe spent much of her career combatting her art's interpretation solely as a reflection of her gender. Throughout her life she refused to participate in all-female art exhibitions, wishing to be defined simply as an creative person, free from gender.

Tamara de Lempicka (1898–1980)

Smoothen creative person Tamara de Lempicka is known for her highly stylized portraits and nudes that exemplify the Art Deco era. De Lempicka spent much of her career in France and the Usa, where her work was favored past aristocrats. Ane of her nearly famous paintings,Self-Portrait in a Green Bugatti, exemplifies the cool and detached nature of De Lempicka'south figures. In the work, which was created for the comprehend of a German fashion magazine, De Lempicka exudes independence and inaccessible beauty.

Her paintings often independent narratives of desire, seduction, and modern sensuality, making them revolutionary for their fourth dimension. De Lempicka enjoyed success until the outbreak of World War 2, but there was a resurgence of interest in her work as Art Deco became pop again in the 1960s. Her immediately recognizable style makes her a particular favorite among fans of Art Deco painters and today her piece of work is more popular than ever, with Madonna being a known collector of her paintings.

Frida Kahlo (1907–1954)

Currently, there's no other 20th-century female artist with a name equally recognizable atFrida Kahlo. While the drama of her tragic accident every bit a young adult female and her tumultuous relationship with husband Diego Rivera accept sometimes overshadowed her artistic abilities, there is no denying the power of her painting. She is specially known for her cocky-portraits, which deal with themes of identity, suffering, and the human body.

Though she was sometimes written about solely equally "Diego Rivera's married woman" during her lifetime, her artwork has simply gained momentum since her death. The most famous Frida Kahlo paintings belong to of import art museums effectually the world, while she has gained status every bit a champion of feminists, Chicanos, and the LGBT community.

Helen Frankenthaler (1928–2011)

Growing up in Manhattan, Helen Frankenthaler pursued painting studies at the Dalton Schoolhouse and Bennington College. She began her extensive exhibition career in 1952, with the display of her painting Mountains and Sea. Having studied under the artist Hans Hoffman, as a young creative person she became an important figure in the abstract expressionism artistic motion. Her paintings featured colorful, organic shapes. In the early on years of her career, these compositions tended to be centralized on the sheet. By the 1960s, Frankenthaler's works often encompassed the entire sheet. Her six-decades-worth of work displays a constant evolution in manner.

Today, Frankenthaler is remembered every bit a pioneer of colour field painting—a style which features large swaths of color equally the painting's "field of study." To achieve the effect of a wash of brilliant color, Frankenthaler thinned her paints with turpentine earlier applying them to the unprimed canvas. The result of this "soak stain" method was an nearly-watercolor-like appearance with color congenital in organic layers. Hers and similar works were included in the famous 1964 exhibit curated by art critic Clement Greenberg, entitled Post-Painterly Brainchild. Today, her work tin be found in about major American fine art museums.

June Leafage (1929–Present)

Built-in and raised in Chicago, June Leaf briefly trained at the IIT Constitute of Design before setting out to pursue her own independent learning in Paris at the tender historic period of xviii. In 1954, she returned to Illinois to obtain her bachelor'due south and master's degrees in Art Education. However, in 1958 she returned to Paris with funding for her artwork from a Fulbright. Over the years, she developed an allegorical style beyond several mediums. Through pen and ink drawings, canvas paintings, and kinetic sculpture, Leafage's piece of work embraces the abstract and unusual. Her piece of work often features the human body—often incorporating her own imagined easily into the work.

Leafage and her husband—filmmaker and photographer Robert Frank—split up their time between a Bleeker Street flat in New York and angling cottage in Nova Scotia. In 2016, the Whitney Museum of American Fine art held a retrospective on her piece of work entitled June Leaf: Thought Is Infinite. Although Frank passed away in 2019, Leaf nevertheless creates. In a 2016 interview with Women's Article of clothing Daily, she described her piece of work as a process of searching. She said, "Maybe I don't want public acclaim. I want to survive with that integrity that is and then precious to me. The fact that I could make that drawing [gesturing toward an easel] made me recall 'Oh practiced, y'all're still a scientist who can invent something that goes with your life.'"

This article has been edited and updated.

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