L’Avantguarda Feminista dels anys 70. Obres de la VERBUND COLLECTION, Viena

Socio-political upheaval

The exhibition shows how artists in the USA, Europe, South America and Asia created their own ‘image of the woman’ from the perspective of the woman for the first time on a collective basis in the 1970s. This important artistic movement with multifaceted flows had previously received too little attention in art history. For this reason, founding director Gabriele Schor coined the umbrella term “Feminist Avant-Garde” in 2010 and introduced it to the art history discourse at the start of the exhibition tour in order to emphasise the pioneering work done by these female artists. The feminist art movement of the 1970s is often referred to as a “feminist revolution”. Although the feminist movement actually brought about a socio-political revolution of traditional values, the term “Feminist Avant-Garde”, in contrast, aims at correcting art history. Our idea of the male dominate avant-garde is expanded and the female pioneers are successfully included in the canon of art history.

Many female artists who were born during and after the war emancipated themselves from the role of muse and model in the 1970s, i.e. they emancipated themselves from the status of object towards being a subject that actively participates in social and political processes. One-dimensional role assignments as mother, housewife and wife were questioned ironically and radically. Central issues were the enjoyment of female sexuality, the use of one’s own body, clichés and stereotypes of an outdated image of women, the diktat of beauty as well as violence towards women. The rejection of traditional, normative concepts connects the commitment of the female artists of this generation.

The exhibition is therefore divided into five themed areas:

Reduction to the roles of housewife, wife and mother
Locked in – Breakout
Diktat of beauty
Female sexuality
Role-plays

 Photos: © CCCB, 2019. La Fotogràfica