Art and Crafts

The contributions by U.S. women to the fields of art and crafts have been significant. Throughout our country's history, women artists have been innovators of style and leaders of movements, blazing a trail for others to follow. Though they often have faced societal disapproval, inadequate educational opportunities, and exclusion by art historians, their determination has only been strengthened by these obstacles, making their achievements all the more meaningful.

Early U.S. society allowed few women outlets for personal expression; therefore most women turned to crafts as the only accepted means of creative expression. These women, largely anonymous, still left us a window into their world. Since no written history ever focused on the lives and experiences of women, crafts became a communication of sorts, through which women told their personal stories.

Hundreds of years before European settlers arrived in this land, Native American women had been creating striking examples of art and crafts: ceramic pottery for storage, woven basket trays for religious ceremonies, intricate embroidery for clothing, and blankets for warmth. Their bold use of color and abstract design is still appreciated and appropriated today.

For the first European settlers, a woman's craftwork meant the very survival of her family. All were dependent on the woman of the house to weave fabric, spin and dye yarn, sew clothes and blankets, knit stockings and scarves—all by hand—to keep them warm and clothed. These items were so valuable that they were used until they literally wore out, the scraps saved to make pieced quilts.

African American women relied on their craftwork as well, not only as a means of personal survival but for the survival of their heritage. Robbed of their homeland and their freedom, slaves fought to keep their African roots alive through songs, narratives, crafts, and so on. Though their craftwork for the plantation households mimicked European styles, the items slave women made for their own personal use had a strong African design sense. Motifs and techniques used in the creation of textiles, quilts, and baskets remained close to the African traditions. Even today, African American basket weaving in South Carolina differs little from original African examples.

As the United States began to grow and prosper, a demand for art grew out of the desire of merchants and landowners to have a tangible record of their wealth. Women artists were active in both portrait styles of the day. One style, adhering to formal European aesthetics, was represented by artists such as Henrietta Johnston; the other, a naive country style, unaware of art theory altogether, can be seen in the charming watercolors of Eunice Pinney, Mary Ann Willson, and of Deborah Goldsmith—one of the few itinerant women artists.

Crafts at this time also mirrored the country's increasing wealth. Women of the upper classes now had leisure time to create intricately embroidered bed hangings, petticoats, and seat cushions, as well as woven coverlets and stitched quilts.

The greatest challenge facing women artists as they entered the nineteenth century was the lack of proper education. Young ladies' academies, where craft skills such as embroidery were taught, flourished at this time, but true art education for women was not equal to that available to men. Not surprisingly many women who had become successful artists up until that time were related to well-known male artists.

Society considered it unthinkable for women to draw from the nude figure, as it would undoubtedly endanger their delicate sensibilities. As the century progressed art schools such as the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and the National Academy of Design opened their doors to women students. In 1868 women were allowed to draw from the female nude; in 1877, the male nude. It was not until well into the twentieth century, however, that drawing classes became coeducational.

Despite these drawbacks women artists made great strides during this period. Ann Hall, known for her delicate miniature paintings, was the first woman to become a full member of the National Academy of Design. Sarah Miriam Peale was a leading portraitist in Baltimore and St. Louis, forgoing marriage and motherhood to dedicate herself to her craft. Of African and Native ancestry, Edmonia Lewis became the first Black sculptor to receive white recognition and joined a group of U.S. women sculptors in Rome, where Ulysses S. Grant posed for her.

The late nineteenth century was an exciting time both for art and for crafts. Traveling abroad became an option chosen by more women art students, such as May Alcott, sister of Louisa May Alcott, an academic painter who exhibited in the Paris Salon and even wrote a guidebook for U.S. women interested in studying in Paris. Mary Cassatt became our nation's first impressionist, working alongside the leading men in the movement. Women such as Alice Austen even ventured into the new and relatively unknown world of photography.

The arts and crafts movement, started in England during the 1870s, helped lift crafts to the level of art for the first time in the modern world. The movement, a reaction to the aesthetic void created by the Industrial Revolution, sought to return to the days when items were skillfully and lovingly made by hand. Socially prominent women, seeing this not only as a chance to support the arts but also as a way to advance women's causes, brought the theories of the arts and crafts movement to the United States. Upper-class, middle-class, rural, and immigrant women were recruited to put their craft skills to use in any number of the many women's industries that sprang up around the country (for example, the Cincinnati Women's Pottery Club, the Providence Handicraft Club, and the Society of Decorative Art of New York City). The arts and crafts movement ultimately came to an end in the early twentieth century when it could no longer compete with more affordable manufactured items, but the legitimacy it brought to crafts would endure.

The twentieth century was a time of great change, for the country, the art world, and the lives of women. The success of the suffrage movement, as well as increased work and educational opportunities, indicates the changing role of women in U.S. society. A new artistic freedom arose as the strict aesthetic ideals of the nineteenth century faded. Painter Georgia O'Keeffe, whose career spanned most of the century, signified this new freedom by creating a style all her own. Margaret Bourke-White, Dorothea Lange, and Diane Arbus became strong new voices in the field of photography. And a revival in the interest of Native American crafts brought to light the work of craftswomen such as Pueblo potters Maria Montoya Martinez and Helen Cordero, the inventor of the storyteller figure.

Hawaii became a U.S. territory in 1900 and Hawaiian traditional craftwork gained greater notice on the mainland. Intricately woven mats and baskets were appreciated for their fine workmanship, while the Hawaiian women's unique twist on quilting—bright, cut-out patterns appliquéd onto a white top—created a distinctive style.

The 1930s was an incredibly active time for artists and craftspeople in the United States and a period unique in U.S. history for its opportunities for women. Federally funded arts programs such as the Federal Art Project and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) had strict equal opportunity hiring standards so women artists were fairly represented. Women, in numbers unheard of up until this time, were commissioned to create public murals, sculptures, and mosaics, and hired to lead administrative and decision-making groups. African American sculptor Augusta Savage served as the director of the Harlem Community Art Center, one of the largest of the many community art centers set up around the country under the WPA.

The decades following World War II saw the decline of these federally funded art projects, and with them the equal opportunities for women artists. But these years were also some of the most exciting times in terms of art. The United States became the center of the art world as leading international artists fled turmoil in their own countries. Women artists seized the opportunity to study with artists such as Arshile Gorky, Hans Hofmann, and Anni Albers, the famous Bauhaus weaver whose abstract works first hinted at the future of fiber art. Lee Krasner and Elaine de Kooning were active in the abstract expressionist movement, while Louise Nevelson and Louise Bourgeois helped redefine U.S. sculpture.

The feminist movement of the 1960s and 1970s brought to light injustices against women in all walks of life; the art world was no exception. Though women historically had been active participants in all major art movements, they were rarely mentioned in art history texts or included in museum exhibitions.

Women artists joined together, demanding their fair share of gallery and museum space as well as critical evaluation of their work. Colleges, such as the California Institute of the Arts, began teaching courses on women's art. Women's art journals and cooperative galleries flourished.

Feminist artists turned the male-dominated art world on its ear, challenging all its established formulas. Painter Sylvia Sleigh reversed the traditional roles of "clothed male painter, female nude model," and instead painted a series of lounging nude males. Artists such as Judy Chicago and Miriam Schapiro adopted a female "language" by incorporating traditional craft materials such as fabric, thread, and ceramics into their art.

This use of craft materials brought about a revival of crafts as art. Innovative fiber artists such as Lenore Tawney and Sheila Hicks wove, twisted, and tied fabric into large sculptural forms. Potters Toshiko Takaezu and Karen Karnes turned clay into sensuous forms, covered in slips of glaze, opaque, transparent or iridescent. Black women artists were creating powerful, politically charged artwork at this time, though they received only limited support from both the feminist movement, because of racism, and the civil rights movement, because of sexism.

The strong artistic legacy of sculptor Edmonia Lewis of the nineteenth century was followed by the twentieth-century work of painter Lois Mailou Jones and sculptor Augusta Savage of the Harlem Renaissance, as well as color field artist Alma Thomas. These women paved the way for sculptors Elizabeth Catlett and Barbara Chase-Riboud, assemblage artist Betye Saar, and Faith Ringgold, whose own use of craft materials spoke of both Black and female experience.

Ethnic pride as a subject matter in modern art spread as Latina artists also began to examine their roots and reclaim their artistic heritage. Muralists Judith Baca and Judithe Hernandez and printmakers Carmen Lomas Garza and Linda Vallejo drew upon experiences in their communities and created images of hope for the future.

The feminist art movement made a difference. In today's art world—known as postmodern—art is no longer a mere examination of aesthetic questions but an evaluation of society. Art is an opinion; the art world is the forum. Women artists use their work to fight discrimination against women, people of color, lesbians, and gays.

The acceptable means of expression have grown dramatically. Dolls, lipstick, even chocolate, are used in collages, installations, and performance art. Sexist images in popular culture are confronted in Cindy Sherman's photographs and Barbara Kruger's thought-provoking text laid over black-and-white images. And activist groups such as Guerrilla Girls post statistics in exhibition spaces and on the streets documenting the sexism and racism still prevalent in the art culture.

Film and video art is another popular medium for women artists today. This medium allows women a more direct way to illustrate their visions, tell their personal stories, or starkly portray the prejudice they may have encountered throughout their lives. Active contemporary filmmakers include Asian Americans Shu Lea Cheang and Christine Chang, African American Julie Dash, Mexican American Lourdes Portillo, lesbian Sadie Benning, and African American lesbians Michelle Parkerson and Cheryl Dunyé.

Increased research and scholarship in women's art and crafts are another important result of the feminist art movement. In the past women artists and craftspeople were rarely mentioned in relevant art books. Today libraries and research centers abound. Courses on women's art are taught regularly in art history departments of major universities around the country. The American Craft Museum and the American Craft Council, both in New York City, are dedicated to the further study and appreciation of U.S. crafts.

Finally, after years of hard work and self-sacrifice, the monumental achievements of women artists and craftspeople are being acknowledged. The stories of this country's talented mothers, daughters, and sisters will continue to inspire generations of creative women to come.

Eileen Boris, "Crossing Boundaries: The Gendered Meaning of the Arts and Crafts," The Ideal Home 1900-1920: The History of 20th Century American Craft (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1993); Charlotte Streifer Rubinstein, American Women Artists from Early Indian Times to the Present (Boston: G. K. Hall & Co., 1982).

Marie Luise Proeller

See also Art Criticism; Decorative Arts; Film; Guerrilla Girls; Painting; Photography; Quilting; Sculpture.