Discardo Ergo Sum Knife Rose, 2019 © Renate Bertlmann. Acquired for the Collection with the support of the Stronger, Safer Gloucester Partnership. Image courtesy of Richard Saltoun.
From the Collection
Objects from the Feminist Avant Garde – on display until 27 April 2025
The 1970s feminists of the avant-garde created ground-breaking art that reshaped the cultural landscape and challenged the deeply patriarchal societal structures.
Using a variety of media, including photography, video, and performance art, they deconstructed traditional female stereotypes and asserted their own agency.
Confronting themes of female identity, sexuality and the constricting roles imposed by society, they used their own bodies as tools for artistic expression, often subverting and reclaiming the objectified female form.
Against a backdrop of magazine adverts depicting perfect housewives and mothers, this special display features items from our Collection showing how artists shattered these stereotypes. Some of the objects are recent acquisitions and on display for the first time, including a rare recording “Whare Freundschaft” by VALIE EXPORT and Monsti Wiener from 1978.
“Woman is so often the object of art, she is seldom and only reluctantly permitted to speak or portray herself” Birgit Jürgenssen, April 1974
in Birgit Jürgenssen edited by Gabriele Schor and Abigail Solomon-Godeau, Hatje-Cantz, 2009
Featured Artists
- Birgit Jürgenssen
- Cindy Sherman
- Helene Almeida
- ORLAN
- Renate Bertlmann
- Suzy Lake
- VALIE EXPORT
Le Slow de L’Artiste CD by ORLAN
