Focus

Monumental feminist works in the public space
Private space, public space
09.08.2018 | Louise Sénéchal

Jenny Holzer, Protect me from what I want, from Survival (1983–85), 1985, electronic panel, 6.1 x 12.2 m, Times Square, New York, © Photo: John Marchael, © Jenny Holzer, © ADAGP, Paris

In 1967, Niki de Saint Phalle (1930-2002) built her first Nana-Maison and started to occupy public places with round, colourful female figures, restoring their place to women creators in towns which had mainly been occupied by men. “The flourishing of her colossal urban art corresponds in the same way to the arrival on the public scene of the women’s rights protest movement of which she forged a plastic equivalent,” explained art historian, Fabienne Dumont. At a time when the fields of sculpture and architecture were considered as masculine, women artists recaptured public places by installing monumental works, refusing the domesticity to which they were confined. It was a way of showing that women are capable of the same achievements as men: “I obey my pressing need to show that a woman can work on monumental scale,” said Niki de Saint Phalle regarding the creation of her sculpture park, Le Jardin des Tarots (1978-1998).

Feminist artists who create monumental works for public places wished to offer a more democratic art in tune with inhabitants. To do this, some first took over the streets in a non-conventional fashion by directly addressing passersby. They flooded towns with their messages: In 1978, using 54 NI panels, Tania Mouraud (b. 1942) indicated all the places in Paris from which women were excluded, and as of 1977, Jenny Holzer (b. 1950) showcased her Truismes. Others used monumental advertising posters: in 1989, the Guerrilla Girls asked: “Do women have to be naked to get into the Met. Museum?”, and Barbara Kruger (b. 1945) used the phrase: “Your body is a battleground” to protect abortion rights in the United States, a slogan that French urban artist, Miss.Tic, would reuse in 2000 in Paris.

Other artists with feminist preoccupations have had works commissioned by government bodies, for which they have produced monumental sculptures: Niki de Saint Phalle and Jean Tinguely (1925-1991) in 1983 with the Fontaine Stravinsky in Paris; Louise Bourgeois (1911-2010) in 2005 with her spiders called Maman; Monica Bonvicini (b. 1965), in 2010, with She Lies, a floating structure opposite the Oslo Opera, Joana Vasconcelos (b. 1971)in 2018 with Cœur de Paris at Porte de Clignancourt, on tramway line T3 in Paris.

Feminist artists also give written and visual portrayals of the demands heard in the demonstrations of the 1960s and 1970s. Viewers are thus confronted with works by women which are more and more imposing and more and more perennial. These women creators of an inclusive town thus give women a right to express themselves in public.

Artists
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1950 | United States
Jenny Holzer - AWARE

Jenny Holzer

1930 — France | 2002 — United States
Niki de Saint Phalle - AWARE

Niki de Saint Phalle

1942 | France
Tania Mouraud - AWARE

Tania Mouraud

1971 | France
Joana Vasconcelos - AWARE

Joana Vasconcelos

1985 | United States
Guerrilla Girls - AWARE

Guerrilla Girls

1965 | Italy
Monica Bonvicini - AWARE

Monica Bonvicini

1945 | United States
Barbara Kruger - AWARE

Barbara Kruger

1939 — 2015 | United States
Rosemarie Castoro - AWARE

Rosemarie Castoro

1932 | Canada
Dorothea Rockburne - AWARE

Dorothea Rockburne

1859 — 1926 | France
Blanche Adèle Moria - AWARE

Blanche Adèle Moria

1967 | Senegal
Fatou Kiné Diakhaté - AWARE

Fatou Kiné Diakhaté

1967 | United States
Simone Leigh - AWARE

Simone Leigh

1942 — 2008 | Argentina
Mildred Burton - AWARE

Mildred Burton

1958 | Colombia
Doris Salcedo - AWARE

Doris Salcedo

1957 | France
Élisabeth Ballet - AWARE

Élisabeth Ballet

1961 | United States
Zoe Leonard - AWARE

Zoe Leonard

1963 | United Kingdom
Rachel Whiteread - AWARE

Rachel Whiteread

1875 — 1942 | United States
Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney - AWARE

Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney

1929 — Poland | 1999 — France
Lea Lublin - AWARE

Lea Lublin

1955 | Canada
Geneviève Cadieux - AWARE

Geneviève Cadieux

1948 | Lithuania
Esther Shalev-Gerz - AWARE

Esther Shalev-Gerz

1942 | United States
Joyce Kozloff - AWARE

Joyce Kozloff

1949 | Turkey
Ayşe Erkmen - AWARE

Ayşe Erkmen

1964 | Martinique, France
Valérie John - AWARE

Valérie John

1945 | United States
Jean LaMarr - AWARE

Jean LaMarr

1939 — 1988 | Japan
Sayako Kishimoto - AWARE

Sayako Kishimoto

1957 | Canada
Dominique Blain - AWARE

Dominique Blain

1934 — Germany | 2021 — France
Irmgard Sigg - AWARE

Irmgard Sigg

1973 | Germany
Nadia Lichtig - AWARE

Nadia Lichtig

1945 — 2022 | Argentina
Graciela Gutiérrez Marx - AWARE

Graciela Gutiérrez Marx

1973 | France
Emmanuelle Lainé - AWARE

Emmanuelle Lainé

1934 | Belgium
Marianne Berenhaut - AWARE

Marianne Berenhaut

1945 | United Kingdom
Maggi Hambling - AWARE

Maggi Hambling

1973 | United States
Erika Vogt - AWARE

Erika Vogt

1970 | United Kingdom
Jenny  Saville - AWARE

Jenny Saville

1972 | Japan
Chiharu Shiota - AWARE

Chiharu Shiota

1940 — 2021 | Zimbabwe
Helen Lieros - AWARE

Helen Lieros

? |
Céline Condorelli - AWARE

Céline Condorelli

1906 — Iraq | 1986 — Lebanon
Mouazzaz Rawda - AWARE

Mouazzaz Rawda

1948 | Chile
Cecilia Vicuña - AWARE

Cecilia Vicuña

1946 | USA
Lita Albuquerque - AWARE

Lita Albuquerque

1929 — 2014 | Japan
Aiko Miyawaki - AWARE

Aiko Miyawaki

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