AWARE celebrates 1,000 women artists

 

AWARE celebrates 1,000 women artists

Since its creation in 2014, AWARE has worked to make women artists of the 19th and 20th centuries visible by producing and posting free bilingual (French/English) content about their work on its website. Among these, is a directory of biographies of women artists from around the world born between 1790 and 1972 working in visual arts, in all media. The AWARE website has reached 1,000 published biographies of women artists such as Miriam Cahn, Joan Mitchell, Niki de Saint Phalle, and Frida Khalo, precious resources that shed light on the artistic work of women. 1,000 women artists from all over the world already published The AWARE website has now published 1,000 biographies of internationally recognized women artist such as Camille Claudel, Tamara de Lempicka, Belkis Ayon, Maria Auxiliadora da Silva, Toshi Maruki, Felicia Aban, and Teresa Tyszkiewicz. Providing reliable biographical texts written by experts, biographies were originally taken from the Dictionnaire universel des créatrices published in 2013 thanks to a partnership with Editions des Femmes - Antoinette Fouque. Today, many artists biographies are published thanks to our partnerships with museums, universities, and cultural seasons in France and abroad. Others are published within the context of rigorous research programs in collaboration with hundreds of art historians from all parts of the world contributing to the growing development of AWARE’s database, with new artist profiles and research articles published online every week.

Map of artists published on the AWARE website

Content to help discover the lives and work of women artists In addition to the biographic records published on its site, AWARE also offers a wide range of content - podcasts, an animated series for children. Produced by AWARE, two podcast series “Les grandes dames de l’art” (Great women of art) and “Women house” gives voice to women artists by reading texts excerpts. The animated series “Little stories of great women artists” offers children 3-minute animated videos centred on the careers of women artists.

Podcats “Great women of art” about the artist Niki de Saint Phalle © Fanny Michaëlis

“Great women of art” podcast series The podcast “Great women of art” gives voice to women artists of the twentieth century : Niki de Saint Phalle, Louise Bourgeois, Germaine Richier or Anna-Eva Bergman talk about their works and their lives. Produced by AWARE, the podcast series “Great women of art” is narrated by Camille Morineau and produced in partnership with the Institut national de l’audiovisuel, with the support of the Maison Veuve Clicquot and the Délégation à la transmission, aux territoires et à la démocratie culturelle of the Ministère de la Culture. The illustrations for the episodes of “Great women of art” are by the artist Fanny Michaëlis. “Women House” podcast series Initiated by AWARE in the spring of 2020 in response to the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown, the “Women House” podcast explores stories of confinement, whether forced or voluntary. Each episode invites a reader to bring to life a text by an author of her choice. A project produced by AWARE and made possible with the support of Belinda de Gaudemar. Podcats “Great women of art” about the artist Gisèle Freund © Fanny Michaëlis Animated series “Little stories of great women artists” “Little stories of great women artists” is an original project of entertaining and educational animated videos, intended for children. The objective of each episode is to introduce the life and work of a woman artist from the 19th or 20th century. Conceived by the scriptwriter Sophie Caron, each story conveys the originality of an approach, its importance within an artistic movement, certain decisive biographical episodes as well as the difficulties that the artist may have encountered. Animated series “Little stories of great women artists” about the artists Frida Kahlo and Camille Claudel © Tous droits réservés And also ... In order to widely disseminate research on women artists, AWARE organises symposia, round tables and seminars in France and abroad in collaboration with universities and museums. In order to pay tribute to women whose artistic careers have not been fully celebrated and artistic creation, each year the AWARE Prizes for Women Artists are presented in partnership with France’s Ministry of Culture. Bibliographic resources on women artists and feminist art are also available. Certain of these resources are available for consultation by appointment at AWARE’s Centre in Paris – which brings together more than 3,000 references. Exterior view of the Villa Vassilieff where AWARE is based © Philippe Piron, Matali Crasset, ADAGP About AWARE AWARE : Archives of Women Artists, Research and Exhibitions is a non-profit organization co-founded by President Nathalie Rigal and research director Camille Morineau. AWARE’s ambition is to rewrite the history of art by placing women on equal footing with their male counterparts and making their work better known. Today, most contributions to our website are thanks to AWARE’s international networks that work to better represent women artists from historically overlooked regions of the world and address issues such as the Western/Non-Western dichotomy and the erasure of minority artists and their work : TEAM : Teaching, E-learning, Agency, Mentoring is an international academic network, coordinated by Maura Reilly, whose goal is to collect and publish resources on women artists produced by academics. It allows AWARE to enrich its website, priority to geographical areas which are still under-represented, and to support the training of a new generation of art historians sensitive to gender issues and the place of women artists. AMIS : AWARE Museum Initiative and Support is the first initiative that brings together museums from around the world to collect and share research on women artists produced for exhibitions and acquisitions. Women Artists in Japan : 19th – 21st century is a three-year research programme that seeks to highlight the artistic production and contributions of women artists in Japan within a global cultural history. The project builds on previous scholarship to continue to reveal the presence of Japanese women artists from the 19th century until today, within all artistic movements. The Origin of Others. Rewriting Art History in the Americas, 19th Century – Today, organized in partnership with the Clark Art Institute, is a multifaceted three-year research project focusing on Black and Indigenous women artists in three broad geographical zones : Latin America, the Caribbean, and the United States. The program title references the series of essays by the author Toni Morrison, published in 2017. Index referencing the 1,000 biographies of women artists to discover online : awarewomenartists.com/en/artistes_femmes/