Art History 101: 15 Women Artists From History
I’m sharing some women artists who don’t get as much recognition as the male artists from their time. It was an absolute pleasure to research each of these trail-blazing women and learn about their lives.
There is much more to them than the few-sentence summary I provided, so I encourage you to check out the source(s) for each artist to learn more about their life both inside and outside of the art world.
I hope you enjoy getting to know each artist as much as I did and would love to hear your favorites from this list – leave them in the comments at the bottom!
1. Adélaïde Labille-Guiard (1749-1803)
Self-Portrait with Two Pupils
Adélaïde Labille-Guiard was a French artist who grew up in Paris. Not only did she exhibit her work multiple times, but she also taught young women artists.
She was admitted to the Acedéme Royale, where only four women were eligible for membership at that time.
Labille-Guiard began her artistic career as a miniaturist working with pastels, then eventually created full-scale oil portrait paintings.
Source: Met Museum
2. Alma Thomas (1891-1978)
Delightful Song by Red Dahlia (1976)
Alma Thomas was a Black, American artist born in Georgia, but she moved to Washington, D.C. with her family at the age of fifteen.
She came into the art scene in the 1960s after retiring from her career as an art teacher. Thomas worked with acrylic and watercolor, creating colorful mosaic-style paintings influenced by the Color Field paintings (e.g., Morris Louis).
Source: American Art
3. Angelica Kauffman (1741-1807)
Self-portrait (ca. 1770-1775)
Angelica Kauffman was born in Switzerland and started her art career in her early teens as a portrait artist. She was a child prodigy and trained by her father who was a muralist.
She traveled often as her father’s assistant but spent 16 years in London where she gained great success as an artist.
4. Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1654 or later)
Judith Slaying Holofernes (c. 1612-1613)
TW: Sexual Assault
Artemisia Gentileschi was an Italian Baroque artist born in Rome. In 1616, she was the first woman to ever gain membership in the Academy of the Arts of Drawing.
Gentileschi is a survivor of rape, committed by Agostino Tassi, which led to an infamous court trial in 1612 where Tassi was found guilty. In her most famous work (pictured), she depicts the beheading of Holofernes. A gorgeous painting I saw at the Uffizi in Florence, Italy.
Some scholars think of this painting as “visual revenge” following her rape, but others argue it is “Gentileschi’s achievement in portraying strong women” (Wikipedia).
Sources: National Gallery London | Wikipedia
5. Barbara Hepworth (1903-1975)
Pelagos (1946) © Bowness
Barbara Hepworth was born in Yorkshire England and worked as a sculptor during her five-decade art career. She studied at both the Leeds School of Art and the Royal College of Art in London.
Hepworth’s sculptures are abstracted forms focused on human relationships and sculpted from natural materials (e.g., wood, stone, bronze, etc.).
Source: Tate Britain
6. Berthe Morisot (1841-1895)
The Cage (1885) | Photo by Lee Stalsworth
Berthe Morisot was a French painter who began taking art classes as a child. She spent time copying old masters in the Louvre and was taught plein-air painting by her teacher, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot.
Morisot was the only woman who had her work displayed at the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874, alongside renowned artists, such as Edgar Degas, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Claude Monet.
7. Cecelia Beaux (1855-1942)
Self-Portrait (1894)
Cecelia Beaux was a Philadelphia artist who began making a living through her art career at 18 years old.
She studied portraiture for just over a year in Europe, then returned to Philadelphia to continue her career as a portrait artist.
Beaux had her work exhibited in the U.S., Paris, and London. She was awarded the Gold Medal at Exposition Universelle, Paris, as well as the Chi Omega fraternity’s gold medal, presented to her by First Lady Eleanor Rosevelt.
8. Clara Peeters (1594-after 1657)
Still Life of Fish and Cat (after 1920)
Clara Peeters was an artist from Antwerp, Belgium.
While there is not much information about her life, her earliest paintings were dated in the early 1600s when she would have been about 14 years old. She was painting large still lifes in great detail by the age of 18.
It is believed she was trained by a master painter due to her great skill, but it is not known for certain.
9. Edmonia Lewis (1884-1907)
Anna Quincy Waterston (1866)
TW: Violence
Edmonia Lewis was the first professional African-American sculptor, working in the mid-late 1800s. She was either born in Ohio or New York and lived with her mother’s tribe, the Chippewas, until she was 12 years old.
Lewis attended Oberlin College in Ohio but was accused of poisoning her two white roommates and was not allowed to graduate. She was, of course, acquitted of the poisoning, but white people who believed her to be guilty still severely beat her.
She moved to Boston where she began studying to be a sculptor and created/sold portrait busts of abolitionists to fund her move to Europe. Her unique style of sculpture stemmed from her African-American and Native American-heritage.
Source: American Art
10. Elaine de Kooning (1918-1989)
Self-Portrait (1946)
Elaine de Kooning was an American Abstract Expressionist artist born in New York City.
Not only was she an artist herself, but she was also an art critic and wrote many articles about other artists. Her work was lively and energetic and she is quoted saying, “A painting to me is primarily a verb, not a noun.”
Sources: Art Net | National Museum of Women in the Arts
11. Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun (1755-1842)
Self Portrait in a Straw Hat (1782)
Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun was a French artist born in Paris who was already getting portrait commissions by the age of 15.
She joined Académie de St Luc after having her art materials seized at the age of 19 because she had been working as a professional artist without membership in an academy or guild.
Le Brun became a portrait artist for Queen Marie-Antoinette and painted over 30 portraits of her.
Source: National Gallery London
12. Ellen Thesleff
On the Beach, Forte dei Marmi (1913) © Ateneum Art Museum
Ellen Thesleff was a Finnish painter who attended the Art Society Drawing School in Helsinki. She then traveled to Paris to continue her studies before traveling to Italy.
Thesleff was part of the group that introduced Impressionism to Finland after being influenced by it during her time in Paris.
Sources: Clark Art | Aware Women Artists
13. Frida Kahlo (1907-1954)
The Two Fridas (1939)
Frida Kahlo is one of the most well-known artists in history. She was born in Mexico and lived there most of her life.
Kahlo began painting at 18 years old after she was in a car accident that resulted in a long hospital stay. Her paintings were mostly self-portraits in a surrealist style, although she did not consider herself a surrealist.
she dealt with chronic pain her whole life after the accident, but persevered, even showing up at her first solo show in an ambulance and laying in a bed throughout the evening.
Source: Biography.com
14. Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986)
Music – Pink and Blue No.1 (1918)
Georgia O’Keeffe was an American artist who worked during the 20th century. She is most known for her large, close-up flower paintings and her New Mexico desert series.
O’Keeffe studied at both the Art Institute of Chicago and the Art Students League in New York. She continued painting into her 90s, despite being almost blind, with the help of a few assistants. O’Keeffe lived to be 98 years old.
Source: O’Keeffe Museum
15. Helen Frankenthaler (1928-2011)
Mountains and Sea (1952)
Helen Frankenthaler was an abstract painter who was born in New York. She was a leader in the art world, transitioning from Abstract Expressionism to Color Field painting.
Frankenthaler was an experimental artist and even created her own technique, coined “the soak-stain technique.” She experimented with ceramics, tapestry, printmaking, and sculpture, although her paintings are what most people know today.
Source: Gagosian