Female Visual Artists

Over the years, we welcomed more and more (current) calendars into our home. Was there initially only one lonesome wall calendar, there are now four and three desk calendars featuring one new page for each day. Our maybe most treasured calendar is the Harenberg Kunst Kalender, which features visual art from artists through the 18th and 21st centuries. It’s from a German publisher that Oliver’s mom kindly sends us each year.

The artist selection, maybe not unsurprisingly, is heavily male-dominated, and the more I am always delighted to see the works of female artists, the famous ones but also ones I’ve never heard of before. Each calendar page contains one art piece and, on the backside, a mini-biography, quotes, and the like. This tidbit of information often prompts me to want to know more and was also the motivation to put some of my musings together.

Are there any cool coffee table books featuring the works of female painters, and not just from the last 100 years? Who are the women who, despite a non-supporting society, excelled in their craft nonetheless? Especially during Women’s History Month, we would want to have a closer look:

• Great Women Painters
  [October 6, 2022]
  A sumptuous survey of over 300 women painters and their work spanning almost five centuries
  Available at Amazon, Word, and other retailers.

With over 300 portraits, this book is one that digs deeper than what’s been out there before. Looking at the publishing date, it’s also clear that it obviously took a while to get this project going, and I put this one on my wishlist.

• Women of Abstract Expressionism
  [ June 14, 2016]
  The celebrated survey of female Abstract Expressionist artists revealing the richness and lasting influence of their work.
  Available at Amazon
• Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?: 50th anniversary edition
  [February 16, 2021]
  The fiftieth anniversary edition of the essay that is now recognized as the first major work of feminist art theory―published together with author Linda Nochlin’s reflections three decades later.
  At Amazon.

And to get an overview of some of the most influential female visual artists, this article is an excellent read. They focus mostly on contemporary artists, but they start with one of my favorites from the past Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, and of course, also include Georgia O'Keeffe, who gets featured in a new exhibition at the MoMA starting April 9th through August 12, 2023. Georgia O'Keeffe is also the first woman artist who had a retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in 1946.

• 20 Female Artists You Need to Know
  Brush up on your history and get to know the women who have changed the art world forever.
  Harper’s Bazaar [MAY 30, 2020]

At glamglare, we feature many female musicians and producers, which is an important focus for us. Since we’re interested in arts in general, we also like to learn about female creators in other disciplines. What should we look into next, and what book recommendations do you have? (EN)

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Song Pick of the Day

Listen to/watch all seven songs on YouTube. Follow our daily updated playlists on YouTube and Spotify for the 50 latest Song Picks of the Day.

The brothers Alex and Andrew Jarson make lush pop music in Arizona under the name Body of Light. Their new song, “Never Ever,” is taken from their upcoming fourth album, Bitter Reflection. Lara Jones’ new song “Fig” is a high-energy electronic track “aimed to start a conversation about queer love.” For her upcoming EP of the same title, she worked with pioneering singer/producer Gazelle Twin.

RVG is a quartet from Melbourne, Australia. Their new song, “Squid,” is an intense throwback to early 80s post-punk. The Montreal trio Le Couleur is back with a new song, “Sentiments Neouveaux.” Their goal: “we are looking for a sensation, an exaltation, we want to be on the edge.”

John Kunkel records music under the name The New Divison. In 2005 he thought: “why aren’t there more synth bands?” and went on to change that. “Modern Life” is the title song of his just-released new album.

“epitaph” by LA singer and producer Ayleen Valentine  is a song about being in a hopeless state of loneliness. She says: “I wrote it at a time where i felt really lost and confused and although it didn’t give me clarity about my depression, it gave me an outlet for these feelings.” In “Path of Least Resistance,” the New York singer/songwriter Aisha Badru is in a dilemma: should she play safe or go for it? While the lyrics don’t give away the answer, the music and her voice do.

Albums of the Week

In addition to the new album by The New Division, we also want to highlight Big Tear by Amsterdam-based singer/songwriter Pitou, an album to be meant "comfort and inspiration for people who feel stuck." Also, London-based musician Eaves Wilder has released her debut EP Hookey with four power pop tracks. (OB)

Nine Photos of IBEYI

Last week we were super-excited to see the French-Cuban sister duo Ibeyi again live on stage. We saw them a few times in 2015 after they just released their self-titled debut, my favorite album in 2015. They have released two more albums since then, and while they certainly have grown up, the sister-to-sister intimacy was still there, particularly when they played the old songs. However, the stage setup was an odd choice because the two musicians of the backing band were set up front end center on illuminated risers, while the stars of the show had their instruments squeezed on the side, out of focus. (OB)

Following our recent feature, Excited About: Ibeyi back on Stage in the U.S.