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Archives of Women Artists Research & Exhibitions a W A A Archives W A of Women Artists R Research E & Exhibitions A W A R E Press kit Foreword 2 Let’s consider this for a minute: how many women artists are Camille Morineau, there, hiding behind the Great Masters of Art History? co-founder and chairwoman of AWARE How many were forgotten in favour of their male counterparts? Current, Paris-based, director of exhibitions and collections at the The few women artists we know of today have only just Monnaie de Paris, she has worked recently come to the public’s attention: Sonia Delaunay for twenty years in public cultural waited half a century to be brought out of the shadow of her institutions in France, ten of which husband Robert… Louise Bourgeois was 96 years old when the were at the Centre Pompidou as a curator of the contemporary musée national d’Art moderne – Centre Pompidou held its first collections. She has been the curator of French retrospective of her work… Niki de Saint Phalle enjoyed numerous exhibitions and the hanging a certain degree of fame during her lifetime, but mainly for her elles@centrepompidou (2009-2011) Nanas, despite the fact that her whole body of work was far dedicated solely to female artists from the collections of the musée national more complex… Only in 2005 was Annette Messager the first d’art moderne. She was also the woman to be chosen to represent France at the Venice Biennale, curator of the comprehensive survey also winning the Golden Lion prize that same year… of Niki de Saint Phalle at the Grand Hundreds, thousands of women artists have sunken into Palais in Paris and the Guggenheim Bilbao and of the exhibitions L’autre oblivion simply because their work was neither shown, continent. Femmes, artistes, africaines acknowledged, celebrated in major exhibitions, nor officially at Museum d’histoire naturelle in rewarded. Le Havre (2016) and Women House at Monnaie de Paris (2017-2018). These are the reasons why I created AWARE: Archives of Women Artists, Research and Exhibitions in 2014, so that we could rewrite art history from a more gender-equal perspective. It is high time we place women artists at the same level as their male counterparts by bringing their work into the spotlight. Camille Morineau A few dates on the visibility of © Photo : Christophe Beauregard women artists in the 20th century 1 900 1 97 1 First studio for women opens at the Exhibition Where We At. Black Women Less than 20% of solo exhibitions École nationale supérieure des beaux- Artists. 1971 at Acts of Art Galleries in between 2007 and 2014 were devoted arts in France. New York. to women artists at MoMA and LACMA, and 30% at the Whitney 1 91 1 1 972 Museum. European institutions Sculptress Lucienne Heuvelmans is Exhibition Womanhouse organised by show similar numbers, with less the first woman to be awarded the Judy Chicago and Miriam Schapiro, than 20% at the Centre Pompidou Grand Prix de Rome in art. co-founders of the Feminist Art and barely more at Tate Modern Program in CalArts, Los Angeles. 1 953 London, according to the 2015 Exhibition Women in Art at the 1 982 statistics published by Maura Reilly Houston Contemporary Art Museum First retrospective exhibition of in ARTnews. (Texas). Louise Bourgeois at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Her first Only nineteen women in 2018 ranked 1 968 retrospective in France occurs only in among the artists with the highest British Bridget Riley is the first 2008 at the Centre Pompidou. worldwide visibility, according to woman to receive the International Artindex rankings. Prize at the Venice Biennale. 1 987 Opening of the National Museum of 1 97 1 Women in the Arts in Washington, Art historian Linda Nochlin writes D.C. the founding article “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?” in ARTnews. A WA R E PRESENTATION What is AWARE? 3 Works by women artists have seldom Backed by 4 programmes AWARE is a non-profit organisation been shown, acquired and discussed Who are They ? founded by 7 women from diverse throughout the 20th century despite The AWARE website backgrounds but all driven by the them being an animating force, (awarewomenartists.com) is a same enthusiasm: particularly in the avant-gardes. documentary platform in its own Margot Mérimée Dufourcq It is precisely this lack of information right, complete with illustrated LAW Y ER that makes the valorisation of their biographical presentations of Daphné Moreau work more difficult today. artists, academic articles on ongoing LAW Y ER This observation, shared by many art research, exhibition reviews, and a Camille Morineau historians and curators, is what led section listing current exhibitions CURATOR Camille Morineau, on the initiative featuring women artists, updated of the 100% women’s art exhibition daily. Elisabeth Pallas elles@centrepompidou held at the VIOLINIST Centre Pompidou in 2009-2010, to The creation of a documentation Nathalie Rigal found AWARE . centre AWARE, a resource centre LAW Y ER based in Paris, in partnership with Alexandra Vernier-Bogaert Restoring the presence of universities and the documentation PUBLIC ACCOUNTANT 20th-century women artists centres of major modern and Julie Wolkenstein in the history of art contemporary art museums, allows WRITER Archives of Women Artists, Research for the constitution of a documentary and Exhibitions is a non-profit collection of digital publications and organisation founded in 2014. resources aimed at consolidating Faced with the under-representation information on women artists. Six permanent staff members and of women in the art world, AWARE’s a team of volunteers, students, and aim is to balance out the presence of Let’s Talk about Them professionals from major cultural these women artists, these “forgotten In partnership with universities and institutions also contribute to its figures of art history”, in order to museums, AWARE organises round existence. improve their visibility through the tables, symposiums and study days in sharing of free access resources. France and abroad. And the AWARE The organisation promotes an Prizes for Women Artists reward an educational and professional emerging artist and a confirmed approach through partnerships with artist each year. universities and museums. Artists, collectors, institutions, Where are They? historians, students and the general AWARE organises each month public can use the archives to find the museum visits to discover women information they need about artists and their art. women artists of the 20th century. All about Them AWARE’s goal is to encourage the sharing of information on the works of women artists by way of printed publications intended for both the general and specialised public, particularly via the publication of artists’ interviews, the proceedings of the symposiums organised by AWARE every year. A WA R E PRESENTATION AWARE: a few key figures 4 4 4 symposiums 8 study days 19 round tables organised in France and abroad since 2014 1 A contemporary art award dedicated to women, with the exceptional support of 530 the French Ministry of Culture 530 biographical presentations of women artists published on the website, complete with exhibition reviews and abstracts of research dissertations 2 2 committees: a scientific committee, chaired by Bruno Racine and an editorial committee, chaired by Jean-Pierre Criqui 1,800 More than 1,800 international exhibitions, monographic and collective, of women artists, listed on the website. 4 4 programmes 2,000 More than 2,000 books references on women artists, feminist art and theory, consulted by appointment at the documentation centre 11 11 free visits, accessible to all, organised every year in museums, to reveal the works of women artists 20,000 An average of 20,000 monthly visitors on the website A WA R E WHO ARE T HEY? A website and a documentation centre dedicated to 20th-century 5 women artists The website The documentation centre In order to give more visibility to AWARE’s website is paired with 20th-century women artists and a documentation centre in Paris rewrite a more gender-equal art which had compiled more than 2,000 history, AWARE works towards references – monographs, exhibition the promotion of resources and catalogues, essays, and reviews – on information on women artists around women artists, feminist art and the world, both in French theory. and English. The AWARE website (awarewomenartists.com) is a free- The documentation centre is access work tool which features the currently being developed with organisation’s latest news and gathers donations, exchanges, and information and collective initiatives acquisitions. on the subject. The site also highlights ongoing The documentation centre is open exhibitions organised by museums to researchers and students from in the Exhibitions section, updated Monday to Friday. To make an daily. The Magazine section offers appointment, please contact us at interviews, reports, articles written by [email protected] researchers, and monthly exhibition reviews. The list of publications up for consultation or exchange is available The site’s goal is to encourage and on demand. give visibility to research on Elles. Video recordings, symposium The site is specifically designed as proceedings, and study days a digital resource centre featuring organised by AWARE are accessible to written, iconographic, and audiovisual all online. contents. At the heart of the project, it provides access to an index of The site also enables the public to illustrated biographical presentations follow the organisation’s initiatives of women artists in the field of visual and news, including the Visites du arts, from Camille Claudel to more 8 programmes, symposiums, study recent creators. The interface offers a days, AWARE Prize, and regular keyword research tool (by discipline, updates on women artists! © Photo : Christophe Beauregard country, period, subject) and the possibility to link the artists to the Address: 110 boulevard Saint-Germain, great movements in art history.
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