M/E/A/N/I/N/G …

“…to be passive is to be active; those also serve who remain outside. By making their absence felt, their presence becomes desirable.”
Virginia Woolf, Three Guineas

… pretty nice sentence and fitting in a way still regarding terms of media issues .. and also in the sense meant where I took in from: … for the recollection of the feminist art movement – from early Guerilla Girls to ….. (to be continued)

All that came along a link via newsgrist about the The M/E/A/N/I/N/G of Feminist Art – a nice collection of feminist artist’s work and writing ….
Together with that I found Anonymous Female Artist blog and just suggest some reading there, as an eloquent support of the lessons the early feminist artist took ….

… “Women’s Lib” – was a widespread social movement that carried with it a sense of general excitement, positive energy, sexiness, and humor. If at the level of public visibility of the movement were outstanding politicians like Bella Abzug, Barbara Jordan, and Shirley Chisholm – women who stood firmly on their own two feet, spoke clearly and loudly, seeming both fearless and witty – and coolly intelligent and beautiful spokeswomen like Gloria Steinem, also at the core were many women around the country in all fields and stages of their life, gradually understanding that they were not alone as they questioned the greater political meaning of their personal lives. Some examples of the widespread influence of Women’s Lib: The Mary Tyler Moore Show premiered in 1970 and ran for seven years, for me bridging the period from college to my first teaching job. Mary lived alone in small apartments, was dedicated to her work, had an active social life, and close friendships. Here was a heroine I could identify with, however improbably large the gap between Mary Tyler Moore, the actress and myself.
Among the most treasured ephemera from my library is a copy of a special report issue of LIFE magazine entitled Remarkable American Women, published in 1976. This issue included wonderful photographs and well-written short biographic texts on 166 women from all fields, including an essay by Vivian Gornik on suffragist Alice Paul, then 91, in an old age home, but
still working to pass the Equal Rights Amendment. The entry for Elizabeth Cady Stanton began with this wonderful anecdote: “When Elizabeth Cady Stanton was 10, she wanted to take a scissors and cut out of her father Judge Cady’s books ‘all the laws that make women cry.’” The compendium of fascinating courageous and colorful lives was very inspirational. And in LIFE! You couldn’t get any more mainstream than that!
.. from the passage by Mira Schor at Feminist Art: A Reassessment
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