Due to the First World War and the consequences of its destruction, „the reality of bodily existence was put into the focus".[1] Changes in the artistic work occurred step by step, so, the canvas, for instance, did no longer have to stand in front of the artist, but also could lie on the floor under him/her (i.e. Pollock, Kubota). Yves Klein created works of art by covering nude women with color and dragging them across or laying them upon canvases. Performance artists directly interfered with their environment and were no longer bound to artistic material and tools, such as canvas and brushes. Happening, Fluxus and Performance are art forms taking place directly in front of or partly in interaction with the audience. The artists are visible during the act of creation increasing thus their significance in art. Body Art deals with identity, sexuality, transgression of boundaries. Body Art also is present in other forms of art, in the Performance Art, for example, and cannot always be described isolatedly as Body Art. Here begins Feminist Art in the 1960s. An exact definition of the term is difficult. Women organized themselves in groups in order to protest against social injustice and oppression. They claimed equal rights and self-determination. The artists reacted to these movements and thematized the inequalities in their art. They focus on the constructed image of women in art and society trying to reveal and correct it. So the female nude, for instance, the object desired centuries-long in art, from then on existed in reality. The nude artists orchestrate themselves and respond to the spectator's looks, such as Schneeman in her performances (Interior Scroll). Many feminist artists consciously use their bodies as means of expression. In Schneemann's or Kubota's art the body itself is painting. The hidden and tabooed vagina from then on is clearly visible and steps out of its shadow. There is a large variety of artistic positions, so Niki de Saint Phalle (Hon) as well as Schneemann (Interior Scroll) put the vagina in the focus of their art. Chicago makes visible an embarrassing topic, the menstruation. Wilke reacts to the obsession with beauty women are supposed to subject themselves by media and society. Feminist art is dealing with the women's identity by breaking taboos and reflecting upon their image desired by society or passed on for centuries.

Please find hereafter further interesting positions:

+ WOMANHOUSE (Cock and Cunt Play, 1972) >>
+ Annette Messager (La Femme homme, 1975) >>
+ Ana Mendieta (Untitled, Guanaroca First Woman, 1981) >>
+ Anita Münz (Cover von Eva&Co - erste feministische Kulturzeitschrift Europas in Graz, 1982) >>
+ Judie Bamber (Untitled, 1994) >>
+ Elke Krystufek (Suture, 1994) >>
+ Nancy Spero (Sheela-Na-Gig at Home, 1996) >>