ANNIE KEVANS: WOMEN AND THE HISTORY OF ART

Kevans’ work has always reflected an interest in the relation between power and identity. The British painter believes that a person’s identity is not preset, but is a shifting temporary construction. Her work questions our verdicts on history and perceptions of intellectual solidity.

“Women and the History of Art” series consists of thirty portraits of successful female artists. This awakes the question of gender unfairness in the arts. Today women artists are mainly introduced within the secondary realm of feminist art history. Even though some managed to have a successful career as artists, dating from the 16th century (is it only me, who is thinking of Cimambue, 13th century and what has happened to female artists between those 300 years?). Although many women artists have been ‘rediscovered’ by art historians, these women are not given blockbuster shows. Kevans is celebrating these powerful female artists by painting their image, allowing us to get a glimpse of their elegant and simultaneously fierceful aura.

Sonia Delaunay, 2014
Oil on paper
50 x 40 cm