Women Artists in Revolution (WAR) was a

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

-based collective of American women artists and activists that formed in 1969. They seceded from the male-dominated

Art Workers' Coalition The Art Workers' Coalition (AWC) was an open coalition of artists, filmmakers, writers, critics, and museum staff that formed in New York City in January 1969. Its principal aim was to pressure the city's museums – notably the Museum of Modern Art ...

(AWC), prompted by the

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–1942), ...

's 1969 Annual (later the

Whitney Biennial The Whitney Biennial is a biennial exhibition of contemporary American art, typically by young and lesser known artists, on display at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, United States. The event began as an annual exhibition in ...

), which included only eight women out of the 143 featured artists shown. In 1970, WAR members sent letters to the Whitney Museum, as well as the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

, demanding both museums change their policies to be more inclusive of women artists. That same year, the Ad Hoc Committee of Women Artists formed and also concentrated on the discrimination of women in the Whitney Museum's annual survey exhibitions. These protest efforts led to an increase of women artists at the next Whitney Annual, rising from an average of 5–10% before 1969 to 22% in 1970. In 1971, some members of WAR, along with a group called Feminists in the Arts, created the

Women's Interart Center The Women's Interart Center was a New York City–based multidisciplinary arts organization conceived as an artists' collective in 1969 and formally delineated in 1970 under the auspices of Women Artists in Revolution (WAR) and Feminists in the Ar ...

, the first alternative feminist space, where they established a graphics and silk-screen workshop taught by the artist Jacqueline Skiles. By 1972, WAR abandoned their efforts to change museum policies and focused more on

consciousness-raising Consciousness raising (also called awareness raising) is a form of activism popularized by United States feminists in the late 1960s. It often takes the form of a group of people attempting to focus the attention of a wider group on some cause or ...

that concerned the struggles of women artists. In 1973, two former members of WAR—Mary Ann Gillies and Joan Glueckman—co-founded SOHO 20 Gallery.

Notable former members

Muriel Castanis Muriel Brunner Castanis (1926 – 2006) was an American sculptor best known for her public art installments involving fluidly draped figures. Biography Born as Muriel Brunner on September 27, 1926 in New York City, the youngest of six children ...

* Silvianna Goldsmith * Juliette Gordon * Doloris Holmes * Poppy Johnson * Jan McDevitt *

Faith Ringgold Faith Ringgold (born October 8, 1930 in Harlem, New York City) is an American painter, writer, mixed media sculptor, and performance artist, best known for her narrative quilts. Early life Faith Ringgold was born the youngest of three children ...

* Sara Saporta * Jacqueline Skiles * Nancy Spero *Joan Thorne

References

External links

Archives of American Art, "Women Artists in Revolution records, 1970-1978," accessed March 6, 2016.

Suzanne Lundgren, Review of !WAR Women Art Revolution, documentary film, 2012, accessed March 12, 2016.
{{Authority control American artist groups and collectives Feminist art organizations in the United States Arts organizations based in New York City Women in New York City