Documentary on Women's Liberation Movement

Muriel Rukeyser (1913-1980): The Forgotten Woman by Laura Passin

 

What would happen if one woman told the truth about her life? The world would split open.

Muriel Rukeyser wrote that in 1968, even though she’d been splitting the world open for decades already. She’d gone from literary wunderkind to lefty pariah to feminist heroine precisely because of her commitment to telling the truth–about one woman’s life, yes, but also about many, many women’s lives, about the lives that weren’t yet celebrated in poetry. The girl cutting her brother’s hair before his job interview. The mother burying her sons. The pregnant woman. The suicidal woman. The woman who loves sex. The women written out of myths and legends: the girl waiting for Icarus to come back; even the Sphinx and her infuriating riddle. Muriel Rukeyser died in 1980, and if there is any justice in literary history (and let’s be real, there is not much), her name will outlive mine and yours by hundreds of years. Anne Sexton called her “Muriel, mother of us all,” and Adrienne Rich named her “our twentieth-century Coleridge, our Neruda, and more.”

So why didn’t you read any of her poetry in college?

Muriel Rukeyser was unruly. Her writing was impolite and thus inconsistent: her poetic style and her political ideas evolved across her lifetime. When this happens with a brilliant male poet, we (and by we I mean people who have somehow managed to make talking about poets our real, honest to god jobs) tend to tell a story of maturation or of breakthrough: he grew up and is now wise or brave. When women’s writing or thinking evolves, “we” tend to tell a story about a before and an after, in which one of those phases is dismissed as naive or inadequate or overly mannered or not mannered enough. Someone tells this version of the story, and someone else repeats it, and then thirty years later mouthy feminist grad students say “But seriously, ‘Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers’ is an incredibly fierce poem even though it rhymes, how are we even arguing about this” and then those grad students drink too much and their professors probably do too.

Here is a thing the eminent midcentury poet-critic Randall Jarrell once wrote about Muriel Rukeyser (who, mind you, won the Yale Younger Poets Prize at age 21): “One feels about most of her poems almost as one feels about the girl on last year’s calendar…. Miss Rukeyser almost asks us to be unjust to her.”

That is just an example. I could give you more, but you can probably guess most of them. Even today, many anthologies that do include Rukeyser’s work introduce her by emphasizing a line from “Poem Out of Childhood”: “Breathe-in experience, breathe-out poetry.” Okay, fine. That’s a great poem, and a great line. But that is also the first line of the first poem in the first book of a woman whose Collected Poems is over 600 pages. That is a line written by a woman who, today, would not be old enough to buy a bottle of wine in the US. That is a line from a poem that is ABOUT BECOMING AN ADULT. Why on earth should we stop there? Why would anyone?

Read the full piece here - it's exceptional!

"What lovely luck!?": Stella Snead (1910-2006) by Priscilla Frank

Stella Snead, "Eclipse of the Moon." 1942. Oil on masonite

Snead was born in London and, along with her mother, fled home at a young age, keeping her destination secret from her father, who was mentally unstable and potentially dangerous.

Around the age of 20 Snead became depressed, possibly a genetic tendency inherited from her father. "Try this, that and the other," she wrote. "No satisfaction, lonely, bored. During my early 20s, deep depressions started to descend, self-pitying they were, and would hang around for months. I cried a lot, wanted to hibernate like the bears or to be very old or dead."

Begonias, 1936, Oil on Canvas, 12" x 16

She came to life in 1936 after being taken with a friend's painting, so much so that she too decided to create art. Her paintings are characterized by a nocturnal palette, exotic animals, New Mexico-style planes, ancient sculptures and ruins, sophisticated feminine style, all experienced through a warped, all-seeing perspective.

She stopped painting abruptly in 1950, after again battling depression. Towards the end of her life, Snead was "rediscovered" as an artist, and had the opportunity to witness the positive critical response to her work.

"In 1998, I had turned 88 and time was running out to be rediscovered as a painter," she wrote. "Quite suddenly the doors were flung open, and there was Neil Zukerman wanting to do just that! A solo exhibition in April 1999; a handsome catalogue; enthusiasm, encouragement, kindness, reliability, generosity. What lovely luck!?"

Stella Snead, 1979 unidentified photographer

The names most often associated with surrealism, the avant-garde cultural movement born in the 1920s, include Max Ernst, Salvador Dalí, Man Ray, Hans Arp, Marcel Duchamp and Yves Tanguy, among others.

Surprise, surprise, they're all men. 

Thankfully, Sotheby's is now hoping to illuminate the many women artists who deserve equal recognition, those who also expressed the convoluted details of their interior worlds with sharp lines and bold colors. The upcoming exhibition "Cherchez la Femme: Women and Surrealism" will feature more well-known names like Frida Kahlo and Leonora Carrington, along with many even surrealist buffs may not recognize.

"A lot of it is still fairly unknown to the general public, even to surrealism enthusiasts," Julian Dawes, a Sotheby’s vice president who organized the show, explained to The New York Times. "Male surrealists look at women as objects of desire. The female surrealists sort of treat women as looking inward."

by Priscilla Frank, excerpt from 7 Forgotten Women Surrealists Who Deserve To Be Remembered

Shared with permission of the author.

You can read more about the artist here.

Dora Maar With And Without Picasso: A Biography, by Mary Ann Caws

"Another reason for refusing the reduction of Dora Maar's memory to "the Weeping Woman" is the crucial fact that she drew upon her lover's imagery in her own representations of his work. This says a great deal about her strength. Her recovery of her image, the agency of her own art, have not been taken as seriously as they deserve. She was not simply "imitating" Picasso, as has been said: she was too intelligent for that. Nor is she "imitating" his portraits of her. She is collaborating in their representation of this tragedy, as she did in photographing his work.

All the same, her submission to what seems to have been Picasso's wish demonstrates a great sacrifice of her talent and her individuality. She was intensely conscious of this, once saying about their relationship, "I wasn't Picasso's mistress, he was just my master."

One positive effect of her renunciation of photography was the renewal of her friendship with that other photographer of genius, Brassaï: "Professional jealousy shaken off, there was no longer any obstacle to our friendship ..." When Dora Maar's still lifes were exhibited in 1944, Brassäi insisted that one fact deserved underlining: "She has managed to keep herself free of Picasso's formidable influence. Her still lifes - a loaf of bread, a pitcher or a jug - are extremely austere and recall nothing of her friend's colours or any of the periods of his work." Françoise Gilot, herself a painter, considered that Maar excelled in a chiaroscuro that was missing in Picasso's work, and in the painting of ordinary objects: "Lamp or an alarm clock or a piece of bread ... [they] made you feel she wasn't so much interested in them as their solitude, the terrible solitude and void that surrounded everything in that penumbra." - Mary Ann Caws

Read the full excerpt here.

Why didn't the Million Man March 2015 receive media coverage? An Interview with Khalid Hussein El-Hakim of The Black History 101 Mobile Museum

"Isn’t it interesting that the Million Man March is trending on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter and hasn’t received any mainstream media attention." -Khalid Hussein El-Hakim, The Black History 101 Mobile Museum

Please right this injustice by sharing this post or the photos directly on Khalid's page. 

Over the weekend an old picture from the original Million Man March was circulating as a current picture from the 20 Year Anniversary March. I chatted with Khalid yesterday on Facebook, where he gave some additional perspective.

Thank you for posting the pictures of the 20 year Anniversary of the Million Man March. Why do you suppose that old picture keeps circulating as a current one? How many people were estimated in attendance this weekend?

Thanks for checking out my pics. I think the old picture is just people being misinformed and ignorant about history.  If people are intentionally trying to mislead others using those photos from '95 that's just lying to the people about history, which is counterproductive to what the whole Justice or Else theme of the March was about.  One of the biggest reasons I went to DC was to document the event so there would be no question on the beauty, strength, and diversity of this movement. In regards to numbers, I am not really focused on it. But, I would say at least half a million, which to me is a huge success. There has been an intentional media blackout of Minister Farrakhan since the last MMM. They can't stand that he has a broad base of support and influence. He went around the country on his own dime since making the announcement in June that he would be gathering people for the 20th anniversary. So, with absolutely no mainstream press this beyond a success.

I noted that the media seemed to severely under-count the original MMM - and I saw one article today that sort of made it look like not that many people came to the recent MMM.

 I remember people trying to say only 400,000 came out to the first one. Then they said 700,000. But, those pictures from '95 don't lie. If you compare the '95 pics to Barack's inauguration, which they claim was over a million you'll see the MMM was just as large - or larger - I would say.

Also to give a little more perspective the March on Washington in 1963 was only 250K. So its very problematic that the MMM has been written out of the history books and the 20th anniversary will not be written about either. But, that is the burden that I've been given. I'll always will be able to speak about the both of them because I was there. Unfortunately I didn't take one picture at the first one. But, I got this one covered.

All photos by KHALID EL-HAKIM PHOTOGRAPHY (2015) - see more of these amazing photos on Khalid's Facebook page. Khalid also runs The Black History 101 Mobile Museum, which you should definitely check out as well.

Khalid tours the entire U.S. with his amazing collection of Black History, which I have had the privilege of seeing twice with my children. He has been collecting artifacts and Black History for over 20 years. It is a unique experience to touch and feel history in your hands.

While we usually focus on HERstory on this blog, Khalid is documenting the lived experiences of both men and women, which would not likely be heard of otherwise.

Shared with permission of Khalid Hussein El-Hakim.

The Mago Way: Re-discovering Mago, the Great Goddess from East Asia

"Salvation for the terrestrial community depends on our ability to keep patriarchy in check. We CAN keep patriarchy in check by telling the gynocentric truth. The gynocentric truth mirrors what patriarchy is; it is none other than a dangerously deranged force of destruction. Because it is deceitful and threatening, we tend to see it bigger than it actually is. It has no power of giving or nurturing Life. Patriarchy is NOT winning but everdwindling and ever-dying. This book, The Mago Way, represents the ancient way of telling the gynocentric truth: to Remember collectively the ORIGIN STORY of the CREATRIX. The Mago Way unleashes the power of the almost forgotten story of HER Beginning from Old Korea. It is the one and only story of WE that takes place Everywhere and All the time. It is cosmic, galactic, solar, terrestrial, individual, personal, and atomic in scope. The Mago Way summons the gynocentric reality of WE/HERE/NOW to raise our minds/hearts."- Dr. Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, The Mago Way: Re-discovering Mago, the Great Goddess from East Asia

 Another interesting tidbit:

"Following Mary Daly, Hwang prefers to name these societies “gynocracy.” “Matriarchy” foregrounds motherhood which also functions as a symbol for women’s cultural contributions in female power societies. “Gynocracy,” on the other hand, calls attention to the fact that female power societies honor women for their cultural contributions and not only for the power to give birth to and nurture human beings. Whichever term is preferred, both matriarchy and gynocracy refer to egalitarian female-centered societies in which all people and the web of life are valued, and in which the Earth and its sacred places are symbolized as female and as Mother.  

The Mosuo who live on Lake Lugu in the Himalayas are a living matriarchal society of peace. In their system children do not have to “leave home” and “learn to make it on their own.” Both males and females continue to live in the matriarchal clan. Women invite their lovers to share their beds at night, but men return to their maternal clans at the break of day. Love and sex are free because they are not tied to the care of children. All children are welcomed in the maternal clan. Mothers are not isolated. Women of one generation along with their mothers care together for the children of the next. Brothers and uncles are the male role models for boy children. Male and female nature and character are not sharply differentiated: both females and males are understood to be active and productive, and all children are taught to become as loving and giving as the mothers who raised them." - Carol P. Christ, from her forward to the book. 

"After Picasso, God.": Dora Maar (1907-1997) by Priscilla Frank

Dora Maar, "Portrait de Picasso." Signed Dora Maar (lower right), titled "Portrait de Picasso" and stamped with the estate stamp DM. 1998 (lower left) Gouache, pen and ink and pencil on paper.

Maar, born Henriette Theodora Marković, is most often referenced as an influential muse to Pablo Picasso. However, Maar was an artist in her own right, having contributed to Picasso's "Guernica" as well as a sweeping range of her own works. She was born in Tours, France, and raised in Argentina and moved to Paris at 19, where she studied photography.

Maar met Picasso when she was 28, he 54, while working on a photography set. Maar soon became a mistress and muse to the Cubist artist, occasionally modeling for, collaborating with and documenting his work. Their affair lasted nine years.

When her relationship with Picasso ended, after Picasso took up with Françoise Gilot, Maar immersed herself in Roman Catholicism, having famously said: "After Picasso, God."

Maar's legacy extends beyond her romance with Picasso. As Mary Ann Caws expressed in The Guardian, "she drew upon her lover's imagery in her own representations of his work. This says a great deal about her strength. Her recovery of her image, the agency of her own art, have not been taken as seriously as they deserve. She was not simply 'imitating' Picasso, as has been said: she was too intelligent for that. Nor is she 'imitating' his portraits of her. She is collaborating in their representation of this tragedy, as she did in photographing his work."

Dora Maar, Self-portrait, 1930

The names most often associated with surrealism, the avant-garde cultural movement born in the 1920s, include Max Ernst, Salvador Dalí, Man Ray, Hans Arp, Marcel Duchamp and Yves Tanguy, among others.

Surprise, surprise, they're all men. 

Thankfully, Sotheby's is now hoping to illuminate the many women artists who deserve equal recognition, those who also expressed the convoluted details of their interior worlds with sharp lines and bold colors. The upcoming exhibition "Cherchez la Femme: Women and Surrealism" will feature more well-known names like Frida Kahlo and Leonora Carrington, along with many even surrealist buffs may not recognize.

"A lot of it is still fairly unknown to the general public, even to surrealism enthusiasts," Julian Dawes, a Sotheby’s vice president who organized the show, explained to The New York Times. "Male surrealists look at women as objects of desire. The female surrealists sort of treat women as looking inward."

by Priscilla Frank, excerpt from 7 Forgotten Women Surrealists Who Deserve To Be Remembered

Shared with permission of the author.

You can read more about the artist here.

Read an excerpt of Dora Maar With And Without Picasso: A Biography, by Mary Ann Caws

On a personal note, I have had two "Dora Maar" paintings hanging in my home for many years. The bottom one my children thought was me for many years. I never knew she was a painter herself and I have wept with this knowledge many times over the last weeks.

I purchased this print in Spain in 1998 and it has hung on the walls of many homes since. It is one of the very few possessions we brought with us to Norway.

My children were certain this painting was done of me!

The first ever erotic nude portrait of a man made by a woman: Leonor Fini (1907-1996) by Priscilla Frank

Leonor Fini, "L'Entracte de l'€™Apotheose (Interlude of the Apotheosis)." 1938-39. Oil on canvas.

Fini was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and raised in Italy. She was never formally trained and, as a teen, spent months with her eyes bandaged closed after suffering an ocular ailment. During this period she began experiencing interior visions, which she channeled into her artwork. Fini, inspired by artists including Hieronymous Bosch and Bronzino, became known for her morbid depictions of powerful and sexually liberated women. Hybrid visions of castration, shapeshifting and knife-wielding characterize her bold imagery. She also created the first ever erotic nude portrait of a man made by a woman, in 1942.

The radical feminism evident in Fini's work extended to her personal life as well. She was a proud bisexual and often declared her revulsion at the idea of marriage. "Marriage never appealed to me," she said. "I’ve never lived with one person. Since I was 18, I’ve always preferred to live in a sort of community -- a big house with my atelier and cats and friends, one with a man who was rather a lover and another who was rather a friend. And it has always worked."

Leonor Fini-La Gardienne des Sources (1967)

The bohemian It girl was one to watch; she'd often dye her hair blue, orange, red or gold and go to parties dressed as a man -- or wearing only boots and a feather cape. "I have always loved, and lived, my own theatre," she once said. She also was a mother to 17 Persian cats, who shared her bed and dining room table at mealtime.

Despite Fini's garish persona, her true mission was always expanding the scope for women artists. "She is performing the tightrope act that she perfected throughout her extraordinary career," Sarah Kent explained in the Telegraph, "adopting the unthreatening role of flamboyant narcissist, while quietly getting on with the more challenging and more controversial job of artist."

Leonor Fini, Paris, 1937, photography by Dora Maar

The names most often associated with surrealism, the avant-garde cultural movement born in the 1920s, include Max Ernst, Salvador Dalí, Man Ray, Hans Arp, Marcel Duchamp and Yves Tanguy, among others.

Surprise, surprise, they're all men. 

Thankfully, Sotheby's is now hoping to illuminate the many women artists who deserve equal recognition, those who also expressed the convoluted details of their interior worlds with sharp lines and bold colors. The upcoming exhibition "Cherchez la Femme: Women and Surrealism" will feature more well-known names like Frida Kahlo and Leonora Carrington, along with many even surrealist buffs may not recognize.

"A lot of it is still fairly unknown to the general public, even to surrealism enthusiasts," Julian Dawes, a Sotheby’s vice president who organized the show, explained to The New York Times. "Male surrealists look at women as objects of desire. The female surrealists sort of treat women as looking inward."

by Priscilla Frank, excerpt from 7 Forgotten Women Surrealists Who Deserve To Be Remembered

Shared with permission of the author.

You can read more about the artist here.

Take Up Space by Vanessa Kisuule