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Period: 1476 to 1492
The Middle Ages
• Hildegard of Bingen
A composer and author of many books. She was uneducated but had secretaries transcribe her ideas into books. In a time when women had very little influence, Bishops and the Pope consulted with her. • Claricia
A nun who was an illuminator. She is known for the “Liber viaticus” (Book of Life), a manuscript housed in the Vatican Library. Her artwork can be found in the manuscript with her name signed on the artwork, which was extremely rare for the Middle Ages. -
Period: 1493 to
The Renaissance
• Artemisia Gentileschi
An Italian painter who learned to paint under her father. Her art was described as “dramatic realism”. Many felt the painting she created; “Judith Slaying Holofernes” was a way to work through her feelings of revenge. • Lavinia Fontana
An artist from Italy. She was a highly sought-after portraitist. Her work was admired for her attention to detail like the subject’s clothing or jewelry they wore. She was the mother of 11 children. -
Period: to
The 17th Century
• Judith Leyster
A Dutch painter who specialized in portraits and still-life paintings. She used light in interesting ways in her paintings. Her work was often attributed to men. • Clara Peeters
A Flemish artist who lived in the Netherlands. Her artwork stands out because of the detail she put into the still-life paintings she created. She has a style of meticulous brushwork, a particular arrangement of the materials she painted, and the ability to capture the varied textures in objects. -
Period: to
The 18th Century
• Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun
A French painter, best known for her portraits of Queen Marie-Antoinette. She painted over 600 portraits and over 200 landscape paintings in her lifetime. • Angelica Kauffman
Angelica Kauffman was a child prodigy. She learned to paint from her father. She was elected to Rome’s Accademia di San Luca in 1765. She also lived in London for many years, an had the honor of having exhibits at the prestigious Royal Academy. -
Period: to
The 19th Century
• Mary Stevenson Cassatt
From Pennsylvania. she made her family the focus of her paintings. She was the only American invited to join the “Impressionists”, a group of artists that included Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, and Camille Pissarro who started the “Impressionism” movement. • Rosa Bonheur
A French painter and sculptor. She was known for her work with animals. In many of her pieces, she has the animals looking at you while the people are often looking off to the side. -
Period: to
The 20th Century Europe
• Tamara de Lempicka
A Polish painter who became famous for her Art Deco-style portraits. She used bold colors and glamour, often depicted plump, curvy women with bob-length hair wearing glamourous gowns. • Louise Bourgeois
A French artist and sculptor. Not an artist who stuck to a certain style or medium but is most known for her spider sculptures. The spider represents her mother weaving a web. Many felt she was working out her childhood trauma in her pieces. -
Period: to
The 20th Century (America)
• Helen Frankenthaler
An American abstract expressionist painter. She was most well known for her technique where she would pour thinned paint onto a canvas and let the colors blend naturally. She taught at Universities like Harvard, Princeton, and Yale. • Georgia O'Keeffe
Was best known for her paintings of flowers and landscapes of New Mexico. She was considered a Modernist painter. While I love her flower pictures, I think the New Mexico landscapes are breathtaking. -
Period: to
The 21th Century
• Yayoi Kusama
An artist from Japan. She is known for her art installations, sculptures, and paintings. She uses polka dots and vibrant colors. Her pieces are often focused on infinity and space. • Cecily Brown
Born and raised in England but moved to New York City in 1994. She has large abstract paintings and are installations at many famous institutions including MoMA PS1 in New York, the Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., and the Saatchi Gallery in London.