Exhibition

Although the history of art has often forgotten the important place occupied by women artists, the exhibition Spectrum of the Feminine pays tribute to some of them, who, through their drawings, have played a determining and even pioneering role. Tania Mouraud, for example, is fondly referred to as the grandmother of street art. Vera Molnar is a pioneer in the systematic use of computers in drawing. Pierrette Bloch, for her part, used horsehair thread, in a nod to sewing, as the materialized line of drawing, or even writing. Calligraphy, an art form that in Europe is considered more ornamental, the domain of women, is also an important part of this exhibition. It is used to deviate from the logic of speech and thus to take off in a creativity that would be more restricted by reason, understood as a masculine part of society, used to exclude women, whose hysteria prevented them, it was considered, from being operational.

What do feminism and drawing have in common? Do women haunt the territory of drawing, which is closer to so-called feminine practices such as care, daily rituals and improvised remedies? Contemporary drawing has in fact overturned the patriarchal tradition of confining women to the domestic sphere and made them pioneers in many dimensions such as technology and activism.

Joana P.R. Neves, Artistic Director of Drawing Now Art Fair

and curator of the exhibition The feminine spectrum: machines, oocytes, threads, potions