!Women Art Revolution: A Secret History

In the 1960s and ’70s, the rise of the feminist movement led to a growing examination of how women had been marginalized in business and politics in America, but some people also began speaking out about the role of women in the arts, and how few female creative voices had received the same recognition as their male peers. This led to a rise of female artists whose work openly addressed the double standard in America’s most powerful art institutions as they sought to bridge the gender gap in galleries, art publications, and cultural funding. Filmmaker Lynn Hershman-Leeson explores the feminist art movement in the documentary !Women Art Revolution, which touches on the struggle of women for recognition in the art world in the 1960s, the role of women in the performance art community, the actions of the feminist activist pranksters the Guerrilla Girls, and the controversy over Judy Chicago’s ground-breaking installation “The Dinner Party.” !Women Art Revolution was an official selection at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival., Lynn Hershman Leeson directed this documentary about the role of women’s art in important cultural moments of the 20th century, including the Civil Rights, women’s rights and anti-war movements.