Women’s Work by Ferren Gipson

Women’s Work – from Feminine Arts to Feminist Art

In the history of western art, decorative and applied arts – including textiles and ceramics – have been separated from the ‘high arts’ of painting and sculpture and deemed to be more suitable for women. Artists began to reclaim and redefine these materials and methods, energizing them with expressions of identity and imagination. 

Women’s Work tells the story of this radical change, highlighting some of the modern and contemporary artists who dared to defy this hierarchy and who, through, experimentation and invention, transformed their medium.

The work of these women has helped underscore the ongoing value of these art forms within the history of art, championing ‘women’s work’ as powerful mediums worthy of celebration.

Ferren Gipson is an art historian, writer and presenter. She is the host and producer of the Art Matters podcast, a doctoral researcher at SOAS, University of London and the author of The Ultimate Art Museum (Phaidon). For Women’s Work, Ferren was awarded two Foreword INDIES Book of the Year awards.