Art
Zurich Art Weekend: Women in Art
To be honest I didn’t feel like getting up. Not as if art doesn’t get me excited, in fact it does very much, but after my exhausting the day before I almost made a mistake skipping an amazing guided tour.
It would have been a pity! The smiley Chiara, a student at the Zurich University of Arts, welcomed us at the Kunsthaus museum.
tanzt, 1926, Privatsammlung, © Nachlass Ernest Neuschul
The topic of the event was women in art. Where do women stand in art? They can be the artists in their own right, even the inventors or creators of the whole exhibition, but most of the time they are the models of male artists. Surprisingly they mostly appear as the subject of their obsession (or desire?) in different forms of art. Why do they appear only as an exhibition ornament?
Did you know that the three best-known museums; the Metropolitan, the British Museum and the Louvre never had a female director?
A modern feminist artist group, the Guerrilla Girls, asked that certain questions such as if women are only able to get into the MET naked?
Only 5% of artists are women, but 85% of naked pieces of arts depict women. Feminism is indeed far from me, but it’s pretty rubbish, not because the female body is not admirable, of course it is, but just as much as a male one. The fact that women don’t get enough space to unleash their talents, it’s a discrimination, especially in today’s modern world. Revolution takes time, the question is how long it does, but the difference is already recognisable.
Although I wondered off a little bit, in the meantime. We are at the Kunsthaus to see a temporary exhibition, Smoke and mirrors the roaring twenties (Schall und Rauch).
The topic is the roaring 20’s and let’s stop for a second straight away. About the 20’s, are we talking about exactly? Yes, surely another 20’s have begun and we already discovered lots of analogy compared to the 1920s – and I’m sure by the time this recent pandemic passes and the world wakes up from this craziness – we ‘ll notice even more.
Félix Vallotton, La poudreuse, 1921, Privatbesitz
What happened a 100 years ago? Recovering from the horror of the 1st World War, waking up from the shock, grasping for fresh air, longing for novelty, freedom, joy, colours and smells, people were breaking out into life again. They either sharply rejected the war itself, just like the members of the Dadaist movement formed in Zürich, who lived in the magic circle of everyday hedonism and pointless chaos.
Then something happened. Or someone. A black and white film was screened in one of the rooms and I suddenly took roots in the concrete. A woman was dancing – or something like that – I just couldn’t decide whether it was awful or brilliant, but I think it was the latter, as I couldn’t even move the slightest and I almost skipped the rest of the exhibition from Josephine Baker to Thomas Ruff.
Elli Marcus, Valeska Gert: Ballett-Parodie in Tüllkleid, um 1930, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Kunstbibliothek, © bpk / Kunstbibliothek, SMB / Elli Marcus Neuschul_1926_Takka-Takka tanzt_
She was Valeska Gert. I haven’t heard about her name before, but from this moment I won’t forget her.
Clearly it was a provocation blended into art, 300 years ago she would probably have burnt to dust as a witch. Short hair and mini skirts don’t raise any special interest these days, people see too much of the female body wherever they look, but then in the crazy, smoky, shining 20s it was madness itself. She had something unearthly shining in her eyes too.
I even fell into a trance a bit from her performance 100 years later. I wanted to dance too like there’s no tomorrow, no expectations, no watching eyes, no barriers, no space and time, only you on your own, your passion, repressed emotions, animal instincts; maybe there’s not even music, you just move to the rhythm of your heart and then you finally stand there shining lightly just like a piece of blank paper.
Are people laughing at you? They will forget it. Do you get scandalized? You won’t see them again.
If they point fingers at you, they point three at themselves. So the problem is in their system.
What do they say? It’s not me who is strange, the others are too simple.
WOMEN, if it feels good, dare, open up, create, live, dance with elemental force to the rhythm of your inner music! Just flow, so the women of the future will stare at you with their mouth open at a museum’s guided tour in 2120!
Featured image credit Kunsthaus in Zurich
About the author:
Born in Budapest, Viktória is an expat in Zurich with 2 young children. She is an entrepreneur and cake designer at NYERS. She is a plus size model and event organizer with 11 years experience. She is also an explorer and an wanderer of freedom. IG : @nyers_zurich
