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Discover more below as we celebrate some of the most notable female artists who have challenged conventions, redefined artistic expression, and contributed to the ongoing fight for social equality across the globe.
Explore more from our female artists
Artemisia Gentileschi (1597 - 1651)
Artemisia is the most celebrated female painter of the 17th century. She worked in Rome, Florence, Venice, Naples and London, for the highest echelons of European society, including the Grand Duke of Tuscany and Philip IV of Spain.
Born in Rome, the eldest of five children and only daughter of Orazio Gentileschi, under whom she trained. Artemisia’s earliest signed and dated painting, ‘Susanna and the Elders’ (Schloss Weißenstein collection, Pommersfelden, Germany), is from 1610. A year later Artemisia was raped by the painter Agostino Tassi, an acquaintance and collaborator of her father’s. An infamous trial, meticulously recorded in documents that survive, ensued in 1612. Tassi was found guilty and banished from Rome, though his punishment was never enforced.
Following the trial, Artemisia married a little-known Florentine artist by the name of Pierantonio di Vincenzo Stiattesi, and left Rome for Florence shortly thereafter. There she had five children and established herself as an independent artist, becoming an early woman member of the Academy of the Arts of Drawing in 1616.
Mary Stevenson Cassatt (1844 - 1926)
An active member of the cause of Women’s suffrage was the American artist Mary Stevenson Cassatt, an Impressionist painter celebrated among such male contemporaries as Edgar Degas and Gustav Caillebotte. Although described by Gustave Geffroy as one of the ‘trois grandes dames’ of Impressionism, Cassatt worked against much of the general criticism received by female artists at the time. In 1915, despite her waning health and near blindness, she had eighteen works shown in an exhibition supporting the Suffragette movement.
Harriet Backer (1845 - 1932)
The pioneering Norwegian realist painter Harriet Backer gained respect and admiration from her intellectual peers throughout her career. By 1850's standards, she was unusually well-educated for the time, beginning drawing lessons aged 6. Known for her depictions of interiors across social classes, from Parisian salons to Norwegian farmhouses, Backer often focused on women, capturing their presence in both domestic and public spheres. Her work remains a testament to the visibility and significance of women in art.
Käthe Kollwitz (1867 - 1945)
Käthe Kollwitz, known for her art cycles including The Weavers and The Peasant War, was a German artist who worked with painting, printmaking and sculpture. She was primarily concerned with depicting the effects of poverty, hunger and war on the working class, with a particular focus on their struggles and tribulations. As a child, her education and art were influenced greatly by her grandfather's lessons in religion and socialism. Käthe Kollwitz was the first woman to not only be elected to the Prussian Academy of Arts but to also receive honorary professor status.
Dame Laura Knight (1877 - 1970)
Dame Laura Knight is rightly recognized as one of the most successful and historically significant English painters of all time. She enjoyed a hugely successful career which paved the way for greater recognition and celebration of the talent of fellow female artists in the male-dominated British art establishment. She also found great interest and inspiration in marginalized communities, such as gypsies, circus performers and travelers. In 1936, she became the first woman elected to full membership of the Royal Academy. Her large retrospective there in 1965 was the first for a woman.
Claude Cahun (1894 - 1954)
Claude Cahun, born Lucy Renee Mathilde Schwob was a Jewish-French photographer, sculptor and writer. She changed her name to the gender-neutral Claude Cahun in 1917. Cahun’s work comprises self-portraits which have a surreal and self-exploratory quality. It is suspected that one of her frequent collaborators, Marcel Moore, assisted her behind the camera for these shoots. Her questioning of gender roles was revolutionary and perhaps too ahead of her time. Her work has gone on to influence contemporary photographers such as Gillian Wearing, Cindy Sherman, Nan Goldin and Del LaGrace Volcano.
Dorothea Lange (1895 - 1965)
Dorothea Lange was an American photographer known for her powerful images of human suffering and hardship, especially images captured during the US Depression in the 1930s. The famous Depression photographs were commissioned by the Farm Security Administration (FSA). For 5 years from 1935, Dorothea and her husband Paul Schuster Taylor (a professor of Economics) documented rural poverty and the exploitation of sharecroppers and migrant laborers – Taylor interviewing and gathering economic data, and Lange taking photos. The resulting body of work highlighted the plight of the ordinary rural people, many of whom were on the brink of starvation, and prompted the government to come to their aid. Lange’s deeply effecting work during this period has come to define the Depression era – especially the iconic ‘Migrant Mother’ – and greatly influenced the development of documentary photography.
Estate of Eileen Agar (1899 - 1991)
Bridgeman Images artist Eileen Agar was one of the few women accepted into the male-dominated Surrealist circle. As the only British woman featured in London’s 1936 International Surrealist Exhibition, she helped spark public interest in the movement. After studying at the Slade School of Art, she moved to Paris in the 1930s, befriending key Surrealists like André Breton. Agar’s work gained recognition with a solo show in 1933 and later exhibitions in Amsterdam, New York, Paris, and Tokyo. Her groundbreaking contributions continue to inspire female artists today, making her a fitting figure to celebrate this International Women's Day.
Barbara Hepworth (1903 - 1975)
Barbara Hepworth, the influential and much-loved sculptor, spearheaded Britain’s Modernist movement alongside Henry Moore, Ivon Hitchens and Ben Nicholson. In her youth, she studied at Wakefield Girls High School. In 1920, she enrolled in the Leeds School of Art after being awarded a full scholarship. Here she encountered another prominent British sculptor, Henry Moore. They became friends and established a friendly rivalry that lasted professionally for several years. She was the first to sculpt the pierced figures that are characteristic of works by both artists. Hepworth was a famous figure in the colony of artists who resided in St. Ives and lived during the Second World War. She produced her most famous work in the Cornish fishing village and resort, and was given the Freedom of St. Ives award in 1968 in acknowledgment of her contributions to the community.
Frida Kahlo (1907 - 1954)
Mexican artist Frida Kahlo is remembered for her self-portraits, pain and passion, and bold, vibrant colors. She is celebrated in Mexico for her attention to Mexican and indigenous culture and by feminists for her depiction of the female experience and form.
Kahlo, who suffered from polio as a child, nearly died in a bus accident as a teenager. She suffered multiple fractures to her spine, collarbone and ribs, a shattered pelvis, broken foot and a dislocated shoulder. She married the Mexican painter Diego Riviera and embarked on a tumultuous relationship portrayed in many of her paintings. Widely known for her Marxist leanings, Frida, along with Marxism Revolutionary Che Guevara and a small band of contemporary figures, has become a counter-cultural symbol of the 20th century, and created a legacy in art history that continues to inspire the imagination and mind.
Dame Paula Rego (1935 - 2022)
Born in Lisbon, Portugal, Dame Paula Rego is one of Europe’s most influential contemporary figurative artists. A figurative painter, her characters enact a variety of roles and depict disquieting tensions below the surface. Her large pastel paintings and sharply drawn etchings are psychologically charged depictions of human dramas and narratives.
Rego studied at the Slade School of Fine Art, London (1952–56), and received honorary doctorates from the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, the University of East Anglia, Norwich, the Rhode Island School of Design, USA, The London Institute, Roehampton University, London, Oxford University, Cambridge University, the University of Lisbon and Winchester School of Art. In 2010, she was made a Dame of the British Empire, and won the MAPFRE Foundation Drawing Prize, Madrid (2010).
Corinne Day (1962 – 2010)
Corinne Day (February 19, 1962 – August 28, 2010) was a British photographer whose influence on photography from the early 1990s onwards was profound. A self-taught artist, Day brought a natural documentary style to her fashion imagery, often blending autobiographical elements into her work. She developed relationships with many of her muses, musicians and the peer group she documented, resulting in candid and intimate portraits that captured the essence of that era.
Day’s first major published work, featuring the young Kate Moss for The Face magazine in 1990, helped define the ‘grunge’ aesthetic that became an international style. Her raw, documentary approach later sparked controversial accusations of promoting ‘heroin chic’ and drove Day to step away from working in the mainstream commercial industry, shifting her focus to personal artistic projects.
Corinne Day’s work has been exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery, Victoria & Albert Museum, Tate Modern, Saatchi Gallery, The Science Museum, The Design Museum, The Photographers' Gallery, Gimpel Fils Gallery and was also included in The Andy Warhol exhibition at the Whitney Museum, New York.
Juno Calypso (b. 1989)
The lone figure in all of Juno Calypso's images is her: she photographs herself in couples-only motels, abandoned underground bunkers and heart-shaped hot tubs. Across film, photography and installation, Calypso builds a soft pink universe of femininity, solitude, desire and despair, all with an ultra-critical edge. In the process, she's become one of the most recognizable photographers working today, forging a unique aesthetic that has seen her move seamlessly from immersive, intimate gallery exhibitions to leading major campaigns for fashion brands like Burberry. Calypso's art is deeply sinister, hyper-feminine and filled with humor. This is cinematic, introspective art for the age of the self and the selfie.
- Eddy Frankel, Time Out
