Art For International Women's Day

Jane Graverol - L’Esprit Saint (The Holy Spirit), 1965. Jane Graverol was a Belgian surrealist artist. She co-founded the magazines Temps mêlés and Les Lèvres Nues.

For Women's Day this year, I just started researching the web - for art related to women and women's history. Since we only get 2 days a year (Mother's Day being the second), we have to get as much out of it as we can! What are the elements that all women the world over,  have in common? The obvious biological ones - breasts, reproductive organs, menstruation and (of course) a bigger brain. Here follows an eclectic mix of interesting art related to women, grab a cup of java and take a deserved break.

Street mural by Insa in downtown Los Angeles.

Charlotte Newson created this great collage of Emmeline Pankhurst (leader of the British suffragette movement). It is made of a ton of not-so-famous women. You simply must check it out here.

Some vagina based art - castings of the real thing by British sculptor Jamie McCartney

And a felted brooch "Lips" by Winona 

Painted tiki body cast by Ruzic, for the wonderful Keep A Breast Foundation's art auction. For a gallery of other artist's breast torsos click here.

A colorful burst of a painting -"Women's Day Celebration" by Marietjie Henning

  

An awesome advertising campaign, body painted posters for the Breast cancer Foundation. Check out the others here.  Art Director: Andrea Kuo 

Some "Alien" inspired uterus art by AmyGDala-Mars -

One aspect of women's daily lives is the much under-rated tampon. Where would we be without it? An object that more than half the population stares at on a monthly basis - yet it is still considered "gross". What's up with that? So to get it out of the closet a little, here are some fun artworks created with tampons.

 Tampon shoes by Ladypants, Brooklyn Art Project

Vadis Turner - "Tampon Wedding Cake", 2007

The "Tampon Chandelier" of Joana Vasconcelos

And last but not least - a great surrealist piece by Dora Maar, (Sans Titre, 1934), photomontage – a woman famous as Picasso’s muse, but not as an artist in her own right. From an exhibit last year of surrealist women artists that took place in the UK. For a very good read on the show click here.