HERCHIVE

3/3 CW: suicide Around 1962, Arbus started to use a twin-lens reflex Rolleiflex, a camera which allows the photographer to look through the lenses from above. Consequently, there is no barrier between the subject and the photographer, which contributed to Arbus’s connection with her subjects. She became obsessed with clarity and started to use a flash even in broad daylight, given a feeling that her subjects detach from the backgrounds. After experiencing several depressive episodes during her life, in 1971 Diane Arbus committed suicide. Her work and its unique strangeness, however, continue to influence artists, photographs, and filmmakers. She has been considered one of the most influential artists from the XX century. Illustration @larissa.dosanjos #herchive #herchiveproject #dianearbus #arbus #photographer #photography  #NYC #blackandwhitephotography #illustration #illustratorsofinstagram #womenartists #femaleartist #artistsofinstagram #fotografia #dianearbusphotography #womenphotographer #portraitphotography #americanartists (em New York City U.S.A.) https://www.instagram.com/p/CVQj3bYskSp/?utm_medium=tumblr

2/3 Arbus always sought to connect with her subjects. She didn’t objectify them; rather, she befriended and made them feel comfortable, photographing them in familiar settings. She used to take many photographs to ease the relationship between the person and the camera, and then Arbus would pick the most representative one. “Child with a toy hand grenade in Central Park, N.Y.C.”, from 1962, is an iconic example of this procedure: in the contact sheet, there were many photographs of this boy, where he presented himself in a very kind manner. But Diane picked the one who presented this child’s angst and tension. Illustration @larissa.dosanjos #herchive #herchiveproject #dianearbus #arbus #photographer #photography  #NYC #blackandwhitephotography #illustration #illustratorsofinstagram #womenartists #femaleartist #artistsofinstagram #fotografia #dianearbusphotography #womenphotographer #portraitphotography #americanartists (em New York City U.S.A.) https://www.instagram.com/p/CU91YW2MCeK/?utm_medium=tumblr

Recreating her life as a painted drama, Charlotte produced myriad gouaches. These works often included titles or references to the music Charlotte listened to and hummed while painting. These paintings would show thematically related or sequential scenes on the same sheet of paper, or sometimes, like photography, Charlotte painted the same image repeatedly on a sheet. This resulted in a series of over 700 paintings known as Life? or Theater? A Play with Music. Her masterpiece may well be considered the first graphic novel. Tragically, in October 1943 Charlotte was captured by the Nazis and deported to Auschwitz concentration camp, where she was murdered. Today, her former home in Berlin-Charlottenburg bears a memorial plaque, honouring the artist. Portrait by @elenamompo Text edited by @melisagrayward #charlottesalomon #lifeortheater #gouaches #gouachepaintings #jewishart #jewishartists #germanartists #germanjewishartists #femaleartists #art #herchive (at Berlin, Germany) https://www.instagram.com/p/CP1TYgBLscY/?utm_medium=tumblr

{Part 2/3} CW: suicide Upon escaping to France, Charlotte is informed about her family’s history of suicide. The news came as a shock to her, as Charlotte began to fear for her own mental health. While living with her grandparents, Charlotte and grandfather become increasingly concerned about Charlotte’s grandmother, who ultimately also committed suicide (as Charlotte’s grandmother’s mother and uncle, and two daughters).Facing a nervous breakdown, Charlotte decided to paint as a form of therapy on the advice of a doctor. Portrait by @elenamompo Text edited by @melisagrayward   #charlottesalomon #lifeortheater #gouaches #gouachepaintings #jewishart #jewishartists #germanartists #germanjewishartists #femaleartists #art #herchive (at Berlin, Germany) https://www.instagram.com/p/CPBDEgUL2Gw/?utm_medium=tumblr

{Part 1/3} CW: suicide Charlotte Salomon was a German-Jewish artist, born in Berlin in 1917 to an affluent family. While Charlotte’s father was a revered surgeon, her mother committed suicide when Charlotte was eight years old, and informed her mother passed away as a result influenza.  When Charlotte was sixteen, the Nazis came to power. By early 1939, she moved to the south of France to live with her grandparents and hide from the Nazis.  Illustration by @elenamompo Text edited by @melisagrayward   #charlottesalomon #lifeortheater #gouaches #gouachepaintings #jewishart #jewishartists #germanartists #germanjewishartists #femaleartists #art  (at Berlin, Germany) https://www.instagram.com/p/COha_TeLPHo/?igshid=1xgvfggdswll5

3/3 Despite the richness of her art, her production was limited by a colonial and patriarchal system that restricted the way she existed in society. Madalena was never able to support herself as an artist, having worked as a maid until the end of her life. After her death, her work was exhibited at the Venice Biennale, and today it is part of private and public collections, such as that of MASP and that of the Afro Brasil Museum in São Paulo.    Illustration by @museu_inventado Text edited by @melisagrayward #herchive #archive #MadalenadosSantosReinbolt #Reinbolt #Brazilianart #textileart #visualstorytelling #femaleartist #femalepainter https://www.instagram.com/p/COQWSEFLIHd/?igshid=1el2ft4ijvxf

2/3 At first, her bosses encouraged her, giving her paints, brushes, needles and wool. Bishop wrote that her cook had turned out to be “a wonderful primitive painter, so in a little while we’ll be selling her paintings on 57th Street and we’ll all be rich”. Bishop even said that Madalena's paintings were better than those of famous Brazilian painter Cândido Portinari. The artist used up to 154 needles in her compositions laden with ancestry and Black popular culture, resistant to colonisation processes. However, Madalena was soon dismissed when her art practice began to interfere with domestic work.   Portrait by @museu_inventado Text edited by @melisagrayward #herchive #archive #MadalenadosSantosReinbolt #Reinbolt #Brazilianart #textileart #visualstorytelling #femaleartist #femalepainter https://www.instagram.com/p/CN0Ux64Mooe/?igshid=1hjzrnyx13cr7

1/3 Madalena dos Santos Reinbolt (1919-1977) was born on a farm in the countryside of Bahia, Brazil. She had no formal education, and never attended school or learned to read. In her early twenties, she left her family to work as a domestic worker in different urban centres.   While working as a cook at the homes of landscaper Lota de Macedo Soares and poet Elisabeth Bishop in Petrópolis, she started painting and producing tapestries representing her childhood experiences and memories. In her canvases embroidered with vibrant colours, the lines work like brush strokes, creating dynamic and elaborate wefts.  Illustration by @museu_inventado Text edited by @melisagrayward #herchive #archive #MadalenadosSantosReinbolt #Reinbolt #Brazilianart #textileart #visualstorytelling #femaleartist #femalepainter (at Bahia Brasil) https://www.instagram.com/p/CNX0CKus-kY/?igshid=1pb6oghzu3sls

“It may not be possible to convey to someone else the mysterious transforming gifts by which dreams, memory, and experience become art. But I like to think that I can try.” Betye Saar - interview by Leah Ollman Illustration by @ariellemartiins #herchive #archive #BetyeSaar #saar #contemporaryart #betyesaarart #visualstorytelling #printmaking #blackartists #blackartinamerica #africanamericanart #femalepainter (at Los Angeles, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/CMZpkrBlmAn/?igshid=ko083mnpr3cw

"In a way, it's like, slavery was over, but they will keep you a slave by making you a salt-shaker. I said to myself, if Black people only see things like this reproduced, how can they aspire to anything else?" Betye Saar - interview by Leah Ollman #herchive #archive #BetyeSaar #saar #contemporaryart #betyesaarart #visualstorytelling #printmaking #blackartists #blackartinamerica #africanamericanart #femalepainter https://www.instagram.com/p/CMPFjtJlSwl/?igshid=15q0x1gdy8i6c

Betye Saar (1926) is an African-American artist known for incorporating discarded artefacts into her artworks. She collects and arranges found objects such as wooden boxes and folk sculptures, creating assemblages concerned with spirituality, cosmology, mystic symbols and African-American oppression.   Saar was part of the Black Arts Movement in the 1970s and has long been active in fighting racism towards Black people. By recycling materials, she also recycles emotions and feelings. The act of merging objects from the past into a present work links many generations of people, as well as their culture. Illustration by @ariellemartiins Text edited by @melisagrayward   #herchive #archive #BetyeSaar #saar #contemporaryart #betyesaarart #visualstorytelling #printmaking #blackartists #blackartinamerica #africanamericanart #femalepainter #TheLiberationofAuntJemima (at Los Angeles, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/CL4bAm8lB8T/?igshid=70bmtmrgwp92

3/3 Lola mastered different puppetry techniques and genres to explore a modern and purposeful act. With her work, she developed the puppet theatre in Mexico and created games, puppets, and puppet theatre companies with a focus on “teaching, educating and entertaining.” Lola was also an avid collector of popular Mexican toys and created a technique for making original tapestries that exhibited in museums and institutions throughout many countries.  Illustration by @la_caroleta Text edited by @melisagrayward #herchive #herchiveproject #LolaCueto #arthistory #mexicanartist #MexicoCity #puppetdesign #puppet #tradition #femalepainter #theatre #teacher #educator #illustration #womenartists #femaleartist (at Mexico City, Mexico) https://www.instagram.com/p/CLBmNgDlo71/?igshid=b990sl66te9r

2/3 At age 12, Lola was the first female artist to study at the Academy of San Carlos, and the only female painter within the first School of Outdoor Painting (alongside social realist painter David Alfaro Siqueiros). At a time when the field was dominated by men, she was one of few working women artists in Mexico.  Illustration by @ la_caroleta Text edited by @ melisagrayward #herchive #herchiveproject #LolaCueto #arthistory #mexicanartist #MexicoCity #puppetdesign #puppet #tradition #femalepainter #theatre #teacher #educator #illustration #womenartists #femaleartist (at Academia de San Carlos) https://www.instagram.com/p/CKyJu-hFKDM/?igshid=1fvnexsp0zrh1

1/3 Born in 1897 in Mexico City, Lola Cueto (María Dolores Velázquez Rivas) was many things. Her talent shined as a writer, painter and printmaker, yet it’s her work as a puppet designer and puppeteer for which she remains best known today, contributing to and maintaining a Mexican cultural tradition. Illustration by @la_caroleta Text edited by @melisagrayward #herchive #herchiveproject #LolaCueto #arthistory #mexicanartist #MexicoCity #puppetdesign #puppet #tradition #femalepainter #theatre #teacher #educator #illustration #womenartists #femaleartist (at Mexico City, Mexico) https://www.instagram.com/p/CKg-wpzFdRc/?igshid=vot2kyqy8o7a

Part 3/3 As Almeida states, ‘my painting is my body, my work is my body’. The body registers, occupies and defines the space playing a central role in her works. #herchive #herchiveproject #helenaalmeida #contemporaryart #performancce #photography #painting #womanartist #blackandwhitephotography #illustration #illustratorsofinstagram #womenartists #femaleartist #artistsofinstagram https://www.instagram.com/p/CGki2i1lYM1/?igshid=xupwxnqyhb53

Part 2/3 Helena Almeida used her portraits as a way of studying the relation between space, body and art.  It is this fusion of drawing, painting, photography and performance that Helena Almeida’s work became recognisable and renowned in the contemporary artistic panorama.  Her long career has allowed her to gain a reputation as one of the leading figures of performance and conceptual art. #herchive #herchiveproject #helenaalmeida #contemporaryart #performancce #photography #painting #womanartist #blackandwhitephotography #illustration #illustratorsofinstagram #womenartists #femaleartist #artistsofinstagram https://www.instagram.com/p/CGPyD-GlMkP/?igshid=11a001g9trstl

Part 1/3 Born in 1934, Helena Almeida studied painting at the Lisbon School of Fine Arts before moving to Paris in 1964. It was in Paris that Almeida had her first contact with the abstract art movement. Through her early abstract painting, she introduces the central concerns that define her artistic practice in a variety of media. Upon returning to Lisbon in 1967, Helena Almeida had her first solo exhibition, questioning the spatial limits of traditional painting in what would become the basis for her body of work. Today, Helena Almeida is considered to be one of the greatest contemporary Portuguese artists. Illustration @paolasaliby #herchive #herchiveproject #helenaalmeida #arthistory #portugueseartist #contemporaryart #performance #abstractart #photography #painting #womanartist #blackandwhitephotography #illustration #illustratorsofinstagram #womenartists #femaleartist #artistsofinstagram (em Lisboa, Portugal) https://www.instagram.com/p/CGC9VDsF_gH/?igshid=1oig0xyzozbom