Constructor Univ. Bremen: Julia Secklehner & Isabel Wünsche (Web)
Time: 15.-16.05.2025
Venue: Constructor Univ. Bremen
Modernist movements in the twentieth century have widely been accepted as middle-class phenomena, driven by figures with the education, time, and financial resources to devote themselves to creative production. Yet, as the First World War shook up the social and economic stability of many, comfortable backgrounds no longer guaranteed support. Women, in particular, found themselves in a new situation, not only gaining new liberties in the post-imperial successor states but often also facing the need to make a living. How did this affect their creativity and access to artistic education and production?
From privately sold goods made in the home to administrative work and wage labour, women artists in the 1920s and 30s followed various professions to support themselves, their (artist) partners, and their dependents. While some of this work was to make ends meet, other activities, such as journalism and editorial work, craftwork, teaching and photography, also played an essential role in developing their artistic practice. Taking this as a point of departure, this workshop addresses the invisible (wage) labour of modernist women artists and how it affected their creative work in different fields. It seeks to examine the ambivalences of paid and creative work faced and negotiated by individuals and their impact on our understanding of modernist artistic production.
PROGRAMME
Thursday, May 15, 2025
14.00 Introductory remarks: Julia Secklehner & Isabel Wünsche
14.30 PANEL I: MAKING A LIVING: COMMERCIAL VENTURES AS POSSIBILITY AND HINDERANCE Continue reading