Women Sculptors

Edmonia Lewis was an American sculptor who worked in Rome for most of her career. The first African-American sculptor to gain international prominence, Lewis was also the only Black female artist to have participated and recognized by the American artistic mainstream until the end of the 19th century. Molefi Kete Asante included Lewis in his 100 Greatest African Americans list.

Louise Bourgeois was a French-American artist best remembered for her large-scale installation art and sculpture. Also a prolific printmaker and painter, Bourgeois explored a variety of themes, such as sexuality and death. In 1997, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts. In 2009, she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.

French sculptor Camille Claudel is also popularly known as legendary sculptor Auguste Rodin’s student, mistress, and muse. Claudel also contributed to many of Rodin’s masterpieces but never got any credit for it. After her relationship with Rodin soured, she became alienated and eventually died in an asylum.

Noted for series like Weavers’ Revolt and Peasants’ War, sculptor and graphic artist, Käthe Kollwitz, came in contact with the urban poor when she moved into Berlin's working class area. Touched by their plight, she soon started portraying them through her etchings, lithographs, woodcuts, and drawings, quickly becoming a powerful advocate for those suffering from social injustice, war, and inhumanity.

Rosa Bonheur was a French artist and sculptor whose paintings have been preserved in popular museums like the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Musée d'Orsay. An influential personality, Bonheur was widely regarded as the 19th century's most popular female painter. An open lesbian, Rosa Bonheur stood out as a groundbreaking individual both in her personal life and her career.

Jenny Holzer is an American artist best known for her association with neo-conceptual art. Her work focuses on conveying ideas and messages in public spaces with the help of large-scale installations, illuminated electronic displays, projections on buildings, and advertising billboards. Over the course of her career, Holzer has received several awards like the Golden Lion at the 1990 Venice Biennale.

Born in Germany, Eva Hesse moved with her family to England, and then to the U.S., in a bid to escape the Nazi regime. Her death due to brain tumor at age 34 cut short her dynamic career. A sculptor and painter, she experimented with media such latex, metal, and mesh.

Niki de Saint Phalle was a French-American painter, sculptor, and filmmaker. She gained prominence as a monumental sculptor as not many women were renowned for their skills as monumental sculptors. Also remembered for her social work, Niki was one of the earliest artists to spread awareness about AIDS through art. She also wrote extensively in English and French.

Beatrice Wood was an American studio potter and artist best remembered for her association with the Avant-Garde movement. Wood is credited with founding Rongwrong and The Blind Man magazines along with Henri-Pierre Roché and Marcel Duchamp. Beatrice Wood's autobiography inspired the creation of Rose DeWitt Bukater's character in the 1997 epic romance and disaster film Titanic. 

Emilie Benes Brzezinski is a Swiss American sculptor best known for her sculptures made out of wood. Her monumental work Lintel, which was made from cut cherry trees, is currently preserved in a sculpture park named Grounds For Sculpture in Hamilton, New Jersey. Over the years, Emilie Benes has displayed her work at several art exhibitions, including the Florence Biennale.

Louise Nevelson was an American sculptor best remembered for her monochromatic outdoor sculptures and wooden wall pieces. Although she was not a feminist, Nevelson's work played a major role in the development of the feminist art movement in the United States. Louise Nevelson is widely regarded as one of the 20th-century's most prominent American sculptors.

Remembered for her surrealist paintings, sculptor and painter Dorothea Margaret Tanning seemed to have recreated her visions and dreams through her art. Most of her works showcase unreal situations, with motifs such as gigantic flowers and doors. Her iconic installation Hôtel du Pavot, Chambre 202 showcases her sculpting skills.

Ginger Gilmour is an American sculptor, author, artist, and former model. Best known for her work featuring angels, Gilmour has had her work exhibited in several venues and galleries, including Arundel Castle, Mall Galleries, London, and the Embassy of Germany in London. Apart from being an artist, Gilmour also teaches art and Mental Color Healing, a form of esoteric healing.   

The first female recipient of the Turner Prize, sculptor Rachel Whiteread is best known for her work House. Her signature style includes portraying the negative spaces around objects. She is also known for her use of graph paper and is part of the Young British Artists movement.

Ruth Asawa was an American sculptor best remembered for her wire sculptures, some of which are preserved in the tower of the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum in San Francisco, California. An arts education advocate, Asawa played an important role in the establishment of the San Francisco School of the Arts.

Augusta Savage was an American sculptor best remembered for her association with the Harlem Renaissance. Savage also worked as a teacher and her studio served as an important tool to the development of the careers of several artists who went on to achieve national prominence. In 2008, Augusta Savage was inducted into the Florida Artist Hall of Fame. 

Cécilia Rodhe is a Swedish sculptor and former model who lives and works in Brooklyn, New York, USA. She achieved popularity in 1978 when she won the Miss Sweden pageant. She went on to compete in the Miss Universe pageant the same year where she finished fifth.

Sarah Sze is an American contemporary artist best known for her installation works and sculptures. She uses everyday materials to explore the role of technology in contemporary life for which she has received several awards like the Louise Blouin Foundation Award and Louis Comfort Tiffany Award. Apart from being an artist, Sarah also works as a professor at Columbia University.

Marie Laurencin was a French printmaker and painter. An important member of the Cubists within the Groupe de Puteaux, Laurencin was an influential figure in the Parisian avant-garde. Today, her works can be seen at popular museums like the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in the USA, the Tate Gallery in the UK, and the State Hermitage Museum in Russia.

Angelina Beloff was a Russian-born artist best remembered for her work in Mexico. She also contributed as an art teacher in Mexico. Beloff is also known as the first wife of Mexican painter Diego Rivera; her professional achievements were largely overshadowed by her marriage and subsequent divorce. Her life and career inspired a novel by Elena Poniatowska.

Sarah Lucas is an English artist who was one of the most important members of the popular visual artists' group, Young British Artists. She is best known for incorporating found objects, collage, and photography in her works to employ bawdy humor and visual puns. Her works often highlight the absurdity of society and question conventions.

Anna Mahler lost her composer father Gustav Mahler at age 7 and spent much of her childhood at the studio of her mother Alma's lover, artist Oskar Kokoschka. She grew up to be a Grand Prix-winning sculptor. Her works include bronze figures of musicians and the popular Female Nude.

Vanessa Beecroft is a contemporary performance artist who often works with professional models to stage tableaux vivants. In 2018, she used Kim Kardashian as her model for the release of the latter's perfume brand. A controversial personality, Vanessa Beecroft's unsuccessful attempt to adopt Sudanese twins inspired a derogative documentary titled The Art Star and the Sudanese Twins by Pietra Brettkelly.

Domitilla Harding is an Italian designer and artist, who once worked as a designer with the Miss Italy fashion label. She has also designed furniture in the past and currently works as a glass sculptor with glass master Andrea Zilio. From her mother’s side, she has links to the House of della Rovere, an Italian noble family. 

Best known for her abstract stainless steel and stone sculptures and artwork, Gabriela von Habsburg is the granddaughter of former Austrian emperor Charles I. She was raised in exile and later taught as an art professor. She owns a vineyard in Georgia and has also been Georgia’s ambassador to Germany.

Known for her elegant, unstructured designs, fashion designer Nicole Farhi began her career as a freelancer in Paris before moving to London. Eventually she joined French Connection as the head of its design studio in Bow, very soon launching her own label under the company’s umbrella. She gradualy expandied it to include shoes, accessories, home décor, opening shops and even restaurants.

Marie Bashkirtseff was a Ukrainian artist who worked and lived in Paris. Bashkirtseff emerged as an intellectual in Paris and produced works like The Meeting and In the Studio before succumbing to tuberculosis in 1884 at age 25. Although many of her works were destroyed by the Nazis, over 60 of her paintings are preserved in places like Musée d'Orsay. 

Lygia Clark was a Brazilian artist best remembered for her installation work and painting. Clark discovered methods for viewers to interact with her work that dealt with the relationship between self and the outside world. Along with other important Brazilian artists, Clark is credited with co-founding the Neo-Concrete Movement. In 2014, one of her works was sold for $1.2 million.  

Rebecca Horn is a German visual artist best known for her body art, film directing, and installation art. Horn achieved popularity for her body sculptures where she attaches instruments and objects to the human body in order to create art. In 1992, Rebecca Horn received the Goslarer Kaiserring award, becoming the first woman to win the prestigious award.

Diane, Duchess of Württemberg is a Brazilian-born French-German painter, sculptor, philanthropist, and writer. One of her best-known works Geburt der Isis is stationed at Altshausen, Germany. The Duchess is a patron of Russia's Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences. In 1979, she established an eponymous foundation to help disadvantaged children.  

Argentine-born Amalia Ulman, who now lives in the U.S., is regarded as the first great Instagram performance artist. She is best known for her project that involved clicking selfies in fake scenarios and posting them as real-life moments. She mostly deals with themes of gender and sexuality in her art.

Elisabeth Frink was an English printmaker and sculptor. She survived World War II as a young girl and studied at the Guildford School of Art. Her artwork was greatly influenced by her wartime experiences. She quickly gained popularity for her bronze outdoor sculpture. She was made a full academician at the Royal Academy in 1979.