Jag har studerat grunden till Föreningen Svenska Konstnärinnors bildande för att undersöka ifall antagandet att föreningen instiftades som en reaktion mot den manliga konstnärsgruppen De unga och deras första utställning på Hallins konsthandel 1909 stämmer. Jag har vidare undersökt ifall det finns något samband mellan grundandet av föreningen och de kvinnliga Matisseelevernas uteslutande ur De unga. Genom en historiografisk undersökning samt Griselda Pollocks genusteori har jag med kvantitativa studier kommit fram till att Föreningen Svenska Konstnärinnor grundades då enskilda kvinnor inte hade rätten att ställa ut sin konst. Föreningens bildande grundar sig i de kvinnliga konstnärernas önskan om förbättrade juridiska rättigheter. Genom den statistik jag fört fram i detta arbete kan jag också konstatera att det inte finns något samband mellan föreningens bildande och de kvinnliga Matisseelevernas uteslutande ur De unga, detta då de kvinnliga Matisseelevernas deltagande i Föreningen Svenska Konstnärinnors utställningar är allt för lågt för att kunna ha haft någon påverkan. / I have studied the founding of Föreningen Svenska Konstnärinnor (FSK) [”The Association of Swedish Female Artists”] to examine whether the assumption that the association was founded as a reaction against the male artist group De unga [”The Young”] and their first exhibition at Hallins konsthandel in 1909 is correct. I have also examined whether there is any connection between the founding of the association and the female Matisse students’ exclusion from De unga. Through a historiographical survey and Griselda Pollock's gender theory, I have through quantitative studies concluded that FSK was founded when individual women didn’t have the right to exhibit their art in public. The founding of the association is based on the female artists struggle for equal legal rights. Through the statistics that I’ve put forward in this thesis I’ve been able to conclude that there is no connection between the founding of FSK and the exclusion of the female Matisse students’ from De unga. This is because the female Matisse students’ presence in FSKs exhibitions is too rare to have any influence on its founding.

Against a background of feminist art theories arguing that the hierarchies in art as based on masculine norms, the present thesis examines the four foundations associated with the Swedish state museum of modern art Moderna Museet. The object descriptions are gone through with open coding, to see wether there are formulations in these that affect the possibility to utilize the foundations yield for purchasing textile art. To ground the conclusions, the textile artworks in the collection are reviewed. The findings show that there are no terms in the object descriptions that would explain the low representation of textile art in the collection, since no terms regarding the artworks material nor the artists gender are set. It could therefore rather be a subjective choice by the decision-makers at the museum. Textile art’s position as a traditionally feminine craft renders it not self-evident within the masculine norms of art and modern art museums, and the causes of the mis-representation as well as future prospects are discussed.

The present essay explores artworks of Karin Larsson through the feminist theoretical field of studies. The following three textile works were in the centre of the study, Kärlekens ros, Duk med tecken and Sashiko-gardin. The connection between japonisme, Japanese inspired art, and Karin Larssons art works were studied. Through feminist theories by art historians such as Linda Nochlin and Griselda Pollock the experience of being a woman in the 1800s affected the works of Karin Larsson were discussed. It was found that Karin Larssons upbringing and education as a woman differs from the usual male art student, which affected her art works. The subjects of her art works were also often the result of personal experiences. Furthermore, a correlation between the art works and Japanese woodblocks and Japanese embroidery techniques were identified.

This essay examines the performance artworks Action Pants: Genital Panic (1969), Interior Scroll (1975) and S.O.S Starification Object Series (1974-82) by artists VALIE EXPORT, Carolee Schneemann and Hannah Wilke. The objective is to analyse the expressions of these artworks, from a theoretical viewpoint of feminist art-theoreticians and their critique regarding the female body in representation. Performance- and body-art have been the subject of discussion with respect to the female nude in the history of art, and the patriarchal structures that surround it. These eminent theories about the female body in art differ from one another, leaving this study to investigate given works and the explicit body-language that unites them, with the aim to identify a favourable representation of the female body in 1960sand 70s performance art with the vantage point of these artworks. The present essay has demonstrated that vaginal iconology exists in all works and can be presented in various ways. It becomes clear that the work of VALIE EXPORT provides a framework most suitable as a feminist, critical strategy to counteract the notion of the male gaze, framing, and representation of the body as commodity in capitalist-society. However, the works of Schneemann and Wilke, with more essentialist themes, can through ambiguity contribute to a positive representation of woman in representation. There is no simple answer to which way 2 of using the body is the most beneficial for feminism, however, a critical representation of the female body in performance and body art, in relation to the artists’ own intentions, creates positive ambiguity, thus these artworks do not only reinforce patriarchal conventions regarding the female body.

This study aims to analyze the motif of Julia Margaret Cameron’s photograph The Rosebud Garden of Girls from 1868 regarding its literary sources, codes and how the women are depicted. The purpose is to find out whether the photograph romanticize or challenge the Victorian conventions. The applied method is Erwin Panofskys iconographical and iconological analysis methods. The theoretical framework consists of art historian Griselda Pollocks report regarding private and public spheres and how women and men are divided between these. Art historian Leena-Maija Rossi’s reasoning concerning female masquerade has also contributed a theoretical basis. The result shows a paradoxical picture of the Victorian view on women and how this is reflected in The Rosebud Garden of Girls.