The Catalan artists and their place in “Feminal” magazine (1907-1917)

Faced with the ostracism of female artists in the cultural and artistic media of that time, Feminal magazine (1907-1917), directed by the feminist writer and journalist Carme Karr, made visible 43 women painters, drawers and craftswomen active in Catalonia in the first two decades of the twentieth century by conceding them greater public presence and social and cultural recognition. The articles written about each one of these painters, some of which are several pages long and all accompanied by photographs of the artists and their works, have been an invaluable and in some cases only source to reclaim their identity. In spite of the magazine’s sexist stereotypes of women and female artists, Feminal is also a critical history of women’s art which denounces the distrust of the talent and professionalism of female artists, the cronyism that excluded them from fair criticisms and major awards, the lack of exhibition spaces specialized in feminine issues, the barriers they had to work the major genres, the difficulties they faced to reconcile family and professional life and the added problems of rural artists.