Message from the Founder

I credit my passions for art history to my elementary art school teacher. Every couple classes or so, he would show us short presentations on famous artists. I learned about Keith Haring, the colorful street artist. I learned about Jackson Pollock, the abstract extraordinaire. I learned about the beautiful, soft realism of Da Vinci and the idiosyncratic portraits of Picasso. It was practically heaven for me, a little girl with a boundless curiosity about art.

However, my early art history education largely lacked one thing: women in art. At no fault of my wonderful teacher, aside from anomalies like Georgia O’Keeffe and Frida Kahlo, I was hardly exposed to the work of female artists. Moreover, when I visited museums, I mainly viewed the work of male artists. In addition to the collections of wonderful artwork by men, I wanted to see the work of artists more like me. Where was it all?

Lost in the history books, I quickly learned, is where it all was. Women faced unique challenges in art. It was desirable for a woman to be competent in the arts; however, that acceptance did not translate to respect. They were confined to depicting traditionally feminine ideals. And as the study of art history was constructed by male historians centuries ago, they largely overlooked the artistic contributions of women.  Sometimes, they would even attribute their work to better-known male artists. The female artists consequently faded into obscurity over time.

Today, non-male artists still face a lack of representation. According to a New York Times article written in 2019 by Julia Jones, twenty-six top museums in the United States acquired more than 260,000 works over the past decade. Among those, less than 30,000 were done by women. Moreover, in the global auction house, females represented only two percent of the market share.

All artists, not just the male ones, deserve recognition and respect. I created the PurplePrint to help right the past’s wrongs, providing a platform to celebrate female, trans male, nonbinary, gender-nonconforming and Two-Spirit (and more!) artists’ incredible works and stories. I encourage you to explore the content with an open mind, seeking to learn about new perspectives and examine art through a lens of gender. Thank you for engaging with the PurplePrint.

Have fun learning!

Cara Ianuale, Founder & President