Changes and Context in the Role of Women in the 1960s Visual Arts Environment: A Case Study

Abstract

This thesis examines changes in gender attitudes between the years 1962 and 1967 as seen through the activities of a group of female volunteers at a regional community center, specifically the Fine Arts committee of the Arts Council at the Young Men's and Women's Hebrew Association in Philadelphia. I demonstrate how the women were conditioned both within and outside their community to accept a subservient role to husbands and male hierarchy. By considering two of the committee's major projects, one that took place in 1962 and the other in 1967, and examining the Jewish community's primary newspaper during the same period, I compare and contrast the attitudes of the female "volunteer" in general and this specific group of more rebellious housewives whose interests were focused in the visual arts. Between the two major projects, examples of sociological theory are examined in order to follow the paradigm shift towards emerging feminism. Over a period of five years these women reassessed their role as housewives, and many eventually participated in professional life outside the home. The specific accomplishments of the Fine Arts Committee are compared, from the first major exhibition in 1962, ART 1963/A New Vocabulary to the last significant project in 1967, the Museum of Merchandise.