Gender Check – the Project

How were workers depicted on Socialist posters? How were male “heroes” portrayed in officially sanctioned art in Romania in the 1960s? How did female artists see themselves during the transition period after 1989? How do images impact on our view of the sexes? Gender Check reflects ideas of masculinity and femininity in the former Communist bloc. Twenty years after the fall of the Iron Curtain, this project considers how men and women were depicted in the art of Eastern Europe. A six-month research project in 24 countries collected images from various archives and museums and brought them together for the first time. The research, the exhibition, a symposium and the catalogue Gender Check look at both official and unofficial art from the Baltics to the Caucasus, from the 1960s to the decisive events of 1989 to the present, and demonstrate how it tackled gender.

Wojciech Fangor: Postaci (Figures), 1950. Oil on canvas. 
Courtesy: Muzeum Sztuki w Łodzi