Anna Waser
Anna Waser (1678 Zurich — 1741 Zurich) is considered the first Swiss female painter ever.
Self-Portrait at the Age of Twelve (1691) by Anna WaserKunsthaus Zürich
Self-Portrait at the Age of Twelve, 1691
At the age of twelve she painted this remarkable self-portrait in which she confidently shows herself in front of the easel with the tools of her profession in her hand.
Following her humanist education and training, Waser started to produce masterly miniatures — one of the few genres in those days that women could successfully specialize in.
She gained international recognition, became painter to the court in Braunfels, and after her return to Switzerland worked mainly for foreign commissions.
Angelika Kauffmann
Born in the midst of Swiss mountains, Angelika Kauffmann (1741 Chur — 1807 Rome) later became one of the most famous female artists of Classicism in Switzerland.
Cupid and Psyche (1792) by Angelika KauffmannKunsthaus Zürich
Cupid and Psyche, 1792
Angelica Kauffmann’s Amor and Psyche could hardly be more typical of its era: the grace of the figures and their moderated naturalness was keeping with the tastes of the day. The fairy tale of Cupid and Psyche is described by Apuleius in the 'Golden Ass'.
After her return from the underworld, Psyche illegally opened the vessel with beauty ointment, which had been received from Proserpina and was intended for Venus; the essences emerging from it put her into a death-like sleep.
Cupid wipes the numbing scents from her face with his golden curls. The serene reunion of the lovers was a popular theme generally expressed in the awakening of Psyche after her return from the underworld.
Ottilie W. Roederstein
During her lifetime, Ottilie W. Roederstein (1859 Zurich — 1937 Hofheim am Taunus) was a successful and independent painter whose portraits and still lifes were highly regarded in Switzerland and Germany.
Self-Portrait with Brushes (1917) by Ottilie Wilhelmine RoedersteinKunsthaus Zürich
Self-Portrait with Brushes, 1917
With these themes she adhered to the conventions that female artists were expected to abide by. Yet she soon found herself venturing beyond the allotted domain of women painters, producing religious images and nudes.
She painted numerous self-portraits, several also with these demonstratively presented brushes.
Sophie Taeuber-Arp
Considered by many a pioneer of Constructivist art and Abstraction, Taeuber-Arp (1889 Davos — 1943 Zurich) is also a well-known name regarding the Zurich Dada movement.
Triptych. Vertical-Horizontal Composition with Reciprocal Triangles (c. 1918) by Sophie Taeuber-ArpKunsthaus Zürich
Triptyque, c. 1918
Her abstract 'Triptych' with its gold ground and religious format indicates also her interest in the esoteric reform group on Monte Verità near Ascona.
The abstract work of Sophie Taeuber-Arp was inspired by both playful Dadaist ideas and the Zurich Concretist school that used visual resources of geometric constructivism. The artist developed her own, clearly distinct pictorial vocabulary.
Alice Bailly
The Vaudois painter (1872 Geneva — 1938 Lausanne) was mainly active in Paris before the First World War and known for her Avant-garde paintings.
Woman in Front of a Mirror (1918) by Alice BaillyKunsthaus Zürich
Woman in Front of a Mirror, 1918
This refined painting shows a colorful cubist composition. The bright colors and playful brushstrokes contrast with the monochrome cubist works of Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque.
Her work is thus close to Orphism, as we know it through the paintings of Sonia and Robert Delaunay full of color and rhythm.
Helen Dahm
The expressionist artist (1878 Engelshofen — 1968 Männedorf) was born in Eastern Switzerland and grew up in Zurich.
Quarry (1930) by Helen DahmKunsthaus Zürich
Quarry, 1930
Between the 1920s to 1950s she mostly painted figurative motifs like landscapes, flowers and portraits.
Through her sustained interest in the Expressionism of the Blue Rider, her artistic development reveals a strong, earthy coloring and a thick application of paint, combined with expressive simplified forms, often accentuated by outlines.
Sylvie Fleury
Sylvie Fleury's (*1961 Geneva) subjects are often drawn from the world of fashion, pop and contemporary visual culture.
First Spaceship On Venus (Pink Champagne) (2021) by Sylvie FleuryKunsthaus Zürich
First Spaceship On Venus (Pink Champagne), 2021
Cars, engines and rockets have always played an important role in her output. In 1998 she set up the She-Devils on Wheels automobile club, named after a 1960s film in which an all-female motorcycle gang exacts merciless revenge on the male world.
Here we see Fleury’s underlying feminism at work: for her, it is impossible to be an artist in today’s world without also being a feminist.
