Did you know that some of the most remarkable art of the last century was made by women, but you've probably never heard of them? This is not because their works were not brilliant — they were. But like in many other fields, the credit went somewhere else… or not early enough.
So this month, we’re highlighting five amazing artists. No deep dive required. Just five names worth knowing, and work worth looking at.
This one also came from somewhere personal. Our next collection was inspired by one of these artists — Seund Ja Rhee — and once we found her, we couldn’t stop. Her story led us to four others, and suddenly we had a list. Women who kept going. Who turned what the world handed them into something vivid, and bold, and entirely their own.
As you may know already, our founder Janet started iRi with her grandmother in mind (read more). And that’s still who we’re designing for. Women already doing the work. And guess what? These five great artists fit right in.
1885 - 1979
Bold geometry. Kaleidoscopic color. A career that spanned painting, textiles, fashion, and theater — and outlasted her husband's by nearly four decades! Delaunay cofounded Orphism, a movement built on color and contrast. And yet history kept filing her under his name. She did not stop and became the first living woman to have a retrospective at the Louvre in 1964. She was 78.
1915 - 2022
Minimal colors per canvas, but hard, bold edges with clean lines. A gallerist once told her to her face: she could paint circles around the men he represented, but he wasn't giving her a show because she was a woman. She never gave up and made her first sale at 89. She was nearly 101 when her first major NYC solo show started. She was still planning new projects the week she died, at 106. Truly inspiring.
1918 - 2009
She is the reason this post started. Born in Korea under Japanese colonial rule, she survived war, displacement, and separation from her family before leaving for Paris at 33 with almost nothing. Despite all that hardships, what she built there — over 14,000 works across five decades — carries Korean philosophy into Western abstraction. Iconic language entirely her own.
1940 - 1985
She left Seoul at 23 because her work was bigger than the city would let it be. She made her way through New York, came back to Korea, and spent her last years mentoring younger artists who would carry what she started. She passed away at 45 — years before the Centre Pompidou and Whitechapel Gallery added her name to the walls she deserved.
1924 - 2015
A Kaiadilt elder from Bentinck Island, Australia, Sally Gabori picked up a paintbrush for the first time at 81! She painted her island — its land, its sea, its memory — bursting in colors and energy, unlike anything in any existing tradition. Over the next eight years, she made over 2,000 paintings. They were so amazing that she represented Australia at the 2013 Venice Biennale and The Foundation Cartier held a major retrospective in 2022.
One more note! Last year’s Women’s History Month response from our community was overwhelming, and we wanted to do more this year. So, a portion of our March sales will be donated to six organizations supporting women’s rights and safety — including the three from last year, plus three more.
As always, thank you for reading. And for looking 💛
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