A proposal of gender interpretation of female artistic production during the so called Modernism, based on common elements in Tarsila do Amaral's, Frida Kalho's, Tamara de Lempicka's and Georgia O'Keeffe's art works, without denying their individual dimension, built upon the esthetic definition of grotesque. Grotesque, in its gender and historical expression, seems to represent a face of the common language used by women, trying to meet a strategy in order to be recognized by critics and markets. Though, at one side, visual and decorative tradition set the "idealized feminine", on the other side grotesque, as a way of breaking reality as rational and coherent, historically related to anti-classic movement, offers an opening to a sexuated and non-conformist expression to female artists.
modernism; grotesque; female artists; gender