How The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944 (GI Bill) Impacted Women Artists' Career Opportunities

John Warren Oakes

John Warren Oakes Western Kentucky University

Abstract

The GI Bill educated millions of veterans after World War II, and in the second half of the 1940s, higher education enrollments doubled. Colleges and universities recruited professional artists to teach these returning GIs; many of whom were 1930s W.P.A.-educated and economically supported men. Males dominated enrollments and hires, as significant numbers of females were denied admission in art schools and employment as artist educators. Expected by society to be wives and mothers, women artists often experienced gender inequity and prejudice which prevented them from teaching art at universities and colleges. The few women hired in higher education often faced gender-biased tenure and promotion decisions by tenured male faculty. By the mid 1950s, those who did not paint in the style of Abstract Expressionism were excluded from teaching in art programs at universities, colleges, and academies. This paper concerns the impact of the GI Bill on women artistsâ€™ careers in the years 1944 to 1970.

Author Biography

John Warren Oakes, Western Kentucky University

John Warren Oakes, professor of art at Western Kentucky University (1966-2006), teaches courses in painting and drawing and created and taught a course â€œWomen in Artâ€ in a joint appointment with the Womenâ€™s Studies Program. In 2001, he was a participant in â€œAt Home: A Kentucky Project with Judy Chicago and Donald Woodmanâ€ at Western Kentucky University and with associate Andee Rudloff, designed a traveling exhibition documenting that project. In 2002, he was the recipient of the Katherine Coogan Ward Feminist Action Award. He and wife Dr. Elizabeth Oakes curated the 2001 exhibition â€œKentuckyWomen Artists 1850-1970â€ shown at the Kentucky Museum and the Owensboro Museum of Art. His sabbatical in 2004 involved the â€œRole of Gender in Art Production and Criticism.â€ He is an exhibiting artist in national and international exhibitions. Current research interests continue to be gender in art and also the art historical influences in Pablo Picassoâ€™s Les Demoiselles dâ€™Avignon. Publications include: Kentucky Women Artists 1850-1970 (catalogue, 2001); Electronic Art Lab Manual (Acorn Press, 1997, revised in 1999); Art by Computer (Acorn Press, 1991); Action Amiga: Computer Graphics, Animation and Video Production (University Press of America, 1988); Instant Projects: A Handbook for Teachers (Polaroid Corporation, 1986); Minimal Aperture Photography Using Pinhole Cameras (University Press of America, 1986); and Computer Graphics: New Tools and Techniques for Artists (AMIGAworld, May-June, 1986).

Correspondence regarding this article should be addressed to the author at john.oakes@wku.edu