Gerda married Einar in 1904 and went on to become the nation’s most prominent exponent of art deco, pioneering the bending of gender boundaries and rethinking the female gaze.“I like to think of her as the Lady Gaga of the 1920s,” says art historian Andrea Rygg Karberg, who has curated a new exhibition of Gerda’s work in Copenhagen. “Gerda was a pioneer who spent two decades as part of the Parisian art scene and revolutionised the way women are portrayed in art.” In short, Gerda Wegener was A Big Deal. “Throughout history, paintings of beautiful women were done by men,” says Rygg Karberg. “Women were typically seen through the male gaze. But Gerda changed all that because she painted strong, beautiful women with admiration and identification – as conscious subjects rather than objects.”
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“I think many strong women of our own time owe Gerda a debt of gratitude – artists such as Nan Goldin and Sarah Lucas, Vivienne Westwood and yes, even Lady Gaga,”
I like to think of her as the Lady Gaga of the 1920s...Gerda was a pioneer who spent two decades as part of the Parisian art scene and revolutionised the way women are portrayed in art.
