Eight Essential Films on Women Artists to Watch Now

Feature image: Paula Rego: Secrets and Stories, 2017 via IMdB

Film offers a rare opportunity to observe artists in motion. It reveals process, rhythm, and the intimate choreography of making art. For women artists, this record holds exceptional value. Many worked with limited institutional support and relied on their own resourcefulness and vision. Documentaries that focus on these artists offer a clear look at their studio lives and creative identities. They show how ideas take shape, how materials behave, and how the artistic mind works through space and time. These films present women who built their own worlds, guided their own paths, and shaped the landscape of modern and contemporary art.

Louise Nevelson transformed found wood into monumental structures that filled entire rooms. Nevelson in Process from 1977, produced by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, offers a direct view of how she built these large environments. The film focuses on her hands, her movements, and her approach to form. The camera follows Nevelson as she assembles fragments into walls that feel architectural and immersive. Her studio becomes a stage where ordinary materials turn into grand statements of structure and shadow.

The film serves as an introduction to her philosophy of repetition, scale, and monochrome surfaces. It also offers a clear sense of how she shaped her studio into an extension of her imagination.

This short film from 1953 features Barbara Hepworth in her St Ives studio and in the surrounding landscape. Directed by Dudley Shaw Ashton, Figures in a Landscape captures the harmony between sculpture and environment. Hepworth carves, sands, and positions her works with a sense of clarity and purpose. The Cornish coastline appears as a partner in her process. The rocks, water, and light reflect the natural forms that inspired her abstract shapes.

The film presents Hepworth as an artist who understood space as an active participant. It also offers a fresh perspective on her discipline and her connection to nature.

Agnes Martin developed a quiet, powerful style based on grids, lines, and subtle color. With My Back to the World from 2002 follows Martin during her later years in New Mexico. The film focuses on her thoughts about painting, beauty, and calm. It offers moments of reflection where she discusses her belief in harmony and her desire for clarity.

Through interviews and studio footage, the film presents her work as a meditation on order and serenity. Viewers gain insight into her daily practice and her belief in painting as a path toward balance and truth.

The 2016 documentary Eva Hesse presents the life and work of the influential sculptor who explored latex, fiberglass, and other experimental materials. The film draws from journals, letters, and interviews with friends and colleagues. It highlights her curiosity and her pursuit of new forms.

Studio photographs and archival footage show how she approached materials with both intensity and openness. Her works appear flexible, tactile, and energetic. The film creates a portrait of an artist who shaped postwar sculpture through bold choices, strong ideas, and innovative processes.

Yayoi Kusama built a global career that spans painting, sculpture, performance, and installation. Kusama: Infinity from 2018 traces her journey from childhood in Japan to international recognition. The film includes early drawings, archival photographs, and rare footage from her performances in the 1960s.

It presents her dedication to repetition, pattern, and immersive environments. It also highlights her persistence and commitment to making art throughout her life. The film offers a clear study of artistic focus and personal vision.

Alice Neel, from 2007, is an intimate documentary directed by her grandson, Andrew Neel. It offers a personal and detailed portrait of a painter who captured her subjects' emotional lives with insight and honesty. The film includes family footage, interviews, and visits to her old Harlem and Upper West Side studios.

Neel’s portraits appear throughout the film in close detail, allowing viewers to follow her brushwork and sense of psychological depth. The documentary presents her as a dedicated and fearless painter who shaped her own path with confidence and curiosity.

Paula Rego’s work combines narrative, symbolism, and strong emotional force. Secrets and Stories from 2017 offers a vivid portrayal of her artistic life. Directed by her son Nick Willing, the film includes archival images, studio visits, and personal commentary. It explores her interest in storytelling, memory, and the darker corners of imagination.

The documentary presents Rego as a master of visual drama. It also emphasizes her discipline and her ability to create scenes that feel both intimate and theatrical.

This 2015 documentary traces the life of Peggy Guggenheim, a collector and patron who shaped the course of modern art. Art Addict follows her experiences in Europe, her relationships with leading artists, and her role in bringing avant-garde movements to international attention.

Through interviews and archival film, the documentary shows how Guggenheim supported artists during critical moments in their careers. Her story expands the definition of creativity by showing how influence and vision also shape the art world.

These eight films offer a wide view of women who transformed art through their presence, discipline, and imagination. They reveal studios as living environments and materials as active partners. They also highlight the importance of moving images as a valuable record of artistic lives. Together, they form an essential collection for viewers seeking a deeper understanding of creativity through the lens of women who built their own visual languages, illuminating the importance of these films as a record of artistic lives.

©ArtRKL® LLC 2021-2025. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. ArtRKL® and its underscore design indicate trademarks of ArtRKL® LLC and its subsidiaries.