We Can Do Anything: From sports to innovation, art to politics, meet over 200 women who got there first. Chuck Gonzales
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Yayoi’s work is popular among all ages around the world. Here, a young girl visits the Yayoi Kusama Exposition in France’s Centre Pompidou, in 2012.
POLKA-DOT PRINCESS
The trademark of Yayoi Kusama’s art is brightly colored polka dots, but her work encompasses so much more: painting, sculpture, performance art, fashion, writing, film—the list goes on. Yayoi is recognized as one of the most important living Japanese artists, as well as one of the top living artists around the world.
Yayoi has dealt with mental health issues since childhood. Since 1977, she has chosen to live in a psychiatric hospital in Tokyo, Japan, across the street from which she has an artist studio. Yayoi’s work helps her process the world she sees and to share her experiences. She has won a number of international awards and has influenced artists and musicians from around the globe.
Yayoi is believed to have influenced such artistic giants as Andy Warhol (of Marilyn Monroe screen-print fame) and Claes Oldenburg (known for giant everyday objects). Her early work set the scene for significant art movements that followed, including pop art and minimalism. However, the incredibly talented Yayoi was widely forgotten between the 1970s and 2000, when she left the New York art scene and moved back to her native Japan. Fortunately, love for her art was rekindled, and she has had major exhibitions of her work in New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), London’s Tate Modern, and the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Her star is on the rise again, and in 2008, one of her pieces sold for an incredible $5.1 million—a record for a living female artist. Spectacularly, in 2014, at the age of 86, Yayoi was labeled the world’s most popular artist, as ranked by museum attendance. This was for the touring retrospective of her work, which attracted over two million visitors at galleries all around the globe.
AUDREY HEPBURN ACTRESS, HUMANITARIAN, CULTURAL ICON
FULL NAME: AUDREY KATHLEEN VAN HEEMSTRA RUSTON
BORN: MAY 4, 1929, BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
DIED: JANUARY 20, 1993, TOLCHENAZ, SWITZERLAND
NATIONALITY: BRITISH
U.S. postage stamp, circa 2003, memorializing Audrey Hepburn
Known for her love of animals, Audrey adopted a fawn from one of her films and named him Ip.
GRACE, BEAUTY, AND HEART
It is fitting that Audrey Hepburn should follow so closely behind Marilyn Monroe (see here) in this book. Audrey’s most famous movie role was Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. The part was originally written for Marilyn Monroe, already a huge screen star, but the petite rising star—with aristocratic chic—wowed the crew and won the part.
Born in Belgium to an English banker father and a Dutch baroness, Audrey Kathleen van Heemstra Ruston spent her childhood alternating between the Netherlands and England. “Hepburn” was a name she added later. During World War II, Audrey and her mother lived in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands, where they experienced the brutality of war. Young Audrey saw Jewish people all around her taken from their homes, and she herself suffered malnutrition and other hardships. Audrey reportedly helped the resistance movement by delivering messages and raised funds by dancing in secret ballet performances. These experiences would have a profound impact on her lifelong dedication to humanitarianism.
CINDERELLA OF THE SILVER SCREEN
After the war, Audrey continued to study ballet. She made her debut on the London stage in 1948. In 1951, she won a bit part in her first feature film, One Wild Oat, before starring in the Broadway production of Gigi in the same year. Her success was building fast. In 1953, aged just 22, Audrey starred opposite Gregory Peck in Roman Holiday as a free-spirited princess. For the role, she won an Academy Award for Best Actress. Often, Audrey’s roles centered on Cinderella-like transitions, such as those in Sabrina and Funny Face, and she starred in everything from light-hearted comedies to epic tragedies. One of her two most famous transformation movies was Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961), based on a novella by Truman Capote. The film earned her millions of fans, and to this day it remains a much-loved cult classic. The other was the beloved musical classic My Fair Lady (1964). Star of stage and Hollywood’s Golden Age, Audrey is one of only a handful of actresses to win an Emmy (for TV), Tony (for theater), Grammy (for music), and Academy Award (for film). The American Film Institute ranked Audrey third among the greatest female stars of all time. She won one Oscar and was nominated for five, as well as winning three Golden Globes.
Audrey quickly became a style icon, on the opposite end of the spectrum from curvy, glamorous Marilyn. Audrey had short hair, a slim body, and minimalistic fashion sense. Her look was more attainable to the average woman at the time, and she is often named among the greatest style icons of the 20th century.
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
By the 1970s and 1980s, Audrey appeared in fewer films. She still made the occasional onscreen appearance, but humanitarian work was now her priority. In around 1988, Audrey began to serve as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. Fluent in six languages, she traveled the world with UNICEF, raising awareness about poverty, hunger, and healthcare. From her own childhood experiences, Audrey knew what it felt like to suffer hardships, and she was renowned for her incredible ability to connect with people—especially children. In spite of the atrocities she witnessed, Audrey remained hopeful for the future. In return for her contributions, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1992, as well as a special Academy Award for her humanitarian work in 1993. Just after her death, her sons and partner established the Audrey Hepburn Society® at UNICEF.
DELIA DERBYSHIRE PIONEER OF ELECTRONIC MUSIC, WHO ALSO PRODUCED THE DISTINCTIVE SOUND OF DOCTOR WHO
FULL NAME: Delia Derbyshire
BORN: MAY 5, 1937, COVENTRY, U.K
DIED: JULY 3, 2001, NORTHAMPTON, U.K.
NATIONALITY: BRITISH
An evil dalek, from the hit show Doctor Who
FOR THE LOVE OF SOUND
Delia loved math and music, especially the overlaps between the two—the patterns of “acoustics.” Even the sound of air-raid sirens and running feet had a musical impact upon her during World War II (which she lived through). After graduating in math and music from Cambridge University, she followed her passion and applied to Decca Records. She was told flat out that women were not employed in the recording studio there. Eventually, she got a job as a trainee studio manager at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). She then moved to the BBC’s Radiophonic Workshop, where she did some of her best work. One of her first works, and the one for which she became most famous, was the Doctor Who theme song. TV composer Ron Grainer had put together a score, but it was Delia who made it work as the iconic sound audiences loved. When it was done, Ron barely recognized it, but he loved it. It was the first TV theme entirely created by electronic means—and probably the first time the public had heard electronic music.
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