May Stevens (June 9, 1924 – December 9, 2019) was an American feminist artist, political activist, educator, and writer.
Early life and education
May Stevens was born in Boston to working-class parents, Alice Dick Stevens and Ralph Stanley Stevens, and grew up in Quincy, Massachusetts. She had one brother, Stacey Dick Stevens, who died of pneumonia at the age of fifteen. By Stevens's account, her father expressed his racism at home but "never said these things publicly, nor did he act on them—to my knowledge. But he said them over and over."
Stevens earned a B.F.A. at the Massachusetts College of Art (1946), and studied at the Académie Julian in Paris (1948) and Art Students League in New York City (1948). She was granted an MFA equivalency by the New York City Board of Education in 1960 and was a postdoctoral fellow at the Bunting Institute of Radcliffe College in 1988–89. In 1948 she married Rudolf Baranik (1920-1998), with whom she had one child.
Activism
Stevens' artwork frequently reflects her personal experiences and history. One instance of this is her "Sisters of the Revolution" series (1973-1976), which was inspired by her family's history of radical activism. The series portrays women from various historical periods who participated in revolutionary struggles, and Stevens utilized her family photographs as references for her paintings. Through this artwork, Stevens aimed to shed light on the significant yet frequently overlooked roles that women have played in political movements. Stevens was a founding member of the feminist group the Guerrilla Girls.
