Mariven Diaz
Professor Cocoilo
Art and Women
Roles of Women in Europe
The roles of women in classical civilization were to dedicate their lives to men and their household. "Women were the virtual prisoners of men in their lives" (Guerrilla Girls, 19). This way of thinking went back in time to the biblical times in which the Bible said woman was made from man and woman was made for man. During the Middle Ages, this strict limitation on women where they only had a duty in the household shifted. "Despite the liabilities of feudalism elsewhere, under it women did not lose all legal rights, status, and economic power. Often they managed large estates while men were at war or occupied elsewhere on business" (Chadwick,47). Women who were nuns were fortunate enough to escape the roles of being wives and mothers. Nuns were given the opportunity to "operate businesses, farm, make tapestries, compose and perform music, write books on medicine, science, and sacred music" (Guerrilla Girls, 22). The roles of women who weren't nuns were more restricted and married off at the age of 15. Education was discouraged because it meant that it would take time away and interfere with being a mother and wife. This meant that most women weren't able to learn how to read or write. Some things that women could do during this time were that they could get divorced under certain guidelines and women could work in family businesses. There were also harsh punishments on women such as being killed if an engaged woman was to marry someone else and were beaten if they disobeyed their husband. Although women could work outside the house, all their earnings would still belong to the men in her family. A women artist during this time was Christine de Pizan who was a French writer. She was able to make a living as a writer and became famous for her poems and ballads for aristocratic patrons. During this time, it was rare for women to speak up since no one would take them seriously and were looked as "morally inferior and incapable of reason or logic" (Guerrilla Girls, 23). One of Christine de Pizan's work was The City of Ladies that talked about strong and virtuous women in history and argued against sexist scholars in her day. She wasn't afraid to speak her mind against men and their ideas about women despite her friends trying change her mindset. She wanted to bring awareness that women should take themselves seriously as well as others taking them seriously.
The roles of women shifted throughout the Renaissance because they were allowed to divorce their husbands if she found him impotent, go to college even though it meant to move to Bologna, have the option to get a legal abortion as long as it was approved by the Catholic Church, and could be an artist if she was born into a family of artists. During this time, many women weren't getting credit for their work and often it would be credited to males. Among these women was Elisabetta Sirani who was accused of signing her father's work. To prove herself, she painted in public and this inspired her to open her own school for women artists. One of her famous pieces was Portia Wounding Her Thigh,1664. This painting depicts the scene of plotting Julius Caesar's death and shows Brutus' wife, Portia, wanting to take part in this plot by proving herself worthy and strong enough by wounding herself. By inflicting pain on herself, this shows she is strong and in charge of her own body. Since she is alone, this also shows how she is separating herself from other groups of women who gossip. Through this painting, Elisabetta Sirani shows that women are strong enough to carry themselves along side men and they shouldn't be labeled as those who belong in the house and gossip.
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| Portia Wounding Her Thigh,1664 Women need to prove themselves in order for others to take them seriously http://www.wga.hu/art/s/sirani/elisabet/portia.jpg |
Another woman artist during the Renaissance is Artemisia Gentileschi. After having a history of being raped, she wasn't afraid to paint women in a manner where they are committing murder and facing what they did. In her work, Judith Slaying Holofernes, 1620 she painted Judith fearlessly looking at her violent act that shows strength and vengeance. She is unafraid to show that women can get down and dirty as opposed to the innocent and clueless beings people paint women out to be.
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| Judith Slaying Holofernes, 1620 Depicts how women can accomplish anything even if it's gruesome http://artcuratorforkids.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Artesmisia-Gentileschi-Judith-Slaying-Holofernes-1614%E2%80%9320.jpg |
During the 17th and 18th centuries, the roles of women were still very limited. Women were mostly housewives and young girls were sent away to work in textile and learn domesticated jobs such as sowing. If a woman was poor, it was likely that she became a wet nurse and about 15% of adult females at the time were prostitutes. Women were still subject to harsh punishments such as being fired from their jobs and imprisoned if they have children outside of marriage. One of the women artists during this time is Angelica Kauffmann who made a living as an artist and earned enough money in a year to buy her own house and settle down. She was able to become part of social groups who were mostly men who respected her "and was accepted in a man's world" (Guerrilla Girls, 44). She was able to defy the limited roles of women by becoming a respected artist, making a living for herself and gained status among men.
Once the 19th century hit, technological advances arose and the Industrial Revolution was born. During this period, women were striving for equality and worked for wages even though men earned more than they did. An artist that depicted the roles of women was Edith Haylar in her piece Feeding the Swans 1889. In this painting we see can see people and by the way they are dressed they are mostly likely to be wealthy. We can see on the steps that the man is proposing to a woman and at the bottom of the steps is girl watching a younger girl and helping her feed the swans. From this we can see that a woman being proposed to fits her role as becoming a wife and eventually a mother, and the girl watching over the child is already training herself to become a mother one day.
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| Feeding the Swans, 1889 Roles of women from a young age to when they grow up (marry and have children) https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/81/b6/58/81b65877bb7d4c6253460927550e7a5b.png |
Another artist of this time is Rosa Bonheur. She defied the stereotypical role of women. Her partner in life was a woman and she was a cross dresser. We can see that in this time she was able to get a permit to cross dress although it was given by a doctor which meant that it there must've been some sickness that was related to cross dressing. She wasn't your typical ladylike woman because she liked to hunt, smoke, and ride her horse around Paris. "Rosa encouraged women to be rebellious, saying " Let women establish their claims by great and good works and not by conventions" (Guerrilla Girls, 49). Rosa Bonheur's art embodied defiance and breaking the norms. She was a part of the Union of Women Painters and Sculptors and joined the movement in gaining equality for women.
CITATIONS
Chadwick, Whitney. Women, Art and Society. London: Thames & Hudson, 2007. Print.
The Guerrilla Girls' Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art. London: Penguin, 1998. Print.
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