Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo was an amazing Spanish artist who was born in Coyoacan, Mexico.  She lived a very short life due to an accident with a trolley that caused her to become crippled for life.  She had numerous surgeries for it but nothing really seemed to heal her.  She laid in bed and began painting herself constantly.  Her art brings out her life stories from her physical pain to her relationship with Diego Rivera.  Since there was not much for her to do once she became cripple all she could really do was tell the story of her life through her artwork hoping that people would notice it.  The significance of her doing this type of painting was to show people her struggles through art rather then by speaking.

The subject matter for her work consisted of mainly self-portraits of herself.  Within the self-portraits she showed the viewers the physical pain she was going through because of her accident.  She also showed us her personal pain of not being able to have a child as well as her roller coaster ride of a relationship with Diego Rivera.  In the painting, "The Broken Column", Frida shows herself crying and in pain.  It shows her typical days struggle of trying to move on in life but its nearly impossible with all the damage that has been done to her body.  It also can symbolize her broken relationship with Diego Rivera.  They both loved each other but were on and off numerous times.  Frida even admitted to having affairs of her own with other men and even some women.  In the painting, "The Flying Bed" (also known as Henry Ford Hospital) Frida is laying down in her bed bleeding from the pain of loosing her son due to a miscarriage.  The symbols around her symbolize her accident and broken parts of her body as well as the many miscarriages she has faced.

"The Flying Bed" 1932

Frida Kahlo "The Broken Column" 1944

Frida Kahlo's biography discusses many of the things we talked about in class.  By the time of Frida's death she had created about 200 paintings and has only been to one exhibit that had featured her work.  Many of her paintings were not recognized until after her death when some of them were finally placed in exhibits.  As for why she always painted herself she says "I paint myself because I am so often alone and because I am the subject I know best.  Kahlo is known as a Surrealist because she painted her life.  "The duality of Kahlo's life- an exterior persona constantly reinvented with costume and ornament, and an interior image nourished on the pain of a body crippled in a trolley accident when she was an adolescent-invests her painting with a haunting complexity and a narrative quality disturbing in its ambiguity" (Chadwick, 313).  Chadwick is saying that Kahlo's paintings tell a story of her life and that she isn't afraid to show it how it was.  The ambiguity part of her paintings is that one thing symbolizes multiple things.  A good example of that is shown in the painting of "The Flying Bed."

The difficulties that women artists during this time period faced was trying to get their art into exhibitions.  Many of the women artists never got to see their paintings in exhibitions because no one paid attention to their artwork until after they died.  In the Guerilla girls book, Kahlo says "My husband, Diego Rivera, was treated like a god in his lifetime, but I was a martyr and was canonized only after I had suffered and died.  My first solo exhibition was just one year before I was dead. Some say it was given to me because I was about to go" (Guerilla Girls, 78).  This quote is proving the point that many women artists struggled to get their work into museums and that they had to die in order for it to happen.  The men very easily got their work across while the woman had to fight and die for it.

Kahlo left a mark on many contemporary artists that came after her.  She opened up the doors with the idea of talking about her personal life and speaking on a personal level in terms of childbirth. Some artists after her continued with the self-portraits and using disturbing images to best describe the reality that they were living through.  An example of a disturbing image from Frida Kahlo was from the painting of "My Birth" in 1932.  That painting was what Frida imagined what it most have been like for her mother to give birth to her.

"My Birth" 1932

Recent rare photos of Frida Kahlo's last few years of her life have been found and posted for people to see.  Some of the pictures show Frida mainly at home painting and spending time in her garden.  Pictured below is Frida Kahlo enjoying her garden.  It was probably a place where she went to think and get her mind off of things.

Frida in her garden 1951

 

Works Cited 

Schwiegershasenu, Erica. "Rare Photos of Frida Kahlo From the Last Years of Her Life." The Cut. NY Magazine, 29 Mar. 2015. Web. 31 Mar. 2015.

 Chadwick, Whitney. Women, Art, and Society. 4th ed. New York, NY: Thames and Hudson, 1990. Print.

 Guerilla Girls. The Guerrilla Girls' Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art. New York: Penguin, 1998. Print.

 "Frida Kahlo Biography." WELCOME TO FRIDA KAHLO WEBSITE ». N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Mar. 2015.



Mi Vida y Mi Impacto: Frida Kahlo

        During the brightest day, a shadow will be casted through the objects and individuals that people will not notice nor seem to care about. It's just a shadow, after all... Eventually when the objects and people disperse from the light, the shadow will vanish and it will be then when people become curious about its significance. This short metaphor is symbolic of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo's life between birth through marriage and death. The shadow is Frida. It hiding behind objects/people represents her hiding behind her famous artistic husband, Diego Rivera and when she passed away (shadow fading away) is when her work began getting noticed leading to her popularity.

 

Frida Kahlo, Self Portrait with Monkey, 1938
The leaves in the background and uses of
natural coloring relates to the
Mexican heritage.

        Born in Coyoacán, Mexico, 1907, Frida Kahlo de Rivera (de Rivera is after her marriage) was born to a father and mother of a Jewish and Spanish decent, but clearly focused only on the Spanish as noticed throughout her self portraits. Roughly around the age of 18, Frida suffered a devastating accident involving a trolly and bus that almost took her life away with a pole being impaled in her body. She survived and through the process of her recovery is when is she began drawing. Originally her art was how she viewed herself from the accident and then evolved into a more artistic view of herself. Years later, Diego Rivera, a famous artist noticed her work, motivated her artistic ability, and eventually they got married. Although they had an off and on relationship/marriage and her being bisexual, she had deep, unconditional love for him. It was right before her death in 1954 that people began noticing her work and it contributing to future feminist movement, inspirations, etc.

Frida Kahlo, My Birth, 1932
Frida's depiction of how her mother gave birth to her

        In the 20th century, at a young age, she lived during the Mexican Revolution in 1910, which probably helped made Kahlo so strong and created her own will in her art work. When her and Diego moved to the United States she lived through the time where the 19th amendment was ratified, therefore granting the right of allowing women to vote. Yes, men where still superior and women were inferior, but it gradually began to change with the Frida being one of the contributors. Take her unibrow for example: many people would consider it unfeminine, but to her, she does it to represent that she is different, that she does not follow the male gaze with their preferences. She can be defined as reckless, doing what she pleases such as going to bars, engaging in sexual relations with the opposite gender, clearly abiding to her own standards. Julio, an author who wrote in the Feminist Art Archive for the University of Washington wrote "These acts were all seen as rebellious behavior back in the early 1900's, but after analyzing these acts with modern feminist perspective we can see them as unconventional/revolutionary feminist acts of her time," (1).

Frida Kahlo, Henry Ford's Hospital,  1932
Frida Kahlo on a hospital bed with the city in the background.

        Despite Kahlo only having one form of a medium which is painting, she is highly skilled in this category which allows her to sharpen her artistic abilities having only one focus. Take a look a her photo Ford's Hospital, 1932 [shown on the left]. Frida draws herself on a hospital bed with items attached to her via a string. Attached is a dead flower, a remodeled pelvis, a snail, an x-ray, some technological contraption, and lastly a fetus representing the 2nd miscarriage Frida had. Despite the use of the city background, she does not like the city life, usually prefers the scenery from her home in Mexico. It is easy to see the resemblance of the of some of the items such as the fetus, the pelvis, and flower, but for an item as the snail is a little unknown. Pirkko Siltala in The Life of the Body in the Pictures and Writings of Frida Kahlo, analyzes the uses of the items by quoting Kahlo. He writes "The snail, Frida explained, referred to the slow miscarriage, which like a snail was 'soft, covered and the same time opened,'" (147). It is with the quote that you can then fully understand the concept of how all the items in Frida's photo synthesize into one. It all reveals her inner thoughts, how she is different from other female artists which is why she is well known. Whitney Chadwick, author of Women, Art, and Society, also states "The duality of Kahlo's life... invests her painting with a haunting complexity and a narrative quality disturbing in its ambiguity," (313). Chadwick's statement summarizes the art that Frida creates. It is always unknown, yet it always holds a deeper meaning than usual that relates to her life in various ways. 

Frida Kahlo, The Wounded Table, 1940
A form of a self portrait that was created when the divorce between Diego
and her was finalized. You can see the type of emotion and message she is
trying to convey: a broken family.

Frida Kahlo, My Grandparent, My Parents, and I, 1936
Frida's depiction of her family tree despite showing Mexican
Heritage in the background. This is one of the photos that were
included in her first exhibition.

     
        Unfortunately for Frida, her work was becoming known around the time of her death. Around 1938-40, Frida had her first art exhibition held in SoHo, New York, where roughly 12 of her paintings got sold, which included Henry Ford's Hospital and even My Birth. Her work was used for the feminist movement that began around early 1970s and in the 1980s, a book was written about her by Hayden Herrera called A Biography of Frida Kahlo. In 2002, actress Salma Hayek starred in a film called Frida, a movie created to show the life of Frida Kahlo and one that she enjoyed playing in. Kahlo left a legacy that helped continue the feminist movement and led to be one of the most well known artists that created an impact to the female art world.

Here is an interview of Salma Hayek & her role as Frida Kahlo in Frida, 2002.

Bibliography

Mike Brooks. "Frida Kahlo Fans Chronology." Frida Kahlo Fans. n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2015.

[Website: http://www.fridakahlofans.com/chronologyenglish.html]  

"The Revolutionary Artist: Frida Kahlo." Feminine Art Archive. University of Washington. Web. 29 Mar. 2015. 

[Website: http://courses.washington.edu/femart/final_project/wordpress/frida-kahlo/]

"Frida Kahlo." Bio. A&E Television Networks. Web. 29 Mar. 2015.

[Website: http://www.biography.com/people/frida-kahlo-9359496]

Chadwick, Whitney. Women, Art and Society. New York, N.Y.: Thames and Hudson, 1990. Print.

The following citation requires access from the Rutgers Library database:

Siltala, Pirkko. "I Made A picture Of My Life- A Life From The Picture: The Life Of The Body In The Pictures And Writings Of Frida Kahlo." International Forum Of Psychoanalysis 7.3 (1998): 135-155. Academic Search Premier. Web. 29 Mar. 2015.

[Website: http://tinyurl.com/qfbqzuo]

Frida Kahlo and the Latin Culture in the 20th Century

"I was born a bitch. I was born a painter."- Frida Kahlo

The 20th Century is marked in history as the time where women began to speak for themselves. It was a time where women had opportunities to play an active role on social issues and within the art world. Through technological, philosophical, and cultural changes both the United States and Western Europe began enjoying greater access to art markets and educational opportunities. This was a time where art schools began admitting women and they were allowed to work with nude models and paint in public spaces. Due to the technological advancement during this period, modern sculpting and photography were two components of the new art world that women remained key figures in. Women also played an important role in performance art, electronic and digital media, and conceptual art. This was a time where even newer forms of art were coming to light such as; minimalism, abstraction, and expressionism. As opportunity to grow as a woman in the twentieth century, so did opposition. This was a century where many of the rights women have today or continue fighting for were started. Through media outlets and artworks women challenged the status quo and the unequal representation of women in the art world.

A Short History of the 20th Century 
This video serves as a means to explain what was going on around the time that Frida Khalo was creating her masterpieces.

One of the amazing women to contribute to the phenomenon that was already occurring was Frida Kahlo. A woman who ripped her heart out and gave it all to the public through her art work. Her paintings were personal which made them political. As author Whitney Chadwick writes in her fourth edition of "Women, Art, and Society" that Khalo, "invests her painting with a haunting complexity and a narrative quality disturbing in its ambiguity" (313). She embraced her Latin American roots and made sure she was the hero of her own life story. In her words, "Since I faced a life of suffering, I decided to make it my cross to bear. Instead of letting my infirmities keep me from fulfilling my ambitions, I used them as fuel for my art" (Guerilla Girls, 78).

Henry Ford Hospital, 1932
Depiction of her first miscarriage with husband Diego Rivera

Frida was mestiza, meaning she was partially European and Spanish/Indigenous. She embraced her culture by wearing "peasant clothes, jewelry, and hairstyles" (Guerilla Girls, 78) while also having "false teeth encrusted with gold and gaudy jewels" (Guerilla Girls, 78). She was not your ordinary painter, much less the average woman whom society would simply expect to sit still and look pretty. She was very vocal and passionate about her culture and artwork. Having been born in Mexico City on July 6th, just a few years prior to the Mexican Revolution she had a lot of race pride but also depicted it in her work. As she writes, "I never gave up paintings, because mine were based on retablos: Mexican devotional paintings that depicted misfortunes and asked for miracles" (Guerilla Girls, 79). If her paintings did not depict personal events in her life, they were often paintings illustrating the Mexican culture.

 

The Broken Column, 1944

During this time the Latin American culture struggled with problems that many third world countries did and that was the constant dependence of Western countries. However, Mexico remained being one of the biggest focal points during this time due to the Mexican Revolution and the upheaval amongst the people residing there. The political system was corrupt and workers, Indians, and peasants were repressed. There was a realignment of economies, a manufacture spurt forcing countries to rely on themselves, and eventually face the truth that the United States was the reigning foreign power/alliance. However, the art world (especially in Mexico) was filled with romanticism of Indian heritage, Christian values, and recapturing the past and plans for the future. Popular culture was focusing on celebrating the war heros during this time. However, Kahlo's work is celebrated in her native roots "as emblematic of national and indigenous tradition and by feminists for its uncompromising depiction of the female experience and form" ("A Tribute to Frida Kahlo,"1). Without hesitation, she never accepted being labeled as a surrealist and would often be quoted saying, "Thank you misters, but I am in my own world, not yours" (Guerilla Girls, 79).

The Last Supper, 1940

Frida has been best described as "…one of history's grand divas…a tequila-slamming, dirty joke-telling smoker, bi-sexual that hobbled about her bohemian barrio in lavish indigenous dress and threw festive dinner parties for the likes of Leon Trotsky, poet Pablo Neruda, Nelson Rockefeller, and her on-again, off-again husband, muralist Diego Rivera" ("A Tribute to Frida Kahlo," 1). However, her art pieces speak for themselves and her active role for the expansion of neo-Mexican culture was discovered or better understood only after her death. Frida's self portraits depicted both her pain and sexuality after getting into a car accident that left her immobile and needing to undergo nearly thirty surgeries to recover at a very young age. As she was quoted once saying, "I paint myself because I am often alone and I am the subject I know best." She also worked on pieces that depicted her childhood. Running into her home at the sound of gunfire in her poor hometown and the sight of revolutionaries jumping fences into her backyard, which her mother would often serve a meal to.


El Autobus, 1929

Each of her 200 paintings were painted in vibrant colors to celebrate her indigenous culture and emphasize on her dramatic symbolism. Being that her career as a painter started as she laid in bed recovering from the tragic accident, it is amazing to recall how phenomenal of a woman she is. Over the course of years she received little recognition while she was alive but was ultimately one of the first Mexican artist of the 20th century to have her work purchased by an internationally acclaimed museum ( The Louvre) in Europe.





The Frame, 1937-1938 (Piece bought by The Louvre)

In present time, she's remembered as being one of the most controversial women in Mexican culture who in her own way was apart of the Feminist Movement occurring abroad within the United States. Her work along with her ashes are displayed at the Museo Frida Kahlo in Coyoacán, Mexico City. She gave us her entire life story through her work; what it meant to be multicultural woman living during her time in such a vibrant country.

 The Life and Times of Frida Kahlo | PBS America

Short documentary remembering her almost 50 years after her death, Frida Kahlo is acclaimed as one of the great painters of the 20th century.

Bibliography:

1. "WELCOME TO FRIDA KAHLO WEBSITE »." A Tribute to Frida Kahlo (Biography). Frida Kahlo Website, 6 Jan. 2010. Web. 29 Mar. 2015. http://www.fridakahlo.com/.
2. "Frida Kahlo Biography." Frida Kahlo Biography and The Complete Works. The Frida Kahlo Foundation, 1 Jan. 2002. Web. 29 Mar. 2015. http://www.frida-kahlo-foundation.org/biography.html.
3. Girls, Guerilla. "The 20th Century Women of the "Isms"" The Guerrilla Girls' Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art. New York: Penguin, 1998. 58-89. Print.
4. Chadwick, Whitney. "Modern Representation: The Female Body." Women, Art, and Society. 4th ed. Singapore: Thames & Hudson, 1805. 279-315. Print.

STUDY GUIDE FOR FINAL EXAM

Modernism, Abstraction and the new woman
Gabriele Munter, Portrait of Marianne Werefkin, 1909
Gabriele Munter, Boating, 1910
Vanessa Bell, The Tub, 1917
Sonia Delaunay, Coverture, 1911
Sonia Delaunay, Simultaneous Contrasts, 1912
Hannah Höch, DADA-Dance, 1919-21
Hannah Höch, The Kitchen Knife, 1919
Käthe Kollwitz, Memorial For Karl Liebknecht, 1919
Käthe Kollwitz, Self Portrait Facing Right, 1938

The Female Body
Suzanne Valadon, Grandmother and Young Girl Stepping into the Bath, c.1908
Suzanne Valadon, The Blue Room, 1923
Frida Kahlo, The Broken Column, 1944
Frida Kahlo, Self Portrait with Monkey, 1940
Frida Kahlo, The Two Fridas, 1939
Frida Kahlo, The Flying Bed, 1932
Camille Claudel, La Valse, 1895
Romaine Brooks, White Azaleas or Black Net, 1910
Romaine Brooks, Self Portrait, 1923
Georgia O'Keefe, Black Hollyhock, Blue Larkspur, 1930
Georgia O'Keefe, Yellow Calla, 1930
Pan Yuliang, Nude Study, 1947
Pan Yuliang, Self Portrait, 1945
Ana Mendieta, Untiltled (Silueta Series), 1978

Gender, Race and Modernism
Lee Krasner, Noon, 1947
Helen Frankenthaler, Mountains and Sea, 1952
Louise Bourgeois, Fillette, 1968
Louise Bourgeois, Arch of Hysteria, 1993
Eva Hesse, Hang Up, 1966
Faith Ringgold, Die, 1967
Faith Ringgold, The Wedding: Lover's Quilt No.1, 1986
Betty Saar, The Liberation of Aunt Jemima, 1972
Augusta Savage, Lift Every Voice and Sing, 1939
Alma Thomas, Elysian Field, 1973
Thelma Johnson Streat, Rabbit Man, 1941

Feminist Art
Judy Chicago, The Dinner Party, 1974-79
Judy Chicago, "Virginia Woolf", The Resurrection Triptych, 1973
Nancy Spero, Codex Artaud, 1970-71
Miriam Shapiro, Anatomy of a Kimono, 1976
Joyce Kozloff, Hidden Chambers, 1975

New Directions: Postmodernism, Performance, Place
Barbara Kruger, Untitled (Your Gaze Hits the Side of My Face) 1981
Jenny Holzer, Selection of Truisms, 1982
Cindy Sherman, Untitled Film Still, 1979
Sherrie Levine, After Walker Evans, 1936
Adrian Piper, Vanilla Nightmares No.2, 1986
Adrian Piper, Cornered, 1988
Yoko Ono, Cut Piece, 1964
Marina Abromovic, Imponderabilia, 1977
Maria Abromovic, The Artist is Present, 2010
Rachel Whiteread, Monument, 2001
Maya Lin, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, 1975
Sophie Calle, Ghosts, 1991
Doris Salcedo, Untitled, 1990
Shirin Neshat, Turbulent, 1998
Shirin Neshat, The Last Word, 2003
Ghada Amer, Eight Women in Black and White, 2004

Group 4: The Female Body in German Expressionism

German Expressionism is a form of art that appeared around the time of the start of World War I. German expressionism includes a host of individuals and groups who had irregular, stylistic approaches that lead to a new style of art that emphasized intense personal expression. The female body in German Expressionism challenged the previous norm by connecting the female identity with nature, generation, and instinctual life. Artwork of German Expressionism was often simplified, distorted, or exaggerated with subjects that usually consisted of controversial topics that the artist’s felt were important to expose to others. Common forms of German Expressionism included the new woman, the nude woman, and the primitive woman. Three artists that we focused on included: Paula Modersohn-Becker, Käthe Kollwitz, and Jeanne Mammen. We created a power point presentation to display the information we discovered on this topic to the class, with background music to set a harmonious atmosphere.

Woman Roles in the Early Years

   

In order to best describe the roles of women during the Middle Ages we must define their social class. The vast number of women during this time period were primarily confined to their homes being domestic house wives and caretakers. Woman are sought to be inferior to a man, and subservient as well. They were also thought to be weaker, less intelligent and not fit to perform the duties that men could perform. The noble woman in the middle ages had leisure time available to develop skills in drawing and music. The poorer woman didn’t possess these same opportunities, which they only could spend time in the home, that included tidiness and cleanliness.  Most roles that woman could be taught was inside the church. Some scholars had demonstrated significant differences in men’s and women’s rights to possess and inherit property, in their duties to pay homage and taxes, their civil and legal rights, and rights to present evidence or serve as judges and priest. (Chadwick, 2007). This confusion came from the powerful social standing of women during these times. Some woman had continued to be confined to their homes and dependent on their husbands while others who had a higher social class had more things in common with men.

During this period most woman had access to education through the church but was prohibited from teaching. This was a rule that was handing down by St. Paul. “A woman must be a learner, listening quietly and with due submission”. (Chadwick, 2007). “St. Paul stated as per text “I don’t permit a woman to be a teacher, nor must a woman domineer over a man; she should be quiet.” (Chadwick, 2007).  In reading this quote I feel as though woman still are meant to be silent, learn but don’t dare teach anything other than being a good servant, a wife, and caretaker. In the middle Ages woman who didn’t serve in the church as nuns couldn’t do the following things such as having the opportunity of receiving an education. Most woman during this time period were also engaged by the age of 12 and married by 15. This was the typical way of life for most woman. If a girl was engaged and decided to marry another man she would be punish with death. They were required to be faithful to their husband and could be punished if they committed adultery. A wife could divorce her husband only if he was a pederast or had forced her to have sex with another man or couldn’t perform his sexual duties. The man had more right to divorce his wife if she couldn’t bear children or return her dowry. The ruling were more punitive for a woman than a man. Women couldn’t be taught to become educated because they fear that it will interfere with then being a good wife and mother. It was in woman’s best interest to obey the ruling of her husband or she could be beaten without him having any consequences. Woman were able to work in family ran business but all the benefits went to her male counterparts, her husband, father or brother. (Girls, 1998)

Christine De Pizan spoke about The Introduction to the City of Ladies, which discussed how she’s challenged the information that was presented about woman by men. She crafted many arguments against the sexist scholars who depicted woman, and left out some important facts that these woman were brave, strong and the most virtuous woman in history. In the city of ladies it was thee beautiful woman who personified with “Reason, Rectitude and Justice and it describes how the city of ladies was to be built with the heroines from the bible” (Girls, 1998). Later on in her career she produced many poems and educated many woman. One of her last works while living in exile was Joan of Arc, which was about a young girl from Orleans, France. She was resilient in her fight to rally for woman hood, she crossed dressed as a knight to fight in the army. As stated in the book Christine looked at Joan as her personal savior as well as the savior for France. This was an important change in history that woman started to fight through empowerment of becoming educated and teaching other woman.

During the era of the Renaissance woman roles started to changed a little on the artistic level. In the book written by the Guerrilla Girls it states that they didn’t want to say anything bad about the “geniuses of the Italian Renaissance” which were Michelangelo Leonardo, Raphael, and Caravaggio, but they wanted to face the reality that these men contributed to the hardship of woman artist. The information and imagery that was presented in this era was comprised of heroic “white male” artist followed by another. The majority of this era woman only could be artist if they came from a family of male artist. The role they played was only to provide assistance when needed. It was one woman that was an exception to this was Sofonisba Anguissola which was born to a nobleman who felt that woman should be educated. He sent one of her drawings to Michelangelo and he was enthuse by her talent. Most of the other woman such as Lavinia Fontana was allowed to marry another painter and worked in her fathers studio but the agreement was to give all her earning to him. This era made it hard for woman but the freedom came for woman who moved to Bologna which allowed them to enter into their University. Woman started to moved forward with their artist interest.

Chadwick, W (2007) . Women, Art, and Society.  New York : Thames & Hudson Inc. 4th edition.
Girls, G (1998). Bedside Companion To The History of Western Art. New York: Penguin Books Ltd. 


 
 

Group 2 presentation summary—19th Century Victorian England

In the beginning of the presentation we provided a short show to tell our audience the challenge that women in 19th have. Then we talked about women’s education and self-sustaining women in Victorian by using Prezi . We also mentioned about the relationship between women’s right and the animal paintings.

Rosa Bonheur, The horse fair, 1855

We points out some noteworthy artists such like Emily Mary Osborn, Edmonia Lewis and Harriet Powers.

Harriet Power, pictorial quilt, 1895-98

Emily Mary osborn Nameless and Friendless 1857

Edmonia Lewis, forever free, 1867

In the end we gave the audience a short video “the women spectrum in Victorian times”

Women’s roles during the Middle ages, Renaissance and 18- 19^th century era were very similar in regards to women being oppressed and not being able to express themselves freely. They were limited to what they could and couldn’t do. In the midst of unfortunate events for women, a few rose up to the occasion and deterred from the stereotypical gender norms. Even though male dominance was seen in every aspect of society including the art world, women created a different style and flare that flourished throughout the centuries that differ from that of the males’ artistic views. 

During the Middle Ages there was the feudal system which is an economic structure that consisted of everyone being born into a specific social class. There were the landlords and bureaucrats and beneath them were the servants/citizens working for their landlord in exchange for land. During this time it was extremely difficult to climb up the social ladder, whatever status you were born into you could not change it. The Christian Church was revolved in everyone’s daily life, the church “organized communication and culture, as well as religion and education”(Chadwick, 43). This also reinforced the feudal system, because if you were born poor, then the church told them that God destined it and they will be “rich” in the hereafter.  

Women of the Middle Ages were “restricted to the home and economically dependent on fathers, husbands, brothers, or sovereigns…the gulf that separated upper and lower classes-meant that upper class women had more in common with the men of their class than with the peasant women” (Chadwick 44). During this time, if women wanted to break free from these specific roles they were allowed to join the convent. Guerrilla girls states that the nuns wrote books on medicine, science and sacred music…the male clergy gave the nuns an important voice in church that they would not have had otherwise” (22). It was very common for women to become nuns. Many of them depicted their vision from God through art pieces.  One of the most important woman artists was Hiddlegard of Bingen. She was a politically active woman; she had the papal recognition and had power in the Church. In her book of illustrations, Scivas, the painting Know the Way of The Lord depicts herself receiving a vision from God and she is writing it down. It shows that the “star” of the art piece is she and the pope is just on the side. Her presence rather than the pope captures the audience. 

Hiddelgard of Bingen from the "Scivas" (Know the Ways of  the Lord) c. 1142-52

The Renaissance era had a shift in economy, from feudalism to mercantilism. This challenged the social status of the people; this allowed them to rise up in class. The printing press was invented, enabling people to write about anything, in this case about their concerns towards the Church. Education for women has not changed significantly from Middle Ages to Renaissance, they were still limited to receiving an education, and many were nuns. However daughters of famous painters, aristocrats and noblemen had a much better opportunity to receive education and becoming artists. But for the most part “they couldn’t receive commissions or legally own an atelier. Most were illiterate. One of the few ways a woman could work as an artist was to be born into a family of artist that needed assistance in the family workshop” (Guerrilla Girls, 29). 

One important artist during this time was Artemisia Gentileschi, she was the daughter of the painter Orazio Gentileschi. “Susana and the Elders”, “Madonna and Child”, “Judith Slaying Holofernes” are just a few of her art masterpieces. She was the first woman artist in the history of Western art whose historical significance is unquestionable. In the year 1610 she painted Susana and the Elders, at the age of seventeen. In the image below, the woman in this picture looks disturbed and uncomfortable with the two men behind her. The guy in the red cloak is staring right at the audience making them feel uneasy as well. The theme of this art piece is of distress and resistance. Also she has a different perspective than the art piece “Susana and the Elders”, in this painting it shows that the woman is asking to be raped. And the men hiding in the back (who later rape her) are barely visible. 

(Art)emisia Gentileschi- Susanna and the Elders- 1610

Tintoretto-Susanna and the Elders- 1555

During the 17^th and 18^th centuries, “art took off in many directions…neoclassicism, with its insistence on heroic, larger than life themes from history and mythology, held sway in most of these academics, and artists’ reputations depended on how well they could do that kind of art”(Guerrilla Girls, 39). Also a lot of the paintings depicted domestic virtue and space. For example, Judith Leyster’s “A Woman Sewing by Candlelight”, shows that it was the norm for women to sew and make lace. In this specific pictures, it seems as if her husband is away (maybe away for war) and she is taking care of her two children in the home and financially as well, since lace was in high demand. 

Judith Leyster- A Woman Sewing by Candlelight 

During the nineteenth century, the Victorian Era began. "The Industrial revolution drew people from farms to factories and new tools made art production easier. At the same time, the invention of the camera threatened to make painting Obsolete. Photography was great for women artists: because it was brand-new, there was no canon for them to be excluded. As a result, women helped define the practice and continue to do so today" (Guerrilla Girls, 47) Feminist movement  started to arise during this century, slowly women started to have a voice in society and in the art world. The image below is a painting by Edith Hayllar "Feeding the Swans, 1889". it is incredible symmetrical architecture, you can see the gazebo and the two swans seen as symbols of femininity and of affluence. Very small girl and slightly older girl who is nurturing and taking care of her sister. The older woman on top of the stair case is getting proposed by her fiancé (it shows how getting married is an important part of a woman's life). Basically it shows the phases of a woman's life. The grandma in the back is wearing black and is in the shadow, symbolizing that she is ready to go, seems as if she's invisible. The whole art piece represents the upper class women (a private domestic place). 

Edith Haylar, Feeding the Swans- 1889

References

Chadwick, W. (2007). Women, Art, and Society (4th ed., pp. 43-86). New York, NY: Thames and Hudson.

Guerrilla Girls. (1998). The Guerrilla Girls' Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art (pp. 18-37). New York, NY: Penguin Books

Art and Women Lecture Notes