Post 2: Women's roles from Middle Ages to 19th century

Women have long struggled to be equals to men since the beginning. Let’s start with the Middle ages. The middle ages are the 11th and 12th centuries. The economy was based on feudalism and social classes clearly ran the society. It was already hard to be a woman because of discrimination, but the least advantaged was to be a woman of a lower social class. Education was extremely hard to attain as a woman. “Education was thought to interfere with a woman’s ability to be a good wife and mother. Almost no women were taught to read and write” (Guerrilla Girls, pg. 22). All women were expected to be wives, mothers, and take care of the house; essentially to be childbearing objects that were nice to look at and own. The following website accurately describes what being a medieval woman included: http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/medieval_women.htm

One important piece of art is The Bayeux Tapestry. This was created in 1086 and was embroidered on wool. The main focus of the piece is power of men and their exploits. However, the origin is unclear.

"The Bayeux Tapestry" 1086

Moving into the renaissance era, roles for women were slowly starting to change. The renaissance is in the 1500s/14th century. Mercantilism was starting to overtake feudalism. Women were excluded from guilds because only men were taken seriously enough to participate. “One of  the few ways a woman could work as an artist was to be born into a family of artists that needed assistance in the family workshop” (Guerrilla Girls, pg. 29).

The Victorian era is when women had more roles than being a wife or mother. More women artists emerged from this time period because the fight to be heard was growing stronger. When transitioning to the 19th century, women’s labor was needed in colonial America. There was a social reform for “domestic feminism”. Needlework and painting grew more common along textile weaving due to the industrial revolution. More and more women’s art was emerging along with Impressionism.

One important renaissance artist is Sofonisba Anguissola. She was born in 1532 and died in 1625. She painted many self-portraits. one thing that makes her stand out is that she worked in courts for the kings and queens. Her father, Amilicare, was a painter as well who wrote to Michelangelo about her work. Her piece, Self Portrait in 1561 addresses roles of women in society. The picture is of her painting a portrait of another women. She already made a statement by being providing for herself as a woman artist, but then painted herself which was a statement in itself. Another statement she made was by in the painting it was her painting another woman.

"Self Portrait" Anguissola, 1561.

Another noteworthy woman is Judith Leyster. She was born 1609 and died in 1660. By 1633 she was a member of painter’s guild which is a big deal because guilds often excluded women. She had 3 male students but unfortunately died unknown with much of her work having been credited to her mentor. Her painting reflected roles of her time because her work was often of domestic spaces or women by candlelight. This accurately depicted women in that time period because women are often meant to stay inside and not be out and about. If she was jailed in a domestic setting then that would be all she could really paint.

One female artist that stood out to me in the Victorian era is Rosa Bonheur. She was born in 1822 and died in 1899. Rosa was quite the exception for her time period. She came from a family of political idealists and her father believed in educating women. She cross dressed with her partners in order to travel because women for limited on the traveling they could do. She had a life partner, Nathalie Micas so she never married. Her painting style included those of animals and their need for freedom which often strongly resembled what women were having to fight for as well. Another accomplishment she achieved was being prized for one of her paintings. Her award winning painting is “Plowing in the Nivernais” in 1848. For more information on this painting visit: http://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/collections/works-in-focus/painting/commentaire_id/ploughing-in-nevers-2040.html?cHash=60f905d6af

"Plowing in the Nivernais" Rosa Bonheur, 1848. 

Last, but certainly not least, a powerful woman artist is Berthe Morisot. She was directly involved with the impressionism era in Paris, France during the 19th century. She was the first woman to show in the French salon of Paris. This was a big accomplishment because the salons were mainly left to men because women were not thought to be as intellectual. Morisot was born into a wealthy family so this gave her a leg up into become an iconic painter. She was also the first women to join the group of impressionists along with mary Cassat, Edouard Manet, etc. Morisot’s paintings often depicted a happy family life, children with their mother, or her own sister. Morisot poured a lot of effort and work to start a huge movement along with other notable artists.