Women's Roles

                                                Women’s Roles Overtime.

            During Europe’s post Feudal System towards the dawning of the middle Ages, the Renaissance and into the Nineteenth Century women were expected to perform diverse social roles or they would be considered evil and be put to death. It was a revolutionary time European history when many countries in Europe were taking part in the Atlantic slave trade and colonizing Asia and American territories. Social and cultural societies in Europe empowered rights for men to dominate over women and presumably weakened those of women. The challenges that women had to endure was perpetuated through Christianity’s gendered roles. Women were treated as prisoners of men. Despite their inferiority to men, women became writers, artists, merchants, nuns and some even ran the kingdom while the men were away at war. Joan of Arc a female cross dresser led her country’s army into battle and won. (Guerilla Girls 15) Their art work discretely communicated the dissatisfaction that women felt against the social roles which infringed upon their human rights.

           Joan of Arc coronation of Charles V11 in Reims Cathedral by Jean Auguste- Dominique Ingres 1854 in Paris.

       The Feudal System started to break down and capitalism crept in. Christianity through the Roman Catholic Churches kept Feudalism alive by pacifying its patrons with myths and spiritualism. Highly respected it had great influence over the feudal system but the ideologies of the Christianity teaching was mostly responsible for creating gendered system roles, it viewed women as the downfall of men. It perceived that women caused men to sin as taught in the Adam and Eve story in the Bible. The church excluded women in most of its hierarchy positions, such as priesthood, bishops and so forth. Female members of medieval clergy were almost exclusively nuns, while the highest status they could achieve was the position of an abbess or superior of the abbey or monastery. Women’s images began to change temporarily after the Blessed Virgin Mary concept emerged. The church conceptualized women as witches. Many were killed in mass numbers for that reason. Marriages were not based solely on love, it was arranged by families. A young girl was expected to be married by age 15. Husbands were chosen by her intermediate family. The rich upper class women were wanted for their dowry. Lower class family’s intention for their daughter’s marriage was that they will have one less mouth to feed. Many became nuns to avoid getting married. Art was very important to the church. (Gorilla Girls-19). Great Cathedrals presented bible stories and doctrines to the illiterate through artwork. The impression for many was that Cathedrals were the best that was ever erected.

            The Renaissance period men continued to dominate women lives, taking away their property rights. Christine De. Pisan stood up for women’s rights by denouncing an author who wrote scathingly about women roles in marriages. She believed that men owed their very existence to women. (Chadwick 36) While art history focused predominantly on males and the economics in the art market favored them. Many of Italy’s artists came from the social class. There were many restrictions placed on artist. Only male artist were expected to know how to paint nude portraits of men and women. The required trainings for an upcoming male artist were to do an apprenticeship, then join a guild and set up their own anatalier. Art teachers were predominantly males. For female artist to get recognition running or working in the art businesses owned by her male family members or their husbands was the only way. This allowed many women to create not only paintings but sculpting, writing and needlework. The Bayeux Tapestry of 1086 by Aelfgyva and the Cleric was an example of this marvelous work. Bologna France was also a gateway for women to succeed in their craft. It became more tolerant of female artist such Lavinia Fontana and provided unique opportunities for women. The University of Bologna was one of the first that allowed women to study there.   

                                                              University of Bologna. First to open up for women studies.

            By the 19^th century women’s labor was necessary part of building colonial America. Although men played a central role, women were beginning to enjoy rights and privileges denied to them in Europe. (Chad 205) male artist were mostly interested in painting nude female artist, mistresses and prostitutes, while women fight for equality continued. The decade beginning in 1848 in the United States was a prolific period which started with the woman's rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York. Animals and women paintings became very dominant because during that time animal and women rights were being debated. Rosa Bonheur specialty was to paint horses, bulls and cows.  Her paintings depict a twofold explanation of animal and women abuse by males. As in the portrait of the horse fair, the horses get accentuated and the men are in the background. Men forced the horses to work and placed restrictions on them, instead the horses appeared to want to break free just like women. The invention of the camera introduced a fast paced way for taking photos. Some artist used it to their advantage while others saw it as a threat to painting portraits.(GG 47)  For women like Lilly Spencer the mother of  thirteen children who supported her family through her paintings. She was the daughter of parents who believed in rights for women and who encouraged her to pursue an education.  Her husband took most of the responsibility for care of the house, freeing Spencer to paint. It was in this time period female artists were permitted to study and draw still live subjects. Edmonia Lewis went to Rome to sculpture and came back to the United States to display her art to the public alongside other male artist.  

                                

Lilly Spencer's, "We must Fade."

                                                                                      19TH CENTURY CAMERA

                                                                                                                                                    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_camera                  

Artwork by Edmonia Lewis, NIGHT (TWO SLEEPING INFANTS)

Chadwick, Whitney. Women Art and Society 4^th Edit. Copyright1990,1996,2002 and 2007. Published Thames & Hudson Inc.

The Gorilla Girls Bedside Companion. Published by the Penguin Group. 1998