Gender Roles

Carl Boateng

Art and Women

26 February 2020

                                                                                          Gender Roles

            The middle ages was a time of when women barely had any freedom. Any woman who wanted to become an artist had to agree with the laws of society. Society had decided the church had the most influential figure at the time. Women would join the church in order to indulge in art. They would be given education to write texts, and able to paint art from the text. Women who wanted a power position would become the head nun and dictate what the women were to do. Women could obtain this position by being born in a family with high status. As written, "nor must a woman domineer over a man." (Chadwick 45 ) The middle ages was a time that relied on nobles and the middle class. Noblewomen had little rights to education and so on. Chadwick writes, "Wealthy Individuals became private patrons of magnificent public civic art. Rucellai suggested that art (patronage) gave him contentment and pleasure because they [objects] serve the glory God."(Chadwick 70)

This painting shows a dominant male demon destroying and eating women. It relates to how the men would never let the women survive and feel worth. Men would be forever superior, and unbeatable to women.

As a women artist at the time, she would be quieted, looked past, and her work not cared for. Gender had a way of passing about all the talent of artwork. Despite the work itself being amazing anything done by a woman was unnecessary. Women Artists during this time had also begun to show more fierce by drawing women in powerless roles. They had exposed the power struggle of their daily lives and were able to give the message of understanding it was not okay. Women were started to take on the art industry when they were given opportunity. For instance, Gentileschi's father was an artist and allowed her to grow under him.

This is an artwork from Gentileschi herself. As you can see here, the women in the painting are holding a man by their arm with a huge sword next to him. This shows the power the women are having over him. showing dominance and that they are willing to take control when the time comes.

Another example being Maria Merian. A female artist who's dad was an engraver and stepfather a flower painter. From their work, she was able to learn and put together the two art forms into one. Not only did she take on art, but she was also smart and able to focus her skills on identifying specimen. Maria was married, had daughters and continued to teach them and so on.  "In 1685 she dumped her husband and joined a religious sect, the Labidists, who didn't believe in marriage or worldly goods. She and her two daughters took off for surinamensium to document insects and flowers there." (Guerrilla Girls 41)  Maria had taken her opportunity as a female with knowledge and passed it on to her children. Not many women are able to leave their husbands because they were their support system. Maria was a women who again picked up on art and found her own strength. Again women couldn't overcome this life without having a man to lean off of, a father who taught them the trade. If you were a woman of this time and not had this opportunity to grow, you would have stayed at your domestic role. The 19th century was a time where women were able to release themselves from the reigns strapped to them and pursue more than men. While still having to get recognition from society, women are now able to educate themselves, work when they had nobody to help them but work nonetheless. They took on jobs that told other women they were equally capable of doing it.

You can see in one of her painting here, how she brought life into her art figurative and literally. She was one of the greatest botanical artists in her time. In this video here, it also illustrates her life story again and where her inspiration and grind came from. She is considered the greatest contributor to entomology.

Women of the middle ages and renaissance had all struggled in fighting into a man’s world. The middle ages had held women back to they weren't given the means or opportunity to learn, freedom, and so on. It was in the Renaissance that a shift occurred. Though the shift was slight,  it still allowed for many women artist's to come and paint women in a more superior role. They made women the center of attention in an art piece and gave their bodies a value. They were allowed to be educated more and though they were not recognized yet by men still able to send a message. Their art was inspiring to other women who too wanted to gain freedom.





                                                                   Work Cited
Chadwick, Whitney. Women, Art, and Society. fifth ed., Thames & Hudson World of Art, 2012


Girls, Guerrilla. The Guerrilla Girls Bedside Companion To The History of Western Art. Penguin Book, 1998