Professor Cacoilo
Art and Women
February 27, 2020
Gender Roles, Subject and Power
Throughout our history, women have been depicted as submissive, passive, and always being controlled by men. They were seen as objects for sex, to clean the house, take care of children, and to do anything to please a man. Even art has a history of depicting women as objects painted for the mere pleasure of men. In today’s day of age, in most parts of the world, women are not confined to having to depend on a husband for their entire lives. Women impacted the world and have made history by breaking barriers and “misbehaving”. It is clear that from the Middle Ages to the 19th Century, it was not the easiest time for women. One example is in the art world. Women were not depicted as equal to men, [not that they are seen as 100% equal today] which challenged many female artists. However, this did not discourage many female artists and they took a risk by challenging societal norms.
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Christine de Pizan in her study – The City of Ladies, 1405 |
During the Middle Ages, women were expected to stay at home. They basically were the maids and servants of the home. During this time period, women were known for just being damsels in distress who just wait for their “knight in shining armor” to save the day. There were many females that began to go against the status quo and make change happen. One example is Christine de Pizan. Not only was she a single mother, but she was also the first woman known to have made a living as a writer in the Middle Ages! At the age of fifteen, she married a man who encouraged her to continue her studied, but she then windowed at the age of 25. Christine crafted her work in her book, City of Ladies, where she describes a city full of the most virtuous, strong, and brave women. Guerilla Girls describes life as a woman in the middle ages by making the following statement: “It was a courageous act for a woman to be an outspoken intellectual in an era when females were thought to be morally inferior and incapable of reason or logic. To be anything even approaching a feminist was unheard of in Christine’s time, but she was not afraid to attack well-known men who belittled women” (Guerrilla Girls, 23). Christine de Pizan was a strong, independent woman. Being submissive and waiting for a “knight in shining armor” was definitely not on her to-do list, however, making history was.
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| Elisabetta Sirani, Portia Wounding Her Thigh, 1664 |
During
the Renaissance, it was evident that many women still had to play a domestic
role throughout their days. Women were still as weak and vulnerable. There were
also women, though, that did not keep quiet about it. They proved that they
were more than a pretty face that cooks. One example is Elisabetta Sirani. She
is a Bolognese artist. Sirani has even been accused of signing work that her
father had painted. So, to prove that she truly is the artist of her paintings,
“she began painting in public and eventually opened a school for women artists”
(Guerrilla Girls, 30). One of her paintings were Portia Wounding Her Thigh,
1664. Women were not going to stay silent their entire lives. Chadwick explains
that “Sirani chose the moment at which Portia wounded herself to test her
strength of character before asking Brutus to confide in her…Stabbing herself
deeply in the thigh, Portia has to prove herself virtuous and worthy of
political trust by separating herself from the rest of her sex” (Chadwick,
101). Sirani painted what women truly go through to try to be acceptable in
society.
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| Harriet Hosmer, Zenobia in Chains, 1859 |
The 19th Century was yet another time period where women were depicted as less then men. Women were expected to take care of the family and rely on a husband to take care of them. During this time period, the only freedom women really had was when they had friendship with other females. However, one example of an artist who defied the barriers was Harriet Hosmer, “Hosmer…openly defied convention by riding her horse astride through the streets of Rome and met male sculptors for breakfast in cafés…she adopted the persona of a playful tomboy rather than a grown woman” (Chadwick, 217). Sculptures were a form of art that become popular among some female artists. Harriet Hosmer was a Neoclassical sculptor. One of her sculptors were Zenobia in Chains. Some people view Zenobia’s downfall as failures while Hosmer “emphasized her intellectual courage, fusing Christian ideals with a nineteenth-century feminist belief in women’s capability” (Chadwick, 221). Hosmer knows what women are worth. Therefore, it is clear that despite the hardships women from the Middle Ages through the 19th Century faced; they will stay silent no longer.
Works Cited
Chadwick, Whitney. Women, Art, and Society. fifth ed., Thames & Hudson World of Art, 2012
The Guerilla Girls. The Guerrilla Girls Bedside Companion To The History of Western Art. Penguin Book, 1998
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