During the Middle Ages, life for women in Europe consisted of much work in the home while men went out and did the labor-intensive job like politics, blacksmithing, shoemaking, and fighting in wars. While men did all these women worked by cleaning the house, caring for the kids at home, and making sure there is food cooked every day for the kids and husband. As men felt far more superior than women at the time, women were granted almost no right and seen as just property of their fathers and then husbands when they would marry. When girls were born, they were raised and treated to follow all the rules that were put into place years before them. They were not allowed to make their own choices and had to live the lives that men put before them. Women being controlled and told what to do was first challenged by the nuns of the church. They did this through art in which they drew at the churches, which they would say was the words of God. While nuns claimed that the paintings were products of what God had to say, these drawings were a way for women to express to the world what they believed in and create change.
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| Guglielmo Giraldi, Saint Catherine of Bologna,1469. |
The average female during this time never thought of what it would be like pursuing a career as their life was filled with what men wanted them to see. Not all women during this time lived the way the average women did as those who were raised in wealthy families got the opportunity to be educated and learn what other careers they may pursue. This was expressed when Whitney Chadwick wrote, “The upper class where the spread of Renaissance ideas about the desirability of education opened new possibilities for women” (Chadwick 76). Here Chadwick expresses how wealth gave women opportunities to create careers in other places such as art. Women in wealthy families were able to create art pieces as a hobby that would express social issues in society at the time. This was eye-opening to many women who would be just the beginning of the change that would come.
Before the 19th century, there was a female author by the name of Rosa Bonheur. Rosa was raised in a family of political idealists. While her mother died when she was young, her father was an artist that believed in gender equality. Her father supported all Rosa stood by as he was the director of an art school for girls where Rosa learned how to paint. Rosa pushed the limits of her freedom by going as far as to cross-dressing. This was very unordinary as this was seen as going against the church as the values men have put on women. This was said when the Guerrilla Girls wrote, “To cross-dress in public, she had to get a permit from the French police” (48). Rosa tested the limits of her freedom and used this cross-dressing as a form of art. She wanted to be seen as different and not like how men wanted her to be seen. This would most likely lead to a movement among women and cause her to be seen as a figure for women to come. This would all be an excellent start to the change, but Rosas's reputation fell shortly after her death.
During the late 19th century, sculpting was on the rise in the art world. Men had spent far more time working on this as they started before women, but one woman that stood out the most was Edmondia Lewis. Edmonds work focused on how difficult life was for slaves here in the United States. She showed just how free certain people were here in the United States through two of her most famous works, The Death of Cleopatra and Forever Free. Coming from a black family, she took great pride in her work and what it stood for.
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| Lewis Edmonds, Forever Free, 1867. |
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| Lewis Edmonds, The Death of Cleopatra, 1876. |
In conclusion, during this time, women had no rights or power in governments. But as most of the things women have today, they had to work for change and come together to create a significant impact. Many women did this through the art they created, as many pieces were more than just an object. Many had life and meaning behind them as women strived to gain the same rights as men. What women did during this time was just a start as women today are still fighting for what they believe as the world slowly turns towards a more accepting one of what women feel.
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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