Blog 2

The role of women and art has been better slightly, however, it was still a struggle for women to get their art out to the public. As mentioned in class women had to be escorted when going out into public places so it was hard to find inspiration and share their art. Many women artists stuck to what they knew and captured their daily lives. They would focus on women and children as subjects and daily mundane activities. Some artists however, were much bolder and strived to go out of their way to push the limits of the norm. They got permission to go out in public alone to observe nature and other outdoor activities. Rosa Bonheur painted horses and sporting events that most women would not be able to view on their own. Women still struggled to paint freely what they desired but Bonheur and other exceptional artists went out of their ways to still do their best to capture art with these restraints. In Osborn's Nameless and Friendless, the viewer can see a women in the center of the piece trying to get her art sold and noticed. She is accompanied by a small boy, as it was the law to be escorted by a male, and she is doing her best to work with what she can. As you can see shes uncomfortable in the moment captured because she is the center of attention, the men are staring at her as she is oddly sticking out to them.

Breakthrough with Female Artists

Rosa Bonhuer, The Horse Fair, 1855, Canvas

Emily Mary Osborn, Nameless and Friendless, 1857

Chadwick states, “A tradition of educated and skilled women in religious orders persisted in the fourteenth and fifteenth-century Italy.. (Chadwick 67) which shows what painting by women primarily focused a few hundred years ago as opposed to now. The subject matter, style and focus of women artist's works have changed.


Many artists at the time focused on what they knew when painting, in the earlier 16th and 17th century women focused more on religion and story telling, however, fast forward a few years and the roles of women in society slightly changed. They still focused on children and medial house labor as their subjects, but now they also paint outdoor scenes and other subjects that interests them or painting that tell a different story for women. The expected roles for women were mainly to stay home and cater to the men in their lives with minimal freedom and downtime to do anything else. By the 1800s we can see women taking on more. Bonheur for example, loved to paint horses so she asked for permission to cross dress (wear pants) and observe to collect data for her paintings.
Osborn's piece shows the struggles that women actually faced when trying to display and sell their pieces. Above in "Nameless and Friendless" the male gaze is clearly evident as all eyes are on the woman. The woman is facing down as to not make eye contact and mid her own business, she's not doing anything wrong - she is being accompanied by a male and her clothing was chosen to not draw attention to herself, yet she is being stared at subtly by everyone in the room because at the time painting and art was a male dominated field. 
More about Osborn and her paiting, Nameless and Friendless , can be found here.