Aurora by Andrea, Santi, 2017
In museums and art galleries, you may have noticed that most of the artists’ paintings displayed are by men, even in today’s age. Where are the female artists? Although research has shown, that a vast number of female artists existed throughout the centuries, women have been predominantly portrayed as nude subjects, rather than being an artist themselves. It is only in the 19th century that female artists have attained recognition in the creative sphere. For a long time women had been working anonymously, or for male artists, who then signed the women’s works themselves and took all the glory.
Throughout the centuries, women and their representation in paintings reflected their role in society, of the respective time. In the Middle Ages, the dominant display of Virgin Mary, linked women to their role as mothers. Around the same time, women were also shown as smooth and prude, especially in the chivalric art. Generally, it was expected for the female image to appear young. The aging woman was often associated with ugliness or uselessness. Women who were perceived as useless for society, due to their age and their inability to have children, were deprived of their femininity. Quentin Massys’s, The Ugly Duchess, for example caricatures and mocks a woman, who even at her old age, still wanted to be coquette.
Aldobrondini Madonna by Raphael, 1509 The Ugly Duchess by Quentin Massys, 1513
For a long time, women had just a few tasks and roles in society: Being a mother, which is represented by the Virgin Mary, or being a wife, which was portrayed in paintings of the young and pure ladies of the nobility. Old women or prostitutes, were rarely represented and if they were, their age or their actions were over-exaggerated in order to frighten people and stigmatized women of that condition.
In the 17th and the 18th century, when artists distanced themselves from religious or royal representations, women were still illustrated as delicate, hard workers, and discreet, pure, wives, but in addition to that they also became allegories. They represented more than just a female image. For example in Fragonard’s, The Happy Accidents of the Swing, the woman swinging stands for ease and frivolity. Later, in Delacroix’s, Liberty Leading the People, the main message is not the woman, but it is liberty. With Goya, Ingres, Courbet or Manet, women are men’s object of desire. Goya’s Nude Maja for example shows a naked woman lying down embodying salaciousness and appealing to men’s desires. Her beauty illuminates the painting and catches the viewer’s eyes.
The Swing by Jean-Honoré Fragonard, 1767 Liberty Leading the People by Eugène Delacroix, 1830 The Nude Maja by Francisco Goya, 1800
Even though there are many, can you name three female painters? Most people only name male artists when asked, although women have always produced artwork. The handprints from the Paleolithic ages in the Cueveas de las Manos in Patagonia or frescoes from Pompeii showing women in a creative state of mind prove women’s contributions to the art world since the beginning of time. But why were women not recognized as artists or painters? One reason could be that for a long time, they were only seen as craftsmen producing tapestries or embroideries for example.
Cave of Hands (Art dates back from 13,000 to 9,000 years ago) Woman with wax tablets and stylus (Fresco, between year 55-79)
Just a few women succeeded to be accepted and recognized as painters in the Middle Ages. Artemisia Gentileschi and Sofonisba Anguissola are rare examples of known female artists from the 15th and 16th century. However, to be accepted, they were mentored by men: the father for Sofonisba Anguissola or Caravagio for Artemisia Gentileschi.
Self-Portrait as the Allegory of Painting by Artemisia Gentileschi, 1638–9 Self-Portrait by Sofonisba Anguissola, 1556
Only in the late 18th century women started to take a growing part in the art world and female artists such as, Elisabeth Vigiée Lebrun, Rosa Bonheur, and later on Frida Kahlo, Niki de Saint Phalle and Cindy Sherman appeared in the art scene.
Self-portrait in a Straw Hat by Elisabeth Vigée Lebrun, 1782 Self-portrait on the Borderline Between Mexico & the US by Frida Kahlo, 1932
In 1989, in New York a feminist art collective, the “Guerilla Girls”, put up posters in New York’s streets and called on people by stating: "Should women be naked to enter the Metropolitan Museum? Less than 5% of the artists in the modern art section are women, but 85% of the nudes are female.” This striking message shows the increased awareness of this issue. In order to decrease the huge contrast between the the vast number of female artists throughout the centuries and the little exposure of their work in important museums, some actions were already taken: For example, in Washington D.C. a museum was built solely for the presentation of female artwork . This institution is pushing for the creation and dissemination of information about the artists displayed. Another example is the , the Holladay couple, which in 1987 created the National Museum of Women in the Arts to house their collection of 4,000 works. Also in Quebec, Germany, France and Vietnam, museums dedicated to women’s artwork can be visited. All these actions show the will for change in the representation and perception of women in the arts.
From craftsmen to wholly artists, women have been represented according to their role in society . Transuding their role as mothers, wives, and objects of men’s desire, some women such as Artemisia Gentileschi and Sofonisba Anguissola have opened the path to many other female artists and allowed Frida Kahlo, Niki de Saint Phalle or Cindy Sherman to expose their own masterpieces. The challenge today, is to get the big players in the world of art galleries and museums to open their doors for female artists and celebrate the diversity and complexity of their works.