There are great female artists!

AAD 252 Summer 2007
Art and Gender


Why do people still talk about no great women artists?
There is plenty of classical and modern female artists!

Newly forming social and political attitudes, norms, and beliefs constantly change about women and the creative abilities attributed to them, from acceptance and entrance into prestigious public and private schools, to opening public shows, to securing private donors and patrons. To be “lured into looking at something, then being told what it is they’re looking at” (Lee, pg 1) seems the only way a women can get her art viewed, or at least been taken seriously. Marginalized in sexuality, behavior roles, and society, truly great female artists take a back seat to male counter parts, but are nevertheless present and contributing.
To be taken seriously women artists might compete in an uneven playing field, with no prior knowledge of the rules, in harsh conditions, with no recognition of skill, or by being subjected to violence or abuse. Most of my examples include women artists who stepped outside the boundaries, subjected themselves to public ridicule and examination, and possibly opened up a personal or private life than a male counterpart would not be subjected to.
Both male and female contemporaries claim no good female creative personalities exist, but give little recognition to the advances of female artists in the face of adversity. Perpetuating stereotypes and male-dominated belief systems, women them selves buy into the myth of “normative construction” (Perry, pg 14) and overlook female candidates due to social controversy not skill, not “church propaganda” (Horowitz pg 9).
Whether that’s the New Deal and Section’s allowance for certain types of public male oriented art, or art that defines the gender specific behaviors of a culture, in the United States (Melosh, pg 157), or to contemporary Chinese popular artwork displayed in public places, executed and commissioned by women, I will ascertain the existence and history of great female artists and artwork executed by females. I will examine popular artwork created by women depicting, in order, female artists depicting males in female or feminine roles, female artists depicting male-oriented roles or aspirations, and female artists depicting females in powerful female roles.

Female Artists Depicting Males in Female Roles as Vulnerable Objects

Julia Trops work is outstanding in its use of color to define outlines and edges. In some works she uses no black, but darker colors used to represent the color within a dark space. She depicts the male nude as a colorful experience, not as a tawdry use of the human form to incite desire, but to use the male form as a color palate. While Julia uses hue and tone to accentuate line and form, she resists the traditional, albeit classical, use of design to complement her overall use of distinct color and feeling, in a modern Impressionist style.
Harriet Hosmer’s skill at sculpture challenges any artists regardless of gender or sexual role. In The use of Classical Greek and Roman depiction of a traditional setting rivals any of the traditional Salon schools. Although Harriet studied with the best, she was still subject to marginalization due to her sexual role and identity. Often women, while ultimately deserving of artistic accolades, are threatening to the male dominated art world with their skill and devotion.
Finally, Berthe Morisot uses a traditional French Impressionist style to convey a vulnerable father and daughter moment, captured in a sunny garden. This image conveys a peacefully whimsical, colorful, almost endearingly educational depiction of the father-male role. While we do know the artist painted her own husband, this image could represent the newly evolving social depiction of fatherly behavior, or an attentive uncle, brother or family friend. The artist herself enjoyed such interactions, coming from a bourgeois lifestyle, as one able to have the access to time and quality materials, including an indulgent family setting.

Female Artists Depicting Male-Oriented Activities or Goals

Classical artists of any gender have painted what some have called male oriented activities and this category would include images with a male-focused role model, male oriented theme such as work in men’s fields, or depictions of male oriented activities such as running or hunting. Truly, Morisot painted in an Impressionist style, in her coastal work that looks like Boats Under Construction circa 1874. This piece looks as dismal as the water line depicted in the painting. Here, I felt as if the task might be to great, that fixing the boats was too much, that the task was daunting or terrible. I felt a despair of the nature of the sea, the turn of the tide so to speak, in which events beyond our control have a lasting effect on us.
Marietta Tintoretto, accomplished artist and musician, defied the barriers in Baroque artwork of the day. In her painting Old Man With Boy circa Her father allowed her to dress in boy’s clothing, essentially cross-dressing, giving her unprecedented access to the art world. Gender attribution (? Pg 26) led to the success of Marietta. Her sexuality in question, her method questioned, Marietta is another example of a women struggling in an uneven art playing field. Her patrons ranged from the Royalty to the wealthy, yet was not allowed to entertain any hope of expanding her own career outside of her fathers. Her portraits of wealthy patrons garnered her fame in Venice, while being captive in her father’s home. Hers was a sad story that ended in her death, at 30, in childbirth.
Finally, Properzia de’Rossi’s Joseph and Potifer’s Wife, the bas-relief depiction of the age story of the temptation of Joseph. Standing 19 feet in height, this impressive piece of art shows the powerful wife tearing Joseph’s coat. Women have succeeded in producing great art, even if it usurped by men.

Female Artists Depicting Females in Powerful Female Roles

Like many great artists, Gentilesch had her artwork changed to fit common social themes and expectations. In her spiritual The Angel circa 1613, her artwork, maybe originally representing female nudity, was covered by another artist who was male. This so-called pornographic display, painted by a woman, covered up by a man who also engaged in painting so-called pornographic images. The cover up was because a female painted it, not because of the content, and not because of the public’s knowledge of the gender of the person who painted it.
In Judith Slaying Holofernes circa 1612-1613, we see the artist, Gentilesch at 20 or 21 years of age, portraying women asserting herself by literally cutting off her ties to the male dominator, even if it is in conjunction with help from a maidservant. The protagonist methodically cuts her ties with a sure hand. The man suffers little, but it is bloody, and she wins her freedom. She is unafraid and confident in her deed, in that there is no alluring genitals or breasts, no overtly sexual meaning, is striking.
In Jael and Sisera the artist, Gentilesch, again paints a female in a powerful role of life-taker, an expression of another women of power shows us the weapons and continence of the victim, a male abuser or usurper, below the female attacker, with the tool above, in her hand of power, the right hand.

Bibliography

De Rossi, P. (1520) Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife. Accessed on Tuesday, August 14th,
2007 at: http://www.sierra-arts.net/FamItal_Sculptors_ProperziaDeRos.html

Gentileschi, A. (1612-1613) Judith Slaying Holofernes. Accessed on Friday, August
10th, 2007 at: http://www.artemisia-gentileschi.com/judith1.html
(1620) Jael and Sisera. Accessed on Friday, August 10th, 2007 at: http://www.artemisia-gentileschi.com/jael-sisera.html

Higonnet, A. (1993). Myths of Creation: Camille Claudel and Auguste Rodin.
Week Four.

Holzer, J. (accessed 2007) http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5047/holzerbio.html

Horowitz, F. (1992). More Than You See. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College Publishers.

Hosmer, H. (1876). The Sleeping Faun. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio.
Accessed on Monday, August 14th, 2007 at: http://www.clevelandart.org/explore/
departmentWork.asp?deptgroup=20&recNo=3

Lee, Sadie. (1996). Lesbian Artist?. OUTLOOKS, Horne. Rutledge, Inc. Week One.

Melosh, B. (1991). Manly Work: Public Art and Masculinity in Depression America.
Gender and Art in American History Since 1890. Smithsonian Institution Press.
Washington, DC. Week Two.

Morisot, B. (1883). Eugene Manet and His Daughter Julie in the Garden.
(1874) Boats Under Construction.

Perry, G. (1999). Introduction: Gender and Art History. Gender and Art. Yale University
Press, Newhaven & London

Tintoretto, M. (1580) Old Man With Boy. Accessed on August 12th, 2007 at:
http://www.lifeinitaly.com/art/women-artist-3.asp

Trops, J. (????). James 66. Colorful Rainbow Male. Accessed on Sunday, August 12th,
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