Laboring in the service of the Lord or for their daily bread, medieval women lives were centered around work just like the men were. Unfortunately for them, the Christian Church was the most dominant voice when it came to governing the people. It dictated the rules on life, culture religion and education. Even with such an influence over the masses, the Christian Church was still trying to decide on how to portray women, whether as nasty seducers who are to blame for man’s banishment from the eternal garden of Eden or as Saints using the story of Mary, the mother of God, as a vessel to view women as being capable of creating something so important that it changed humanity. While all of this was going on, some women achieved an upper-class economic status while most other women were restricted to a domestic life and were economically dependent of a strong authoritative male figure such as their father or husband.
Unlike most might have thought, women’s life did not consist of only domestic household activities, they were also very prominent in public and economic life by managing family property, being involved in the production of masonry and building to manuscript illuminating an embroidery. They could also partake in monastery life by joining the convent. This was an important avenue for women who wanted to gain knowledge and not restrict themselves to a life domestication. Even in their newfound academic haven women were still considered inferior to men. They could participate in the learning but could not teach because according to St. Paul “a woman must be a learner, listening quietly and with due submission. I do not permit a woman to be a teacher, nor must a woman domineer over a man; she should be quiet.” (Chadwick, 45) This is significant because women could dedicate themselves to the church and ingrained themselves with all its teachings, they could never find their voice in it or have any impact as to how the church officiates and governs its followers.
Then came the Renaissance which opened the doors to greatness for the likes of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael. Unfortunately women did not experience similar opportunities as there are no female equivalent of the aforementioned artists. Instead it seems that this period negatively affected women as they were left with less power than they previously had under feudalism. Economic, social and familial relationships were transformed during this period due to the development of capitalism and the emergence of the modern state. The names of women were absent from the list of those artists who greatly contributed to the renaissance of Western culture during that time period. Due to a shift in cultural ideology, women went from producing art to being the ones portrayed on it leading to them being excluded from the production of paintings and sculpture. The Renaissance in Italy was very conservative which contributed to the first well-known woman artist of the Renaissance, Sofonisba Anguissola, to be found in the sixteenth century instead of the fifteenth and in Cremona, Spain rather than the artistic centers of Florence or Rome in the christian state of Italy. The city of Bologna was different from other Italian cities due to its attitude towards women. “Women were admitted to its university beginning as early as the 13th century and were even permitted to lecture there (although Novello D’Andrea had to speak to students with her personal charms”). (The Guerrilla Girls, 30) This led to the city producing many learned women in philosophy and law. They had a painters’ guild with a female patron and even a school for women artists, founded by Elisabetta Sirani who was a painter.
Works made by women were often attributed to the genius of men during the 17th and 18th century. Such was the case of Judith Leyster who was the daughter of a brewer in Haarlem. She was able to become the the apprentice of Frans Hals, a well-known Dutch painter. She was also a member of the painters guild and even had three male students. Then she later married a painter, had three children and as a result of that she had a lot less time to make art. She then later died as an unknown artist and “overtime, her work was attributed to several males in her life, including her husband and her teacher.” (The Guerilla Girls When a painting thought to be made by Frans Hals was later credited to Judith Leyster, the painting which was previously considered to be one of Hals’ best was later said to be a sub-par emulation of his work.
The fingernail Test (1635). By Judith Leyster but is falsely attributed to Frans Hals
In an attempt to garner similar respect as their male counterparts, women found themselves cross-dressing for success. Rosa Bonheur (1822- 1899) was one of those women. She loved women and slept with them, she also loved painting animals. Rosa Bonheur was fortunate as she had a supportive family. “She was raised in a family of political idealists. Her mother died when she was eleven. Her father was an artist and a member of a utopian group that believed in gender equality. He was also the director of an art school for girls, where Rosa helped out and learned to paint.” Unlike most women at the time, she was not bogged down with discouragement from her family so she had the avenues to get success. Rosa Bonheur dressed like a man in an attempt to get her work to be recognized. Her work, The Horse Fair, 1853 made her one of the most loved artist in Europe. She championed feminism even after her success unlike some of her peers and encouraged women to rebel against societal norms. Unfortunately, her reputation took a turn for the worse after her death and her paintings lost a lot of monetary value. Although women's recognition in art still trails behind that of men, we are getting to a point in society where there are avenues and opportunities for people to learn about their great contributions.
Works Cited
Whitney Chadwick. Women, Art, and Society: Fifth Edition. Thames and Hudson, 2012.
The Guerrilla Girls' Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art. 1998.
No comments:
Post a Comment