Post 2: Gender Roles, Subject, and Power

The Renaissance brought a whole new mentality to the world of the arts. The Renaissance enlightened people to analyze and think critically for themselves. This was a revelation to some people because it brought a new light to the world. Especially for women, the Renaissance brought the idea that women should be able to do everything a man can do. By the 19th century, women artist were more empowered than ever to behave how they want and wear whatever they please. Rosa Bonheur was a prime example of just how empowered female artist has become. She was fortunate enough to be apart of a family unit that promoted her sexuality and free of conventional gender roles. Her father very much believed in gender equality and was a member of a utopian group who celebrated equal rights for women. Bonheur had a passion for painting animals such as horses and bulls and scenes in nature.

Bonheur was more than a talented artist but an individual full of courage who wanted her own deserved freedom from the weight of the oppression that faced women everywhere in the 19th century. As a result, Bonheur received a permit from her doctor which allowed her to dress like a man in public, e.i. Wear pants (The Guerilla Girls Bedside Companion to the history of western art. At this time, this would be considered a monstrosity, but Bonheur made it clear that she set her own rules. She also had a life partner named Nathalie Micas, showing she did not conform to the 19th century heterosexual normalities. She demonstrates the power of being her own person and living her life with her own meaning rather than, listening to the men around her who tried to control her life. In the painting below great details is focused on the shape and movement of the beautiful horses. The men riding the horses do not have the detail to them, but they rather look like silhouettes. This is probably due to the fact that Bonheur had little interest in the importance of men and was more interested in the beauty of nature. Animals probably intrigued Bonheur so much because of the freedom that was present in their world. The animals in Bonheur's paintings are free of societal norms and gender roles and exist purely for themselves in the beauty of nature. This freedom is a trait that Bonheur must have dreamed of having. She longed to be in a world free of the boundaries a restriction put upon her.

Demonstrating inner power ambition like no other in the 19th century, was Harriet Powers. Harriet was born a slave, which alone comes with its own struggles, being an African-American woman she experienced more racism and oppression than any of the other female artists at this time. She is most famous for her detailed quilt making that displays pictures of her hardships and religious views. Powers’ quilt was first discovered at a local fair by a white schoolteacher named Jennie. She eventually sold it to Jennie for $5 and told Powers she may see the quilt whenever she wants. These images that she sewed were images depicting her life as a slave and gave her the expression she needed to let her thoughts out.

Many of the images sewn were from religious texts she had memorized from the church. Since Harriet was a slave, she did not receive proper schooling and was illiterate. This gave her a voice and a platform as a slave, which really goes beyond the boundaries of this time period. According to Kyra Hicks in The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture: Volume 23: Folk Art, "Of the two quilts created by Harriet Powers, historians believe she created the Bible Quilt first. The quilt presents tales ranging from Cain and Abel to the Last Supper. Harriet Powers’s second creation, the Pictorial Quilt, finds her going further, creating a potent juxtaposition of biblical stories along with real-life tales". To then be recognized by the white media is an even greater accomplishment. In the images sown in the quilt below, we see many of the figures have their hands to the sky and crosses can be found hidden in most images, depicting Powers view of the world and her God.

Harriet Powers, Pictoral Quilt, 1895-98

Work cited:

Chadwick, Whitney. Women, Art, and Society. New York, NY: Thames and Hudson, 1990. Print.

Hicks, Kyra E. “Powers, Harriet.” In The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture: Volume 23: Folk Art, edited by Crown Carol and Rivers Cheryl, 386-88. University of North Carolina Press, 2013. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5149/9781469607993_crown.211.

The Guerrilla Girls' Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art. New York:
Penguin, 1998. Print.