Gender Roles, Subject, and Power

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Gender Roles, Subject, and Power

Based on Chadwick’s description the role of women in Europe in the middle age was seen women as homemakers, as a caretaker to children and please men. In the past women were considered to be strictly caretakers of the home and children and unable to have their own identity as an individual as they were always dependent on men. In the middle ages, women were expected to obey their fathers, brothers and any other males of their families. The church was anti-women, As Chadwick tell us in her book “the hierarchical church organization reinforced the class distinctions in society; it is a patriarchal dogma included a full set of theories on the natural inferiority of women which can be trades back to ancient Greece and the old testament”(Chadwick 44). Indeed, we can see how the church was focused on the opposition of women by placing women's inferior. An excellent example of this is how the church initiates the convents for women who did not want to get married: so their punishment was to spend their lives in the church and serve as long as they live. The women who moved to these convents were required, to give up their own identity and reconstruct their characters as a nun: and serve the community and priest as well. Another drawback to that was not only giving up their identity but also has least power and control than a priest. We can see how in the middle ages women were inferior because of the politics of the church.  Apparently, that portrays that women were treated as inferior because of a set of rules that were implemented by a church organization.  Moreover, women were supposed to get married between the ages of 11 and 12 with men that were chosen by her parents. Women's role in the relationship was to take care of domestic chores and raise kids while the men were responsible for supporting the family and providing for them. Furthermore, the laws did not allow for women to have any property rights which means they were not allowed to own any property under their name. That means if the parents wished to give any property to their daughters if it was not an option as laws didn't approve it. In that case, the only option was to transfer it to their husband's name.

Hildegard of Bingen, Scivias, c1142-52

This picture portrays the weakness of women rights in middle age.

In the Renaissance time, women played different roles in their families, depending on their age and marital status. Women were designated roles based on their status such as;  Low-class women were expected to take care of the house, Middle-class women were supposed to work with their husband and assist them in running a business, and Upper-class women got catered as the queens and experienced the privilege to have servants to serve them. In comparison to middle ages in Renaissance time, women were allowed to work and enjoy their lives if they decided not to marry and have a family. Also in Renaissance time man started to support women financially with their interest in art. Additionally how Bolonia university open the doors for women so they can get an education and progress. Education helped not only many women but also one of the women Artemisia Gentileschi got famed for her paintings and became a well-known artist.

Artemisia Gentileschi, Susanna and the Elders 1610

One of Gentileschi painting from renaissance time. It illustrates how in this art two elder male is watching the vanity of the women. Apparently, it shows how this artist is trying to show the world the abuse towards women and trying to protest their rights again.

The differences between the role of women from middle ages to Renaissance time was an absolute change in women's rights. Previously based on writers description, the society was attached to the bible commandments which shows how women were supposed to be inferior to man. Women were not only inferior to man but also treated as less intelligent and weaker than a man with having no absolute rights or freedom to have their own identity or live the life they desired.

In the 19 century, women were more educated than before, and in comparison to middle and Renaissance, women have more freedom and more rights. They were allowed not only to get education but can also work in real world. Throughout the revolution during different eras, not only matters changed domestically but also in the practical world women were allowed to start working in factories.  That is a significant advancement throughout these periods. However, the women's who were working in factories were a low class; middle-class women were teaching at home. Upper-classes women were at home taking care of their families as before and enjoying their leisure. Another revolution that took place was in photography and how people were advancing in it and started a business in it. The art industry has a significant switch and painters got awareness and began competing amongst each other.

Mary Cassatt, Mother and Child,1905

In Cassatt's painting, the artist painted the chair at an ideal angle that camera can capture every detail in the painting. The artist was competing with the imagination to make their living.

Work Cited

Chadwick, Whitney . Women Art and Society . 4th ed., Thames and Hudson, 1990. New York, N.Y

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

Johan Sebastian Molina

Gender Roles: The Greatest Obstacle to the Woman Artist

In modern society women are able to do just about anything a man can do, however, this was not always the case. The subjugation of women by men has led to them being mostly excluded from art history. There are some brave women that have made their mark and overcome these setbacks, yet the reason equality is so hard to achieve is patriarchy and the structures it creates. The greatest threat from this structure is the roles it creates for both men and women: for men to be dominant and women to be submissive. Even women uphold the maxims of gender in a patriarchal society. It has taken women a long time to even get as far as they have in the present day. It's hard to realize women earned the right to vote in the US less than 100 years ago.

 Women artists in the middle ages struggled to be recognized for their work, yet they were lucky to work as artists at all instead of just being some man’s perfect wife. The Guerrilla Girls’ Bedside Companion to the History of Modern Art describes the growth of female artists in the following quotation: “Many of these artists were women, either working in businesses owned by male family members or living as nuns in convents. By the 15th Century in Bruges for example, 25 percent of the members of the Illuminators’ guild were female”(Guerrilla Girls 19). We can also see that although there were more women artists, to even get this far they had to have male artists in the family to work for or decide to join a convent in spite of not being recognized for their work. They either had to serve a man or God; in a time where religion was preaching that women were put on earth to serve men which isn’t that much better.

During the Renaissance, more women began to be recognized for their work but for the most part only if they were particularly remarkable. “Artemisia Gentileschi was a teenage prodigy working in her father’s atelier”(Guerrilla Girls 35) and while she was recognized for her work it took her getting raped for her to be taken seriously because during the trial she wasn’t. Her claims were contested and she was tortured to prove she was telling the truth, but with all odds against her, she won. “After the trial (and some say because of it) Artemisia went on to live an unusually autonomous life for a woman of her time. She somehow was able to set up her own Atelier, learned to read, and was the first female member admitted to the Accademia del Disegno”(Guerrilla Girls 35). Women artists started to be seen in the public eye but there were still many obstacles between them. Without the help of her father she wouldn’t have been able to pursue art and even worse she wouldn’t have been able to take her rapist to trial because women weren’t even allowed to bring charges in court.

Life for women improved in the 19th Century. Artists like Rosa Bonheur saw commercial success and the rise of photography let women like Julia Cameron into an artistic space that they were not traditionally excluded from. As society became more accepting not only were more women getting involved in the artistic community; Edmonia Lewis became the first African American woman artist. Yet again she wasn’t able to do this by herself “her older brother, Sunrise, sent her away to school”(Guerrilla Girls 51). During her time at Oberlin college she faced discrimination
due to the color of her skin and after being beaten after being accused of poisoning her roommates she went to Rome to learn different styles of sculpture. Edmonia worked hard to make her marble
sculptures, unfortunately, most of her work has been lost and we are not sure of how she spent her life after having her artwork displayed at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia.

 Just as the stories of these great women artists seem to inspire and give us a glimpse at how different their lives were we can also look at the art that was made to see how the way women have been perceived over time. John Berger provides insight to the most popular depiction of women: the nude, in his book Ways of Seeing, he writes:

“You paint a naked woman because you enjoyed looking at her, you put a mirror in her hand and you called the painting Vanity, thus morally condemning the woman whose nakedness you had depicted for your own pleasure. The real function of the mirror was otherwise. It was to make the woman connive in treating herself as, first and foremost, a sight” (Berger 51).

Women were primarily painted as something to look at, a beautiful image to possess. We can see this in the depictions of Susannah and the Elders which Berger also writes about.

This image is Tintorettos' painting of Susannah and the Elders. We can see how in this version she knows she's being watched but we can't really be sure how she feels about it maybe like Berger describes we are meant to be lost in her beauty as would be suggested by her looking at herself in the mirror joining the others in admiration.

This painting is by the aforementioned Artemisia Gentileschi possibly due to the female perspective in this version we see Susannah trying to distance herself from the Elders looking upon her. Unlike Tintoretto's version it's clear she wants them to stop, possibly because this is painted from a female perspective as opposed to the former.

 The largest obstacle to women was the roles they were being told to play in accordance with the patriarchal structure they faced. Under patriarchy, it is expected that women be quiet and do what they’re told. In the past, it was just to be good wives to men they probably didn’t even choose to marry.Thankfully arranged marriages and dowries are in the past, yet Bell Hooks provides a similar more modern anecdote from her life and how patriarchy affected her as she grew up in the following quotation from her book The Will to Change: “As their daughter I was taught that it was my role to serve, to be weak, to be free from the burden of thinking, to caretake and nurture others … I was taught that girls could and should express feelings, or at least some of them. When I responded with rage at being denied a toy, I was taught that in a patriarchal household that rage was not an appropriate feminine feeling”(Hooks 19). Hooks’ challenge towards patriarchy wouldn’t be possible without the brave women that came before her and of course, more will continue to do so.

Works Cited

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

Hooks, Bell. The Will To Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love. Simon & Schuster, 2004.

Berger, John. Ways of seeing: based on the BBC television series with John Berger. British Broadcasting Corp., 2012.

Group 3 Summary

Gender Roles, Subject, and Power

Throughout history, women have been expected to comply with the rules and roles that a patriarchal society has deemed appropriate. Being taught to be submissive from birth, it has been difficult for women to be able to vocalize and fight for control of their lives. Because of this, women artists in particular have had such difficulty expressing and advocating for their rights in a world that is uncomfortable with confronting the issues of gender inequality that are still relevant, though less extreme, today.

Hildegard of Bingen, Scivias, c1142-52

Throughout the Middle Ages, women were deprived of rights and voice. A woman of this time was expected to be ready for marriage at the young age of 12, and could be beaten, flogged, or buried alive if she committed adultery or failed to obey her husband, despite there being no repercussions for men if they did the same (Guerrilla Girls, 22). In addition, education “was thought to interfere with a woman’s ability to be a good wife and mother,” and thus the majority of women were illiterate and denied the privilege of being able to read and write (Guerrilla Girls, 22). During the beginning of the Middle Ages, both men and women labored as the economy was based on feudalism, or land ownership. However, if a woman worked it was under the business of a male family member. Perhaps the only real freedom a woman could have during this time was when she became a nun. Religion was extremely powerful in the Middle Ages, and while, “The Church’s hierarchal organization reinforced the class distinctions in society; its patriarchal dogma included a full set of theories on the natural inferiority of women,” “the convent provided and alternative to marriage, offering a haven for nonconformists and female intellectuals” (Chadwick, 44, 45). Joining a convent meant independence, the ability to be educated, performing music, making tapestries, farming, and operating businesses. Among these nuns was a woman known as Hildegard Von Bingen. Her work, Scivas, reflects the visions in which she claimed God spoke to her and revealed truths about the Christian faith, and is important because she received recognition from the Pope himself. Hildegard Von Bingen, as a nun, was given the opportunity to be educated. However, when she spoke out on her independent ideas, the Church placed her on house arrest and took away her voice and power, as they did to all women of the time.

As the Renaissance emerged, women were arguably even more excluded and certainly not credited for their art. In the words of Whitney Chadwick from her book Women, Art, and Society, “Art history’s conception of the Renaissance as an historically, geographically, and culturally unique period is based on the lives and achievements of men” (87). The system of art was closed to women, with the exception of lace and silkmakers guild. Women could not receive commissions, many were illiterate, and they could not legally own an atelier. The only way a woman was permitted to be an artist was if she was born into a family with an artist that needed help in a workshop. For instance, Maria Robusti was the daughter of Jacopo Tintoretto and worked for him for fifteen years, declining invitations to work for the King of Spain and the Emperor of Austria because her father did not give her permission to go. It is believed that she was the artists behind many works that he signed, and this discrediting and control over women artists can also be seen in artists Lavinia Fontana and Elisabetta Sirani. Even if women were to produce exceptional art work, they were insulted and their success was minimized by a society that deemed these women miracles or visionaries of the sort, rather than accepting that a woman could simply create an impressive piece of art. During the Renaissance, if a man raped a woman, the woman could save her reputation if that man asked to marry her (Guerrilla Girls, 32). This was true for Artemisia Gentileschi, who was raped by Agostino Tassi, a colleague of Artemisia’s father. Unheard of at the time, Artemisia’s father took the case to court. Artemisia most famous work, Judith Slaying Holfernes, depicts a Jewish woman killing an Assyrian general by first seducing him and then cutting of his head. In contrast to other artists, Gentileschi portrays Judith staring at Holfernes’ head as she slays him, expressing female strength and courage in a time when women were seen as weak, inferior, and were taken advantage of as she was.

Artemisia Gentileschi, Judith Decapitating Holfernes, 1618

Caravaggio, Judith Beheading Holfernes, 1599

Rachel Ruysch, Flowerpiece, after 1700

During the 17^th and 18^th centuries, there was a stress on women and domesticity, as seen in Elisabeth Vigee-Le Brun’s Portrait of Marie Antoinette with Her Children. In England, France, and Italy artists focused on neoclassicism, which focused on themes from history. However, women could not join the royal academies that taught this type of art, because nude painting was a pre-requisite and women were not allowed to view men naked for the purpose of art. While women were inhibited from participating in these academies, the Netherlands introduced a subject of art that did attract women. This subject was material possessions and focused more on every day life. Artists such as Rachel Ruysch, who was paid more than famous male artist Rembrandt, adopted this subject of painting as depicted in her work, The Flowerpiece.

Approaching the 19^th Century, the topics of abolition and women’s suffrage had influence on women of the time. Fighting for the emancipation of slaves, women identified with a lack of rights and freedom and therefore were advocates of independence and basic rights. Edmonia Lewis’ work, Forever Free, speaks to this subject of emancipation and the oppression of slavery. During the 19^th century, technological advances also lead to photography, something women have been included in since the beginning of its uses, as conveyed with the work of Julia Margaret Cameron. The 19^th century also propels the world into Impressionism, which uses smaller brush strokes, the illusion of movement of light, and odd angles. This art, highly criticized for the time, was practiced by Mary Cassatt. Her pieces, Mother and Child and A Cup of Tea “brings an incisive eye to bear on the rituals and gestures through which femininity is constructed and signified:…attending children, taking tea, visiting” (Chadwick, 238).

Mary Cassatt, Mother and Child, 1905

Mary Cassatt A Cup of Tea, 1880

From the Middle Ages through the 19^th century and even to today, women have fought for a voice in society. Women artists express life through the point of view of a woman, and we need to continue to communicate this to the world to reach gender equality.

-Nicole Arena

Works Cited

Chadwick, Whitney. Women, Art, and Society. 4^th ed. New York, N.Y.: Thames and Hudson, 1990. Print.

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

The Renaissance period of transition saw the demise of Catholicism and the introduction of the Reformation in various parts, motivating a reformed, intensified preoccupation with women and their roles. There was a new emphasis on women and their roles in marriage, yet they became less independent because during the Reformation the patriarch gained control, the actions, as well as women's sexuality, were very well scrutinized, and violent misogynist outbursts against women was on the increase.

Prior to the Renaissance era, female artists were not given any special status in the society, instead, they were seen as ordinary craftspeople, since men dominated crafts in general. The Temptation of St. Anthony, best reflects the fear women had, illustrating the holy man in the desert being tempted by a worldly woman, fashionably dressed and beautiful, her evil nature often showed by clawed feet, the snake-like train and the dress or the devilish horns of her headdress. 

The Temptation of St. Anthony by Lucas van Leyden

Nevertheless, there were women who were determined enough to surmount the barriers of this era and managed to develop not only considerable bodies of work but also an enviable reputation as well. For instance, Fede Galizia (1578-1630),  an Italian, was among the earliest of her kind. Women often needed to be prodigies and to have had special connections in order to enter what was now a male field.

It is Galizia's still painting, however, a new genre in that era, and one which she pioneered that's has helped in establishing the lasting reputation. In the example picture below, the plump fruits with their clear, crisply-edge leaves, show both the sensuousness of the edible fruit and asymmetry of pleasing formal shapes.  The painting is an example in which women would excel because they were excluded from other kinds of art (Burke 75).

Fig2: Peaches in a pierced white faience basket (1578-1630) by Fede Galizia

Particularly, women in the Renaissance were not allowed to engage in certain subject matters and media. Most importantly, females were forbidden to study methods for representing nude figures or details of male anatomy. As a result women, artists were at a disadvantage in painting historical scenes with various figures that were often popular and lucrative at that time. Even the most accomplished women artists would customarily drape the male bodies in their paintings with dark shadows or robes so that their lack of training in representing the male nude would be less important.

In addition, landscape painting was also a genre in which the limited freedom of women, as well as their limited mobility, resulted in limited participation. With only a handful of exceptions, women did not even make any attempts on landscape painting until the nineteenth century. It was apparently not even possible for them to go on scouting trips as well as a long journey along in collecting raw material required in this genre.

Chadwick in Women, Art, and Society devotes two chapter in analyzing the artistic activities of women worldwide as seen through various international exhibitions. According to Chadwick, "the most extensive and far-reaching representation of women artists in international biennials took place in 1999 with the exhibitions in Brisbane, The Third Asia-Pacific Triennial" (Chadwick 457).

Nevertheless, a feminist art movement of the 1970s changed the course of the history of art decisively.  Through shattering the hold of modernism, women artist provided leadership to move the world of art from the narrowly defined critical criteria. Particularly, the book The Guerrilla Girls' Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art portrays the Guerrilla Girls employing tactics through demonstrating in public, performing and placing flyers and posters reflecting their agenda(Guerrilla Girls 25). Their list itemizes various obstacles women artists undergo in the contemporary art world.  Their hope is to inspire improvements in the situation for women artists. 

The literature documentation of the Renaissance era will survive for the future generation of art historians and artists. Important to note, however, is the fact that by working together, artists can build the structure of knowledge that will offer tools for the future generation to recognize, appreciate and value women artists of the coming centuries.

Works Cited

Chadwick, Whitney, and Whitney Chadwick. Women, Art, and Society (Fifth Edition) (World of Art) 5th Edition . London: Thames and Hudson, 2007.

Guerrilla Girls (Group of artists). The Guerrilla Girls' bedside companion to the history of Western art. Penguin Group USA, 1998.

Burke, Peter. The Italian Renaissance: culture and society in Italy. Princeton University Press, 2014.

Gender roles, Subjects and Power by Mah Noor

Women in the Middle age did not have the same rights as today. Women were treated as the second class in their social circle. They were expected serve their husbands, be obedient, be a good housewife and a mother. Women duties were primarily confined to home and family life. They were not given the opportunity to acquire academic knowledge unless they marry the church. Throughout the middle ages, the role of women were often dictated by Church. It is and was believed that Eve was created from Adam’s rib; and the world came to being after Eve ate a forbidden fruit. In the middle ages, women were held responsible for this original sin and hence why they were inferior to men. Women’s place in society was reflected in many women artist’s work.

Aelfgyva and the Cleric
from The Bayeux Tapestry, c. 1086

Bayeux Tapestry- which tells the story of  the Norman Conquest on the strip of a linen which is seven hundred meter long. One of the image from it, “Aelfgyva and the Cleric” give us an idea of women’s role in the middle age. Aelfgyva is dressed in very simple clothes, as women dressed back then. The cleric is stretching his arm towards her in a way that seems possessive and violent. Aeflgyva’s body language gives the audience a sense of submission and inferiority towards the cleric. “Among the scores of male figures, there are only three women in the central register. One appear as a mourner in the scene of King Edward on his deathbed, another holds a boy by the hand as they flee from the burning house” (Chadwick 48). In 700 meter long tapestry, women are only portrayed three times. Even in those short appearances, women were subjected submissive or as mothers. Aeflgyva did not   seem to mattered in this image. Most of the tapestry dealt with politics and battles, therefore women portrayal was not emphasized.

With some rare exceptions, Christine de Pizan was one of the first notable woman in the medieval times who is known for pioneering work for women. She was born in Venice in 1364 in a very educated family. She was the first woman to write about woman in The City of Ladies.

THE BRICKLAYERS
The City of Ladies

In this painting above, women are seen building the foundation of The City of Ladies. No man is seen in this scenario because the Christine de Pizan wanted to portray women as capable as a man. In the middle ages, women were not allowed to take part in the same activities as men, so to illustrate women as strong and intellectual was very unorthodox. She was shunned by many for her rebellious work, it was courageous act for a women to be an outspoken intellect in an era when females were thought to be morally inferior and incapable of reason and logic" (Guerrilla Girls 23). Women artist were restricted to their opinions in the Middle ages. Most art by women were limited to religious themes because monks and nuns were the main artist during the middle ages. However, Christine de Pizan was far from usual artists. She used her writing and painting skills to speak for women. "She was enraged by guys who espoused bigoted ideas about women and then thought themselves to be advanced and enlightened for it" (Guerrilla Girls 26). "Guerrila Girls believed that [Christine de Pizan] were the first Renaissance (Wo)men (Guerrilla Girls 27). The Renaissance era brought new ways to perceive the world with new techniques in art, literature, fashion, politics and etc.

In the Renaissance era, women were more empowered compared to The middle ages. They were allowed to teach, attend universities, get legal abortion etc. This change was also seen in art.

Domenico Ghirlandaio
Giovanna Tornabuoni, 1488

This painting shows a fine distinction between the Middle age art and the Renaissance art. Women are not forced to paint within the religious boundaries. Fashion is one of the major difference. In this portrait of Giovanna Tornabuoni, a sense of style is demonstrated through her hair, her clothes and her jewelry. In the Middle Ages, women were just seen in simple clothing as to fashion during the Renaissance was more loud.



Works Cited: 

Chadwick, Whitney. Women, Art, and Society. 4th ed. New York, N.Y.: Thames and Hudson, 1990. Print.The Guerrilla Girls' Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art. New York: Penguin, 1998. Print.