Kaiden Little

Art 212 Global Art History

Annie Krieg
Gender inequality from medieval to now

Art has played a significant role in expression of emotion throughout human history and
still does today. Art creates a personal bond between people to bring out emotions,
inspire and show the values of someone or a place's culture. Behind the scenes of
these creations throughout history we see that gender has had a significant impact upon
the art world, showing that equality is not a strength that is shared equality and shows
that gender depends on the lingering fact of the amount of recognition, opportunity and
success someone can obtain.

In the medieval era, women representation of artists was slim to none. Social norms
during this time gave women very little access to the opportunities and training as an
artist.
K. Michelle Hearne, "Women Artists and the Limits of Gender in the Early Modern Low
Countries,"
Hearne argues that women that created works of art became a main subject of criticism
and the main result was that they would often be overlooked and be undervalued in the
work. The imagery of the “Bayeux Tapestry” made in the 11th century shows the
conquest of Normandy over England. The tapestry was woven and is over 230 ft long,
and is speculated to be made by a woman in a secluded spot. The piece was later
credited to male artists with no credit to the women that had created the actual piece.

Another image with the same circumstances is “The Luttrell Psalter” from 14th century
Europe. This is a manuscript containing religious texts and psalms which is believed to
be produced by male and female artists alike.The manuscript depicts many different
things within its pages, ranging from mythical monsters or people carrying out everyday
tasks. The pages within the manuscript are very detailed with many colors and different
designs at a high level of integrity. The credit of the manuscript went to the male artists
while the female artist rarely saw any credit towards the work that they had done with it,
Their work was cut out and overshadowed by their male counterpart. During this time it
was normal to see such things happen and women had no other choice but to let it
happen mainly because the churches had the power over the arts. The church's
influences on art were the main power house always dominated by men in these places.

As we move on to the 20th century, we see the birth of abstract expressionism come to
life. We see many artists emerge from this era such as Jackson Pollock, Willem de
Kooning and Mark Rothko but very few female artists get recognition for their
emergence into this era. Although Hellen was able to emerge with them most of her
work was overlooked and underappreciated, as a female artist she had to fight for the
recognition and respect from fellow artists alike.

Talk more about hellen

Julia E. Smith's book "No More Second Fiddle: Women Artists in the 20th Century"
Julia focuses on what women artists contribute to this mass art movement and to
abstract expressionism, Julia argues that “Female artists' contributions to the movement
have been unfairly overlooked in favor of their male counterparts.”
Linda Nochlin's article "Why have there been no great women artists?"
Linda argues that the lack of recognition towards female artists in art history is because
they lack the skill or talent but instead because they suffer from cultural barriers and
limited access to education, training and other opportunities.
Judith Lorber's book "The Social Construction of Gender"
Judith also sheds light on the fact that gender stereotypes and the expectations can
limit women artists opportunities of representations in other field types of the arts.

Julia talks about what women bring to expressionist movement. What to they bring to
the movement? Contributions overlooked. What contributions is julia talking about?

Jackson Pollock's “Lavender Mist'' is a very good example of the inequalities of gender
in the abstract expressionist movement. In this painting we see Pollock's signature drip
technique and is viewed as the main masterpiece of the movement. We can look at
Hellen Frankthalers’s “mountains and sea” and see that it's rarely ever acknowledged
for being even a part of the movement, seeing the unique use of color and straining
techniques used for the piece.

How are these two piece related? Techniques, time, movement

Lack of what opportunities? Why do women suffer from cultural barriers? Why cant
women get access to training and education?

E. Cockcroft's article "Abstract expressionism: A weapon of the Cold War" talks about
the political context of the abstract expressionism movement integrated and emerged
and was used as a tool of propaganda during the cold war to promote american values
and cultural superiority. The leaders of the movement mostly being male just reinforced
the traditional stereotypes of gender roles being enforced and seen as it being a male
dominant area in the arts, although female artists of the movement challenged theses
roles and fought back, Their presences alone was a huge step in the movement
towards gender equality in the art world which had been male dominated for so long.

Throughout history the representation of male and female artists have changed and
have a significant impact on social and cultural understandings as time passes. During
Medieval times female artists had opportunities and female artists during the time of the
abstract expressionist movement both had struggled through the inequalities they faced
in the history of art. These women are two prime examples of how gender did affect the
arts during their time and how there is still a cultural struggle even today to shine light
on the indifferences and inequalities they face.The impacts of gender stereotypes,
representation, political and social context are critical to promoting gender equality for
the arts to show that all artists are cherished and recognized for their work.