IKW- Les 7: Feminism in/ and Art History

1. Objectives
-> Provide an overview of the ways women have accessed/been denied access to roles as
great artists throughout history.
-> To disrupt and problematize the canon of art history and promote critical thought. § To
examine the structures that shape the ways we think about “great artists”
-> Consider examples of women artists from various periods to try to understand how they
have approached/confronted the intersection of art and gender

2. Terms
2.1 Gender
Gender ‘is a cultural construct, [which] varies according to historical periods and according to
societies and cultures in which the concept is constructed. It is a set of traits (roles, attitudes,
physical attributes, behavioural patterns, sexuality, etc.) that are generally associated to people
on the basis of sex. It is a system whereby people are classified to a particular category. [Much of
Western] culture conceives a dual sex/gender system which means that according to our
parameters there are two genders (male/female) that correspond to two sexes (male/female). This
also implies a sexual orientation, heterosexuality…Sometimes there is a discrepancy between the
category in which a person is classified and his or her gender identity... ’
OR
Gender refers to “a constitutive element of social relationships based on perceived
differences between the sexes, and […] a primary way of signifying relationships of
power.

2.2 Male Gaze:

the way the visual arts portrays women to show them as men would like them to be, not
as complete people, but often as objects of desire.

2.3 Patriarchy:
power structure where men hold the power in families and in society. This power is
sustained by structures that preserve the desires and interests of men.

2.4 Gender Norms:

general, sometimes unstated, expectations that one should behave in a certain manner,
have a particular appearance, or hold certain beliefs based upon one’s gender.

2.5 Intersectionality
Whose perspective?
-> Overlapping nature of identity; how race, gender, sexuality, and socio-economic status
(class?) – amongst other factors– inform a person’s perspective.

2.6 Feminism
=> belief that individuals are equal, regardless of their sex or gender.
-> charged term, now perhaps more than ever. At once a descriptor for a philosophy, a
civil rights movement, and a political identity, feminism is a shifting form. In a way, it
makes sense – women come from a range of backgrounds and have a range of
experiences and what equality means to them, how they wish to achieve it, and what they
prioritize varies.
 -> “Liberal Feminism”: most common form of feminism. Reduced to its essence, liberal
feminism chronicles the battles of the sexes, where strong women successfully fight to
obtain their fair share of the family estate or attend university–think Wonder Woman.

!Limitations: emphasizes exceptions, and overlooks other individuals who go about

achieving equality or exercising agency differently. Plenty of women over time have
quietly subverted gender norms, circumvented limitations imposed upon them by their
gender, without necessarily “taking to the barricades”.

3. Feminism in Art History

=> To “do” feminist art history, basically, means taking gender into account in our research
and critique of art, and of art history. It means being aware of the current and historical
contexts in which women function or functioned as artistic producers. It means challenging,
using gender or sex as a category of analysis, the following:

- How we define “art”

-How we define “artist”
-How we receive so-called seminal or critical works of art history
- How we approach the archives
- How we structure our methods and our analysis
-Etc.

3.1.1 Portrait of Michele Obama – Guerilla Girls

-> image of little girl

-> group of women, anonymous, sinds 1980s

=> adopt names of deceapts artists
Task: draw attention to injustices in art ( women, LGBT, race)
=> essence: not including women of color, seeing half the picture

Why?
The histories created by our public art institutions feed the narratives that become our shared
histories. What these institutions exhibit matters because it creates public culture and the historical
record” (Anne Dymond, Diversity Counts, 171)

Why It Matters?
“When women—and nonbinary, minority, or marginalized individuals— are underrepresented in
museums, they undergo a similar ‘process of erasure’ from history” (Stephanie Szitanyi, “Semiotic
Readings of the USS Midway Museum”, 254).

3.2 Raising Awareness: What Are We looking For?

What-> to discover history of women and art is in part to account for the way history is
written. To expose its underlying values, its assumptions, its silences and its prejudices…

Why-> is also to understand that the way women artist are recorded and described is
crucial to the definition of art and artist in our society

3.3 History
-Linda Nochlin, art historian
 - 1971: middle of “second-wave” feminism, but beginning of “women’s studies”
- The “male genius” narrative § Should we change our definition of what “great” means?
=> Recognize institutional barriers

3.3.1 Christine de pizan (1364-1430)

Author of La Cité des Dames (1405)
- Associated with the “Querelle des Femmes”
-> She was very critical of the contemporary writings that reduced women to
seducers, and otherwise weak and wicked characters.
-> She asked: how can women’s lives be known when men write all the books?

3.3.2 Quotes
“Blessed art thou, Reader, if you are not of that sex to which one forbids
everything of value.”
-Marie de Gournay, Ladies Complaint (1626)

Is government not for the prosperity of nations In wise policy driven by prudence
of understanding? Is it that godliness and virtue give the blessing, How, then, is it
that men have an advantage over women?
-Charlotte de Huybert (c. 1622–after 1644), Lof-Dicht

Behold how virtues are worthy / of being exalted by a woman, and virtue is the
best thing / that men want in this life. / If women were only beasts, spewing out
angry spirits, / why should men write boldly / about us in many books, and praise
us for the virtues displayed in images of women?
-Maria Margarita van Akerlaecken, Den lof der vrouwen, tegen der vrouwen
lasteraars (1662)

3.4 Contemporary moments

Joan Kelly, “Did Women have a Renaissance?” (1976)
-> Think about it in terms of:
1) attitudes towards sexuality
2) Women’s economic and political roles
3) Women’s cultural roles;
4) ideologies about women.

Joan W. Scott,
“Gender: a useful category of analysis” (1970s, revised 1986)
->³ Gender is useful as an analytical category of analysis, but it cannot be the only factor.
“To pursue meaning, we need to deal with the individual subject as well as social
organization and to articulate the nature of their interrelationships, for both are crucial to
understanding how gender works, how change occurs.”
<-> This approach has been refined and pushed further by scholars such as Katlijne van
der Stighelen, Chantal Huys, Fia Dieteren, Els Kloek, Carol Pal, and many others.
=> is a proper analysis but cant be the only thing

Mary Garrard and Norma Broude, Feminism and art history : questioning the litany (first
published 1982)
-> Examining western art history and recognizing that it has, in every period, been shaped
or influence by sex- or gender-bias
 -> Since then, these scholars have especially tackled the criticism that ”feminism” is not a
concept that can be applied to the early modern period à it can.
=> questioning the litany

Whitney Chadwick, Women, Art, and Society (first published 1990)

-> The first book that provided a survey of art history focused on women

3.5 Recent developments

Lots of progress in the research of the lives of women artists:
-> Book series at Amsterdam University Press, Brepols, Brill, Cambridge University
Press, etc.
-> Even a Women’s Art Journal and the Journal of the Society for the Study of Early
Modern Women and Gender

-> Much of it has been in the mold of writing about men (i.e. exceptions and geniuses),
or trying to fit women into the history of art, what Merry WiesnerHanks calls “add
women and stir”:
‒ Rijksmuseum adds 3 female artists to the Hall of Honours (2021)
‒ “Berthe Morisot, Woman Impressionist” (Dallas Museum of Art, 2019)
‒ “Anguissola and Fontana: A Tale of Two Women Painters” (Prado, 2020)

BUT: slowly, more creative research

– women as patrons, women as “workshop wives”, etc.
‒ Current exhibition Hidden Gems at Hof van Busleyden in Mechelen features the
richness of patronage by nuns, integrated into the history of the city

4. Women in Art
4.1 Artemisia Gentileschi
-“female old master”: only a first name is needed
- “the most celebrated female artist of the seventeenth century”
- “The saint is portrayed as resilient, having endured torture – as indeed the artist herself
did during the trial following her rape at the age of 17 by the painter Agostino Tassi.”
- “Many of Artemisia’s paintings, in particular those depicting a strong female heroine,
have often been read in biographical terms.”

=>
 Other example -> Judith beheading
-> like Caravaggio

4.2 Judith Leyster (1609-1660)

-> born in a family of brewers
- Trained outside the family
- One of only two women registered in the painters’ guild in Haarlem
- She took on apprentices (when one left to work with Frans Hals, she sued him!)
- ”...hoping to achieve some measure of recognition by imitating her contemporaries
Frans Hals, Dirck Hals, and Jan Miense Moelnaer” (Walter Liedke, 1993)
- Hardly any signed works after she married, interpreted as meaning that she stopped
painting
- Disappeared from view entirely until 1893

=>
(decreasing value when it went from Frans Hals to Judith Leyster)

4.3 Rosa Bonheur (1822-1899)

-moved to Paris in 1829 where her father, a landscape painter, taught her how to paint
- Her father was part of a socialist political group that advocated for equality of the sexes,
and believed that every being has a soul
- Was kicked out of school, and failed as she attempted to apprentice with a dressmaker,
she became her father’s apprentice instead at age 13
-Cut her hair short, wore pants (had to get permission from the prefect of police), smoked
cigars, and attended events like horse shows geared towards men § Began exhibiting
work at the Paris Salons by 1841
- Dabbled in sculpture, but when she started to see success in this area she backed off so
she wouldn’t overshadow her brother, who was also a sculptor
- Won many awards for her paintings and was favored by Queen Victoria and the French
Empress § Had a lifelong female “companion” named Anna Klumpke
 =>

-> women could paint big paintings, quite simple things elevated
-> challenges what it means to be a women

5. UNHELPFUL ASSUMPTIONS AND BELIEFS

- “Great” artists are able to command high prices, and vice-versa
- In order to be considered great, an artist has to constantly innovate stylistically
-> Great artists work alone, not in collaboration or as part of a collective § Great artists have numerous
pupils and/or followers
“True” artists earn a living through their art; this is not a part-time profession
 There are few female artists The work of women artists are…feminine?
Women do not have the same creative abilities as men
-> The phenomenon of female artists is recent § Women who have contributed to the arts have already
been recognized
-> Great works of art are produced by genius artists, working alone
-> Women work primarily in crafts
Women = seen as decorative artists

UNDERVALUED Women’s Work

There is a hierarchy in the arts: decorative art at the bottom, and the human form at the top. Because
we are men.
—Le Corbusier and Amédée Ozenfant, 1918

ISSUE: ARCHIVES ARE NOT NEUTRAL

What are archives?
->Sources of history
-> Material record of the past
->Tools to consolidate power § Information management

BUT: Archives have histories and politics of their own § Product of decisions made by a range of
stakeholders:
-> Authors of the papers
-> Archivists who have processed the documents
-> State officials and bureaucrats who decide what should be preserved and which destroyed
->Scholars who have unearthed documents over the years ARCHIVES What do we mean when we
say “archives are not neutral?”

• The very act of collecting and organizing art, papers, and other documents involves a determination:
of who and what is important, of who and what should be remembered and preserved for future
generations and, critically, of how best to organize this information.
• For centuries, this decision-making process has privileged institutional status. à This has resulted in
the exclusion women (together with religious and racial minorities and countless others)
ARCHIVES Q. Why does the content of the archives matter?

ISSUE: “PROFESSIONAL” OR “AMATEUR” ?

Wendy Wiertz,
“A Lack of a Name, of Artistic Value, and of a Positive Perception: Overlooking Amateur Artists in
Scholarly Research” (2020)
- Case study of amateur artists in Belgium during the 19th and early 20th century
- From the late 18th century onward, amateur more or less meant women
- The lack of a name, expectations of low quality, variety of media used, and lowly status of amateur
artists long contributed to their neglect
- It was not until the beginning of the 21st century that scholarly attention began being paid to
amateur artists à

“The spread of the work ethic and misogyny throughout the nineteenth century led to a greater
appreciation of the male professional artist, while first- and second-wave feminism emphasized the
professional women artist. The result was that with some exceptions the amateur artist long remained
invisible.”

(125) ISSUE: ”FEMININE” WORK 40

- Notion that there is such a thing as a “feminine” essence that transpires into artworks
-This can be reflected in the subject matter of works: e.g.: still life and flower paintings
-It can be reflected in the choice of artistic media: e.g.: textile arts Subtext:
-> “Feminine” work is easier, facile, weaker, and therefore less worthy

SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES
Works that are less valued are less likely to be preserved
Works that are less valued are less likely to be studied
Works that are less valued are less likely to be collected
Works that are less valued are less likely to be documented properly: maker, date, technique, etc.
Works by amateurs are less likely to even be considered (low expectations)
Works by amateurs are less likely to be valued (and therefore less likely to be preserved or studied or
collected or documented properly)
Records about amateur artists are less likely to be maintained and kept
“Amateur” artists are less likely to be studied à
Where have all the women gone?

HOW ARE WE DOING? 43

‒ Emile Mâle ‒ Bernard Berenson ‒ Heinrich Wölfflin
‒ Roger Fry ‒ Nikolaus Pevsner ‒ Alfred H Barr, Jr.
‒ Erwin Panofsky ‒ Kenneth Clark ‒ E.H. Gombrich
‒ Clement Greenberg ‒ Francis Haskell ‒ Michael Baxandall
‒ T.J. Clark ‒ Svetlana Alpers ‒ Rosalind Krauss
‒ Hans Belting Stonard and Shone (eds.), The Books that Shaped Art History (2017)

STRATEGIES: DOING ART HISTORY DIFFERENTLY

What do we mean by ”traditional” art history methodologies?

- Monograph
- Connoisseurship
- Iconography
 And more Why can they be problematic?
- The myth of the genius
- Trained to look for men …or at least exceptional women (worthies)
- Restricts our vision to few artistic media
- Looking for brushstrokes and authorship
- What about women and others who did not necessarily sign works, or who contribute in workshops?
- Iconography often derived from works written by men

DOING ART HISTORY DIFFERENTLY

What can it mean?
-Adopting new or creative methodologies: e.g. social network analysis
- Changing the focus of inquiry: e.g. collectivity, collaboration, workshop practices
- Thinking about what we mean by art: e.g. does it have to be permanent? Does it have to be fine arts?
§ Looking for sources in unexpected places: reading ”against the archival grain”; considering oral
histories, materiality of objects, etc.
- New perspectives: examine maternity and women artists; the use of nighttime as productive period;
etc. Katlijne van der Stighelen,
“Anna Francisca de Bruyns (1604/5-1656), Artist, Wife and Mother:
a Contextual Approach to Her Forgotten Artistic Career” (2019)

SOME STRATEGIES: IN THE MUSEUM

Liliane Inés Cuesta Davignon, “Gender perspective and museums” (2009):

- Quantitative strategies: quotas, temporary exhibitions, staff diversity ratio, etc.

- Issues: does not necessarily guarantee a feminist approach; there may not be enough or
representative works; problems surrounding authorship

- Qualitative strategies: questioning values, canon, exploring the concept of gender

- Issues: adding women to the canon does not change the underlying values of the canon

Bv:
-Susanna, Images of a woman from the middke ages to the METOO
- onderkruipsels
- amalia, ambitie met allure

What to do
-> challenging assumptions
-> challenging the narrative
-> Kara Walker