~ Gender Roles / Subject and Power ~

In the middle ages, women held a lot of roles which isn't all that good. Some of the roles of women in the middle ages were being wives, mothers, peasants, artisans, and very rarely nuns. As stated in Guerilla Girls, "A woman had to obey her husband, and he could beat her if she didn't" (Guerilla 22). That quote in itself shows the hardship a female goes through even at home; a place where there should be peace and love. Turned into a place of horror and depression. Besides all the negatives some important leadership roles were abbess and/or queen regnant. At the period of the renaissance that the roles of women began to focus more on making quilts. Making quilts are usually done at home while waiting for their husbands to return home. The women were housewives and men treated the housewives as their slaves in a way to clean and bare children. The way I see it is the side piece that every man should have to feel more masculine. The women weren't fazed by critics who said that the brush is more manly and how they refer them as more passive sex, but they fought for development painting techniques and advancing younger generations of female artists. Women are teaching younger women to abstain the opposite sex who would shut their development down. 

Sofonisba Anguissola, Self Portait eith Benardio Campi,1550

Sofonisba Anguissola, Self Portrait with Benardio Campi,1550 Our first example is an artist named Sofonisba Anguissola. She was one of the very few women renaissance artists who got recognized for her artwork. She was been in Carmona which is located in Northern Italy. Anguissola was known to travel all around Italy and earning praises all around. Her paintings didn't just boundaries within the portraits but rather attacked the renaissance convention of women as an object. In Chadwick, it states, “...in its straight-forward pose and the quiet dignity of the figures. At the same time, the painting reveals the calculated mix of moderate social responsibility espoused by Paleotti and the worldly preventions of the Bolognese aristocracy which insured Fontana’s success as a portraitist” (Chadwick 94). The painting below which is called "Self Portrait with Bernardino Campi, 1550," shows an artist being painted by her teacher. At first glance at the art piece, it shows the gender imbalance of the male teacher dictating her appearance, but when you look closely at the painting it shows that she is making fun of the traditions by her "master" painting the details of her dress. The painting is nearly 500 + years old that shows rejection of patriarchal authority. 

Judith Leyster, The Propostion, 1631

The second female I want to mention is Judith Leyster. In the portrait, it looks to be a soberly dressed woman sits in a darkened room, working on her sewing. The only light that appears to be in the artwork is from a lamp on the table, filling the whole room with shadows. In the back, an older man touching her shoulder with one hand and the other hand appears to be holding a handful of coins. It leaves the view somewhat uncomfortable with what is happening in the artwork. In Chadwick, it states, “Judith Leyster’s the proposition (1631) is one of several paintings that imprecate is initiated by a man who leans over the shoulder of a woman deeply absorbed in her sewing. With one hand on her arm, he holds out the other hand, filled with coins. Refusing to look up and engage in the transaction, she completely ignored his advances” (Chadwick 124). To analyze it a bit more money symbolizes buying affection from the female that is trying very hard not to actually pay attention or even look his way. We as the viewer feel bad for the woman and what is to happen next.

Elisabetta Sirani, Portia Wounding her thigh, 1664

Our last female artist is Elisabetta Sirani and her painting called Portia Wounding Her Thigh, 1664. She was an accomplished painter that was accused of signing work her father had done. To prove the humorist wrong, she began to paint in public. This painting shows the challenges women were faced to be taken seriously. This painting narrates a classical episode from Ancient Roman history. How Portia, the wife of Brutus and the son of the assassin of the Roman dictator Julius Caesar. Since women in Ancient Rome were considered to lack moral values, her husband concealed from his wife and killed his father in fear of Portia revealing the plan under torture. But Portia wished to be trusted by her husband and to be treated equally. To prove such bravery she took a dagger and stabbed her thigh in front of her husband, trying not to show any sign of suffering. She wanted to show him that she was not weak, but her husband didn't see it that way at all. Chadwick states, “ The work’s signalized content in evoked through the titillating image of female wounding and the figures almost voluptuous disarray, but its other meanings are more complicated and returned us to the issue of deeply in the thigh” (Chadwick 101). She fixed her gaze on her wounds and her expression lacks suffering. The blood of her thigh is enhanced by the vigorous red dress and by the contrast with her pale skin. The background in what could be called a kind of Venetian box, you see figures of women involving in their daily activities of taking care of their family and homes. The scene is demonstrated by an amazing use of the color red highlighting the bleeding price women must pay to be recognized by the male society.

Harriet Powers, Pictorial Quilt, 1895

Another really important artist to mention is Harriet Powers. Powers was inspired by another amazing female artist named Rosa Bonheur. She was born a slave and that itself was another hardship beside her being a female. Slavery was filled with discrimination and also racism because it was mostly targetting African Americans. Powers was known for her beautiful Quilts which she called, "Pictorial Quilts." A student noticed her artwork and offered Powers 5 dollars which Powers was suprised about. That of course inspired powers to create more and more quilts of slavery. The quilts shows the observer what the slaves went through, almost like telling a story with pictures. 

Work cited 

Chadwick, Whitney. Women, Art and Society. 5th ed., Thames and Hudson, 2015.

The Guerrilla Girls' Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art. Penguin Books, 2006.