Gender Roles, Subject, and Power
During the Middle Ages, women in Europe were basically servants to men, doing what they please, taking care of the whole household, raising their children and would get nothing in return. Men would belittle women during this time period showing no regard to their thoughts or opinions and even treating them with violence when they were the ones taking care of the whole house and nurturing the children. Men were just ruthless overall to female as well as the mother of their children. According to the Guerrilla Girls, “In classical civilizations, women were the virtual prisoners of the men in their lives, (Guerrilla Girls, 15)”. Women were being treated so poorly that some would consider them as “prisoners” to the men that they were surrounded by. Most women were treated just as bad from their own fathers. In “Understanding Patriarchy” Bell Hooks talks about an incident where she was just four years old and she challenged gender roles by not listening to her father and playing boy activities and her own father abused her. Bell Hooks explains “Dad intervened to tell me to stop. I did not listen. His voice grew louder and louder. Then suddenly he snatched me up, broke a board from our screen door, and began to beat me with it, telling me, “You’re just a little girl. When I tell you to do something. I mean for you to do it.” He beat me and he beat me, wanting me to acknowledge that I understood what I had done, (Bell Hooks, 20-21)”. This act of violence men brought to women for not sharing the opinions will always be unjustified. During this time period, the only way women would be freed from becoming the role of mother or a wife was to join a convent where they would learn some form of education, oftentimes families would send their young daughters to nunneries. During the eleventh century, Hildegard Von Bingen had been sent to a convent by her parents at the age of eight. From the convent, she had begun to receive an education in Latin, scripture, and music. While she grew older she had written a book called Scivias in which she brought out all of her visions through her whole time period of being part of the convent and took people's breath away. She had received the Pope’s blessing when her book was shown to him which made her famous and overcrowded her convent.
Hildegard von Bingen with Richardis von Stade (right) and Volmar (left).
"Because that first declaration came at the beginning of Hildegard’s writing career, at a time when she was still quite unsure of herself, it went to great lengths to establish both Hildegard’s frail humility in the service of God and the legitimate, divine authority for her prophetic messages, as well as the dynamic of the visionary experience relating the two. The openings of the latter two works also take up those three themes that are central to Hildegard's visionary, prophetic, and theological vocation, but with greater concision." (Nathaniel M. Campbell)
Now we begin the time period of the Renaissance where men are still in control but women were starting to come forward with more women artists as well as some women beginning to start working even if it wasn’t the same skillful work as men, it was still a step closer but also not enough. In “Women, Art, and Society” Whitney Chadwick explains “Most of the highly skilled artisans were now men; women were relegated to areas that required fewer skills, or skills of a kind that could be easily transferred to new households upon marriage (Whitney Chadwick, 68). Though women were starting to acquire some skills it was not equal to men and they still couldn’t become artists or even learn the education of art unless they were born into a family of artists that were in need of help. According to the Guerrilla Girls, “In most cities, women were barred from painters’ guilds or academies (except for the lace and silkmakers’ guilds). They couldn’t receive commissions or legally own an atelier. Most were illiterate. One of the few ways a woman can work as an artist was to be born into a family of artists that needed assistance in the family workshop, (Guerrilla Girls, 29)”. Lucky for this wasn’t the case for Sofonisba Anguissola but her father believed that all women should be educated. She had opened up the possibility of becoming a professional painter for other women, though some people would say she lacked drawing as she wasn’t educated as long as other artists she was still compared to many high male artists of her time. Sadly her social status of being a woman at the time she was restricted from selling her marvelous work.
Portrait of Don Carlos (1545-68), Son of Philip II of Spain, after Sofonisba Anguissola
“When Anguissola’s portrait of Don Carlos pleased the prince in 1568, he ordered thirteen copies of it from the King’s court painter Alfonso Sanchez Coello, (Whitney Chadwick, 79)”.
Arriving into the nineteenth century we started by abolishing slavery and fought for equality for women. Although still see some men in their usual ignorant ways but we start to see dramatic changes in the role of being a woman. The profession of being an artist as a woman was appropriate and they were able to receive formal training for it while it was also respected. We also start to see women being able to actually be paid for their labor as they were not allowed to make wages such as men were in the Renaissance. During this time period, we begin to shift over to the industrial revolution, in which women were included. According to Chadwick, “Women’s traditional skills as producers of cloth were transferred to industrial production, (Whitney Chadwick, 207)”. The Guerrilla Girls also go on to say “The industrial revolution drew people from farms to factories and new tools made art productions easier. At the same time, the invention of the camera threatened to make painting obsolete. Photography was great for women artists: because it was brand new, there was no canon for them to be excluded from. As a result, women helped define the practice and continue to do so today, (Guerrilla Girls, 47)”. Lily Martin Spencer was a prime example of the new role for women in the nineteenth century as she was a married woman with thirteen children. Although she was married she was the one supporting her children through her artwork while her husband would help by assisting her. Here we start to see the gender roles start to switch that women can also be the main provider for their family.
Lily Martin Spencer, We Both Must Fade, 1869
"The demands placed on Spencer by the need to support her family and to satisfy a large, unsophisticated, middle-class audience were very different from those confronting the first generation of professional women artists who trained abroad during the 1850s and 1860s, (Chadwick, 214)."
"Works Citied"
Women, Art and Society by Whitney Chadwick
The Guerrilla Girls' Bedside Companion To The History of Western Art by The Guerrilla Girls
Understanding Patriarchy by Bell Hooks
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