Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Gender Roles, Women, and Power



In the Middle Ages, women were expected to respect the role and place given to them by their society and then their husband when they would eventually marry off to. Women were to be submissive and docile while shadowing their husbands and taking care or the children as well as household duties. There were no other tasks for a woman and lady at this point in time. As a little girl, she would be trained all her upbringing to serve those around her. Women during the Middle Ages were to be educated to some degree in addition to upholding her female responsibilities; however, using her knowledge in competition with any male counterpart was forbidden. This was set in place because no matter what, males were to always hold the dominant position and their opinions were the only ones that mattered. As the Guerilla Girls said it best, “Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But suffer not women to teach, nor to usurp authority of the man, but to be in silence” (G.G., 19). This proves what was already stated. Women had specific roles that cloaked their individuality and identity. Although women were extremely oppressed, the era of the time very slowly began to give way to the women who could make their mark as paint artists, sculptors, and workers of crafts overall.


Religion in the Middle Ages seemed to underscore the order of life. Religion; in addition to men, was responsible for the persecution of women. Set by the Holy Church itself, women were to be modest and obedient beings. Opposition to this image represented in physical and emotional repercussions. Remember, women had few choices throughout their childhood and then subsequent adulthood. The Guerilla Girls explained, If one chose not to fulfill her purpose and role of becoming a wife and mother, she often went to join a convent; this had the effect of freeing herself from these oppressive duties in that role (G.G., 21). Most unfortunately, in families with many daughters, if there was no money left due to fortunes spent on dowries on the other sisters: this also resulted in a new addition to the convent. For the lovely women that made it to be wed, “they were required to be faithful to their husbands” or subjected to punishment,”by flogging or being buried alive” (G.G., 22). Men, however, could commit adultery without any repercussions as long as it wasn’t with another man’s wife.


Religion, moreover, was the subject matter of any and all works of art to be created and as one could imagine, this too was dominated by men. This meant women were inferior in this world of art too, they weren’t even included or represented in these works of art either like seen in the Bayeux Tapestry in 1066. However, this was only the start of women's creeping and eventually success in this male dominated field of work. The tapestry, although excluding women, was made by an anonymous woman and it was one of the “hits” of the time. This action and success started to pave the way for those in the Renaissance.






The Bayeux Tapestry is an embroidered cloth nearly 70 metres long and 50 centimetres tall, which depicts the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England concerning William, Duke of Normandy, and Harold, Earl of Wessex, later King of England, and culminating in the Battle of Hastings.



As the Middle Ages came to an end, women entered into a slightly more hopeful Renaissance Era were female artists shined alongside their male contemporaries, of course at unpopular opinion. Women very much had impressions in the art world but only if they had strong family ties with nobility. This era was a little funky when it took place because there seemed to be a step into distancing art from it once strong religious inspirations. This was because the society began to question the teachings and validity of the church and its position in people’s lives. This allowed for artists, men and women, to be more expressive with their creativity and subject matter. The art work in some ways began to critique society. It was already hard enough for women to get to the position where they could make artwork let alone getting to the impossible position of being able to sell their artwork. Artists usually had to apprentices with already established artists and join a union in order to eventually open shop, a very long process. The system was of course closed to women because they were basically barred from being guided and attending academies. The Guerilla Girls informs that, “one of the few ways women could work as an artist was to be born into a family of artists that needed assistance in the family workshop” (G.G., 29). A known exception to this rule was Sofonisba Anguissola, a noble whose father believed that women should be educated. As it can be understood, if a woman did not have such exceptions or criteria, her dream of performing alongside her male counterparts was as good as futile. Women like Anguissola were needed to penetrate some type of standing for further women to uphold.











"Her expression is calm and reserved. A maulstick (a common device used to support the artist's hand) held in her left hand supports her right hand as she touches the brush to the canvas. Sofonisba Anguissola, Self-Portrait, 1554, oil on poplar wood, 19.5 x 12.5 cm (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna)"


Sofonisba Anguissola was born into a noble family or wealthy aristocrats. She was the oldest daughter of six children who all showed talent in some way. Her father supported the notion that women too should be educated and he fostered her learning in this way. Through her father, she studied literature and art and even created some pieces of art. Her father in fact sent one of her drawings to Michelangelo. Unlike her male contemporaries, Anguissola presented women with a powerful and meaningful depiction. She was a portraitist who painted her subjects with dignity, including herself. She painted a famous portrait of herself painting another portrait. And in the portrait, she is staring into the eyes of her on looker with seriousness and morality. The point in painting such actions was to prove to the male dominated world that women could in fact be subjects; however, they were capable of much more than just being nude and on display to be gawked at. Women, like men had just as similar capabilities as human beings and of course as artists. Because she painted with such dignity, her craft led her to paint other larger nobles like the Queen of Austria. Chadwick acknowledges that Anguissola, “opened up the possibility of painting as a socially acceptable profession” (77). This is something that was unheard of before. Now of course her work was criticized but she showed the expertise of someone who had gone through the professional route of learning in an actual school. Expertise of both women and men caramelized with new opportunity granted from the Industrial Revolution.












Queen of Austria painted by Anguissola






The 19th Century was the bearer of a new founding culture brought on by the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution was a period of transition into manufacturing processes. The revolution brought new technologies into fruition and that allowed for easier access to supplies, especially for women. One of the new technologies was the invention of the camera, which threatened realist portraitists because the camera captured an actual still image of the subject. Even though photography jeopardized the world of paint, it also offered the option of new field work in which women could get into. Familiarly, there was still a fight for women to become established and for their work to be properly credited. This soon enough became an underlying theme for women; they had to prove more than ever that they had rightfully earned several seats at the competitors table.









The 19th Century paved the way for strong and bold women artists to make a purposeful stain in history. Women like Rosa Bonheur for example created works of artistic realism of spaces that were predominantly occupied by men. She loved painting horses, cows, and bulls; she also cross dressed in men’s clothing. She did this to receive a permit to facilitate her work, something only men could obtain at the time. Edmonia Lewis was another important figure who sculpted, she was African American and Native American. She created marble sculptures to prove women could also prevail in that field. She fearlessly sent her sculptors to people she knew that wouldn’t buy her work, with invoices and ultimately profited from that process for a little while. These were just a couple of examples of strong and determined woman that took charge of their dreams when adversity was against them. Ultimately women were able to break the mold casted upon them century after century and that shows that women have always and still continue to embody what true power is.

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