Painting Over the Chains of Convention: Female Artists Throughout History
Last week, I wrote an article (which you can read here) highlighting a few of the countless lesser-known female artists throughout history. After seeing comments from people sharing their own favorite artistic women, I decided to make this into a series of articles.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s paintings of light-hearted scenes and lively portraits made a lasting mark on the Impressionist art movement. Although his work is among the most recognized pieces today, it isn’t as widely known that he was influenced by a fellow French painter, Suzanne Valadon (which I covered in last week’s article). Her thematic pieces carry a shadow of Renoir’s style in which he took inspiration from. However, her unconventional background and gender barred her from receiving the same recognition her male counterparts did.
Rosa Bonheur (1822–1899)
Bonheur not only broke stereotypes in the art world, but also in her personal life as well. She was a French Realist painter that was large and featured animals, such as one of the horses above, and also did a great number of sketches involving animals in motion. Because of this, her paintings were extremely life-like, like the rearing horses seen in The Horse Fair. Her work was exhibited at the Paris Salon and also received acclaim in the US and the UK.
She was also known for breaking barriers in social norms. She wore men’s dressing, such as trousers and blouses. Despite receiving criticism, she continued to do this because of it being convenient and comfortable. She was also open about being lesbian. She was public about her relationship with Nathalie Micas, whom she was partners with for over 40 years. After Micas’ death, she began a relationship with Anna Elizabeth Klumpke, an American painter. Her courage in being open was groundbreaking, as the society in which she lived was generally not accepting of such ideals.
Mary Cassatt (1844–1926)
Described as one of the “les trois grandes dames” (French for the three great ladies) of Impressionism, Mary Cassatt painted mostly the lives of women, especially of mothers and children. Her style was light and illustrated movement and both intimate and social lives of the figures.
Although she was born in Pennsylvania, she lived most of her adult life in France, where she became friends with Edgar Degas. She began studying painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia when she was 15, but her family was against her pursuing art as a career. One of the reasons was that her parents were concerned about her being exposed to feminist ideas in college and the unconventional behaviors of some of the male students there. After she moved to France, she was not able to attend the École des Beaux-Arts because women were not allowed to study there. However, she applied for private lessons with the school’s artistic masters. In 1868, she was accepted to display her painting in the Paris Salon, making her one of the two first American women to exhibit there.
Sofonisba Anguissola (1532–1625)
The Italian Renaissance is known for Michelangelo, Leonardi DaVinci, Raphael, among many others. However, Sofonisba Anguissola is a female artist that spearheaded this movement. Because of her gender, she was not able to study anatomy and paint models the same way male artists did. She was born into a relatively poor family, but she and her sisters received an education with exposure to art. She was an apprentice with local painters and her talent attracted the attention of Michelangelo, who became a mentor to her.
Anguissola’s success can be mostly summed up by her role as a painter in the court of King Philip II of Spain for 14 years. She created official court portraiture and other more intimate portraits. Her style encapsulated the subjects’ spirits, making her artwork well-loved.
