I am doing another course at the V&A - A Woman's Touch: Women Artists and Designers 1600-2000. The first class was excellent. Jan Marsh focussed on artists from 1600-1800. She noted that in medieval times most artists worked on medieval manuscripts and were anonymous, although she had found one piece of illuminated work where the letter Q incorporated a drawing of a woman in the stroke of the Q and a tiny name, Clarissa, which was believed to be the artist's signature.
Sonfonisba Anguissola was active in the times of Michelangelo and produced a large number of portraits. She was accepted into the art establishment because she could paint in a style that conveyed expression and emotion ie more than a serious face that the model could hold as a pose. This was the criteria used at the time to be deemed a competent artist. She was popular with Philip II of Spain and a part of his court (and commentators at the time that she had painted him very skilfully and made a flattering portrait by reducing his lantern jaw).
Caterina Von Hemmessen was the first female artist to paint a self portrait at the easel, and also made the background appear to have a shadow on the wall from the easel, rather than the traditional flat dark ground.
Judith Leyster shocked the Dutch art establishment by portraying women with their mouths open (licencentious!), and bring a sense of comic appeal and fun to her portraits. Leyster means low star, or comet, in Dutch and she signed her work with a J and a star with a tail. She was the first woman to set standards for pricing her portraits. Prices rose upwards from head and shoulders, half, whole person, and finally multiple people.
Artemesia Gentelschi made wonderful portraits, usually showing violent emotions with sexual content. She did several images of Judith and Holofernes, and often portrayed wronged and strong women in her portraits. During her artist apprenticeship she had been raped, abandoned, took the man to court, and was tortured under questioning to check the validity of her testimonial! Subsequently her work developed to portray her experience, and apparently her rendering of Judith is a self portrait, and Holofernes having his head severed, is a porrtait of her rapist.
We also looked at portraits by Mary Beale and Angelika Kauffman.
As a class we were taken to the Prints & Drawings room to see significant works by women artists. Lots of wonder full prints, some hand coloured, showing how prints were enhanced by colouring, usually done by anonymous women. A modern piece was shown by Christine Borland who had noted most medieval-Victorian print books named the engraver (a man) but ignored the women colourists. When I saw this piece, I thought it was an old work. Borland has created a portfolio of etchings named The History of Plants According to Women, Children and Students. This name alludes to the unnamed figures behind the historical tomes, rather than the men who had the high status roles such as etchers. Borland's works only refer the colourists.
Jan Marsh said she had selected the women artists mostly by seeking out artists who had produced a considerable volume of work, and who had continued working for their entire lives. She noted that Mary Moser (flower painter) and Kaufmann were both founding members of the Royal Academy, although no other women were elected to the RA until Laura Knight in the 1940s. We saw prints and paintings by both Moser and Kaufmann in the V&A print room. This is what is so amazing about V&A classes - you get to the actual original prints, real and close up!!
Jan Marsh also commented on the hierarchy of status in art, and where women's art fits within it, and provided some comment on why. Historical painting (christian, allegory, heroic, male nudes subject matter, on ceilings and in oils); then sculpture; still life; genre (everyday life, familiar, humour); botanical; decorative art; copies; and finally amateur. Materials have a status grade of marble; oil; watercolour; crayon/pencil, and this is on the grounds of durability. Marble and oil paints require more space and equipment, and often require a separate room because of the mess. Marble causes a lot of dust; oil paints need pigments to be ground, mixing to take place and often need a technician or apprentice to do all the ground work. Women needed work that was more portable and simpler to conduct in a multi-purpose room, so water colours were more convenient for them. Middle class women were also encouraged to portray what was within their domain - so the everyday, mundane and botanical were frequently available. Also women were forbidden to participate in life class, so if you do not practice drawing the well muscled male form, you cannot participate in the higher art forms of portraying the heroic male nude due to lack of artistic practice and lack of materials (oils or marble).
All in all, a very informative class. Roll on next week!
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