Artists...who do you remember?

 

Jane was a fabulous artist

Quick, name ten famous artist that you love. My guess is not one of the ten is a woman artist. Or if I asked for twenty names I seriously doubt a woman's name would appear. No shame on you. This is the state of the world.

As my poor father used to say in 1863, once people start on all the Art  Goodbye, moralite! What my father used to say is good enough for me.                       A.P. Herbert

Sad to say, women have been horribly discriminated in all fields but none so blatantly as the art realm. Go into an art gallery anywhere in the world and you will find, no surprise,  95% of the work therein is done by men. This is true throughout history. I realize this is not true in the field of crafts, the one area, like quilt making, that has been deemed appropriate for women artists. Indeed women's brilliance does shine through the ages in crafts. What we have lost through the ages is many magnificent women artists who were equal to and sometimes superior to the males artists of their time. All lost. Sure a very few are recognized somewhat begrudgingly like Frieda Kahlo, Mary Cassat, Georgia O'Keeffe or the famous photographers Anne Liebowitz or Diane Arbus. Scanty recognition for women and with rare exceptions little money and not much fame. 

Do you recognize any of these names?

Julia Margaret Cameron. Pomona.

1. Properzia de Rossi. Properzia de Rossi. ...
2. Elisabetta Sirani. Portia Wounding Her Thigh, 1664.
3. Edmonia Lewis. The Death of Cleopatra.
4. Judith Leyster. ...
5. Sofonisba Anguissola. ...
6. Saint Catherine of Bologna. ...
7. Levina Teerlinc.

The above list from Google search is of the most famous women artists from the 15th to the 19th century. That's it. They forgot Artemisia Gentileshi [1593-1653] There's a marvelous film about her from 1997 called Artemisia. Only twenty one of her paintings survived. She was raped by her art teacher and took him to court, they found him guilty and he was incarcerated for two years.  This was unheard of in the 16th century, most often men were excused from the crime as a sin of passion. Interestingly this rape lent itself to the violence in some of her art work and most probably the notoriety in her day.

Kathleen Ricketts Shaffner

Speaking of violence, at the London Museum in 1914 a suffragette Mary Richardson took a cleaver and slashed at the Velazquez's painting of Venus' body. This was not a crazy woman or a random act, the woman replied, 

"I have tried to destroy the picture of the most beautiful woman in mythological history as a protest against the Government destroying Mrs. Pankhurst who is the most beautiful character in modern history." Richardson was referring to the abusive and brutal treatment of imprisoned suffragettes. Force feedings, beatings and maiming women in the prisons and on the streets as they demanded their right to vote. Although I don't approve of her method, her point was well taken that men value paintings more than they do actual women.

[This story was taken from a book by Catherine McCormack, Women in the Picture.]
                                                            

                                                        I guess one of the reasons that this is such a hot topic for me is my little sister struggled mightily to be a recognized artist. She entered show after show and gallery after gallery in her area, southern Illinois, to no recognition and no avail. Then most excruciating she died in 2019. Kathleen Ricketts Shaffner did remarkable works and I'm happy that I had bought many pieces of her art through the years. It wasn't until her death of a heart attack that she finally got some recognition. I realize this is a sad although very familiar story but it does gnaw at me. Where were all the people who shunned her work? Now all of her paintings and shadow boxes have sold. It breaks my heart that women artists rarely get any acclaim.  Some of the profits from her work did go to a local women's shelter which somewhat assuages me. 

My plea, is people please buy art, please find the beauty and originality in some of the women artists who have been left behind. 

susansmagicfeather 2022 Susan R. Grout