In the catalogue for the "Maestras" (Women Masters) exhibition currently on at Madrid's Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, curator Rocío de la Villa highlights the historical challenges faced by women artists.
De la Villa references for example the groundbreaking exhibition "Women Artists: 1550-1950" organized at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 1976, curated by Ann Sutherland Harris and Linda Nochlin. Spanning four centuries, this was the first major show devoted to women.
The exhibition toured the United States, but was never shown in Europe and triggered anger in many of the visitors with Florence Howe, editor of the Women's Studies Newsletter, wondering at the time "Where have all these paintings been?" then replying to her own question "hidden, lost, obscured in some cases for centuries".
In the 1980s, writers and art critics Rozsika Parker and Griselda Pollock provided more in-depth researches into the systematic disappearance of women artists from history. Bizarrely, this disappearance coincided with the expansion of art institutions and the establishment of modern art museums. Indeed, despite the ongoing discovery of women artists, their work struggled to fit into a male-centric narrative (written by men and for men). In a way it was as if, while most women did not have access to art history, those who accessed it were made invisible.
Yet while women artists written out of history were brought back into the spotlight through illustrated stories, graphic novels, literary biographies, and biopics during the fourth wave of feminism, the integration of their works into historical museums still faces challenges as resistance persists.
De la Villa emphasizes therefore the need for feminist rewriting of art history, challenging traditional categories, prejudices, and criteria to acknowledge gender relations as a crucial factor in cultural production and significance.
To this end, the Thyssen-Bornemisza museum in Madrid recently launched the exhibition "Maestras" (through February 4th, 2024) that reshifts the attention on women. The event explores through 100 paintings, lithographs and sculptures, eight narratives from the late 1500s to the 1930s, addressing pivotal issues in women's history and showcasing the diverse artistic languages used by female artists.
Each section, focusing on specific times and places, illustrates how, despite the prevailing patriarchal system, women artists, patrons and gallerists, engaged with ideas and causes throughout history. The event ultimately culminates in the recognition of women's emancipation and liberation in the early 20th century.
The starting point for the exhibition is the notion of sisterhood with a section that bears an Italian title, "La causa delle donne" (women's cause). The title refers to the literary and academic debate that occurred in Europe from the late 14th century to the French Revolution, advocating for women's intellectual capabilities, their right to knowledge, and participation in politics despite prevailing misogyny. At the time the laws did not allow indeed women to hold public offices and women were not admitted in jurisdictions, councils or mediations because it was thought that they lacked a "rational soul".
This debate is tackled in the exhibition through the works of various Northern Italian female artists active in the late 16th and throughout the 17th century. These artists, operating within family workshops, benefited instead from a socio-political climate and art theories supportive of women in the Papal States.
The artworks in this section depict the lives and accomplishments of female biblical figures and classical heroines - strong resilient women who triumphed through virtue and symbolize victory over gender violence. Notable examples include Lavinia Fontana's "Judith with the Head of Holofernes" (1600), Artemisia Gentileschi's "Judith and her Maidservant" (1618-19) and "Susannah and the Elders" (1623), along with Elisabetta Sirani's "Portia wounding herself in the thigh" (1664).
The works of Artemisia Gentileschi also point at her life vicissitudes: Gentileschi was raped at 17 by her painting tutor Agostino Tassi. She went through a seven-month trial and was tortured to prove she was telling the truth.
This is actually a key section in the exhibition as all the women featured in these paintings are not passive, they do not just "appear" on the canvas or shrink back in the corner where men wanted to pigeonhole them, but they are the very active dominant characters in these scenes. Think about Gentileschi's Judith who, pictured after killing Holofernes and almost casually carrying her sword over her shoulder, is clearly portrayed as the one detaining power, or Gentileschi's two versions of Susannah. In one the young woman covers herself, concealing her body from the old men's prying gaze; in another she leans back and raises her hand firmly to block their way and as a gesture to express her refusal to accept the status of object.
From Biblical subjects, visitors are then introduced to the still life genre. Botanical, biological and medical knowledge among women was usually linked to witchcraft (think about famous witches in literature, Medea included). But the scientific revolution changed this perception also thanks to noblewomen and representatives of the upper bourgeoisie who created experimental gardens, interacted with botanists who were members of scientific societies, and surrounded themselves with artists - many of them women - who depicted their discoveries. Flowers and still lifes, genres that occupied a lower rank in the arts hierarchy, were therefore used to express their scientific knowledge.
This section focuses on the role of women artists in the emergence and maximum splendour of the genre of still life, with the works of artist-scientists like the German Maria Sibylla Merian alongside works by 17th-century Italian and Central European women painters such as Fede Galizia, Giovanna Garzoni, and Clara Peeters. Additionally, it includes pieces from French and British artists like Louise Moillon and Mary Beale. Their works showcase the virtuosity of these painters but also their powers of observation and scientific understanding (if you don't like the genre, try to be inspired by the palettes used by these artists).
During the Enlightenment, salonnières - influential women who hosted intellectual and artistic gatherings - emerged in France. Many of them became patrons of the arts and active contributors to cultural discussions. Notably, the artistic patronage of figures like Marie Antoinette and the Mesdames significantly contributed to recognizing the importance of female artistic production, especially within the Academy.
This period, spanning from 1770 to 1850, is spotlighted in the next section featuring works by British, French, and Spanish artists who were active before and after the French Revolution. Artists like Angelica Kauffmann, Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, Louise-Élisabeth Vigée-Le Brun (who portrayed Lady Hamilton as a Bacchante and Madame de Staël as Corinne at Cape Miseno), and Victoria Martin Barhié focused on portraiture, genre painting, and Neo-classical scenes, portraying a diverse array of female roles in a distinctly theatrical manner. However, their prominence waned with the expulsion of female academicians in 1804 due to the Napoleonic Code, which stripped women of various rights, including citizenship, following the failed revolution - a restrictive model was subsequently enforced in Spain and across Europe.
Distant and exotic places and the charm of local and rural settings attracted many artists in the second half of the 19th century. But, while male artists portrayed such themes from a patriarchal, and at times "voyeuristic" colonial perspective, women artists injected in their works empathy and connection with non-western women. In doing so, they brought a sense of dignity to the themes and subjects portrayed.
French, American, and Spanish women artists from the late 18th century to the initial decades of the 20th century – among them Rosa Bonheur, whose fascination extended to the exoticism of Spanish culture, and the acclaimed Orientalist painter Henriette Browne, who created artworks along this genre during her travels in Muslim countries.
Browne traveled to Morocco in 1864 and to Egypt and Syria during the winter of 1868-1869. Probably during her journey to Morocco and Algeria, she portrayed with exquisite delicacy and elegance a young peasant woman (fellah) from North Africa (see her painting "A North-African Fellah", 1867).
Pioneers of this trend also encompass Mary Cassatt, who embarked on her artistic journey in Seville, and Spanish painters like Alejandrina Gessler de Lacroix, Elena Brockmann de Llanos, and María Blanchard.
The next two sections are deeply interconnected looking at working women and mothers: as they were excluded from official academies, women from across Europe and America sought artistic education in private, segregated art schools in Paris. But demands for women's rights grew bringing to the foundation of the first associations of women artists and creating the Women's Pavilion at the World's Columbian Exhibition in Chicago in 1893.
The artworks in this section look at female workers engaged in both traditional tasks and in modern trades and professions (Sylvia Pankhurst portrayed a woman changing the bobbin in a cotton spinning mill in Glasgow, for example) through paintings that highlighted camaraderie and solidarity among women.
Notable examples include "Washerwomen” (1882) by Marie-Louise Petiet, "The Cherry Tree" (1891) by Berthe Morisot, "Housewives" (1905) by Lluïsa Vidal, and "The Shoe Shop" (ca. 1911) by Elizabeth Sparhawk-Jones, who portrayed shop assistants serving ladies trying on shoes.
The subject of motherhood, extensively represented throughout art history, took on a new dimension at the end of the 19th century as female artists began depicting women's feelings on this topic, challenging the patriarchal discourse surrounding the "angel of the hearth."
This exhibition section features exceptional works such as "Ver Sacrum (Self-portrait with the artist’s son Peter)" (1901) by Elena Luksch-Makowsky, "Mother and Child, half figure" (1906) by Paula Modersohn-Becker, "Marie Coca and her Daughter Gilberte" (1913) by Suzanne Valadon, "Mother and Child" (1932) by Tamara de Lempicka and "Breakfast in Bed" (1897) by Mary Cassatt, a carefully balanced composition portraying her niece Ellen Mary that highlights the distance between mother and child.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, women artists, influenced by the male Impressionists, began portraying female friends in pairs, threesomes, or groups engaged in shared study or leisure activities. These depictions capture moments of togetherness where seemingly mundane interactions become the focus, giving rise to a new iconography - friendship between women.
This second section on sisterhood features artworks by European and American women painters from 1880 to the 1920s, including "Sisters" (1869) by Berthe Morisot, "Three Women with Parasols (The Three Graces)" (ca. 1880) by Marie Bracquemond, "The Bouquet" (1925) by Lola Anglada, and "Twilight Confidences" (1888) by Cecilia Beaux. Of clear photographic inspiration and keen psychological insight, Beaux' painting captures the moment of conversation between two women strolling along Concarneau beach in the summer of 1888, where Beaux exceptionally practiced plein air painting.
Between 1900 and 1937, a period coinciding with women gaining the right to vote in most Western countries, a considerable number of women started enjoying new opportunities: they integrated into various avant-garde groups, exhibited alongside men in collective showcases, got involved in the staging of theatrical performances, and some, still young, held solo exhibitions in prestigious spaces while paying tribute to artists from earlier generations.
Despite their success and recognition during their lifetimes, many of these artists, such as Camille Claudel, Jacqueline Marval, Helene Funke (her painting "In the Theatre Box" engages in a dialogue with similar scenes depicted by Degas, and features three young women portrayed from very unique visual angles), Natalia Goncharova, Frida Kahlo (the exhibition features her "Tehuacan Girl", portrait of a young girl sitting on a rock with bare feet, holding a small toy airplane in her hands, suspended between day and night, symbolized by the Aztec pyramids of the sun and the moon - the portrait may have been a way to celebrate her indigenous roots in dialectic with modernity), Ángeles Santos, and Maruja Mallo, were subsequently erased from history and museums, often due to historical events like World War II or the Francoist dictatorship in Spain.
This final section of the exhibition showcases the enduring impact and creativity of these remarkable women artists.
"Women Artists: 1550–1950" served as a groundbreaking milestone, shedding light on female artists who had long remained obscured beyond their immediate circles, prompting in-depth studies of their contributions. It not only brought overdue recognition but also unveiled the invisibility that had shrouded these artists, exposing the oversight.
However, paradoxically, the exhibition assimilated these women into the very artistic canons that Linda Nochlin sought to critique or dismantle. Simultaneously, it inadvertently paved the way for what we now identify as "purple washing" - token inclusion of a few women in collections without challenging the prevailing discourse.
"Maestras" is a way to ponder about the ambiguous ways in which women artists were portrayed, but also invites visitors to discover more about these artists, from the positions they held to their active participation in artist’s associations, and the support they received from their mentors, colleagues, husbands, brothers, and art dealers.
Carolina Herrera, sponsor of the event (so there's also a connection with fashion here) provides us with a better definition for "Maestras" in the exhibition catalogue.
"Virginia Woolf demanded a room of her own to develop her writing, these creators had to fight to conquer their workshop, their canvases, their brushes, and their colors," she states, "this exhibition tells a story of audacity, challenges, and talent."
"Maestras" is accompanied by a film program Women Masters' Lives: The Legacy and Testament of Women Artists (17th to 20th centuries) and a Spotify playlist compiled by Rocío de la Villa, curator of the exhibition, that features music by the composers known and heard by the women masters featured in the exhibition. After its presentation in Madrid, it will travel (in a reduced format) at the Arp Museum Bahnhof Rolandseck in Remagen, Germany, from 25 February to 16 June 2024.
Image credits for this post
1 - 2. Maestras - Installation views
3.
Elisabetta Sirani
Portia Wounding her Thigh, 1664, 1664
Oil on canvas. 101 x 138 cm. Collezioni d'Arte e di Storia della Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio, Bologna
4.
Artemisia Gentileschi
Judith and her Maidservant, 1618-1619
Oil on canvas. 114 × 93,5 cm. Gallerie degli Uffizi, Florence
5.
Clara Peeters
Still Life with Flowers, a Silver-gilt Goblet, Almonds, Dried Fruit, Sweetmeats, Bread sticks, Wine and a Pewter Pitcher, 1611
Oil on canvas. 52 × 73 cm. Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid
6.
Fede Galizia
Crystal Fruit Stand with Peaches, Quinces and Jasmine Flowers, 18th century. Pinacoteca Ala Ponzone-Museo Civico, Cremona
Oil on canvas. 28,8 × 41 cm. Pinacoteca Ala Ponzone-Museo Civico, Cremona
7.
Louise-Elisabeth Vigée-Le Brun
Lady Hamilton as a Bacchante, ca. 1790-1792
Oil on canvas. 132.5 x 105.5 cm. National Museums Liverpool, Lady Lever Art Gallery
8.
Henriette Browne
A North African Fellah, 1867
Oil on canvas. 98 x 74 cm. John H. Josephson & Carolina F. Zapf
9.
Lluïsa Vidal
The Housewives, 1905
Oil on canvas. 180 × 139 cm. Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya, Barcelona
10.
Elizabeth Sparhawk-Jones
The Shoe Shop, ca. 1911
Oil on canvas. 99,1 × 79,4 cm. The Art Institue of Chicago, The William Owen Goodman and Erna Sawyer Goodman Collection
11.
Mary Cassat
Breakfast in Bed, 1897
Oil on canvas. 58,4 × 73,7 cm. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino
12.
Paula Modersohn-Becker
Mother and Daughter, Half Figure, 1906
Oil on cardboard. 74,5 × 52 cm. Von der Heydt-Museum Wuppertal. Photo: Antje Zeis-Loi, Medienzentrum Wuppertal
13.
Berthe Morisot
The Sisters, 1869
Oil on canvas. 52,1 × 81,3 cm. National Gallery of Art, Washington
14.
Cecilia Beaux
Twilight Confidences, 1888
Oil on canvas. 59,7 × 71,1 cm. Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia
15.
Helene Funke
In the Theatre Box, 1904-1907
Oil on canvas. 99 × 90 cm. Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz. Reinhard Haider © Peter Funke Estate
16.
María Blanchard
The Two Sisters, 1921
Oil on canvas. 116,5 × 82,5 cm. Colección de Arte ABANCA
17.
Frida Kahlo
Girl from Tehuacán. Lucha María, 1942
Oil on masonite. 54,5 × 43,3 cm. Colección Pérez Simón, México. © Rafael Doniz @ 2023 Banco de México Diego Rivera Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, México, D.F./VEGAP
18.
Natalia Goncharova
The Carriers, 1911
Oil on canvas. 130,5 × 101 cm. Centre Pompidou, Paris. Musée national d'art moderne / Centre de création industrielle
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