During the Middle Ages the expected roles of women were to be care takers of the home. Women were only allowed to care for their husbands and raise their children always awaiting orders and never asking questions. Women were not allowed to read and write and were kept illiterate because their opinions about anything didn't matter much to men. If a man wanted to beat his wife for any reason he was allowed to and the woman could do nothing at all. Women had no rights at all and something very little as wearing underwear was prohibited unless a woman was "an Aristocrat, a Prostitute, an Actress, or a Window Washer." (GG 32) One of the only ways for a woman to have any kind of freedom from being a slave inside her home was to become a nun but that was not a privileged life either.
With the Renaissance came a lot of new opportunities for men and new ways of looking at the art world, but a mans views on women seemed to remain the same. Women were still looked at as care takers of the home and thought very less of when it didn't concern being a sexual object for a mans pleasure. As painters guilds and academies began to flood the art world attendance for male painters would almost certainly guarantee them success. Sure there were women painters but they were barred from becoming members of the painters guilds and joining the academies. Women would paint in secrecy and were only openly allowed to be a painter if she had grown up within a family of painters.
During the Middle Ages and into the 19th Century women Artist's were oppressed and completely overlooked until some courageous women began to make noise. Christine de Pizan was "the first woman known to have made her living as a writer in the Middle Ages." (GG 23) Christine's writings told the stories of great and courageous women in history such as Joan of Arc and portrayed the female as a strong character capable of the same things that men were capable of. Christine was one of the first feminist to exist and used her intellectual talents to educate others about women and their benefits to society outside of the home. Another successful female artist by the name of Mary Cassatt during the 18th Century became well known for her depictions of women " actively at work, at women's work, not as passive models or objects of the male gaze." (GG 56) Women had begun to take a stand through writing and their paintings displaying women in another light than in the shadows of men. Being as though women had no voice women artist made statements with their works of art painting the woman just as capable and intellectual as her counterpart.
All across the 19th Century rebel women have been fighting for equality through their writings and paintings; many of whom had garnered a level of success in the art world. Because of these rebel women who refused to submit and give in to the idea that a womans sole purpose was to be the voiceless, illiterate slave to her husband; women began to demand equality. the introduction of the Camera allowed women artist a new way to express themselves and be heard because the art of photography was fairly new and was something men did not have a firm grasp on. There were no classical photo's or canonical ways of being a photographer that women could be excluded from like painting. Along with the changes in technology came changes in the rights for women. Rosa Bonheur a very successful female Artist was allowed to dress like a man and mingle in society as a man would freely when women unaccompanied by men could not. Rosa Bonheur " encouraged women to be rebellious." (GG 49) Bonheur achieved a level of success which was not granted to women during the middle ages and had just as much or maybe more than her male counterparts in terms of wealth and success as a painter. As women were slowly beginning to be heard more and more female artist began to emerge like Edmonia Lewis and Harriet Powers who was a Slave not allowed to read or write but told stories of her life through her beautiful quilts.
From the Middle Ages throughout the Renaissance and until today, women have been fighting an uphill battle to be viewed as equal in all ways to men and be awarded the same rights and privilege's. If not for the brave women who chose to be heard and demand a place in a mans world instead of below his feet and cowering in his shadow women may have been still viewed by a majority of men as a caretaker of the home. The following link is to an overview of Women in England during the 19th Century and what is was like for them.
http://www.hastingspress.co.uk/history/19/overview.htm
Works Cited:
The Guerrilla Girls' Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art. New York: Penguin, 1998. Print.
Images used:
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZez3Rt9t7YubdaIo745nOYKtpX9-s2R85A6kJN_xF0J0-aBgRw0kcBzAGiz504yurmoIW9lPlbkhd7w1uP-I-INfnUF9Alta-43dRQE2qYUcgYSollYCw3JfHdNShAGe2Zi0KKv2attw/s1600/apronsfashio_G_20101027180622.jpg
http://www.artcyclopedia.com/hot/images/women-artists-of-the-renaissance-sofonisba-anguissola-self-portrait-mid.jpg
http://www.educationforum.co.uk/teachnet2006/suffragettes201.jpg
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