Five Women from the 19th Century

  The 19th Century was an extremely interesting time in history. There was a growth in middle class, many new technologies were allowing a growth in class which caused many social and economical changes.  During our visit to Newark Museum to see the Angels and Tomboys Exhibit some of these women artist had there artwork in display while others did not. The following women artist, were artist which were influenced and were experiencing the economical growth and change during this time. Lilly Martin Spencer, Cecilia Beaux, Ellen Kendall Baker, Rosa Bonheur, and Edmonia Lewis. They all were so influenced by this time period and so much of it can be seen in the work they made. 
    During our visit to the Newark Museum, I had the pleasure of seeing Lilly Martin Spencer work in person. It was simply amazing, the detail and the message the art work showed was one which can not be put into words.  Lilly Martin Spencers known for her satirical paintings, and as we saw the exhibit in the Newark Museum we were able to see the satire in the paintings. As we learned in the Newark Museum, Spencer was also instrumental in popularizing girlhood imagery in the mid 19th century, which was when these themes became increasingly accepted in American art. Her lithographs were mass produced and distributed to an expanding middle class hungry for inexpensive prints with accessible subjects that could be used for home decoration.

  We also know that Spencer in most of her works created domestic narratives in which women and girls are the primary actors, like in the images we saw "War Spirit at Home (Celebrating the Victory at Vicksburg), and "The Home of the Red, White, and Blue". These paintings were created right after the Civil War. In the War Spirit at Home we learned, Spencer is expressing how the Civil War affected there homes, and how the women were extremely overwhelmed and not taking control of the children. 
  In the painting "The Home of the Red, White and Blue" seen below. It shows the mother as the matriarch power, next to the torn flag is a sewing box which insinuates the women and daughters will restore it and put the pieces back together for the nation. As we learned in the Newark Museum the message Lilly Spencer is stating is the mothers and daughters are the bedrock of social stability and harmony.

Height of Fashion

  One of Lilly Spencer lithographs is shown here. The painting titled "Height of Fashion"which is seen above, shows an African American girl with a pet dog, fake monocle and finger extended pretends to be fashionable. The artist poked fun at the pretentiousness of the child trappings and mannerisms associated with high society. 
  Lilly Spencer is one of my favorite artist during this time, her humor and her stories she tells through her paintings are something I could never get tired of. She made women the main focus of her paintings but she did not use nude she used intellectual, strong women. Which indeed women are.

Portrait of Harold and Mildred Colton

      The second artist paintings we were able to see were Cecilia Beaux, her painting is different and similar to Lilly Spencer. Different because this image involves children but similar because she made the female child just as strong as the male child. As we learned in the Newark Museum what is unique about this paintings is the forceful personalities both children are portraying, making the children appear as equals which during this time period was rare. According to the Newark Museum the way the children are being portrayed is because Beaux, as woman, was disinclined to marginalize her female sitter. However, she did use traditional objects which to distinguish each child with, the boy with the whip, and the girl with the fruit. 

Dorothea in the Woods

 In the Painting "Dorothea in the Woods" Beaux  (as stated in the newark museum) "captures the introspection, developing sexuality and self absorption of the teenage years. The young ladies moody, withdrawn and guarded expression shows her complexity. Surrounded by flowers and plants shows her growth as a young lady. We also learned that at the end of the 19th Century Beaux along with other artist created a new, feminine type in their powerful of adolescent girls. 
    

Ellen Kendall Baker was known for her paintings of children, during this time as we learned in the museum many women artist often excelled with childhood images, subjects that they were encouraged to produce in the male- dominated art world during the 19th century. 

The Young Artist

 The painting seen to the right titled "The Young Artist" is a scene of a young girl acting as an art instructor to her sibling. She is holding a stick and drawing on a slate and stares at the baby. The way they are close and there heads are close to one another shows that they are emotionally and physically connected.

The next artist I was not able to see the wonderful talent in person but they were two women that stood out to me in our readings. Rosa Bonheur and Edmonia Lewis were women whom really took a stand with there artistry during this time. 
  Let me start with Rosa Bonheur, a woman definitely ahead of her time, she was interested in women and animals. She was one of the most successful artist of her lifetime.  She would take any risk necessary to be able to paint things she loved, she was able to paint many things other women could not because she at times dressed and impersonated men. Rosa was fortunate because as her father was a director of an art school she was able to learn and perfect her art. 
         One of the paintings I admire the most by Bonheur is titled "The Horse Fair" which is seen below. The horse fair sends a message so loud and clear.  Guerilla Girls stated this was a painting that made her "one of the best loved artist in Europe." This painting was one in which Bonheur dressed as a male, to not attract attention form the horse dealers, see link

This paintings expresses the time and how many women were property to the men they married or the fathers whom raised them. The taming of women is the message the painting is portraying. Rosa Bonheur had many paintings with animals, by painting animals she assumed the role of a male painter, and it gave her power to paint from war images, to bulls, to horses, she painted what she loved and had nothing holding her back.
    Edmonia Lewis different from much of these women but all within the same time frame is another female that is my favorite from this time. Her medium was sculptor. Different from the other artist of this time, however, her message was just as powerful, she addressed human rights, emancipation. She went to Italy to sculpt about the political matters in the U.S. Forever Free is one sculptor that addresses emancipation proclamation it shows a women kneeling next to a man that has his hand up in happiness and shows his broken chains. This was the beginning of neoclassicism which is inspired by Rome.
   In conclusion, not all these women where in display at the Newark Museum, however, the theme I choose to focus on was 19th century female artist. This time was a very important time for change. It was the newly formed USA, we went from a time of women belonging to the home to women traveling, women dressing as men, women sculpting about freedom.

References

Chadwick, Whitney. Women, Art, and Society. 3rd Edition. United Kingdom: Thames and Hudson Ltd., 1990.

 

Girls, Guerrilla. The Guerrilla Girls' Bedside Companion To The History of Western Art. England: Penguin Books., 1998 

http://americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/online/lewis/lewisbio2.html
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/87.25
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gandalfsgallery/5633637931/
http://www.dia.org/object-info/50dd5a1a-e063-4f9c-9d4b-0b7475b8d0db.aspx?position=130