By: Jennifer Ezeuka
Throughout
history, women have always had a harder time to “match-up” with men and often
faced discrimination. In the earlier
parts of history, women only gained recognition if they belonged to a
wealthy/art inclined family or if they didn’t mind being in the shadows of
their husbands. Much later, in the
twentieth century, women functioned both as producers of this new “visual
culture” and as signifiers of fashion. In
this post, I’ll examine 5 artists ranging from the 18th century to
present who demonstrated the many themes discussed in class, but mainly
focusing on the gender role as well as women who overcame these gender
inequalities in the art world.
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| Attributed to Ann Hall-1825-30 |
Ann
Hall (1792-1863) was a very accomplished miniature painter who later became the
first woman member of the National Academy of Design in New York City. Today this is looked at as a very big
accomplishment and during her time period, this was an even bigger
accomplishment. One of her pieces that stood
out to me in the Newark Museum was titled “Louisa and Eliza Macardy” (1845). This was a double portrait which showed the intimacy
between a mother and daughter. They both
had a physical as well as emotional bond which could be seen by their
intertwined fingers. Overall a very nice
piece, I feel that Ann Hall pushed the gender roles and as result was put into
the National Academy of Design an all male institute at the time.
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| "We both must fade" |
Another
artist who demonstrated themes discussed in class is Lily Martin Spencer (1822-1902). She was popular in the mid 19th century
and focused on “girlhood imagery” and children in warm atmospheres, this was a
theme that later became accepted in American art. In terms of class, Spencer played a big role
to the middle class. Many of her
lithographs were produced in mass quality and distributed to the middle
class. She created pieces that could be
financially accessible to the middle class and used as home decorations. An interesting piece of hers was titled “Height
of Fashion” (1884). This piece basically
poked fun at the high class, the pretentiousness of the child, and mannerisms
associated with the high class. Lily
Martin Spencer was definitely an artist whom catered to the middle class and
overall played a major role.
 |
| "The Dreamer" |
My
third artist is Cecilia Beaux (1855-1942).
I chose her not only because of her sympathy towards the ruling class,
but also because of achievements in terms of gender. Beaux received a gold medal from the woman
organization Omega Chi in 1933 from
the then first lady Eleanor Roosevelt.
This is a very prestigious honor and award only given to “American women
who contributed on the international stage.”
In her piece, “Fanny Travis Cochran,” one of the main focuses was Fanny’s
sash. At this time period, the three
most common symbolic objects associated with girlhood were flowers, pets, and dolls;
In this case, the pansies vivid color reinforced the luscious color of Fanny’s
sash. All in all, despite obstacles,
Cecilia Beaux became very successful and inspired many other women artist to
come.
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| "The Nursery" |
Another artist who stood out to me was Alice
Barber Stevens (1858-1932). Most of her
work was done during the Gilded Age; this was a time period in time associated
with consumerism. The Gilded Age was
also a time that factories, railroads, mining, and labor unions boomed. A lot of these themes were portrayed in
Steven’s work. In terms of the gender
roles in art, Alice Barber Stevens overcame them in many ways. She became a regular contributor to the Ladies Home Journal and also won the
prize as best painting for a resident woman.
Through her education and determination, Stevens was also able to be
successful despite her gender and time period.
My
last artist is Dorothea Lange (1895-1965).
She was very famous for her compelling photographs taken during The
Great Depression. Many of which
documented the change on the home front during war and her main focus were
usually ethnic groups, workers, and displaced families uprooted by the
war. In 1972, twenty-seven of Dorothea
Lange’s photographs were incorporated into the executive order 9066 by the
Whitney Museum. This was obviously a
great honor and later down the road, she also got many acclaim by The New York
Times. All of these accomplishments by Dorothea
Lange and the many other artists were done by being trendsetters, not caring
what others think, and overall taking chances. They didn’t follow the “roles” that women
were "suppose" to take on or live, but instead they thought for themselves,
they didn’t allow one, in most cases the male to dictate their lives. In my opinion, this is very inspiring even
today, right now, and I believe we all should take risks and live our own lives
to its full potential!!
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| "Migrant Mother" |
-Links to videos/sites on all pictures
Work Cited
Cecilia
Beaux, American Figure Painter, High Museum of Art, 2007
Angels and Tomboys Exibit
Newark Museum, Newark, New Jersey
Alice Barber Stevens, The Plastic
Club, Philadelphia, PA
Dorothea Lange: Biography,
Spartcus Educational
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