A world of our own : women as artists since the Renaissance

232 Pages·2000·34.986 MB·English

by  Borzello, Frances

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A
World Our
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WOMEN
AS ARTISTS SINCE THE RENAISSANCE
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Frances
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Own
World Our
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Frances Borzello
The quest of women artists to gain respect and success
in their rield has been a centuries-long struggle and has,
—
understandably, alwav s been documented as such
tortured accountof thwarted aspirations, the result of
the disinterest and exclusionary tactics of a male-
dominated art establishment.
A Worldo/ OurOwn, however, breaks from this
literary tradition to provide an inspirational account of
the way in which women have succeeded and prospered
as professional artists, from 1500to the presentday, in
spite of the unique challenges confronting them. Author
Frances Borzello offers an entirely new perspective by
showing women artists as the survivors they truly were
(and still are). She takes the obstacles these women faced
— —
for granted just as they themselves did and reveals,
through their own lives and words, how they found
training and earned a living, despite being treated as
intruders in the world of art. Th< .termination to OS
succeed, and the distinctive space they forged (and
continue to forge) for themselves and for future
generations, is what makes their adventures in art
so interesting.
Beginning with Sofonisba Ailguissola in the sixteenth
century, Borzello reconstructs the changing world of the
female artist, tracing itsdevelopment as artistic and social
attitudes evolved. She documents how seventeenth-century
artists such as Artemisia Gentileschi andJudith Leyster C/5
enjoyed success m areas otherwise dominated by men,
and discusses the subject matter and themes of Angelica
Kauffman and Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun, amongothers,
in theeighteenth century. Continuingon, she details the
true breakthrough years of the late nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries when Mary Cassatt, Marie
Bashkirtseff, and other younghopefuls went to Paris,
joined classes and exhibitingsocieties, and helped bring
about an end to the official distinctions between art
education for men and women. As the author shows,
all this effort bore fruit as it paved the way for the careers
of today's women artists, includingsuch brilliant figures
asJennifer Bartlett, Louise Bourgeois,Judy Chicago,
—
Helen Frankenthaler, Grace Hartigan, and others all
chronicled here.
Sumptuously illustrated throughout, A WorldofOur
Own is both a triumphant tale of adversity overcome
and an enthusiasticcelebration of tenacity and creativity.
224 pages. 245 illustrations, 108 in fullcolor. 8'Ax 1 1
( 21.5 -v 2S cm). Select bibliography. Index.
Utmm ft.

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World Our
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Women
as Artists Since the Renaissance
FRANCES BORZELLO
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WATSON-GUPTILL PUBLICATIONS/NEW YORK
For Nicholas and Anna
BR BR
N8354
.B67
2000x
m
page 1 Alice Barber Stephens, The Women's Life Class
at the Pennsylvania Academyofthe Fine Arts, c. 1879 v,
pages 2-3 Natalia Goncharova, In the Studio ofthe
Artist, 1908 (detail)
pages 4-5 (background) Ekaterina Khilkhova, Viewof
the Women's Section ofthe St. Petersburg School for
Auditors,'3855 (detail)
First published in the United States in 2000 by
Watson-Guptill Publications
a division of BPI Communications, Inc.
770 Broadway
New York, NY 10003
First published in the United Kingdom in 2000 by
Thames & Hudson Ltd.
181A High Holborn
London WC.1V 7QX
Copyright © 2000 Frances Borzello
All rights reserved. No part ofthis publication
may be reproduced or used in any form or by any
—
means graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including
photocopying, recording, or information storage-and-
—
retrieval systems without the written permissi
the publisher.
-8230-5874-3
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 00-103117 .«
Printed and bound in Italy
uv
mLm
1
contents
I
Why women?
7 preface
Remarkably
s introduction resilient
'The minute sat in front of a canvas was happy.
I I
Because it was a world, and I could do as I liked in it.'
14 chapter OUT OF THE SHADOWS 1500-1600
l
'Their little hands so tender and so white.'
50 chapter 2 THE CELEBRATED LINE OF WOMEN ARTISTS
1600-1750
'I will show Your Most Illustrious Lordship what a woman can do.'
78 chapter 3 OBJECTS OF FASCINATION 1750-1850
Women reigned supreme then; the Revolution dethroned them.'
THE GLORY DAYS 1850-1910
1 122 chapter 4
1 see only the end, the goal. And march straight on towards this goal.'
I
1910-1970
166 chapter 5 PROFESSION: ARTIST
'I don't think I've ever thought ot myselt ^ a woman pan
194 CHAPTER 6 THE FEMINIST REVOLUTION 1970 AND AFTER
'Anon who wrote so many poems without signing them, was often a woman.'
'I thinkfti is anonymous.'
216 NOTES
217 SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
218 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
222 INDEX
THE ADVANTAGES
OF BEING
WOMAN
A
ARTIST:
Working without the pressure of success.
Not having to bo In shows with men.
Having an escape from the art world In your 4 free-lance |obs.
Knowing your career might pick up after you're eighty.
Being reassured that whatever kind of art you make it will be labeled feminine.
Not being stuck In a tenured teaching position.
Seeing your Ideas live on in the work of others.
Having the opportunity to choose between career and motherhood.
Not having to choke on those big cigars or paint in Halian suits.
Having more time to work after your mate dumps you for someone younger.
Being included in revised versions of art history.
Not having to undergo the embarrassment of being called a genius.
Getting your picture in the art magazines wearing a gorilla suit.
G
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COLLECTION BE
The art market won't bestow mega-buck prices on the work
ofa few white males forever. Forthe 177million you just spent
on a single Jasper Johns painting, you could have bought at
least one work by all of these women and artists of color:
BerniceAbbott Elainede Kooning Dorothea Lange Sarah Peale
Anni Albers Lavinia Fontana Marie Laurencin Ljubova Popova
Sofonisba Anguisolla MetaWarwick Fuller Edmonia Lewis Olga Rosanova
Diane Arbus Artemisia Gentileschi Judith Leyster Nellie Mae Rowe
Vanessa Bell MargueriteGerard Barbara Longhi Rachel Ruysch
Isabel Bishop Natalia Goncharova Dora Maar Kay Sage
Rosa Bonheur Kate Greenaway Lee Miller Augusta Savage
Elizabeth Bougereau Barbara Hepworth Lisette Model Vavara Stepanova
Margaret Bourke-White Eva Hesse Paula Modersohn-Becker Florine Stettheimer
Romaine Brooks Hannah Hoch Tina Modotti Sophie TaeuberArp
Julia MargaretCameron Anna Huntingdon Berthe Morisot Alma Thomas
Emily Carr May Howard Jackson Grandma Moses Marietta Robusti Tintoretto
Rosalba Carriera Frida Kahlo Gabriele Munter SuzanneValadon
Mary Cassatt Angelica Kauffmann Alice Neel RemediosVaro
Constance Marie Charpentier Hilma afKlimt Louise Nevelson ElizabethVigee Le Brun
Imogen Cunningham Kathe Kollwitz Georgia OKeeffe LauraWheelingWaring
Sonia Delaunay Lee Krosner MeretOppenheim
nlormalioncourtesyolChristie's,Sotheby's,Mover'sInternationalAuctionRecordsandLeonard'sAnnualPricelnde«ofAuctions
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Please send $ and comments to UERRILLAGUiIRLS
Box1056CooperSta NY,NY10276' ^CONSCIENCEOFTHE ARTWORLD