WOMEN ARTISTS: GETTING OUT THE HOUSE!

Betty Siber, Department of Art History

After completing her doctorate in Art History but studying few women artists, Linda Nochlin published an article in the journal ARTnews entitled "Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists". Following the article, she and Anne Sutherland Harris curated an exhibition entitled Women Artists: 1550-1950 at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 1976. These two events informed and ignited new research on the subject of women as artists and fueled a modern art movement now referred to as Feminist Art. As an art historian, I have read a number of volumes identifying women artists emerging in various art centers of Northern Europe and Italy in the Renaissance and Baroque periods. Most historical accounts focus on who these artists were, what they did, who their patrons were, and occasionally on how they were trained or who influenced them. While preparing for a Learning Community with a special emphasis on women as artists, subjects and patrons, I read publications focusing on women artists of primarily the 19th- 21st centuries, but as an art historian, I am more intrigued by the Renaissance, Baroque, and 18th century artists.

I am interested in continuing my studies to answer the question of how a small group of women in the 15-18th centuries became recognized artists in their own time breaking down societal restraints for future artists. How did they "get out of the house" which was the expected domain of respectable women? Answers to the following questions will be researched:

Were women artist trained only by fathers and husbands, receiving “private lessons” as referred to in many biographical sketches? What limits were placed on their training, if any? Did the subject matterwomen painted reflect what was acceptable to women's role in society at the time?

How did the male artists of the time period receive them; were they helpful in the same was as Degas who mentored Cassatt in19th century Paris? Primary sources from the Renaissance indicate that women artists sent drawings to recognized male artists for critique or to attempt to become an apprentice.

Was it easier for women artists in the Netherlands and England than in Italy or France? Records from artists' guilds in the Netherlands during the Renaissance and Baroque period indicate some women as members of the guilds. The English court painters to Henry the VIII included a woman, and the British Royal Academy of Arts included one woman as a founding member in the 18th century. Did they get commissions from the guilds or the academy as did their male counterparts? Were they paid at the guild's set rate for commissions to male artists?

This study grant would allow me to combine the study of appropriate texts with museum research and visits to exploresuch questions about women artists of the Renaissance, Baroque and early 18th century. My intent is to study the artists and their artworks as reviewed by historians as well as to view their actual works. I have had the opportunity to see special exhibitions on the work of several artists from this period including Judith Leyster and Artemisia Gentileschi, and I have visited artists' studios and museums in Italy, France, Belgium and Holland that featured women artists. Notable works by women artists from this period are also on view at both the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth and the Dallas Museum of Art; both museums have research facilities that feature articles, books and databases with information specific to these artists. The Meadows Museum specializes in Spanish Art, and the Amon Carter specializes in American Art; I will explore the collections of both to determine if any women artists from the 15-18th centuries are included. While it is too early to know if any museums within a reasonable distance for travel during the semester will include women artists of the centuries, I certainly intend to explore that option to possibly expand my research. Using all these resources, my plan of study is outlined below:

Plan of Study - proposed for Fall 2012

Weeks 1-3 Readings will be selected from but not limited to historical reviews by authors such as Nochlin, Slatkin, Heller, Reemer and Dabbs; artworks by women artists from the 15-18th century will be viewed at the Dallas Museum of Art; the museums supporting archives will be investigated.

Weeks 4-6Readings will be selected from but not limited to lives of specific women artists in selected countries or styles by authors such as Kahng, Sheriff, Welu, Biesboer, Kloek, Teeuwen and Huisman; artworks by women artists from the 15-18th century will be viewed at the Kimbell Art Museum; the museums supporting archives will be investigated.

Weeks7-9 Readings will be selected from but not limited to primary source documents such as published letters, inventories and membership rolls; the museum collections of the Meadows and Amon Carter will be explored for artworks by women artists from the 15-18th centuries, and if applicable the museums supporting archives will be investigated.

Weeks 10-15 Readings will be selected from but not limited to catalogs for past exhibitions dedicated to women artists or specifically to artworks by a woman artist of the specified centuries. Electronic resources of National Gallery of Art, Nation Museum of Women in the Arts, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art will also be explored for biographies, articles and podcasts on women artists.

The study of specific topics usually stimulates additional study that enriches my intellectual identify and reignites enthusiasm for the discipline of art. That enthusiasm can be quite contagious and beneficial to students and colleagues in our learning community. Obviously, as a professor, this study will enhance and facilitate better classroom discussion and presentations. As the Gallery Director for THE ART gallery at Collin, the study of area museums’ collections and archives, and electronic resources developed from exhibitions, will further enhance my understanding of and approach to the documentation of our gallery’s exhibitions. I am interest in developing some podcasts of artist talks done in conjunction with our exhibitions that could be added to our website. As a mixed-media sculptor as well as an art historian the researching and viewing of artwork by other artists often influences or improves my artwork. In the past, I have found that the artistic process, combined with historical research, fuels artistic exploration and inspires the creation and design of future artworks. Upon completion, I will be prepared to present my research to interested colleagues and students.

Proposed Reading List to date:

Borzello, Frances. A World of our own: Women as Artists since the Renaissance. New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 2000.

Chadwick, Whitney. Women,Artand Society.New York: Thames & Hudson, 2002.

Dabbs, Julia Kathleen. Life Stories of Women Artists, 1550-1800: Anthology. Surrey, UK ; Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2009.

Fine, Elsa Honig. Women & Art: a History of Women Painters and Sculptors from the Renaissance to the 20th Century. Montclair, N.J.: Allanheld & Schram, 1978

Heller, Nancy. Women Artists: an Illustrated History. New York: Abbeville Press, 1992

Kahng, Eik. Anne Vallayer-Coster, Painter to the Court of Marie-AntoinetteDallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Art; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002

Nochlin, LindaWomen, Art, and Power: and Other Essays. Boulder, CO. Westview Press. 1988.

______"Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?" ARTnews January 1971: 22-39, 67-71.

Petersen, Karen. Women Artists: Recognition and Reappraisal from the Early Middle Ages to the Twentieth Century. New York: Harper & Row, 1976.

Remer, Abby. Pioneering Spirits:the Lives and Times of Remarkable Women Artists in Western History. Worcester, Mass.: Davis Publications, 1997.

Rideal, Liz.Mirror, Mrror: Self-Portraits by Women Artists. New York, NY: Watson-Guptill Publications, 2002.

Robin, Diana, ed. Collected Letters of a Renaissance Feminist. Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago Press, 1997.

Sheriff, Mary D. The Exceptional Woman: Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun and the Cultural Politics of Art.Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997

Slatkin, Wendy. Women Artists in History: from antiquity to the Present. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2001.

Strinati, Claudio, and Pomeroy, Jordana, eds. Italian Women Artists: from Renaissance to Baroque. Milano: Skira; New York: Distributed in North America by Rizzoli, 2007.

Tufts, Eleanor. Our Hidden Heritage: Five Centuries of Women Artists. New York: Paddington Press, 1974.

Tinagli, Paolaand Rodgers, Mary, eds. Women in Italy, 1350-1650: Ideals and Realities. Manchester ; Manchester University Press; 2005.

Exhibition catalogs focus on specific artists, artworks and creative processes of artists or styles; as such, they are a valuable resource. Catalogs to be reviewed include but are not limited to:

Harris,Ann Sutherland and Nochlin, Linda.Women Artists, 1550-1950. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1976.
Kloek, Els, Teeuwen, Nicole, and Huisman, Marijke, eds.Women of the Golden Age: an International Debate on Women in Seventeenth-century Holland, England and Italy. Hilversum: Verloren, 1994. (publication of essays and catalog)

Welu, James A. and Beisboer, Pieter... [et. al.] contributors. Judith Leyster: a Dutch Master and Her WorldNew York: Yale University Press, 1993.

Primary Sources to be reviewed include but are not limited to:

Spencer, Harold, ed.Readings in Art History, Vol. 2: The Renaissance to the Present..

Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson, 1982.

Calo, Carole Gold. Viewpoints: Readings in Art History, Upper Saddle River, N.J.:

Prentice Hall, 2001.

Electronic Resources published on museum sites (National Gallery of Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Museum of Women in the Arts) including podcasts and database to be reviewed include but are not limited to:

Wheelock, Arthur K., Curator. (2009) National Gallery of Art, Washington, D. C. Judith

Leyster, 1609–1660: Part 1-4, Music in the Paintings of Judith Leyster. Podcast

retrieved from

______Clara: Database of Women Artists. National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D. C. Retrieved from