Women in the history of Art
April, 13; 2020. By Arscodex
In this case we come, from the perspective of the editor of this publication, to review the participation of the female gender in the history of Art; incidentally, the publisher of this publication does not belong to this group because he is male and it should also be said that until recently the presence of women in art was reduced to testimonial or to being a model for artists.
Thus, we can certify that behind the Muses, directed by Apollo, there is almost no female painters or architects or musicians testimony before the modern age, which is a bit embarrassing for the history of Art seen from the perspective of today and, although it is described as embarrassing, the masculine gender should not be scourging itself for the past damage caused since it is not the fault of the men of today that this has been the case. And also taking into account that given the precariousness of existence and following the Latin axiom "primum vivere, deinde filosofare", at the beginning of humanity women have dedicated themselves to procreating because it seems that it was their turn, from the point of evolutionary view, at that time.
But things are changing significantly in our time. Now that the different functions of each gender are shared, because it does not take so much brute force to generate food or energy, things are balancing. And as a result of this balance we can mention some great women who today set the tone and, although they are few, we firmly believe in this puclication that both men and women, and everything in between, if there is anything, will have to get used to the presence of this new group in the history of Art.
We leave aside great women from History such as Elizabeth I of Castile, Cleopatra, some saints, etc., to focus on those in the history of Art. Thus, we began to trace Hildegard of Bingen, a Renaissance woman before this artistic movement arose; Clara Peeters, painter, and Marie-Louise-Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun, painter of Marie Antoinette. All of them have tiptoed through the history of Art until today, time in which we strive to find women in that history.
But the good would be to come. Thus, we can mention two artists who really set trends, one is the filmmaker Lotte Reiniger and the other is the "triple daring" Zaha Hadid. The first one made the first animated feature film that remains. The second, breaking schemes, since she was a Muslim, a woman, and an architect, obtained the Prizker Prize for Architecture and beyond that, she left us a vision of this art far superior to that of many male colleagues who are also architects. No quotas, only supported by their own talent.
In literature, during the 20th century, there have been some writers who have also ventured to narrate their stories, of which we mention Agatha Christie, knowing that there are some more, and that before her there were others who used male pseudonyms. It is not very clear, but in the studio of Katsushika Hokusai, the famous Japanese painter, his daughters performed many important tasks without obtaining any credit either.
On a musical level, things are also a little bad; it was not until the explosion of pop music that there were female songwriters (not performers, there are plenty of them now) in the music world. Leaving the aforementioned Hildegard aside, we want, without wishing this to become a dogma, to mention that women are composing great songs, and we are going to mention some of them, being the first Lana del Rey, for her quality and number of first-rate songs, but also without forgetting Madonna or Katy Perry.
Anyway, this is our small (for now) collection of women artists throughout the history of Art, and we hope, as it is, that this list will soon increase.
Thus, we can certify that behind the Muses, directed by Apollo, there is almost no female painters or architects or musicians testimony before the modern age, which is a bit embarrassing for the history of Art seen from the perspective of today and, although it is described as embarrassing, the masculine gender should not be scourging itself for the past damage caused since it is not the fault of the men of today that this has been the case. And also taking into account that given the precariousness of existence and following the Latin axiom "primum vivere, deinde filosofare", at the beginning of humanity women have dedicated themselves to procreating because it seems that it was their turn, from the point of evolutionary view, at that time.
But things are changing significantly in our time. Now that the different functions of each gender are shared, because it does not take so much brute force to generate food or energy, things are balancing. And as a result of this balance we can mention some great women who today set the tone and, although they are few, we firmly believe in this puclication that both men and women, and everything in between, if there is anything, will have to get used to the presence of this new group in the history of Art.
We leave aside great women from History such as Elizabeth I of Castile, Cleopatra, some saints, etc., to focus on those in the history of Art. Thus, we began to trace Hildegard of Bingen, a Renaissance woman before this artistic movement arose; Clara Peeters, painter, and Marie-Louise-Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun, painter of Marie Antoinette. All of them have tiptoed through the history of Art until today, time in which we strive to find women in that history.
But the good would be to come. Thus, we can mention two artists who really set trends, one is the filmmaker Lotte Reiniger and the other is the "triple daring" Zaha Hadid. The first one made the first animated feature film that remains. The second, breaking schemes, since she was a Muslim, a woman, and an architect, obtained the Prizker Prize for Architecture and beyond that, she left us a vision of this art far superior to that of many male colleagues who are also architects. No quotas, only supported by their own talent.
In literature, during the 20th century, there have been some writers who have also ventured to narrate their stories, of which we mention Agatha Christie, knowing that there are some more, and that before her there were others who used male pseudonyms. It is not very clear, but in the studio of Katsushika Hokusai, the famous Japanese painter, his daughters performed many important tasks without obtaining any credit either.
On a musical level, things are also a little bad; it was not until the explosion of pop music that there were female songwriters (not performers, there are plenty of them now) in the music world. Leaving the aforementioned Hildegard aside, we want, without wishing this to become a dogma, to mention that women are composing great songs, and we are going to mention some of them, being the first Lana del Rey, for her quality and number of first-rate songs, but also without forgetting Madonna or Katy Perry.
Anyway, this is our small (for now) collection of women artists throughout the history of Art, and we hope, as it is, that this list will soon increase.
Links mentioned in People
