Artemisia Gentileschi is considered to be one of the great painters of the Baroque era, and is especially venerated for her mastery of the Caravaggesque style. Her power as an artist comes not only from her technical and creative capabilities, but also from her acute understanding of and involvement in theoretical discourse on painting and the genius of the artist. Known for her vigorous depictions of powerful Biblical heroines that do not conform to typical images of femininity and through the intensity of the Caravaggesque style, Gentileschi’s work can be considered quintessentially Baroque.
As is the burden of many female artists, her work has consistently been read through the lens of her personal life and her sexuality. At the age of seventeen Gentileschi was assaulted by her painting instructor, Agostino Tassi. Much of her work has been read through the context of the trauma, particularly in her depictions of Judith and Susanna. Rozsika Parker and Griselda Pollock put it thusly:
“Confronted by the expressive, powerful or victimized images of Gentileschi’s women, writers have been unable to fit her paintings into the usual feminine stereotype: they cannot trace the expected signs of femininity, weakness, gracefulness or delicateness. Thus, unable to put her work into a stereotype, they turn instead to the dramatic events of her life” (10)
While there is validity in reading her strong heroines as reactions towards her sexual assault, it is important to recognize Gentileschi was part of a far more nuanced dialogue about the position of the artist as well as women in the Baroque era. Her life is often fictionalized and sensationalized, further feminizing her and created a greater void between her and her male counterparts. While...
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...elf in action and refuses to depict her body as a passive signifier for artistic perfection. In this she refutes the image of woman as one to inspire but not create art and reaffirms her agency. She also soundly rejects the concept of design being dependant on the perfection of the female form, critiquing the use of the inactive female body as a metaphor for man’s artistic genius. Being deeply absorbed in her work, the artist does not even address the audience, her face looking towards the work and not the viewer.
Perhaps this is a direct response to the eroticization of owning a painting produced by a woman; the representation’s realism prevents the presumably male audience from viewing her face in entirety. Her body is shown in action and foreshortened, removing any possibility for it to be compared to the perfectly proportioned female figures so often used to
I had never heard of the artist Artemisia Gentileschi before this introductory Art course. Of all the paintings and sculptures found within the book, it was her work that stood out and spoke to me. "Judith and Maidservant with the head of Holofernes" is a particularly rich oil painting by the Italian Gentileschi, painted circa 1625 Europe. Her large canvas measures 72 and 1/2 inches by 55 and 3/4 inches and began as a biblical story telling inspiration come to life within the oil. Located at the Detroit Institute of Arts, the painting was a gift to the institute from Art collector Mr. Leslie H. Green in 1952. Artemisia was the daughter of a painter (and caravaggio influenced) Orazio Gentileschi, she was also the wife of little known artist Pierantonio Stiattesi. Artemisia had four sons and one daughter during her marriage. A student of the Chiaroscuro technique and during a time when women were not believed capable of painting competitively and intelligently as the men of the day. Artemisia proved them wrong with stunning work and artistry over her artistic career.
The painting depicts a mother and her four children, who are all leaning on her as she looks down solemnly, her tired, despondent expression suggests she felt trapped in her roles as being a mother and a wife. The woman and her children are clearly the focal point of the artwork as the bright colours used to paint them stand out impeccably against the dull, lifeless colours of the background. This painting appears to be centred around the ideology that women are home-keepers, whose main role is to satisfy and assist her husband while simultaneously minding the children and keeping the home tidy and ready for his return. The social consequences of this artwork could have been that the woman could have been berated for not taking pleasure out of being a mother and raising her children, as a woman should. She could have been made redundant as her husband may have felt as though she is no longer useful if she couldn’t adequately adhere to her roles as a mother and a
Artemesia Gentileschi was very different from other artisis of her time. Being a woman painter was all but unheard of during the High Renaissance. She had the style of Caravaggio, while at the same time bringing in women's characters who were in the position of power. Throughout art history, an idea that women are present solely for men to look at has been shown. This could be because men have generally been the target audience, and naked women the subject. In her paintings, Gentileschi shifted the focus to women and showed them as real people. She was both praised and scorned by the critics of her time. She was thought a genious, yet terrible because she was a woman in what was thought to be a man's area of expertise.
RODERICK CONWAY MORRIS, “Artemisia: Her Passion Was Painting Above All Else”, New York Times, Published November 18, 2011
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Her chief arguing points and evidence relate to the constriction of female sexuality in comparison to male sexuality; women’s economic and political roles; women’s access to power, agency, and land; the cultural roles of women in shaping their society; and, finally, contemporary ideology about women. For her, the change in privacy and public life in the Renaissance escalated the modern division of the sexes, thus firmly making the woman into a beautiful
Artemisia was the queen of Halicarnassus, that would be located in present day Turkey. Artemisia became well known as a naval commander, she was also an ally of Xerxes, the king of Persia. Furthermore, the queen was named after the Goddess Artemis, who is sister of Apollo. The queen married King of Halicarnassus in 500BC just before the revolt that set off the war between Persia and Greece. Moreover, the queen is believed to be brave and clever who was also a valued ally the King of Persia.
When it comes to Rossetti’s Goblin Market, numerous critical approaches are offered. Feminists believed that this was an effort to reconstruct women’s roles and visions, they were also convinced that it had a strong message of hero creation. Not so, argued naturalists because Christina has used wide range of natural elements, and they validated this with her early life in the country and some argued she hinted the infiltration of women into capital market as she talks about trade and market. Some critics also speculated that she has incorporated the classic theme of temptation, fall, and redemption, which is quite obvious because Rossetti was a religious female. Her poem was also castigated for the extensive use of sexual language or perhaps it was just a fairy tale. But, if we deeply dig into the poem and her personal life we can find the hidden epic allegory. A profound analysis of her work will reveal the thematic interpretation of christian belief ...
The Baroque period was one of great confusion and change. I chose Artemesia Gentileschi to illustrate and exemplify the ideals of this time. She was the first woman to become famous in Western art of her time. She specialized in gruesome, dramatic paintings that masterfully employ Baroque techniques.
Judith and her Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes is large oil on canvas by Italian artist, Artemisia Gentileschi. Although the work’s dimensions aren’t listed on the card, this work is of life size with an estimated measurement of 6 by 4.5 feet. The painting surrounded by a gold frame that ha...
During this period, the world was rocked by a socialist movement characterized by a counterattack against nonfigurative art and a reversion to figurative art, a change that enabled artists to deliver social messages clearly. Kahlo’s paintings started receiving global attention from the 1970s. Feminism in art at the time suggested that women’s physical characteristics were women’s own space, distinguished from men’s. Her paintings honestly and comprehensively expressed her personal experiences and emotions, to which only women could relate. Self-portrait was a recurring theme in her paintings, which depicted women as active observers of their inner being rather than as passive objects of men’s attraction. From this perspective, Kahlo’s pieces are extremely pioneering (Deffebach, 2015). The feminist movement provided opportunities for the discovery of more female artists in the world of art; this movement helped her paintings see the light of day. During the period when male chauvinism prevailed, Kahlo stood against conservative society with her strong character and personality; she strived to create a new era and tread the path of a pioneer. In this respect, Kahlo was an artist who had great influence on improving women’s social
Both enamel on canvas, these realistic painting show women through the distorted reflection in a funhouse mirror. Minter is trying to show that women are show to follow an ideal form of beauty, but only to see themselves as flaws. “These works, like the others from this period, fused a feminist critique of the construction of gender and femininity with other postmodernist hallmarks of the 1980s, including the appropriation of mass-media imagery translated in a cool, detached, style of painting,” says Elissa Auther, co-curator of the exhibition. Minter has changed the way women is presents verse how men only use them for sexual
She had a youthful uneasiness drawing this painting. When all other male painters during that time portrayed Susanna as flirtatious, Artemisia looked at her with a female viewpoint and depicted Susanna as helpless and startled. This was her reflection on her own life during the time period about how she felt in the world of men: timid and distressed. However her perspective changed at the age of 19 when she was raped by her teacher who was also her fathers’ coworker: Agostino Tassi. At trial, Tassi humiliated her by saying that she slept with many other men before him. Gentileschi had to go through torture and examination by midwifes of her virginity to prove that her testimony was valid. Tassi further humiliated her by saying that Artemisia was not a skillful artist and did not even understand the laws of perspective. Finally, Tassi was found guilty when a former friend of his testified that Tassi confined to him about his exploits with Artemisia. Soon after trial Artemisia married a painter and moved to Florence, where her paintings flourished. The trial changed Artemisia’s life. She was a victim of the male dominant society and an example of how women were