Women were never supposed to work in the art field, because that was a man’s job. However, artists like Elizabeth Louise Vigee-Lebrun and Paula Modersohn-Becker did not let this predetermination stop them from achieving their dreams. Each of them painted a self portrait of themselves, and even though they were painted in different ways, the paintings have similar meanings.
Elizabeth Louise Vigee-Lebrun was a French neoclassic painter in the 1700’s. In her work, “Self Portrait in a Straw Hat”, the painter used oil on canvas. This painting was completed in 1782. Elizabeth Louise Vigee-Lebrun wanted to illustrate in her painting that she was a confident, successful woman in this time period. She made herself seem impressively self-assured through
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The artist painted with a French modernistic style mixed with abstraction. Her work, “Self Portrait with an Amber Necklace”, was painted in 1907. She was heavily influenced by Paul Gauguin as seen in this painting. Just like Vigee-Lebrun, Modersohn-Becker also knew she wanted to be an artist from a young age. However, she also went to school to be a teacher. For Self Portrait with an Amber Necklace, she also used oil on canvas for this work. She uses color for expression, not representation. Modersohn-Becker has a unique style of painting, as she scratches texture into the paint after it is dry. This work does not feature much movement or symmetry. She looks very serene and one with nature. The amber in the necklace reflects happiness and gives clarity to the mind. Perhaps she made the necklace amber to bring clarity to those who only see the female body as sexual symbol and for them to see it as just purely human nature. There is a lot of emotion in the subject’s eyes but whatever she is feeling remains mysterious. Paula Modersohn-Becker painted herself amongst vines and flowers, almost as if she was portraying herself like Mother Nature. She asserted her confidence and femininity through this painting, as it was very rare for a nude self portrait. This is because women were still considered the weaker sex and had limited rights, including the inability to vote, during this time.
Both of these pieces and the artists are influential
The face of the portrait is detailed, and more naturally painted than the rest of the composition. However, the left iris exceeds her eye and extends past the normal outline. The viewer can see every single brush stroke resulting in a unique approach to the capturing human emotion. The streaky texture combines with the smoothness flow of the artist’s hand creating contrast between the hair and the face. The woman’s hair is painted with thick and chunky globs of paint. The viewer can physically see the paint rising from the canvas and flowing into the movement of the waves of hair. Throughout the hair as well as the rest of the portrait Neel abandons basic painting studies and doesn’t clean her brush before applying the next color. Because of the deliberate choice to entangle the colors on the brush it creates a new muddy palate skewed throughout the canvas. Moving from the thick waves of hair, Neel abandons the thick painting style of the physical portrait and moves to a looser more abstract technique to paint the background. Despite the lack of linear perspective, Neel uses a dry brush technique for the colorful streaks in the background creating a messy illusion of a wall and a sense of space. The painting is not clean, precise, or complete; there are intentional empty spaces, allowing the canvas to pear through wide places in the portrait. Again, Neel abandons
Subject: Our docent, Mary, shared with us that this artist loved to paint the human body and was well known for his painting of the human body and skin. This piece certainly highlights those skills. The colors of the hair and skin are incredibly life like.
Through the analysis of Thérésia Cabarus’s portrait, Amy Freund attempts to examine Cabarus’s failure to “create a feminine version of political agency through portraiture” in order to provide insight into the unfulfilled promises of female citizenship during the French Revolution. She asserts that, through the use of a combination of imagery associated with revolutionary femininity, including the emphasis on the sitter’s physical passivity and sentimental attachments, and conventions usually associated with male portraiture, Cabarrus and Laneuville, the painter, attempted to present her portrait as an argument for women to be granted an active role in revolutionary politics. Freund suggests that the portrait failed to achieve its goals because it recalled the Terror and the disunity of France in addition to invoking the “anxiety surrounding the increased visibility of women in post-Thermidorean social life and visual representation.” Because of its relative failure, Freund considers Cabarrus’s portrait a symbol of the “possibilities and limitations of female agency in Revolutionary portraiture and politics” as well as a shift in portraiture; as she remarks, “portraiture after 1789 shouldered the burdens formerly borne by history
Art could be displayed in many different forms; through photography, zines, poetry, or even a scrapbook. There are many inspirational women artists throughout history, including famous women artists such Artemisia Gentileschi and Georgia O’Keeffe. When searching for famous female artists that stood out to me, I found Frida Kahlo, and Barbara Kruger. Two very contrasting type of artists, though both extremely artistic. Both of these artists are known to be feminists, and displayed their issues through painting and photography. Frida Kahlo and Barbara Kruger’s social and historical significance will be discussed.
Aristotle once claimed that, “The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.” Artists, such as Louise-Elizabeth Vigée Le Brun and Mary Cassatt, captured not only the way things physically appeared on the outside, but also the emotions that were transpiring on the inside. A part no always visible to the viewer. While both artists, Le Brun and Cassatt, worked within the perimeters of their artistic cultures --the 18th century in which female artists were excluded and the 19th century, in which women were artistically limited-- they were able to capture the loving relationship between mother and child, but in works such as Marie Antoinette and Her Children and Mother Nursing her Child 1898,
Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun was one of the most successful painters of her time. Over the course of her life, spanning from 1755-1842, she painted over 900 works. She enjoyed painting self portraits, completing almost 40 throughout her career, in the style of artists she admired such as Peter Paul Rubens (Montfort). However, the majority of her paintings were beautiful, colorful, idealized likenesses of the aristocrats of her time, the most well known of these being the Queen of France Marie Antoinette, whom she painted from 1779-1789. Not only was Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun the Queen’s portrait painter for ten years, but she also became her close, personal friend. She saw only the luxurious, carefree, colorful, and fabulous lifestyle the aristocracy lived in, rather than the poverty and suffrage much of the rest of the country was going through. Elisabeth kept the ideals of the aristocracy she saw through Marie Antoinette throughout her life, painting a picture of them that she believed to be practically perfect. Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun’s relationship with Marie Antoinette affected her social standing, politics, painting style, and career.
Edna seeks occupational freedom in art, but lacks sufficient courage to become a true artist. As Edna awakens to her selfhood and sensuality, she also awakens to art. Originally, Edna “dabbled” with sketching “in an unprofessional way” (Chopin 543). She could only imitate, although poorly (Dyer 89). She attempts to sketch Adèle Ratignolle, but the picture “bore no resemblance” to its subject. After her awakening experience in Grand Isle, Edna begins to view her art as an occupation (Dyer 85). She tells Mademoiselle Reisz that she is “becoming an artist” (Chopin 584). Women traditionally viewed art as a hobby, but to Edna, it was much more important than that. Painting symbolizes Edna’s independence; through art, she breaks free from her society’s mold.
Marie Louise Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun's unique painting "Julie Le Brun with a Mirror" forms many topics to discuss. The topics included are basic information of the artist, her art style(s), the events taken in the year the portrait of her daughter was painted, as well as my own opinion. She has created over 600 portraits and landscaping pictures, coming very far with her paintings, becoming rich, and one of the best, well-known female artists of the 18th century. Today, some of her works can be found in famous museums across Europe and the US.
Both are side portraits of middle aged women which looks as if they are in deep thought or feelings. In Neilly’s, 24x36 palette knife oil painted portrait, the colors and type of paint she chose is easily determined by the marks on the woman’s face. The color choices that were chose are vibrant and bring life to the piece. Cool colors
The Necklace also displays distinctive realism in the use of socioeconomic influences which are essential to the plot. The major conflict in the story would be absent and the theme would not be obtainable without Mathilde Loisel’s insecurity about her own socioeconomic reputation. An example of Loisel’s self-deprivation nature is presented when she realizes she does not have a necklace, she says “I shall look absolutely no one. I would almost rather not go to the party” (Maupassant, sec. 3). Another example of the self-conflict caused by social pressure is Loisel’s immediate attempt to replace the necklace and her reluctance to speak to her friend Madame Forestier about the necklace for ten whole years. If she were not conflicted by societal pressures she might have avoided the whole situation altogether. The Necklace establishes a realistic difference in value between the necklaces and proposed clothing. Her husband proposes flowers which were valued 10 franks so in any case if she had chosen the flowers there would have been an insignificant economic loss. Her decision not to tell her friend about the necklace ends up costing her seven times the worth of the original. The roses symbolize the simpler things in life to the theme of the story. Mathilde Loisel’s withered appearance at the end
She is set in a very dark space but there is a sense of light being casted from the left side, which illuminates her face. She has a very soft complexion, which is due to Vermeer’s artistic style, and is gazing at the viewer from slightly over her shoulder. She appears very simple and contains such a delicate beauty, leaving the viewer even more intrigued by Vermeer’s mysterious
In a formal theory, it looks like he used acrylic, oilstick, spray enamel, and metal paint on canvas (Embuscado). It looks like the same techniques he used for graffiti and there are two subjects that almost have the same facing in direction. It almost look like it was done without thinking, but it actually connects each other. The two beings seem to have inverted coloring of each other as the one with teeth is yellow with red outline and the other is red with yellow outline. From a contextual theory, it tells nothing much about the time the painting was made.
This fact plays a crucial role in the mood of the play. If the reader understands history, they also understand that women did not really amount to any importance, they were perceived more as property.
The painting depicts two figures, the one of a woman and of a man. The dominating central figure is the one of the woman. We see her profile as she looks to the left. Her hands are crossed in a graceful manner. She has blonde hair and her figure is lit by what seems to be natur...
Furthermore, there are these aged-old male artists, like George Baselitz who ridicule women of painting- believing that “women don’t paint very well.” If we trace back to the history of fine arts and women, we can see that the problem female artists face today with exposure in the art industry, lies within in roots. It has only been a couple of centuries, but I believe that the art world is slowly changing and evolving for the better for women artists. Still, female artists can’t help but come across male artist like George Baselitz, who honestly believe females can’t paint as well as