Steady as She Goes
"I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels.
Life is a bitch.
You've got to go out and kick ass."
Maya Angelou, interview, 1986
I positioned these two 'blue' paintings next to each other, firstly because I love them dearly, and secondly, they certainly could have been painted only by women painters.
Both were painted in Paris, the first one 22 years before 1900, and the other 23 years after 1900, providing a perfect frame for a period in which girls born into a restrictive society grew up to live in a rather progressive one. A little bored rebel who doesn't want to "sit properly", as well as a relaxed, self-sufficient, feeling-good-in-her-body smoker and reader, both were given freedom to rest comfortably and not pose. Only women painters could have given them that freedom.
Cassatt's iconic "Girl in a Blue Armchair", rejected by the American section of the Paris World's Fair for its "radicality" in 1878, was welcomed at the 1879 Impressionist exhibition, and opened the door for her to Parisian and international collectors.
About 40 years later, Valadon's powerful "The Blue Room" portrays a woman who seems to have "kicked some ass" in her lifetime. A modern painting of a free modern woman. Although the years match, this could never be the grown-up girl from the first painting, as Cassatt and Valadon belonged to and painted two deeply segregated classes. Valadon, being a child at the same time as the little girl in the blue chair, was rarely bored; instead, she worked hard, helping her mother wash laundry for exactly those kinds of bourgeois families.
Dans la Loge, 1878
Mary Cassatt (1844-1926)
81.28x66.04 cm, oil on canvas
Le Berceau (The Cradle), 1872
Berthe Morisot (1841-1895)
56 x 46.5 cm, oil on canvas
Le Berceau Morisot Orsay
After two paintings of women not bothered that we are looking at them, here are two Impressionist paintings of women looking at others, and the way they are doing that, makes these works modern and clearly painted by women.
Cassatt's Dans la Loge depicts a woman not as the object of beauty, purity, or virtue. Cassatt is capturing the ultimate contemporary moment: a free woman doing what is not expected in public space! She, just like a man, is actively looking at others instead of being a passive object of gaze. She is gazing. Whether her age gives her that freedom or her personality, she doesn't care what others think, including the man we see in the upper left corner. Some art historians even mention the phallic position of the fan in her hand. Cassatt is sending an unambiguous message: women are free to be as good or as bad as men.
Next is the most famous painting by the most famous female Impressionist, Berthe Morisot. She showed this painting at the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874. Berthe participated in 7 out of 8 Impressionist exhibitions (missing one after the birth of her daughter). Besides the refined technique (the see-through curtain), we have a ground-breaking presentation of motherhood that opens many questions and provokes a debate, as great paintings usually do. Can you tell what is missing? The smile. Morisot portrays her sister Edna (at least as talented a painter as Berthe, who had to give up her artistic career after getting married and having a child) with an ambiguous facial expression. Is the woman in the painting tired, worried, or is it possible that she is missing being an artist and lamenting her choices? A century and a half later, women around the world can still relate to this painting and recognize that dilemma. Only a woman painter could have left that question open. This painting was bought in 1930 by the Louvre. Morisot, like Cassatt, could only dream during their lifetime of any museum buying their work.
In the second half of the 19th century, the French government rarely bought female artists' paintings for national collections and museums (only 3% of all purchases, source Paris in Ruins). Their work would usually end up in private collections, where it often stayed to this day. That is one of many reasons why we see so few female artists in museum collections. A significant example being London's National Gallery - in its 2300 painting collection, only 21 are by women artists (9 of them). An innovative private guide in London offers a tour exploring those 21 paintings (link in sources).
Another reason would be that, in art history studies, women artists are usually all grouped in one chapter, like exotic birds, and presented only through the prism of how discriminated against they were from the present point of view. Or, more outrageously, not presented at all: the most famous art historian of the 20th century, in his widely referenced, 700-page opus, The Story of Art (the main book in the Oxford course I took), which covers art from prehistoric to modern, does not mention a single non-white or female artist.
But, let's go back to people whose work aged well, like Louise Breslou. So, here is the one that "rebelled the system from within". She stayed loyal to Salon exhibitions, never joined the Impressionists, and yet didn't compromise her identity.
Gamines (Girls), 1890
Loise
Catherine Breslau (1856- 1927)
120 x 220 cm, oil on canvas
I had the pleasure of standing in front of this huge, powerful painting three times. This photo doesn't do it any service, and the website of the Museum in Carpentras is of no help either. The happiness sparkles from every dot on this canvas, colours are vibrant and playful, and it is a pure joy to witness it in person.
This is one of the first paintings portraying an unorthodox subject for that time, a couple of women in love. No male painter would be allowed into this intimate moment. Loise Breslau lived with her girlfriend, also an artist, Madeleine Zillhardt, for 40 years. They met at the Parisian Julian Academy (the only one taking female students at the time, but charging them more than men!), and Loise was the one who had a big, flourishing career. Her paintings were
regularly exhibited at the Salon, well-received, won awards, and were actually bought by the French government. She also received the French Legion of Honour.
Henry Davison, 1880
Louise Breslau (1856-1927)
87 x 46 cm, oil on canvas
Now, if we look at how Louise portrays young British poet Davison, we could say that masculinity or even gender is not the point of attention here. He reminds me here of his contemporary Oscar Wilde, who was, among other things, a big supporter of women's emancipation.
Thinking about it, I would say that one big contribution by female artists to society is bringing androgyny to the public eye and loosening up the assigned gender roles and looks. To illustrate my point, below are 2 enigmatic paintings by the outstanding Romaine Brooks, who took queerness to the next level:
Peter (A Young English Girl), 1923-24
Romaine Brooks (1874-1970)
91.9 x 62.3 cm, oil on canvas
Self-Portrait, 1923
117.5 x 68.3 cm, oil on canvas
Romaine Brooks (1874-1979)
In her self-portrait, by wearing lipstick and men's clothes, Brooks (also awarded the Legion of Honour) claims the right to define for herself who she is. Primarily, women in their path of emancipation wanted to be perceived as persons, and on that path, female artists certainly carried their weight.
Romaine Brooks lived an extraordinary life, almost 100 years long, but decided to stop painting after finishing this portrait at the age of 49.
I suppose in life, an equally important skill to keep going is knowing when to stop.
Sources:
Books: The Story of Art Without Men (Katy Hessel) and Representing Women (Linda Nochlin)
Getting There: Maya Angelou - POLITICO
Women in the National Gallery - guided tour to see female artists
Bing Videos - In Loge, Khan Academy commentary
Christies - Christian Levett's collection of Ancient to Modern Art from the Mougins Museum of Classical Art
Deux jeunes filles près de l'eau - Louise Breslau | Musée d'Orsay - preparatory drawing
Mary Cassatt's Famous Paintings & Feminism - iTravelWithArt
La Luministe - The Passionate Life of Berthe Morisot - iTravelWithArt
The Women Who Dared to Paint | Sotheby’s Magazine | Sotheby’s
Rewriting Art History: How Fede Galizia Brings Women Artists into Focus | Expert Voices | Sotheby’s
3 Women Artists Who Broke Boundaries | 19th Century European Art | Sotheby's
Kunsthalle Bremen
Who Are the Most Important Female Impressionists?
List of women Impressionists - Wikipedia
Women Artists in Paris, 1850-1900: Madeline, Laurence, Alsdorf, Bridget, Becker, Jane R., Bolloch, Joëlle, Hansen, Vibeke Waallann, Kendall, Richard: 9780300223934: Amazon.com: Books
‘Brilliant Exiles’: American Women In Early 20th-Century Paris
Marie Bracquemond: Art History's Lost Impressionist | Art & Object
Bracquemond, Marie - Impressionism
Eva Gonzalès - Wikipedia
Girl Awakening - Eva Gonzalès — Google Arts & Culture
Loise Catherine Breslau - Search Images
Louise Breslau | Impressionist painter | Tutt'Art@ | Pittura * Scultura * Poesia * Musica
Women Artists in Nineteenth-Century France | Essay | The Metropolitan Museum of Art | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
Famous Women Impressionists - Notable Female Impressionists
