Women’s Role Throughout History in Art

Throughout history, women have held important roles. In fact, although the role and rights of women have changed throughout the years, all historical areas have seen women have prominent roles. It is important to understand that wealthy women often held prominent social roles throughout history even though common women frequently had a submissive or subordinate role in society. Thus, historically, many of the female artists, particularly wealthy ones, were women who had some social status during their era. The purpose of this paper is to examine the roles of women throughout history, starting with the Middle Ages, and progressing to the Renaissance and culminating in the 19th Century. Even though women were often considered a secondary class throughout these historical periods, it is none the less very important in shaping the world of art and frequently held roles than influenced the direction of art and the humanities even during these periods.

In the middle ages, women had comparatively strict social roles. Typically, the role of women was to be in the home and take care of the house. In addition, there was a significant societal view that women should be submissive to men and that they should pay attention to what men were doing in society (Chadwick 45). Thus, women primarily played a supporting role in society. There was a particular focus on the assertion that women should not attempt to dominate over men. Thus, in the Middle Ages, it would be unbecoming for a woman to tout their skills over that of men. One of the ways that women obtained any prominence in art in the Middle Ages was for them to work for the church. This is because, in addition to the role of housekeeper, women could appropriately be keepers of the church as nuns. Thus, nuns often had the ability to create art that would become prominent in the church. This also served the purpose and ends of the church because during the Middle Ages, when few parishioners were able to read, the church would use art as a way of ensuring that people could learn the word of God.

Thus, many of the art produced during the Middle Ages had a religious bent. Concomitantly, much of the art that nuns produced also had a religious focus (Guerilla Girls 19). Consider, for example, the image from the famous Bayeux Tapestry. Known as Aelfgyva and the Cleric, the piece of art was instrumental in depicting both the religious nature of artwork from the Middle Ages and the expected role of women. In this tapestry, the woman is seen being subordinate to a man, a cleric. In addition, the woman is portrayed as being subdued and demure based on her clothing. Furthermore, the position of her hands is close to her body and suggests that she is not trying to defend herself. By contrast, the man is outstretched and much larger than the woman in the painting. Furthermore, he appears to be touching her in some way. This painting, therefore, represents a very accurate depiction of women and their role during the Middle Ages.

Similar to women in the Middle Ages, women in the Renaissance were also required to remain part of the private world. This is important because there was a general social consensus that art was a public activity, which ultimately meant that it would be a male activity (Chadwick 70). However, women still had some role in the artistic world. Women were able to, with some difficulty, become part of the public world of art. However, they would have to portray women as having the virtues that women were expected to have in the time (Chadwick 71). This necessarily meant that women would have to be chaste, and female paintings of women would have to emphasize modesty, grate, and female beauty (Chadwick 139). One Renaissance painting that depicts women in this way is Artemisia Gentileschi’s Judith and Her Maidservant. The painting depicts a biblical story of the beheading of a general. However, despite this gruesome story, the painting is itself relatively contrite. There is no visible blood, and everything about the panting is subtle with respect to the actual event it depicts. Compare this to Caravaggio’s depiction of the same event in Judith Beheading Holofernes, which actually depicts the beheading. See other female painters at https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-these-women-artists-influenced-the-renaissance-and-baroque.

The 19th Century represented a departure from the traditional female roles. In particular, because the 19th century began after the American Revolution, it became clear that women would have different roles. For example, women often worked together and had roles outside of the home (Chadwick 180). This meant they were able to share ideas. However, despite this, they were still often unable to make it in the art world. For example, look at https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/gender-roles-in-the-19th-century to see the expected roles of women. Women began to push against these roles, however, and started expecting to have more autonomy. Many paintings from this era depict women working and functioning in historically male roles.

Modern-day art from purveyors such as the Guerilla Girls has progressed more towards the side of feminism. They acknowledge the patriarchal culture of the past, while not quite dismissing the idea that patriarchal culture still has a stronghold in modern society. Their purpose is to keep pushing forward with their themes of feminism and equality in their art.

Works Cited

Chadwick, Whitney. Women, Art, and Society. Thames & Hudson, 2012.

Guerrilla Girls. The Guerrilla Girls’ Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art. PenguinBooks, 1998.

Hessel, Katy. These Artist Women Influenced the Renaissance and Baroque. Artsy.Net, 20 Dec.2016, https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-these-women-artists-influenced-the-renaissance-and-baroque.

Hughes, Kathryn. Gender roles in the 19th century. British Library, 15 May, 2014,https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/gender-roles-in-the-19th-century.