This introductory lecture will explore some overarching questions that will frame our discussions in the lecture series. What are/were the circumstances in which women could or could not produce art in Western European art history? In what ways is gender a social construct, and what implications does this have on making and looking at art? In this session, we will examine the work of Artemisia Gentileschi in the context of her 17th-century professional and social environment as a case study. 

This class will explore how the economic and social circumstances of the Dutch Republic created greater opportunities for women as artists. We will examine work by flower painter Rachel Ruysch, genre painter and portraitist Judith Leyster and printmaker Geertruid Roghman. We will also look at how women were portrayed in genre paintings and portraits to gain a broader understanding of these artists’ professional and social contexts. 

This class will investigate the work of Mary Cassatt and Berthe Morisot. These women were vanguards of the Impressionist movement, experimenting with avant-garde painting techniques, subject matter and Japanese printmaking. Work by Edgar Degas and Pierre-Auguste Renoir will also be considered as comparative examples.

Art was being pushed towards complete abstraction in the early 20th century as artists explored ways of representing the invisible. In this class we will look at Hilma af Klint’s spiritualism and Sonia Delaunay’s prismatic patterns inspired by electricity, as well as her textile designs and collaborations with Dadaist and Surrealist artists.

The female body has a long tradition of being objectified in Western European art. How have women artists participated in a largely patriarchal gaze? This class will consider the complexities of reclining women at the turn of the 20th century; the inward gaze of Frida Kahlo’s self-portraits; and the explorations of gender in Claude Cahun’s Surrealist photography. 

This class will sample a few key works from this period to explore the diverse ways that feminism can be used as a lens through which to interrogate art and as a framework for making art. Our discussions will include Niki de Saint Phalle’s tongue-in-cheek Hon, 1966; the paintings of Maria Lassnig; and Carolee Schneeman’s iconic feminist performance Interior Scroll, 1975.