- Speaking of painters, one can easily mention big names such as Leonardo da Vinci, Turner, or Monet... all of whom are men. But do the names of Artemisia Gentileschi or Rosa Bonheur ring any bell to you? Despite their skills, female painters were for long time ignored by art historians and still remain unknown to the public. For centuries many women had to struggle to find their way in this field. Artemisia Gentileschi was strong enough to face many obstacles, and be eventually recognized by her male peers. Angelika Kauffmann's skills allowed her firstly to be admitted to the London royal court - and then to become one of the founders of the Royal Academy of Arts. Suzanne Valandon had enough ingenuity and courage to challenge the image of the female body... In a nutshell, exceptional women deserve recognition. Archives and interviews with experts will review the stories and masterpieces of those women, who lived between the 16th and the 20th century. Who are they? And what did they bring to the art field?
- "In three words?" one art expert responds in exasperation to a question. How can one sum up female painters through history in three words? "Silent and forgotten," answers another art expert.
This French documentary surveys a number of women painters, from the early modern era to the twentieth century through images of their work and interviews with several art experts.
Artists featured, in order, are:
Sofonisba Anguissola (1532-1625), born in Cremona, Italy. One of her most striking works shows Bernardo Campi painting her portrait. She paints him painting her. She lived for a time at the Spanish royal court where she painted high society, including royals.
Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1652), born in Rome, Italy. Among her most striking works: "Judith Slaying Holofernes," which focuses the viewer's eye on the sword in Judith's hands, cutting off the head of Holofernes. Another is a self-portrait that shows her in the act of painting. Seen from the side, she leans toward the viewer, but evidently only to get a better look at her canvas on which she is intently focused. She was raped by her art teacher as a young woman and, when her father sued the teacher in court, she was made to withstand torture to prove that she was not lying.
Several Italian women artists from this period are then mentioned only in passing: Elisabeth Sirani, (1638-1665), Barbara Longhi (1552-1638), and Lavinia Fontana (1552-1614).
Rosalba Carriera (1673 or 1675-1757), born in Venice, Italy. For a time, she lived and worked in Paris where she was accepted by the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture. Founded in 1648, the Academy only accepted four women artists at a time but made an exception for Carriera; but when Carriera returned to Venice, they went back to their low quota. She was a pioneer in the use of pastels. In her old age, she became blind.
Angelika Kauffmann (1741-1807), born in Chur, Switzerland. Enormously talented, she spoke four languages fluently and could have been an opera singer, but chose to focus on painting. She lived in Italy for several years and belonged to the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence. She next lived in London where she was a founding member of the Royal Academy of Arts in 1768. She specialized in neoclassical painting, which was then the most prestigious style. Mary Moser (1744-1819), who was born in Great Britain, was the only other woman in the Royal Academy along with Kaufmann.
The next artists featured are Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun (1755-1842), and Adélaïde Labille Guiard (1749-1803), both born in Paris, France. The successful careers of both women were interrupted by the French Revolution, which, despite being waged to a great extent by women, stymied women's rights. Napoleon further relegated women to abject second-class citizenship, and, for the next century, women in France struggled to regain what little advancement they had previously made.
Marie-Guillemine Benoist (1768-1826), born in Paris, France, was among the few women artists who not only survived but flourished after women were denied entry to the art schools in France during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic eras. Like many women artists in all eras, she buttered her bread by painting portraits.
Rosa Bonheur (1822-1899), who was born in Bordeaux, France, was openly lesbian. She shocked the world by wearing trousers which she said she needed in order to paint animals in the fields and abattoirs. In 1865, she became the first woman artist to be made a knight of the French Legion of Honor. The American painter Anna Klumpke (1856-1942) was one of Bonheur's lovers. Bonheur was predeceased by another lover, Nathalie Micas (1824-1889). Bonheur was so widely known that American showman Buffalo Bill Cody insisted on meeting her when his Wild West Show came to Paris.
Bertha Morisot (1841-1895), was born in Bourges, France. She was the first woman impressionist. She got little respect from critics but her fellow impressionists were so protective of her that Camille Pissaro punched one of her critics at a showing of her work. Among her best-known paintings: "Le Berceau" ("The Cradle") and "The Harbor at Lorient". Her death certificate reads, "of no profession".
A final coda wraps up the modern era with its various avant-garde movements by mentioning each of several artists and showing but one of her paintings. These include Suzanne Valadon (1865-1938), born in France; Natalia Gontcharova (1881-1962), born in Russia; Tamara de Lempicka (1898-1980), born in Poland; Sonia Delaunay (1885-1979), born in Ukraine; Sophie Taeuber-Arp (1889-1943), born in Switzerland; Gabriele Münter (1877-1962), born in Germany; Hannah Höch (1889-1978), born in Germany; Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986), born in the U.S.A.; Frida Kahlo (1907-1954), born in Mexico.
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What is the English language plot outline for Artistes femmes, à la force du pinceau (2015)?
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