Female artists

The professional artist around the second half of the 19th century

The professional artist had to earn her living around the second half of the 19th century by giving lessons or selling her drawings and paintings at exhibitions and exhibitions. However, their art was not held in high regard by the jury members at such exhibitions. Women were also not allowed to be active members of the painters' associations, which organized most of the exhibitions. This was because they had no sitting and voting rights, which only became possible around 1900. Also around 1861 the drawing and painting schools were opened to girls.

Saint Lucas
The Sint Lucas Art Society associated with the Rijksacademie did not have any female members when it was founded in 1880, but was later the first to give women the right to vote.

Arti et Amicitiae
The Arti et Amicitiae artists' association in Amsterdam was founded in 1839 and in 1894 it had 152 full members, of which 24 were women. Around the turn of the century, the number of women had risen to 50. Women were able to become art-loving members from the start, and from 1848 on, just members.

1921
Marinus van Raalte at Arti et Amicitiae in 1921, through his authority enjoyed by erudition and artistry, made the decisive factor in granting a voting membership to women, which unleashed a small revolution. However, the first woman on the board did not arrive until 1959.

special ladies classes
To make the separation between the sexes even clearer, special women's classes were established at the drawing schools; this is to guard against the morality of the young pupils.

National exhibition of women's labor
In 1898 some examples of art made by the female pupils of a drawing and painting school were exhibited at the national exhibition of women's labor in honor of the coronation of Queen Wilhelmina.

At the end of the 19th century, the number of ladies 'members at the painting academies and at the painters' associations increased sharply. Opening up the painting academies proved to be an important factor in the emancipation of the artist.

1965
Only in 1965 was the first industrial school for women opened, and with this it became completely acceptable for women to engage in visual arts such as sculpture and woodworking.

Most artists remained unmarried after their education. They were treated as equals on the training and they did not want to give up their newly acquired liberties, which is understandable.

Thérèse Schwarze
One of these unmarried artists from one of the academies was the famous Thérèse Schwarze (Amsterdam 1851-1918 Amsterdam). She first learned her skills with her father and then she took lessons in Munich with the history painter Piloty.

Thérèse Schwarze was a celebrated artist and she moved in the highest circles. It naturally followed that she was seen as an example by many young artists. Also in the Jewish Virtual Museum her name is mentioned several times in connection with other artists, such as Marianne Franken , Martin Monnickendam and Isaac Israels .

the 20th century
In the beginning of the 20th century the women were given more freedom of movement, so that they could also be taught abroad more often with all the accompanying influences. The prejudices that existed with regard to female artists gradually faded away in that century, so that the women who now practice art are on an equal footing with their male colleagues. However, it has been a long way for the woman in art. That is why we must also be grateful to all the strong artists, not only for the works of art they have delivered, but also for the fact that they have helped pave the way for the artists of the next generation.

the same level
For centuries it was believed that women could never reach the same level of professional artists, even into the 20th century. Women were not admitted to the art academy until the 19th century.

the canon of art history
Art history as a science originated in the mid-19th century. Then the canon of art history was written. This was the time when women had a subordinate position and were dependent on the private domain: getting married, having children, being a dedicated wife.

The Dictionary of Women Artists
This spirit of the times has determined our view of art history. Repeating the canon yielded confirmation and eventually led to an illusionary perpetuation, but in 1990 The Dictionary of Women Artists appeared with tens of thousands of artists.

female pioneers
Many were female pioneers in art history. One of them was Sofonisba Anguissola. When Michelangelo saw her work, he said: "She has the talent of a man". He asked her to make drawings in which she had to capture different emotions. She did that. As a result, Michelangelo's statement above. By the way, that was a big compliment at the time.

attributed to a man
It also happened that good paintings were attributed to a man; A good example is the paintings by Judith Leyster, often attributed to Frans Hals in the 19th century. They both worked with a loose test. From the 19th-century 'male gaze' it was thought that they must have been a student of him. But Leyster never had lessons from Hals. She was a master painter in 17th-century Haarlem and had students of her own. It can even be read in the guild archive that Hals had taken a few pupils from her, for which he was fined. ”

Jackson Pollock's wife
"Lee Krasner, the wife of Jackson Pollock, put her own career on the back burner for love of him. After his death, she picked up her own work as an artist and then made her name for at least 20 years. They know her in America. Here we only know her husband, Pollock. Much more research has been done on women in the arts in the US. There are hardly any exhibitions of female artists in the Netherlands. "

Georgia O’Keeffe
When Georgia O'Keeffe, the greatest female artist of American modernism, was invited in 1943 to the The Exhibition by 31 Women exhibition at the gallery of Peggy Guggenheim – the first female gallerist in New York, and possibly the first exhibition entirely devoted to women – her answer was bright and clear. She entered the gallery, told Guggenheim and her partner Max Ernst that she was not a female artist, and walked away again.

women who gathered and founded museums
Women in the art world were then usually models, mistresses or musees. They conformed to the role men were assigned to them. Yet there are also women who collected themselves and even set up museums, such as Peggy Guggenheim and Hélène Kröller-Müller.

women who protected art during WWII
It was women like Ardelia Hall and Rose Valland (1898-1980) who protected the art in the Second World War against destruction by the Nazis.

source: avrotros.nl/ galeriepouloeuff.nl -kunsthistorica drs. Karin Haanappel / de volkskrant / verzetsmuseum.org / psychotraumanet.org

Women in design in the Netherlands 1880-1940
by Marjan Groot

Below you can see the list of all artists represented in the Jewish Virtual Museum.