‘The Sacred Feminine, Prehistory to Postmodernity’ is a special exhibition in the Museum of Art and Archeology that is located in Columbia (The Sacred Feminine). The curator of the piece of art, Benton Kidd, gives a vivid description of the special exhibit and expounds one’s understanding on viewing artwork. The theme of the exhibit focuses on the role of women in regards to religion. According to the curator, women have at times been worshipped as goddesses while at other times they have been regarded as sinners in the context of religion. Mary Magdalene, who was considered as the most important female Apostle, inspired the creation of ‘The Sacred Feminine (Kidd). Moreover, other cultural traditions that affect women from the various cultures that exist globally are incorporated in the piece of art to expound on the role of women. The views that have been presented by the curator are visibly seen in the exhibit. …show more content…
The curator begins by describing the various roles that women partook, which forms the basis of the theme that is presented in the piece of art. The curator also gives a story of the various women in history that had various contrasting roles in religion (Blundell & Williamson). The images accompanying the description of the curator also helps one in understanding the exhibit deeply. Through the images, I am able to appreciate the importance of visual experience and the vivid description given by the curator expands my understanding of artwork. Medusa, Mary Magdalene and the female bush spirit that existed before the 1400CE era, are some of the women that are included in the curator’s narration (The Sacred Feminine). Consequently, the method used by the curator to give the story about the theme is
When that room is entered all voices are hushed, and all merriment silenced. The place is as holy as a church. In the centre of the canvas is the Virgin Mother with a young, almost girlish face or surpassing loveliness. In her eyes affection and wonder are blended, and the features and the figure are the most spiritual and beautiful in the world's art.
Caroline Walker Bynum raised several thought-provoking claims in her book Holy Feast and Holy Fast, but her main argument of the mindset of medieval women with regards to their status in society was the most intriguing. Rather than simply agreeing with most traditional medievalists, she analyzes the male/female difference in terms of which symbols each gender used, and how these symbols tied in to their distinct religious concerns. She maintains that women accepted their place in society and religion, and instead of succumbing to the misogyny, they used their association with the flesh and humanness to connect themselves to the humanity of God. Her arguments regarding medieval women and their practices also implies that she is accepting of the idea of gender as a valuable category of historical analysis.
The depiction of Madonna and Christ is among the most ancient and common in Christian iconography and has an extensive number of variations because apart from its symbolic religious functions, it allows one to interpret the link between mother and child in many aspects. (8)
Durkheim's concepts of the sacred and the profane has dominated religious and social commentary for decades. While these two, inexorably linked, concepts are most often related with respect to religion, we can apply them to the almost-religion of the “American Dream” for the purpose of analyzing the lives of Lester and Carolyn Burnham, Buddy Kane, and Angela Hayes in the film “American Beauty.” In “American Beauty” the experiences of the characters illustrates the dichotomy between the sacred and profane, the morality associated with the sacred and profane, and the influences the sacred and profane have on the characters.
“Over and over, in the Virgin of the Rocks, the Mona Lisa, the surviving designs for the Leda, the Burlington House cartoon, and the Saint Anne, Leonardo explicitly associated powerful female images with highly developed, visually extraordinary surrounding landscapes, as if to as if to assert the unity between the physical universe and the female cosmic generative principle as a philosophical claim” (Broude, 1992, p. 74).
Artemisia Gentileschi (1593 – 1652), daughter of a well-known Roman artist, was one of the first women to become recognized in her time for her work.. She was noted for being a genius in the world of art. But because she was displaying a talent thought to be exclusively for men, she was frowned upon. However by the time she turned seventeen she had created one of her best works. One of her more famous paintings was her stunning interpretation of Susanna and the Elders. This was all because of her father. He was an artist himself and he had trained her and introduced her to working artists of Rome, including Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. 1. In an era when women artists were limited to painting portraits, she was the first to paint major historical and religious scenes. After her death, people seemed to forget about her. Her works of art were often mistaken for those of her fathers. An art historian on Artemisia, Mary D. Garrard notes that Artemisia “has suffered a scholarly neglect that is unthinkable for an artist of her caliber.” Renewed and long overdue interest in Artemisia recently has helped to recognize her as a talented renaissance painter and one of the world’s greatest female artists. She played a very important role in the renaissance.
...e, although the Renaissance was considered a revolutionary time period that sprung immense developments throughout Europe, this era however did not bring change to the identity and power of Renaissance women. As a result of analyzing the prejudiced regulations of female versus male sexuality, the misogynistic ideologies of society as conferred through literature and philosophy and the life of notable female Renaissance figures, it is evident that women failed to attain an era of rebirth, therefore delaying the development of female strive and liberty. The advances in the Renaissance have only served to mold the female gender even deeper into their ladylike roles; the wraths of men. Ultimately, with the fear to battle against injustice, the vision for absolute equality and strive for full feminine potential have failed to be accomplished in the shaping of our today.
Her chief arguing points and evidence relate to the constriction of female sexuality in comparison to male sexuality; women’s economic and political roles; women’s access to power, agency, and land; the cultural roles of women in shaping their society; and, finally, contemporary ideology about women. For her, the change in privacy and public life in the Renaissance escalated the modern division of the sexes, thus firmly making the woman into a beautiful
While studying art history in Pre-Industrial Visual Cultures this semester, one theme has become painfully obvious. There are few if any women artists included in the study of art history. If you dig deep into the books you can find mention of many unknown, unrecognized and often times very talented women artists from the past. Women in history are simply not recognized, and this is due to a large extent to their exclusion from the art world. My paper chooses to focus on a few female artists of the sixties and seventies who sought to make up for past history and ensure women were known. These women invented their own language for art making, which included sexual imagery, and left no doubt of their gender. These women made art as women, instead of trying to make art like men and be accepted. My paper therefore focuses on these women, who although werenít involved directly in pre-industrial art history were very much affected by the exclusion of women from it.
During the height of the feminist movement in 1971, feminist art historian Linda Nochlin published an essay titled “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?” in the magazine ArtNews. In this brief polemical essay, Nochlin elaborates upon the reasons why there have been no great female equivalents for Michelangelo or Rembrandt and explores the possibilities behind the lack of great female artists throughout the course of history of art. Unlike most feminist intellectuals in her times, she does not conduct her arguments through the typical feminist views, emotional and subjective centered, but rather through “historical analysis of the basic intellectual issues (Nochlin 145).”
states that men are to work and make money for the family. A woman's goal was to
By means of this her work shows enamour for unusual remnants that the society saw as useless understood by their actions of discarding these and offers a new strongly held perspective that allows us to see into the perspective of the world from a different angle, that at time was not seen as a tradition.
"Naming the Sacred." Weaving the visions: new patterns in feminist spirituality. Ed. Judith Plaskow and Carol P. Christ. San Francisco: HarperSan Francisco, 1989. 95-96.
Women have played many roles in societies since the dawn of time ever changing with time and from society to society. Each society hold a special place and role for women good and bad. Freedoms and equality of women has varied from opression to freedom. I will discuss some specific pieces of art and explain how the art shows the role of women in a specific society. I will tell you of their paril and achivements through time. Giving you a glimpse into the lives of women and how they were percieved by males and society. Some have have reveared women and some have disrespected them but through it all women have found a way to perservear. Women hold a place in history from culture to culture, and we see this in many pieces of art. From the art we can have a glimpse into a culture view of women and how they were treated in society.
Master of the Virgin inter Virgines. The Entombment of Christ. 1490. St. Louis Art Museum