WOMEN IN ART…BEHAVE YOURSELF!

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sooZen
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WOMEN IN ART…BEHAVE YOURSELF!

Post by sooZen » January 19th, 2016, 11:18 am

WOMEN IN ART…BEHAVE YOURSELF!
Journal Post

What a lot of people tend to forget is that all great artists and great art is usually surrounded or embroiled in controversy. Time and history blunts the sword that many of the “greats” wielded. Or those foresighted enough to create a totally new direction in art were slapped down and chastised, persecuted or even locked away for what they do or create.

This applies to both genders but most especially to women, artists or art subjects either one. It was okay to paint nude women (mostly) as a lot of male artists did but it wasn’t considered okay (in “polite society”) to paint nude prostitutes or women who made their living off of the vices of men. (For instance Henri Toulouse-Lautrec or Paul Gauguin, both of whom were not recognized by the ‘popular’ artists in their times because of their subject matter.)

Oh, many, many artists never achieve the fame they are due…many. Whether that is due to their inability to market their art and/or the fact that much of the public, even those that love and appreciate art, don’t want to or cannot support artists or pay for their considerable efforts. This was especially true for women.

Whether it was Georgia O’Keefe or Frida Kahlo, both of whom were largely overlooked because of the famous men in their lives (Stieglitz and Rivera) and then ironically ended up more famed (and appreciated) than either man. As Virginia Woolfe, writer and art appreciator famously said, “For most of history, Anonymous was a woman.”

Modern day artist Anne Kevans who is on a quest to ‘paint women artists in history that should have been famous’ says, "For hundreds of years there was this very strong control over the canon and [the male-dominated establishment] didn't want women written into it.”

We women were just an adjunct and that applies to not only art but politics, religion (unless we are sainted or fell from grace a’la Eve), or nowadays in the business sector as well. We are still judged much more harshly than men for how we act, what we wear, how we look and as artists, what we paint. (“Too cute!” “Feminine art is not serious art.” etc.)

As a woman, one would hope that times have changed and to a certain extent they have but we still have to ‘compete’ abet unfairly, with the huge ego’s and the innate need by some men to dominate women, especially those they perceive as possibly more talented and creative than they are.

Frida Kahlo put it pretty succinctly…
“There have been two great accidents in my life. One was the trolley, and the other was Diego. Diego was by far the worst.”

But she also said, “I love you more than my own skin,” which is totally womanly and part of the curse of woman, as an artist, who is living with a “great” male artist.

The dichotomy is “you can’t live with them, can’t live without them…” and unless you are totally divorced from their need for accolades or recognition or the lack of acknowledgement of your talents (fear based, I think) …one may have to wait a long, long time (maybe even after death like Frida) for what is their due.

And the real rub for many women artists in that situation is that they are the ‘muse,’ the inspiration and sometimes the very reason that he paints or creates at all.

And although a lot of people seem to assume that women who are in that situation started painting because their husbands/mates were painters, the truth is far different. As Kevans notes, "Because a lot of women were married to other artists, people assumed they were helped by their husbands. But, actually, those women were artists before they were married; indeed, that's how they met their husbands.” Indeed, I know this as a fact.

I can only hope that the future may be more democratic when it comes to women and art and I think my hope is being fulfilled by many of the young women I see painting today. I do not think they will ever be smothered or quelled by any man, even one they love more than their own skin…

Susan Elizabeth Appleby Lee
January 19, 2016
7:24 AM, MST
Freedom's just another word...



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the mingo
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Re: WOMEN IN ART…BEHAVE YOURSELF!

Post by the mingo » January 19th, 2016, 12:33 pm

8)
Doll, you may have found a place of rest but I'm still on the trail.

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Post by sooZen » March 23rd, 2016, 8:35 am

lullaby wrote:Flirtation, and even not as a trifling matter, this game of love is only the most boring people in the world will do. If nature really, seriously do a kids picnic, called hero martyr. Friends of righteousness, justice difficulty in changing word.
_[/url]
Honestly lullaby...I tried to understand exactly what you were saying but I could not make sense of it. If you can help translate, it would be appreciated. Thanks.
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leafsailors ghost
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Re: WOMEN IN ART…BEHAVE YOURSELF!

Post by leafsailors ghost » April 6th, 2016, 7:58 am

Most interesting, Men by nature are ego driven ,more so than woman(in my opinion) the woman ultimately choses. Because the man must contend for the prize(the woman) he has become his own horn sounder, drum banging, look at me ,look at me , critter. The thoughts you express seem to me to be spot on.

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Re: WOMEN IN ART…BEHAVE YOURSELF!

Post by sooZen » April 6th, 2016, 9:00 am

Thanks for reading and the response. Some things seem to never change..because it is still relevant today altho like I noted, young women artists now are not dealing with, nor accept the strictures that was the norm in the past.
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