NOW YOU SEE US at the TATE BRITAIN on the 26th, MAY 2024

 

NOW YOU SEE US at the TATE BRITAIN on the 26^th, MAY 2024

A Dark Pool, Laura Knight, 1917

 

Fine arts in the Tudor period were being re-shaped by the Renaissance, a movement based initially in Italy, meaning ‘rebirth’.  The prestige of Italian art at this time meant that Italian artists and architects were sought after.  The Renaissance began to travel northward and incorporated artists and movements in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.  The first appearance of women artists in Britain coincided with these upheavals.  These women, Susanna Horenbout (1503 – 1554) and Levina Teerlinc (1510s – 1576) were born on the near continent and were the daughters of Flemish manuscript illuminators.  They were employed by the court, Susanna Horenbout served as a Gentlewoman of the Privy Chamber to Anne of Cleves and Teerlinc served Elizabeth I in a similar capacity. Horenbout’s brother Lucas Horenbout (1490-1544) was Henry VIII’s court painter, his official capacity, compared to his sister, who would, nevertheless, have been expected to paint at court.  Tudor England was not as advanced as the continent in terms of fine art and architecture but in music and literature it led the whole of Europe.  When it came to the fine arts the Tudors depended on imported talent.

Self-Portrait as the Allegory of Painting (La Pittura) by Artemisia Gentileschi (c1638-9)

Artemisia Gentileschi (1593 – c1656) arrived in London in 1638 with her father at the invitation of King Charles I and Queen Henrietta Maria.   Artemisia initially began painting in the style of Caravaggio who had strongly influenced her father, Orazio Gentileschi.  She later developed her own style which consists of Biblical allegory suggestive of biographical incidents in her own life.  The main work in this respect was Susanna and the Elders (1638-9), completed by Artemisia in London which references an incident in the Bible where the elders try to take advantage of Susanna who is bathing in her garden.  Artemisia had made earlier versions of this work, for instance a version completed in Rome in 1610.  The work may refer to Artemisia’s rape by Agostino Tassi in Rome in 1611 which led to a prolonged trial during which Artemisia was tortured with thumbscrews to verify that her testimony was truthful.  Tassi was exiled from Rome, but the sentence was never carried out.  Artemisia completed seven works while in London but left and returned to Naples in 1642 at the beginning of the Civil War.  Like many other women artists, interpretations of Artemisia’s work are strongly dictated by her biographical details.  Artemisia was a professional artist and member of an art academy at a time when female professional artists were virtually unheard of.

Susanna and the Elders by Artemisia Gentileschi, 1638-9

In the 17^th century female professional artists began to emerge in Britain.  They broke the mould, since little was expected of women in terms of public life.  Women were also subject to the authority of their husbands and fathers, obedience was an expectation.  The first professionals were, Joan Carlile, Mary Beale, Sarah Broman and Anne Wemyss.  The lives of Carlile and Beale were documented but very little is known about Broman and Wemyss.  Many women painted privately for their own interest but the traditional route of an apprenticeship to a studio was closed to women and yet open to men.  Increasingly, women were beginning to question the status quo and interrogate ruthless, intolerant attitudes about their rights and access to education, training and work.

Sketch of the Artist's Son, Bartholomew Beale by Mary Beale, 1660

Public art exhibitions were still virtually unknown in Britain, the first one occurred in 1760.  With the emergence of the Royal Academy in 1768, the RA’s Summer Exhibition was a focus for public interest and awareness of art.  Rival organisations also began to emerge, such as the Society of Artists and the British Institution and they also began to organise exhibitions.  Two of the founders of the Royal Academy, Angelica Kauffman and Mary Moser, had managed to establish themselves and a further 900 women artists exhibited their work through the Royal Academy between 1760 and 1830.

Standing Female Nude by Mary Moser, 1744-1819

Angelica Kauffman (1741-1807) did not spend her entire life in Britain.  She was born in Chur, Switzerland and died in Rome.  She lived in Britain from 1766 until 1781, established a studio in London, and was one of the first artists to paint British historical subjects.  She is well known today because she worked in genres that were the traditional domain of men, the ‘high genres’ of history painting whereas Mary Moser mainly painted flowers, a traditional domestic genre that could be accomplished at home, without a studio.

Colouring by Angelica Kauffman R.A., 1778-80

 

In 1770 the Royal Academy prohibited and banned from its exhibitions the kind of arts and crafts that were popular among women as well as drawings in pastel, watercolours and copies.  These were smaller scale forms that did not require the professional context of a studio, and which could be practised at home.   They were exceptionally popular with upper and middle-class women some of whom began to make an income from the sale of needlework, miniature painting and pastel.  The Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, set up in 1754, began to offer cash prizes and medals. 

Claire Maria Pope, Peony, 1821

Flower painting was also a popular genre for women to explore given its essentially static qualities, excellent for home study and apprentice work.  Many women were employed as botanical illustrators, working for horticulturists and botanical illustrators.  Given the new interest in natural history and the new science of taxonomy initiated by Leibniz and Carl Linnaeus, botanical painting helped to combine artistic study with scientific investigation.

The Roll Call by Elizabeth Butler, 1874

Women were not expected to pursue careers in commerce, and many changed their status from professional to amateur when they married.  Women were expected to pursue traditional arts and crafts and, although they were not expressly forbidden from painting in accepted male genres like nudes and battle scenes, this was certainly frowned upon.  However, some women challenged convention by painting in these genres, such as Elizabeth Butler (1846-1933) who painted scenes from the Napoleonic, Crimean and Zulu wars.  Her work The Roll Call which was purchased by Queen Victoria, is included in this exhibition.  Manchester born artist Annie Swynnerton (1844-1933) pioneered the painting of female nudes such as Mater Triumphalis (1892).

Self-Portrait by Louise Jopling, 1875

The late Victorian age saw the expansion of exhibiting venues like the Royal Academy, which was now perceived as old-fashioned and conservative, for instance London’s Grosvenor Gallery (1877) and new venues in Liverpool and Manchester.  World Fairs such as those held in London and Paris and the World’s Exposition in Chicago in 1893 gave artists further opportunities to reach out to new, international audiences.  Through these new venues women began to tackle subject matter usually allocated to male artists.  However, membership of the Royal Academy was out of reach for women artists, and this meant that it was extremely hard for women to exhibit, and they had to try to find a way in the world of commercial art without institutional support.  Women artist groups were calling for access to the Academy and petitioning for more and better access to training, education, and work as well as women’s suffrage.

Giorgiana as Cynthia from Spenser's Faerie Queen by Maria Cosway, 1781-2

Genres like watercolour, regarded by the Victorian patriarchy as a niche best suited to women, because of its amateur and hobbyist associations was limited in terms of professional practice to two societies, the Old (founded in 1804) and the New (founded in 1807 and reconstituted in 1831).  Women were admitted but only four to the Old and ten to the New.  Women were not allowed to be full members and could only gain the status of ‘Lady Members’ which meant that they were not allowed to exhibit at the annual exhibitions of both societies.  Nevertheless, some women watercolourists did achieve significant critical and commercial success.  The Society of Female Artists was founded in 1857 by a group of women.  In 1869 it was renamed as the Society of Lady Artists and in 1899 the Society of Women Artists.  Its purpose was to promote the work of women artists in Britain.  The nomenclature was oppressively significant.  The exhibition also details the impact of photography on women artists.

Louise Jopling, A Modern Cinderella, 1875

The First World war marked a watershed between the Victorian era and Modernity.  During the war many women were drafted into the armaments industry in Britain and took on their full share of war work while their husbands, sons and brothers were away at the front.  Following the end of the war, in 1928, women were granted universal suffrage and further access to education, training and work began to follow.  Now You See Us provides a comprehensive study of women artists in Britain but it is also an indictment of misogyny and crass, sexist attitudes that proliferated in this country before the modern era.

Paul Murphy, Tate Britain, May 2024