Women in Art History Essay

Women in ancient Athens had roles in society that in some ways are similar to the roles and expectations of women in our culture today. They had more rights than many women of their time, but their freedoms were still limited. Women of Athens accepted their role however, unlike women today who are much more outspoken. While this was the norm back then, much of it would never be deemed acceptable now.

In 1971, Linda Nochlin issued her article “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists? This idea of aesthetic genius, says Nochlin, is fiction. Art is rarely produced entirely by the artist for the idea of personal expression. Few identifiers in contemporary art have been as fraught as the term feminist art. What does it mean, who defines it, and how does it relate to past accomplishments of the feminist movement?

In Sarah B. Pomeroy's influential monograph, Goddesses, Whores, Wives, and Slaves: Women in Classical Antiquity (1976), it is pointed out that in the past, when scholars have considered the quality of life for women in classical Athens, they have often subjectively selected the type of evidence to use for their argument. She argues that `optimists,' who are of the opinion that women enjoyed a comparatively liberated lifestyle, focus upon the prominent role that women play within art and drama. `Pessismists,' on the other hand, base their ideas upon Athenian laws and the writings of orators and moralists (Pomeroy: 1976; Just: 1989). The evidence that we have available regarding women `relate to different levels of reality' (Humphreys: 1983; Just: 1989), therefore the sources pertain to different aspects of women's lives and need to be pieced together to provide a clear picture.

In today’s society women are able to hold any position equal to that of a man. During ancient times, women were not given such opportunity. In basically all ancient civilizations, women did not have a role in society. This is especially true in ancient Greece. History has said that Athens is the place of freedom and democracy while Sparta is a restricted society. Though this might be true, that was not the case for women. Women in Homeric Greece and Sparta actually had more respect and freedom than those in Athens.

In his epic poem “The Aeneid,” Virgil details an account of how the great empire of Rome descended from a Trojan leader named Aeneas. It is an action-packed story, filled with tales from the hardships at sea to the brutality of warfare as Aeneas journeys to Italy following the downfall of Troy. Aeneas, the hero of the story, is depicted in mostly a positive light throughout the poem and shown portraying a wide variety of emotions and traits, some seemingly contrasting one another—from scorching, merciless anger to tender, affectionate love. While he is a three-dimensional, rather well-rounded character, Virgil depicts women throughout The Aeneid in a more one-dimensional, usually negative light, establishing a hint of sexism and misogyny throughout

In ancient Greek time women were seen as being delicate and placed on figurative pedestals. They were expected to take care of the house but had word in the decision of the order and way things should run in the house.

Oxford University Press, 1995. Pomeroy, Sarah B. Women’s Identity and the Family in the Classical Polis. na, 1995. IV,VII. “Women’s Life in Greece and Rome”, compiled and translated by A.G. Hug.

Friedan’s work displayed how women were regressing back into the role of homemaker, which was their most valued role under the influence of the mystique. The McCarthyite period caused much unrest in America because of the creation of the ideology of gender roles. Freidan argues:

Throughout Virgil 's The Aeneid, Aeneas conflicts between pietas and furor, in which several female characters influence his transition into the Roman leader whose virtue seeks duty towards the gods, family, and empire. In this epic, major woman roles such as Dido and Juno demonstrate raging qualities of furor that clash with Aeneas’ founding of Rome. These foil characters ravage Aeneas’ identity throughout his journey, and underline the misogynistic cultural views of Virgil’s era. However, this paper will reflect not the general representation of a cynical outlook on women, but will demonstrate how minor characters, Creusa and Lavinia, serve as the women who define and guide Aeneas ' masculinity and direct him towards Rome by ensuring his pietas. Creusa and Lavinia play a vital role in embodying the concept of Roman masculinity through the performance of their ethnicities and gender. Ethnicity and gender will be used to describe them as allies of the Roman empire through their share of culture, lineage, and the set of cultural expectations applied to their biological roles. Aeneas’ two wives are at the counter ends of his mission. Thus, their identities are constructed as complements to support the opportunity of ethnic unity in Rome. Creusa and Lavinia help Aeneas understand how his relative power relates to him and his community by demonstrating the positive effects of cost and human suffering that further establishes achievements. Therefore, they elucidate how the order

As an altarpiece, this piece is designed to send a message about the “right” behavior of women. It would be created to police the behavior of women, convicting them to turn away from the actions of Eve and towards those of

In sum, we will argue that Ancient Roman Art emphasizes female likeness as solidly attached to female social identity “as the women whom they were meant to represent belonged to a certain kind of elite, of status, descent and wealth.” In other words, we would argue that Roman artistic representation of the female figure would constitute a social and political agencies directed at the male actors who commissioned them. As women’s status was directly related to the males, they were closely associated with, the identity of an upper class woman was highly tied to her social position as wife, daughter, thus sharing their distinction with their male kin. We will conduct our discussion in the comparison between the distinctions that are to be fond among this particular category: between the various fashions of the “Pudicitia” and the representation of imperial women, with the Statue of Agrippina (Fig. 4) Maior (Tiberian Period) and the Coin of Caligula (Fig. 5) (37-41

In ancient literature, interactions between women are rare, but when they do occur they help develop the state of a woman, both mentally and emotionally. In studying several examples from ancient texts such as Hippolytus, Troilus and Criseyde, and The City of Ladies, it is evident that positive interactions between women act as a strengthening factor for female characters. Conversely, when a woman shuns her peers and relies on herself or only the men in her life, she becomes weak and isolated.

This is an critical evaluative essay on Mary R. Lefkowitz and Maureen B. Fant’s book Women's Life in Greece and Rome. For the final argumentative essay, I intend to compare the women in Greek Mythology and the women in Ancient Chinese folktales, therefore, I consider this book as one of my main foreign sources for the final argumentative essay. In this evaluation essay, I will mainly focus on two parts to illustrate why this book is suitable for my final essay. First, I will evaluate why the book is a reliable souce through following aspects: the author, the publisher and the audience. Moreover, I will also demonstrate the value of the book according to its valuable contents.

In present days gender equality seems ordinary around the world, but there are some areas still have male dominant and existence of prejudice against women, these areas include workplaces and strong cultural beliefs families. Gender inequality surfaced in ancient world, the surviving physical evidence such as temples, buildings and battle memorials illustrate this phenomenon where they all speak of man’s world. Though there are many surviving works of art feature of ancient women in various forms, but has rarely given any insight into other kind of world except that in which women were controlled, contained, and often exploited (Scott, 2009).

James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man presents an account of the formative years of aspiring author Stephen Dedalus. "The very title of the novel suggests that Joyce's focus throughout will be those aspects of the young man's life that are key to his artistic development" (Drew 276). Each event in Stephen's life -- from the opening story of the moocow to his experiences with religion and the university -- contributes to his growth as an artist. Central to the experiences of Stephen's life are, of course, the people with whom he interacts, and of primary importance among these people are women, who, as his story progresses, prove to be a driving force behind Stephen's art.