I'm doing 10 x 2 hour classes at the National Gallery looking at women in art.
Katy Tabard was an excellent speaker. She started by asking how many women artists we could think of prior to 1900. Not many. I could think of their artworks, but not their names. Then she expanded it to all women artists. Yet we could think of many more men. She also noted that most women artists who had achieved success had significant similarities. eg Linda Nochlin - woman, jewish, attended all girls school, and had significant supporters.
But Tabard said most women agreed that Nochlin's statement that the solution was NOT that there had not been any great women artists, or that we should dig up examples from the past. The first step was to define "what IS a great woman artist?"
The male Narrative of Genius has two types. He-man - Michelangelo or Caravaggio; or Wistful/showman - Van Gogh.
This privileges individual experience over social institutions.
Quote from Giorgio Vasari in Life of Individual Artists. Who decides on Great: " The better from the good and the best from the better".
Typically there was 1 great genius male from each era who hands over the baton of greatness. Up to the Renaissance. A belief that genius is innate and a mature genius plucks them from anonymity. Women were banned from Guilds. Held back by 'woman brain', not having the male 'nugget of gold'.
What did men have access to, and women did not? "In our Institutions and our Education". Linda Nochlin
Conditions, training and conventions. Women (1900s) cannot go along to the countryside - no grand tour or flaneur. Women don't go to bars, or life class.
In the Renaissance:
Workshop/studio). Not for women, unless
Workshop/Guild). daughter/wife of artist.
Renaissance Humanist circles) Women
Talk freely to patrons. ). excluded
Travelling freely ). Not for women.
Judith Leystar - married an artist. Paintings covered her signature and attributed to her husband.
Gentileschi - St Catherine - recent acquisition. NG trying to change its artstock.
Subverted training problem probably by training her father's workshop
Rape trial - moves to Florence. Artist life, esp for women eg rape, evidenced in their work, but look at the quality of their work - really significant.
Tracey Emin. Motherhood idea. Claims her art career would have been impossible with children. Most successful artists with children, are men!
Rose Wylie. Art history on tv - all men. She reduced her work due to her children. Art discussions in the home. Her daughter's views was that art discussions with other artists in their home, focussed on the husband and ignored Rose Wylie's views.
17-19th century
The Academy system - excluded women. It was required as a precursor for:
The Salon
The Grand Tour
The Prix du Rome
Travelling freely
Engagement in politics
thus prevented women's access to the broader art scene of success.
RA - women excluded until 1862
Beaux Arts - women totally shut out until 18th C
Penn - women only allowed in life class in 1868.
Paris Salon - 1660 - Prize was free Prix du Rome tour 3-5 years. Women excluded until 1925.
RA - 1871-2 Maria Cosway, Mary Moser, and Angelica Kauffman. The next woman was Laura Knight, 1936.
Life Class - male nude is fundamental to being a great artist. Therefore only men allowed to draw it - due to the sensitivities of women! Hierarchy of painting:
History & Mythology painting (therefore need life class to get full body proportions right)
Portrait
Landscape
Genre.
Thus women cannot compete as excluded from life class. In 1850 no women members of RA life class.
1893 Women admitted to RA life class, but figures must be draped!
Women relegated to minor fields - landscape and genre. Rosa Bonheure, daughter of liberal artists, entered the field in 1849. Dressed as a man. Very practical way to dress - trousers and shirts - in order to observe and paint outdoors.
Women painters: Mary and Margaret Gainsborough.
Flower painting - seen as amateur pastime. OK for women.
Elizabeth Vigee Le Brun. Great self portrait based on Reuben. Mythology painting. Royal patronage helped. Marie Antoinette - seen in mother role - for better public appeal. Does not train other women.
Labille Guiard 1785 does train other women.
Emily Osborn. Nameless and Friendless. Paints the condition of women. Moved from Kent to London. Her mother wanted her to be an artist. Queen Victoria patronises her. EO was a Girton College feminist.
Most art critics are men. Eliza Thompson, Lady Butler - Crimea Calling the Roll - depicts aftermath of war - painted many years after the event.
Who controls the narrative? Women influencers in art history. Main floors and lower galleries - where are women staged? Exhibitions make this really clear. Main gallery and collecting policies are not clearly explained. (And even when they are clear, eg National Portrait Gallery, they do not follow them!).
Top 100 sales prices - no women.
Nicola McCartney. Makers not Muses. Feminist Guide to Art History.
20 out of 2400 - women to men artists in National Gallery.
Representation of women in mainstream society - unequal.
John Berger - art history - Men act, and women appear. Relationship of women to themselves. Women are complicit.
Laura Mulvey - visual culture. Active/male, passive/female (Mulvey 1989 [1975]: 19). Court the gaze. Decorative. Women view each other through the male gaze.
Flaneur - male. Solitary, gifted man. Not woman. So what do women do?:
Mary Cassatt - 5 o'clock tea. Domestic space.
Inactive (Diane Arbus), sexualised and fetishised (Frida Kahlo) and mad (Seraphine de Senlis).
How to resist?
Gluck - refused pronoun 'she'.
Don't look at art history in a silo. Symptomatic of larger, social system and construct.
Carolee Schneeman - RIP.
Romantice - genius becomes male.
Performance art makes the personal public. Why? Alan Jones Chair (1969)
Guerrilla Girls. Academic and theoretical feminism.
Jenny Holzer. Text and media. Authors work of 'the collection'. Appropriates mass media and utilises patriarchy to critique it.
Private artworks wants a name and signatures. Artworld does not want multi- prints by a group as Guerrilla Girls do. Print is key to their success. Read their press releases - international art world language. Props up their cultural capital. Men's techniques - lectures, monologues, books. Guerrilla Girls make the debate more accessible - Humour offensive. GG Bedside Companion to Western Art does not challenge the male way.
GGs are multi-ethnic. By wearing the Guerrilla mask, it removes the blackness/difference between them. Latinos - comfortable in mask for whites because it removes white privilege. But fails to acknowledge individual women. But this has pros and cons. Anonymity fails to acknowledge the individual - but all get some success. Concealed identity and sharing pseudonyms means detractors don't target a person.
Parker and Pollock. p45 Old Mistresses. Based on personality still.
Art history is still representative of social constructs and resistance.
Friday 29 March 2019
Tuesday 26 March 2019
Framing samples
I collected my Montenegrin and Jacobean samples from the framers today. I was a bit disappointed with them, but not upset. I'm not good at specifying what I want, or how I want it to look. I had accepted the advice from the framer, assuming they were more competent than me. They have not achieved the look that I wanted, but I contributed to this failing, by not being able to specify what was optimal.
Faults are: the surround to the float mount is too small. Should have been much bigger to privilege the work; the fabric is not evenly stretched so the thicker linen woven threads can be seen to waver; the hand woven linen is very fine and the ends of the embroidery threads can be seen (should have stitched them in more securely).
However I am far from disheartened by this. I see both of these as stitch exercises - useful to learn a new technique, but not actually inspiring me to stitch.
I see the Montenegrin sample as a piece that fulfils middle class values. In order for this to be stitched in 1653 (date of the original sampler by Elizabeth Billingsley) it required wealth (for the linen, dyed silks, hand made needles, and embroidery frame -threads were finished on the top, as the frame could not be flipped). Thus she came from an affluent family. Her education taught her decorative, and highly complex stitches - therefore she was a child whose time was spent on non-utilitarian sewing. Her leisured occupation led to her being highly skilled - Montenegrin is incredibly complex, and she must have had a lot of practice to stitch it so well, in so many directions.
For all that I admire Elizabeth Billingsley's skills, I reflect that her use of Montenegrin stitch is cleverness, for cleverness' sake. Its purpose is to densely cover the fabric. Which it does. Incredibly complexly. I have mastered it, through many hours work, yet I cannot identify when I would use it again. It is very useful for patterning as demonstrated above, but I cannot see further use for it.
The Jacobean sampler is not my taste because although I enjoyed the process of stitching, and learned a new, useful stitch, it creates a picture. The Jacobean Royalist symbolism is not readable to a modern audience. The tree is an oak (Boscobel oak), with acorns (royal lineage), butterfly and caterpillar (Charles I and Charles II), borage flowers (courage), spider (concealed hiding place of Charles I), hazelnuts (?) bedbugs, fleas, snail etc. I loved working with the two weights of silk thread, and learned to do Elizabethan twisted chain stitch for the trunk. This was not part of the kit design. Elizabethan twisted chain stitch is very effective to get sinuous curves.
But the process of working with the Jacobean 'picture' made me think about iconography. My choice of iconography is about working class objects, like toilet brushes, cleaning bottles, and car seats. It is not about flowers , which were traditionally painted by genteel ladies. Rozsika Parker notes the iconography in samplers often selected the same biblical stories about women. So I need to reflect on inconography and class.
 |
| Jacobean sample |
 |
| Montenegrin sample |
I see the Montenegrin sample as a piece that fulfils middle class values. In order for this to be stitched in 1653 (date of the original sampler by Elizabeth Billingsley) it required wealth (for the linen, dyed silks, hand made needles, and embroidery frame -threads were finished on the top, as the frame could not be flipped). Thus she came from an affluent family. Her education taught her decorative, and highly complex stitches - therefore she was a child whose time was spent on non-utilitarian sewing. Her leisured occupation led to her being highly skilled - Montenegrin is incredibly complex, and she must have had a lot of practice to stitch it so well, in so many directions.
For all that I admire Elizabeth Billingsley's skills, I reflect that her use of Montenegrin stitch is cleverness, for cleverness' sake. Its purpose is to densely cover the fabric. Which it does. Incredibly complexly. I have mastered it, through many hours work, yet I cannot identify when I would use it again. It is very useful for patterning as demonstrated above, but I cannot see further use for it.
The Jacobean sampler is not my taste because although I enjoyed the process of stitching, and learned a new, useful stitch, it creates a picture. The Jacobean Royalist symbolism is not readable to a modern audience. The tree is an oak (Boscobel oak), with acorns (royal lineage), butterfly and caterpillar (Charles I and Charles II), borage flowers (courage), spider (concealed hiding place of Charles I), hazelnuts (?) bedbugs, fleas, snail etc. I loved working with the two weights of silk thread, and learned to do Elizabethan twisted chain stitch for the trunk. This was not part of the kit design. Elizabethan twisted chain stitch is very effective to get sinuous curves.
But the process of working with the Jacobean 'picture' made me think about iconography. My choice of iconography is about working class objects, like toilet brushes, cleaning bottles, and car seats. It is not about flowers , which were traditionally painted by genteel ladies. Rozsika Parker notes the iconography in samplers often selected the same biblical stories about women. So I need to reflect on inconography and class.
Thinking about middle class and working class
I've been reading around middle class and working class women and embroidery.
At a talk yesterday, the speaker said there was friction between middle and working class women in the suffragette movement. Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst, of the Women's Social and Political union pushed the group towards championing suffrage, to the exclusion of other women's issues, thus alienating working class women within the movement. Sylvia Pankhurst was excluded from the WSPU by her mother and sister around 1913, because she wanted to focus on the issues of the working class women. Sylvia was a pacifist; set up the Society of East London Suffragettes; set up a cost-price restaurant (to avoid the 'charity' label) for poor people; created a toy factory to employ women made unemployed during wartime (conchies?); and lobbied for soldier's wives to have war allowances paid to them. Her mother and sister lobbied for conscription, and were pro-war, suspending militant suffrage activities.
Middle class women wanted the support of working class women, but did not represent the working class woman's issues, and instead represented their own. There is friction between what is important to different classes.
I've struggled with my class identity - as how I identify my class, is different to how others see me. I identify as working class for the following reasons:
- brought up by parents who lived in poverty (low wages/unemployed)
- trained as a secretary
- I worked to support myself for 30 years (no man needed to keep me)
- Worked in manual industry - railway
- no private income
- political views - I want the worker to be paid a fair rate for the job
Thus my view is apparently quite Marxist - mostly about working because I have nothing but my body and skills to earn my living. I do not own the method of production.
Yet I keep being told I come across as middle class (wealth, education, occupation)
- I appear to be wealthy. (Because I can manage money competently, and don't waste it, also have no dependents)
- Retired at 48
- Pension income is mine, because of my contributions (ie not dependent)
- Occupation: management
- Education. I've always enjoyed education. Leisure classes from mid-20s - embroidery/art. Professional qualification - IPD in my 30s. Degree at 51. Higher degree now.
All the middle class criteria came my way during middle age, as a consequence of my lifestyle (single, no children) and inclination (seeking activities/occupations to keep my mind busy).
As I accept that working class women get hacked off with middle class women hi-jacking and taking credit for their achievements, how do I resolve this in my work? Ford machinists were really angry that their dispute was taken over by middle class women as the catalyst for the Equal Pay Act - which is about equal pay for equal work, when the dispute was about recognition of skill, and being paid equitably for their skill levels. I really understand that working class women want their skills/issues recognised, not their cause being used to further what is important to middle class women.
So if I'm seen as middle class, then representing working class women could be really patronising. I'm trying to overcome this by representing them positively for what was important to them (Gifti, Mavis, and Sarpong, the toilet cleaners) or their families (Mrs Konieczny, Aunt Joan, Aunt Daisy).
At a talk yesterday, the speaker said there was friction between middle and working class women in the suffragette movement. Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst, of the Women's Social and Political union pushed the group towards championing suffrage, to the exclusion of other women's issues, thus alienating working class women within the movement. Sylvia Pankhurst was excluded from the WSPU by her mother and sister around 1913, because she wanted to focus on the issues of the working class women. Sylvia was a pacifist; set up the Society of East London Suffragettes; set up a cost-price restaurant (to avoid the 'charity' label) for poor people; created a toy factory to employ women made unemployed during wartime (conchies?); and lobbied for soldier's wives to have war allowances paid to them. Her mother and sister lobbied for conscription, and were pro-war, suspending militant suffrage activities.
Middle class women wanted the support of working class women, but did not represent the working class woman's issues, and instead represented their own. There is friction between what is important to different classes.
I've struggled with my class identity - as how I identify my class, is different to how others see me. I identify as working class for the following reasons:
- brought up by parents who lived in poverty (low wages/unemployed)
- trained as a secretary
- I worked to support myself for 30 years (no man needed to keep me)
- Worked in manual industry - railway
- no private income
- political views - I want the worker to be paid a fair rate for the job
Thus my view is apparently quite Marxist - mostly about working because I have nothing but my body and skills to earn my living. I do not own the method of production.
Yet I keep being told I come across as middle class (wealth, education, occupation)
- I appear to be wealthy. (Because I can manage money competently, and don't waste it, also have no dependents)
- Retired at 48
- Pension income is mine, because of my contributions (ie not dependent)
- Occupation: management
- Education. I've always enjoyed education. Leisure classes from mid-20s - embroidery/art. Professional qualification - IPD in my 30s. Degree at 51. Higher degree now.
All the middle class criteria came my way during middle age, as a consequence of my lifestyle (single, no children) and inclination (seeking activities/occupations to keep my mind busy).
As I accept that working class women get hacked off with middle class women hi-jacking and taking credit for their achievements, how do I resolve this in my work? Ford machinists were really angry that their dispute was taken over by middle class women as the catalyst for the Equal Pay Act - which is about equal pay for equal work, when the dispute was about recognition of skill, and being paid equitably for their skill levels. I really understand that working class women want their skills/issues recognised, not their cause being used to further what is important to middle class women.
So if I'm seen as middle class, then representing working class women could be really patronising. I'm trying to overcome this by representing them positively for what was important to them (Gifti, Mavis, and Sarpong, the toilet cleaners) or their families (Mrs Konieczny, Aunt Joan, Aunt Daisy).
Tuesday 19 March 2019
Progressing Eastbury Manor possibilities
I rang Eastbury Manor to follow up exhibition possibilities. I spoke to Clare (the assistant premises manager) and Matilda, the Commercial Operations & Events Manager.
I said my tutors at Coventry were really excited about the possibility of exhibiting at Eastbury Manor, as it fitted geographically and in spirit to my work about the East End women I was representing. I explained that I needed to find out whether Eastbury Manor would accept my proposal and then identify dates for the show, as my tutors needed to identify and book assessors who were able to access this area. I stated I would be totally compliant with health & safety/premises requirements (I'm a former premises manager at London Underground) for the Grade 1 listed building.
Matilda said she would get back to me by Friday, 22 March 2019.
I said my tutors at Coventry were really excited about the possibility of exhibiting at Eastbury Manor, as it fitted geographically and in spirit to my work about the East End women I was representing. I explained that I needed to find out whether Eastbury Manor would accept my proposal and then identify dates for the show, as my tutors needed to identify and book assessors who were able to access this area. I stated I would be totally compliant with health & safety/premises requirements (I'm a former premises manager at London Underground) for the Grade 1 listed building.
Matilda said she would get back to me by Friday, 22 March 2019.
Notes of tutorial 14.3.19
Notes of Tutorial – Jill Journeaux, Cathy MacTaggart
Thursday 14 March 2019
I saw Jill on 14 March 2019 for a wide ranging tutorial.
We discussed my end of year show. Jill liked the look of Eastbury Manor, and encouraged me to speak to Katy Morrison re budget. I had chased Alice, assistant to the premises manager, at Eastbury Manor. Both the National Trust and London Borough of Barking & Dagenham have to agree to the show and she had spoken to one of them (not sure which) who thought my show was a great idea, but had not spoken to the other. I will chase again once I know my budget.
Jill was in agreement with my ideas for timescales for the exhibition – stage on a Tuesday; assessment Wednesday morning, PV Wednesday afternoon; (funded by me/CU); and hopefully Thursday/Friday/Sunday open to public as part of National Trust normal opening hours (funded by NT/LBBD?) with me present to steward. I think of this as a pop-up show.
We discussed potential assessors, particularly people who would find the East End easy to access. The nearest station to Eastbury Manor is Upney (underground) within walking distance; or Barking (national rail) within a short taxi ride. Jill wondered about Imogen Aust. I suggested Flea Cooke, who retired from University of Herts in 2011. JJ/IR to resolve.
Jill said Imogen was unclear about how much primary research I had done. I need to work out how to demonstrate my primary research in my writing. I make a list of the primary research by sampler. I also do a lot of contextual research, recorded in my exhibition book, and will list the major items. Most of the contextual research is listed on my blog.
Jill asked for 500 words on Characteristics and Innovation evidenced in my work. Focus on: Unseen women; narrative; hand made; skilled making; advocacy; use of samplers to reframe the message.
We debated me taking a break from study after the MA. Jill understood my desire for extentive travel by bike; also suggested applying for funding from Coventry, City of Culture to run stitch workshops looking at women’s values, with community groups. This might be a really good idea – to develop new skills and confidence; take an academic break, then carry on studying.
Actions:
CMT to write to Katy Morrison re budget – done
CMT to contact Eastbury Manor re exhibition and get consent/dates
JJ/IR to liaise re assessors
CMT to list primary research and contextual research and send to IR
CMT to write 500 words on Characteristics and Innovation
CMT to investigate funding opportunity with Coventry, City of Culture. Geoff Willcox.arx177@cov.ac.uk.
Friday 8 March 2019
Exploring possibilities at Eastbury Manor
I spoke to Alice, the assistant to the site manager (who was away from office). The East End Women's museum office is temporarily sited there (Mon-Weds). I told Alice I was seeking a venue for my MA show (5 lightweight samplers and supporting artwork) in either July or September. I'd need to attach work to walls (without damaging them, fully competent with non-invasive fixings). My tutors were suggesting an exhibition for a week, and I'd need to know room hire costs. (I'm a student on a limited budget, but would find out from my tutors whether there was a university fund available)
Alice told me that the venue could open on days other than normal opening, and in the evening. Room hire costs at the weekend (depending on the room) ranged from £41.50-£91.90 an hour. Weekdays cheaper. I asked Alice to find out whether costs were negotiable, on the grounds of my student status; my work representing East End women, so the venue is appropriate; and my strong family association with the area (my Nan lived 4 doors away from Eastbury Manor). They had a catering function (for the cafe) and held an alcohol licence. They could support a private view. They have been working with UEL for a few years with art exhibitions. There are 2 disability parking spaces, otherwise park around the local roads. When I parked there, it was generally congested.
I went around the house, and photographed the rooms from various angles. Downstairs rooms had insufficient wall space. Upstairs rooms (via stairs and accessible lift) were more appropriate. The most appealing room was the North West Chamber.
 |
| View from doorway |
 |
| View to left from doorway |
 |
| Looking back at doorway |
 |
| Looking at side wall (entrance door out of sight to left) |
 |
| Corner of room with entrance door |
 |
| Deep window cills, suitable for concertina sketchbooks? |
 |
| 4 window cills in total |
 |
| All with a radiator underneath |
 |
| Spotlights and white picture rail |
 |
| Toilets just outside the room. Also accessible lift. |
I also participated in the Eastbury Manor tour, by Douggie, a 97 year old guide volunteer. Great tour. He told us how the bread oven worked - put a shovel of embers on the base of the oven, put dough on a rack above the embers. Block up the opening with damp clay, and when it was dried, the bread was done. The bread was broken in half - top and bottom. The staff got the bottom crust which had the ashes baked into it, and the family - the upper crust, got the top!
Monday 4 March 2019
Options for Exhibition
I've not been able to even think about my exhibition for the last couple of months. That would have required innovative thinking and I've struggled to cope with writing, let alone promoting myself as an effective artist and student! However, my usual New Year depression has lifted and it's now March. Time to get on with it.
So discussion today in class was quite helpful. I'd been thinking about going to Eastbury Manor in Barking to whether I could hire a room for my exhibition. It's only open Thursday, Friday and Sunday, so I will go down to talk to staff on Thursday. It's also the temporary office space for the East End Women's Museum. I think my work fits well with the EEWM, and Eastbury Manor is in the right geographical area.
Class members also came up with other venues: Hoxton gallery; Braintree Museum; Espacio (used by City Lit); Warners Textile Archive (already explored). Or I could explore availability at Coventry, given the refurbishment of the building has slippage, and may be available in July/September.
Vanda made some useful comments. On her Masters course, the end of year exhibition was a module in itself. My exhibition has just been mentioned to me, and absolutely left to me to organise. Initial information from my tutor was that I could share a show with another student, who then ended up doing a wholly written Masters on the Domestic, with no artwork input. So it's going to be a solo show. Vanda came up with a few helpful comments:
Get in touch with Eastbury Manor - is an exhibition viable here in September?
Hold end of year show at Coventry for assessment purposes, and create plan for exhibition in 2 years somewhere else.
Try getting on the Steering Group for EEWM to build relationships. Use this to set up exhibition in EEWM when it opens in 2020 and along with community outreach projects.
I feel much more positive about the exhibition.
So discussion today in class was quite helpful. I'd been thinking about going to Eastbury Manor in Barking to whether I could hire a room for my exhibition. It's only open Thursday, Friday and Sunday, so I will go down to talk to staff on Thursday. It's also the temporary office space for the East End Women's Museum. I think my work fits well with the EEWM, and Eastbury Manor is in the right geographical area.
Class members also came up with other venues: Hoxton gallery; Braintree Museum; Espacio (used by City Lit); Warners Textile Archive (already explored). Or I could explore availability at Coventry, given the refurbishment of the building has slippage, and may be available in July/September.
Vanda made some useful comments. On her Masters course, the end of year exhibition was a module in itself. My exhibition has just been mentioned to me, and absolutely left to me to organise. Initial information from my tutor was that I could share a show with another student, who then ended up doing a wholly written Masters on the Domestic, with no artwork input. So it's going to be a solo show. Vanda came up with a few helpful comments:
Get in touch with Eastbury Manor - is an exhibition viable here in September?
Hold end of year show at Coventry for assessment purposes, and create plan for exhibition in 2 years somewhere else.
Try getting on the Steering Group for EEWM to build relationships. Use this to set up exhibition in EEWM when it opens in 2020 and along with community outreach projects.
I feel much more positive about the exhibition.
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