Post 4:I don't need a man, she stated.

It's true at the beginning of this semester i could not name 5 women artists.  Now i have so many women artists to talk about, i cant even just pick 5. Eventually i picked Judy Chicago, Artemisia Gentlishi, Hatshepsut, Wangeshi Mutu and Elizabetta Siriani.  Every one of these women had to take a stand against all the men and society that was holding them back. It was a hard and long journey, but in the end they made it, they took a stand and now the whole world is learning about them.

I will start off with my absolute favorite artist, Artemisia Gentelischi.  She is a woman who was driven by her anger and revenge.  Artemisia Gentelischi was raped by Agostino Tassi, who was a colleague of her father's (Guerrilla Girls 35).  Even before that she displayed her feminism through her painting "Susanna and the Elders", which displayed a different idea of women.  "Susanna and the Elders offers striking evidence of Gentileschi's ability to transform the conventions of seventeenth century painting in ways that would ultimately give new content to the imagery of the female figure" (Chadwick 47).  It is clear that she highly disagreed with the stereo types placed on women, for example the idea is that a women is the seducer and that she asks to be raped, which is basically what my final project was about.  This is the art the shows the power of women and their disagreement with these horrendous statements.

"Susanna and the Elders" Artemisia Gentelischi, 1610.

Also "Judith Slaying Holofernes" is an example of one of the many paintings of Gentelischi's that displays the strength of a women.  "The biblical story of a Jewish woman who kills an Assyrian general, an enemy of her people, by pretending to seduce him" (Guerrilla Girls 45).  It shows that even if the women is a seducer, she will not allow the man to take advantage of her.  She can protect herself and her country.

"Judith Slaying Holofernes" Artemisia Gentileschi, 1620.

Next on my list is Elisabetta Sirani, who also believed in the strength of a woman.  Her famous painting "Portia Wounding her Thigh" is a perfect example of this mentality.  "Stabbing herself deeply in the thigh, Portia has to prove herself virtuous and worthy of political trust by separating herself from the rest of her sex" (Chadwick 101). Sirani states that a woman can be just as strong and trust worthy as a man.  She also makes Portia separate herself from the rest of the sex to encourage other women to adapt to becoming more feminist and say to the world that women are not weak.  

"Portia Wounding her Thigh" Elisabetta Sirani, 1664.

Next is Wangeshi Mutu, who has very weird and somewhat scary work but very strong.  "Believing that cultures project their deepest desires and worst fears onto women's bodies, Mutu uses feminine forms to investigate colonialism and displacement, religion and ritual, consumerism and environmental degradation, international perceptions of Africa, and the eroticization of the black female body" (The Brooklyn Museum).

Wangechi Mutu "Root of All Eves", 2010

Above is one of my favorites of her work.  This is another artist with work that defies the idea of a woman being less than a man, or as they say women are the source of all evil since they carry on the crime of Eve. "This work conflates perceptions of woman as the root of evil—as in the story of Adam and Eve—and the characterization of Africa as the “dark continent” where evil forces originate and reside" (Online 1).  The idea that she was representing here is the stereo types that always exist, for example how women are weak, unreliable, evil and also the false ideas about African American women.  

Judy Chicago is my next artist.  Now i know and we all know that there are no words that can describe how amazing and inspiring this woman is.  In the movie WAR: Woman Art Revolution we are shown how she is in reality not just her work but her personality.  She is a woman who believes in the strength of women, she is a feminist that did what ever is in her power to bring justice to all women.  Her work "The Dinner Party" was a tremendous success but after all the hard work to keep it in display. "The Dinner Party by Judy Chicago is an icon of feminist art, which represents 1,038 women in history—39 women are represented by place settings and another 999 names are inscribed in the Heritage Floor on which the table rests. This monumental work of art is comprised of a triangular table divided by three wings, each 48 feet long" (Online 2). 

Judy Chicago "The Dinner Party" 1974-79

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One of the women that Judy Chicago had mentioned in her work "The Dinner Party" is Hatshepsut, who is a great icon in Egypt, she was the first female pharaoh in Egypt.  "She claimed the role of pharaoh,  Technically, Hatshepsut did not 'usurp' the crown... but it is clear that Hatshepsut was the principal rule in power.  She began having herself depicted in traditional king's kilt and crown, along with a fake beard and male body.  This was not an attempt tot rick people into thinking she was male; rather, since there were no words or images to portray a woman with this status, it was a way of asserting her authority" (Online 3).  This is a clear example that the problem of women being in the position of having to act like a man has been in many cultures and many eras, for the simple fact that women are displayed as the weak gender, the undependable.  

All these women have in common the fact that they fight for their rights and other women's rights.  The simple fact that they are tired of being portrayed as the weaker gender.  They are all from different cultures and eras but they all suffered from the same issues.  It seems that very little has changed.  That's why every woman should and has to stand up for herself.

Works Cited

"Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art: The Dinner Party." Brooklyn Museum:. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Dec. 2013. <http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/dinner_party/home.php>.

"Exhibitions." Brooklyn Museum:. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Dec. 2013. <http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/wangechi_mutu/root_of_all_eves.php>.

"Hatshepsut Biography." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2013. <http://www.biography.com/people/hatshepsut-9331094>.

"Judith Slaying Holofernes." Judith Slaying Holofernes. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2013. <http://www.artemisia-gentileschi.com/judith1.html>.

"Portia Wounding Her Thigh by SIRANI, Elisabetta." Portia Wounding Her Thigh by SIRANI, Elisabetta. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Dec. 2013. <http://www.wga.hu/html_m/s/sirani/elisabet/portia.html>.

"Susanna and The Elders." Susanna and The Elders. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Dec. 2013. <http://www.artemisia-gentileschi.com/susanna.html>.