Feminine Perspectives: A New Look
The Musée des Beaux-arts akes a new look at the representation of women in art and examines the place of women artists through its own collections
Saint, executioner, or victim?
Monster or victim? Femme fatale or adulteress? Saint or executioner? In a constant duality, representations of women reflect historical and mythological texts, but above all, the era of their creation.
Lucretia (16th century) by AnonymeMusée des Beaux-arts
Lucretia
In 509 BCE, the king's son raped Lucretia. Unable to live with this infamy, she killed herself after making her relatives swear to avenge her. The Roman people rose up against this dishonored dynasty. The monarchy was abolished in favor of the new Roman Republic.
Lucretia's double tragedy, her rape followed by her suicide, is illustrated simultaneously here. She represents the ideal of virtue, the chaste woman to be taken as a model. She also embodies a symbol of courage in the face of male violence, her act being considered heroic.
Thomyris, Queen of the Massagetae, dips Cyrus's head in a vessel of blood (18th century) by Jean-Simon Le Bouteux Dit BerthélemyMusée des Beaux-arts
Tomyris, queen of the Massagetae
Tomyris is the Queen of the Massagetae. She refused Cyrus's opportunistic marriage proposal and triggered a violent clash during which he died. In revenge, she ordered his severed head to be plunged into a vase filled with blood, a scene illustrated in this painting.
This subject inspires many artists and can be linked to the theme of "strong women": the viragos. It is surely thanks to this image of a courageous queen and dominant woman that Tomyris enjoys a significant posterity; she can be found in an opera as well as a video game.
Myth of women: Desire and fantasy
From the Renaissance, art codified feminine beauty, an ideal constructed by men. Goddesses served as a pretext for eroticism and nudity while avoiding scandal. Then, in the 18th and 19th centuries, the attraction for the "elsewhere" developed with sensual and lascivious women.
The Three Graces and Cupid weeping (First half of the 17th century) by Salimbeni SimondioMusée des Beaux-arts
The three Graces and Cupid weeping
Three unclothed women embrace, forming a circle in a dark landscape. The positioning of their feet suggests movement; they seem to be dancing gently. The light highlights the pale, nude, and fleshy bodies, which contrast with the dark background.
This trio represents the three Graces: Aglaea, Euphrosyne, and Thalia. Companions of Venus, the Goddess of Love. They constitute an ideal of beauty, and their position allows the feminine body to be appreciated in all its facets. Women's bodies adapted to the tastes of each period.
Portraits of sculptors, preparing for the Salon (1909) by Joseph BelonMusée des Beaux-arts
Portraits of sculptors, preparation for the salon
This painting illustrates the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts of 1909, an annual event that presents and rewards artists. The male gaze is omnipresent. The only feminine presences are the statues, like the marble in the foreground that draws the eye.
The concept of the "Male Gaze," theorized in 1975 by critic and filmmaker Laura Mulvey, highlights the fact that the male gaze transforms women into objects of desire. This can be applied to artworks, where women are often passive and men are the drivers of the narrative.
Oh my muse! Perfect women, mother and wife
Professional, close to artistic circles, artist or wife, women served as models for artists. Feminine representations are linked to a search for moral perfection. The image of the "good mother" developed, and wives became privileged muses.
Portrait of Madame Coussens (20th century) by Armand CoussensMusée des Beaux-arts
Portrait of Madame Coussens
Jeanne Amblard was a watercolorist. She met Armand Coussens at the Closerie des Lilas, a Parisian avant-garde artistic venue. Both a female artist and an artist's wife, she often served as a model for her husband, thus sacrificing a part of her own art to support her husband's work.
A talented painter, and director of the Musée des Beaux-arts de Nîmes between 1942 and 1952, she worked during the war to keep the museum's collections safe. However, Jeanne Coussens is overshadowed by her husband's career, and very few archives concerning her are preserved.
Before the Alpilles, Mistral and his friends (1932) by Louis Denis-ValveraneMusée des Beaux-arts
In front of the Alpilles, Mistral and his friends
Frédéric Mistral is a famous Provençal author, Nobel Prize in Literature in 1904. In 1854, he founded the Félibrige, an association whose objective was to promote the Provençal language and culture. He is represented here by a close friend and member of this group: Denis-Valvérane.
Mistral, hieratic, is in the center. He raises his finger, a sign of an orator. Everyone listens to him attentively. In the foreground, the painter's wife is represented. She serves here as a foil figure. Their postures are in opposition, highlighting Mistral.
Women artists?
Women artists faced numerous obstacles to pursue a career: only studying with a man from the family circle, not representing nudes, and confining themselves to certain subjects. Today, they suffer from a lack of research and archives.
Liberality (Around 1657) by Elisabetta SiraniMusée des Beaux-arts
Liberality
This painting represents the allegory of Liberality. Regarding the author, a doubt persists between Elisabetta Sirani or her student Ginevra Cantofoli. Like many women artists of her time, Sirani learned painting from her father and then took over the direction of the studio.
In 1660, she was admitted to the prestigious Accademia di San Luca in Bologna. Sirani's career, in favor of the cause of women artists, is remarkable, especially for her time. She indeed opened a painting school exclusively dedicated to women.
Fantastic bird-fish on a yellow background (1982) by Fatma Haddad Dite BayaMusée des Beaux-arts
Baya
Rarely present in French public collections, Baya is an Algerian icon and a singular artist. Her recognizable universe is populated by women, plants, and fantastic animals. An orphan, she discovered painting thanks to her adoptive mother.
The brown beast: a fantastic monster (1948) by Fatma Haddad Dite BayaMusée des Beaux-arts
Self-taught, she was propelled into the spotlight at the age of 16 by the gallery owner Aimé Maeght. Baya did not suffer from a lack of visibility like other women artists. However, her entry into the artistic world was not without paternalism mixed with colonialism.
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