Feminist art history and female portraiture in 19th century France and Britain: A critique

Georgia Toutziari
1999
In the realm of academic disciplines, Feminism and Feminist art history have made significant contribution on matters and theories of practice. One would think that the percentage of people in the academic world unaware of the notion of Feminist Art History is or must be very small. No one would think the opposite, only lacking in awareness of those cultural, political, historical, sociological, economic or any other forms that bound together the past or present characters of society, always
more » ... undeniably occupied by sexual politics, if not formed by them and run for them. The problem does not lie in the justification of their existence. The problem lies in the methods deployed by feminist art historians in order to evoke and reevaluate the assessment of cultural images. These methods are rarely in agreement with each other and often fall imder ideological categories, in search for answers either in form of gender or class analysis. This project aims to bring together, analyze and examine the main issues concerning these methodologies, and its application to feminist art history, looking at female artistic production of l9th century in France and Britain. Questions that are going to be discussed are the role of feminist art history, its beginnings, evolution and ultimate purpose. Debates between Marxist feminists and Radical feminists are going to be discussed, as well as methodologies that claim to unite Marxism and Feminism. It aims to prove that the feminist critique comes mainly either from a Marxist perspective or a gender perspective, for their unification has proved unsuccessful. This is perhaps the most difficult project of Feminist Art History, which challenges the construction of the traditional form of art history, aiming to provide an alternative art history. In chapter one I provide a general view of historical facts, concerning the main projects of feminist art history both in theory and practice. Matters regarding the changing social status of women in France and Britain in the 19th century are do [...]
doi:10.5525/gla.thesis.71853 fatcat:jw7xi44pq5cyhotsfbhp7hn5zm