Description
[Modern] This course will explore the works of nineteenth-century French women artists. While such artists have often been left out of the canon, a rise in scholarship and museum exhibitions focused on them has signaled a growing interest in their lives and oeuvres. We will discuss such artists as Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, known for serving as Marie-Antoinette’s court painter; Rosa Bonheur, who challenged gender norms in her personal and working life; the Countess of Castiglione, whose photographic self-portraits are precursors to selfies; Mary Cassatt, Berthe Morisot, and Marie Bracquemond, the women of the Impressionist Exhibitions; Suzanne Valadon, who entered the art world through being a model, and more. Along the way, we will consider how these artists were working during a time when anxieties were rife in France about women’s changing roles in society.