Browse Exhibits (3 total)
Representations of 18th and 19th century Female Autonomy
During the 18th and 19th century women were either categorized and or depicted as angels or immoral beings. Their categorization depended on how well they adhered to their gender roles, specifically in the domestic realm. Those women who deviated from such conventional norms and traditions were harshly criticized and in some instanced ostracized.
This exhibit focuses on the different representation of female autonomy and focuses on specific women of this time period. It was not common to see independent and powerful women during this time period because of the many impediments that existed in the law and in society that made it extremely hard to do so. The women alluded in this exhibit were an exception to such impediments. Some women had to work much harder than other women to achieve that same independence because some were born less wealthy and hence that created a bigger roadblock. Nevertheless, though all of these women were highly criticized by their society, they somehow managed to thrive against all odds.
Art Imitates Life: Beauty as a Political and Cultural Narrative Device in 18th and 19th Century Britain
"The beautiful seems right by force of beauty."
-Aurora Leigh, Elizabeth Barrett Browning
British society in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was saturated with patriarchal values and with that came a quite misogynistic conflation of aesthetic beauty and social worth. Particularly in regard to artistic representations of women and domesticity, it is clear that beauty and traditional femininity were used as devices to push a particular social narrative. While art may be an attempt to imitate life, it is not a mere reflection. Images of life are refracted through the minds of artists and presented in a new way, to either subtly or overtly present their message. When engaging with period drawings and portraiture, we must always keep in mind the intention of the artist and the cultural context of the intended audience.
In the case of eighteenth and ninteenth century representations of women, conventional beauty was the tool manipulated by artists to push any number of political or social agendas. Women thought to be upstanding in character were characterized as more traditionally feminine, whereas those who defied some sort of norm or expectation were given plainer or even more masculine features. These artistic choices correlate directly to the attitudes surrounding the role of women in the public and private spheres. This exhibit will track representations of women from various roles in society alongside the changing socio-political climate of Britain, in order to understand how aesthetics of beauty were used as rhetorical devices by artists of the period.
Queen Victoria and how age impacted the depiction of Victorian women
Queen Victoria was one of, if not the most, famous woman of the 19th century. With an over 60-year reign over the United Kingdom, there are many depictions of Victoria throughout various stages of her life. As such, Queen Victoria provides a great insight into how women would have been portrayed at various points in their life and how age impacted how Victorian women would have been depicted as they age. Through the five depictions of Queen Victoria selected for this exhibit, it becomes clear that ideas of purity and innocence were important parts of how young Victorian women would have been depicted while for older women there is a greater emphasis on family, status, history, and clothing to show off their value.