I agree with everything you’ve said, completely. We studied Gentileschi’s work during the first year of my Art History degree and the main thing that captivated me about her work (and still does) is how she portrayed the women in these scenes as being strong and powerful especially during this time period where everything was from a man’s point of view. She had a tragic life and it’s genuinely sad that art history has ignored her until towards the turn of the last century.
Same with all historical women artists unfortunately. There was a book from around around 1950 called “The Story of Art” that did not include a single woman (and also largely ignored non-white artists) which is fucking appalling. Thankfully the tide has been turning in recent times, I don’t know if you’ve read it but there was a book that came out a few years ago called “The Story of Art Without Men” which I loved.
I agree with everything you’ve said, completely. We studied Gentileschi’s work during the first year of my Art History degree and the main thing that captivated me about her work (and still does) is how she portrayed the women in these scenes as being strong and powerful especially during this time period where everything was from a man’s point of view. She had a tragic life and it’s genuinely sad that art history has ignored her until towards the turn of the last century.
Same with all historical women artists unfortunately. There was a book from around around 1950 called “The Story of Art” that did not include a single woman (and also largely ignored non-white artists) which is fucking appalling. Thankfully the tide has been turning in recent times, I don’t know if you’ve read it but there was a book that came out a few years ago called “The Story of Art Without Men” which I loved.