Post #2

During the late nineteenth century painting was changing as an art form. With the invention of the camera artists started to move away from trying to paint their subject with extreme detail and accuracy. Instead they started to paint things the way they saw them in that moment. Artists moved out of the studio and into the great outdoors focusing on the interaction of light and color. One important subject that these impressionist artists focused on was gender.

One important impressionist artist who mainly focused on gender was Mary Cassatt. Born in Pennsylvania Cassatt moved to Paris during the height of the Impressionist movement.  Being in Paris at this time strongly influenced her work not only by the techniques that she used in her paintings but also in the subject matter of the paintings. Being a woman in a field dominated by men, Cassatt focused her work on women in everyday life. Previous to this most women in paintings were portrayed in the nude due to the almost completely male audience. Cassatt however, painted women in everyday situations so that other women could relate to them.

A perfect example of Cassatt’s female perspective on women is shown in the painting Woman in Black at the Opera. This painting shows a woman sitting in the balcony of an opera gazing through opera glasses at the show while a man gazes at her from another balcony. The painting shows many of the techniques of Impressionist painting. Cassatt’s brush strokes are clearly visible and seem to show a great deal of motion. Woman in Black at the Opera is seen as a contradiction to the idea of the male gaze and the role of women at the time. The woman in the painting is dressed in black so as to hide herself from being seen. This is because during the late nineteenth century women were expected to stay inside the home unless accompanied by a man. The man in the background gazing at the woman is placed in the background to say that the idea of the male gaze is a thing of the past and woman gazing through the opera glasses in the foreground is what the future holds.

  Another artist who concentrated his focus on gender was Thomas Eakins. Eakins, like Cassatt, was born in Pennsylvania but, unlike Cassatt, he remained there for most of his life. Eakins also opposed Cassatt in his focus on gender. While Cassatt focused on women Eakins focused the American Hero.

 

Eakins’ painting Max Schmitt in a Single Scull is a great example of this idea of the American Hero. In the painting Max Schmitt is shown rowing his single scull on a river. In the background Eakins painted himself in another scull rowing behind Schmitt. At the time rowing was becoming a popular sport in France as well as the United States. Schmitt had recently won an important scull race so Eakins decided to commemorate Schmitt as a champion of the sport, an American Hero. While celebrating Schmitt’s accomplishment it also was said to celebrate single scull rowing as a way to escape from the urban confusion.

For more info on Max Schmitt and the history of his race click here

Works Cited:

Eisenman, Stephen M. Nineteenth Century Art: A Critical History. 4th ed. New York, NY: Thames & Hudson, 2011. Print.