A Woman's Worth

Throughout history, women have been seen as fragile, lesser beings that could contribute little to nothing to mankind. Because of this notion many intelligent women had to step aside and let the males take point. Art was not the exception to this gender stereotype, for many centuries women were portrayed only in very specific, sexist gender roles. But during the 18th century, female artists began to break the glass ceiling and gain recognition for their work, they decided to fight this sexist stereotype and to give women a more accurate and righteous place in art. These ideals began to spread and influence other artists to create compositions in which the female subjects were strong, charismatic, courageous and inspirational. Two such artists are the Mexican painter Frida Kahlo and the American painter Abbott Handerson Thayer.


Frida Kahlo was a Mexican surrealist artist whose work combines femininity, strength and endurance. At the young age of seventeen she was involved in a life threatening bus accident that left her bed ridden and in a full body cast for over a year. The aftermath of this accident brought her constant agonizing pain which she turned into inspiration for her paintings. An example of this is The Broken Column, painted in 1944. In this self portrait Kahlo depicts herself nude wearing back brace with a frontal vertical tare that extends from her neck to her lower abdomen exposing her spine, which has been replaced by a cracked column.Kahlo choses to use the column because a column is suppose to hold structures up, but in her case the column is on the verge of crumbling and is held up by the back brace. Also this is a  play on words because of the translation of the word spinal cord into Spanish is “columna vertebral” (vertebral column or column made of vertebrae). She has also placed several nails throughout her body to highlight pain in her body. Finally, the barren desert in the background represents her incapability to procreate. While most of the surrealists used art to express their dreams and objects from their unconscious mind, Kahlo used her paintings to illustrate her pain and how she saw herself.


Frida Kahlo is an example of what true female strength is like. Where some men would have succumbed to the pain, used it as a crutch, or let it ruin the rest of their lives, Kahlo over comes it. She uses her pain and suffering to her advantage and becomes one of the most recognized women in history. While Frida Kahlo used her paintings to show that women are just as strong, if not stronger, than man, another artist, Abbott Handerson Thayer, used his to show how important women are to men.


Abbott Handerson Thayer was an American artist who drew his inspiration from the absence and loss of the love of his life, his wife, Kate, who died of tuberculosis. Like most men, Thayer sought recognition for his work and accomplishments, which he found in his children and his number one fan Kate, his wife whom he adored. Thayer used his own children as models in his paintings, in Angel, painted in 1887,  he depicts his oldest daughter, Mary, as a pale angel with open wings and a distant gaze. The making of this art piece coincides with the beginning of his wife’s illness, which is reflected in many aspects of this painting, such as the pale skin and the distant gaze given to his healthy daughter. It is also believe that Mary is suppose to represent Kate, whom was so important to Thayer that he consider her god-like. Finally, another theory is that Mary is suppose to represent the angel of death (name given to tuberculosis during the 19th century) which is coming to take Kate away. With his paintings Thayer tells the world that women are more than mere mortals, that they are capable to making or breaking a man and they deserve our love, adulation and respect.

Frida Kahlo and Abbott Handerson Thayer were both great painters that used their paintings to show the true power that women hold, how amazing they are and how much influence they can have in the world. Both artists use their pain as inspiration for these two paintings, however the sitters are represented very differently. In Kahlo’s “The Broken Column” her pain is very obvious, while in Handerson Thayer’s “Angel” his pain is masked by the beauty of the sitter. Both artists convey a different message about women through their paintings; Frida Kahlo shows that woman are much stronger than they are thought be, and Handerson Thayer shows women as god-like creatures.



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“Angles & Tomboys: Girlhood in 19th-Century American Art.”  Newark Museum. 49 Washington Street, Newark, NJ 07102. 23 Nov. 2012.

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