Post 3 (Late)

The depiction of women in art can vary and has varied at times and at the Newark Museums " Angels & Tomboys: Girlhood in 19th-Century American Art" we see women depicted in art from the nineteenth century. In the ninteenth century depending if it were a male artist or female artist women could be depicted in a few ways, but mainly either vulnerable and dependent or second to the man or male figure as if dependent on them in some cases. Paintings of women during this time in the impressionism era that were done by men had this sort of quality to them when it came to depiction and also most of the artists were men as well. On the other hand there were a few women artists such as Mary Cassatt who portrayed women in a totally different light where they were the focal points of the painting and were in control and positioned in the foreground rather then there male counterparts, if there even were any in a particular painting. Although not all painters of the nineteenth century depicted women in a subdued manner. At times they were shown there vulnerability and showed them at leisure.

William Merrit Chase was a painter of the nineteenth century who was very successful and had paintings that showcased women in different ways as well. One of these paintings by William Merritt Chase is entitled, " Idle Hours" 1894. In this painting we see Chase's depiction his family (two daughters and wife) at leisure on the beach. He uses the impressionists technique of painting in "an plein air" as well. In it we see that the women are at leisure and relaxing in an innocent manner and that they are carefree. They are in the left to center foreground dressed in white mostly and at ease with one of the girls off to the right closer to the water. This piece shows a landscaped impressionist painting with texture and use of light that depicts a very warm positive leisurely moment in the girls life.

When it comes to modernism and the paintings and movements of that time being Early to mid twentieth century we can see that the depiction of women has dramatically changed when it comes to form, composition, and also different roles of women and how they relate to each other. In the case of the movement cubism, Pablo Picasso's "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon "1907 we see a completely new approach in not only the depiction of the female, but also the form and style all together, totally new and groundbreaking in depiction. In this piece which is the early stage of cubism, Picasso abandons all the formally taught perspectives of 3-d perspective, proportion, and uses distortion and influences of primitive cultural art works such as african masks to use in this piece.

In it he depicts five female nude prostitues from a brothel in Barcelona, Spain. With flat 2-d planes and its primitiveness, Picasso depicts the female in a very aggresive hostile light with there skin not seeming soft and with sharp edges and points almost as if they are untouchable and very uninviting in contrast to what the impressionists of the nineteenth century had portrayed women, in particular in William Merrit Chases' "Idle Hours". In this contrast we truly see why it is modernism is the  breaking away from classical and traditional forms. William Merritt Chase upholds to the traditional depictions of women in the impressionism movement whereas Picasso abandons the traditional techniques and also the traditional depictions of women and reinvents it all in a groundbreaking and monumental modernist way.

William Merritt Chase. Idle Hours. 1894

Pablo Picasso. Les Demoiselles d'Avignon. 1907

Works Cited

Hunter, Sam, John Jacobs, and Daniel Wheeler. Modern Art. New York: Prentice Hall PTR, 2004. Print.

Newark Museum. Angels & Tomboys: Girlhood in 19^th- Century American Art. Newark: Newark Museum, 2012.

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