Berthe Morisot -The Wet Nurse

Berthe Morisot, The Wet Nurse and Julie, 1880
(Private Collection)

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Mother Nursing Her Child, 1886
(Private Collection)

Art history is full of female mavericks that not only overcame their gendered roles by actually producing works that went down in history but also made bold statements quite contrary to the popular culture and beliefs of the society they were living in.  I was watching the latest rendition of Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre for the big screen last night where I was reminded once again of how incredibly modern and wonderfully askew a story it was.  It is so refreshing to be witness to a strong female character who not only overcomes her "Tale of Woe" but also comes back at the end to rescue the love of her life, Mr. Rochester who is now debilitated.  She has become rich while he has become blind...Jane Eyre is the veritable knight  in shining armor or the prince on the white horse charging to rescue the damsel in distress...

THE STEINS COLLECT @ the Met

Pablo Picasso, Pomme, 1918
(Gertrude's Apple is a similar watercolor)

The incredible exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, THE STEINS COLLECT: Matisse, Picasso and the Parisian Avant-Garde, is closing today and I am going back to see it before it does. I am not going back to see the whole exhibit either. I already spent four delicious hours on a beautiful spring day, devouring each and every one of the art works.  No, this time I am going back to see the Apple Picasso sent to Gertrude and Alice as a Christmas present in 1914 when she was upset over loosing Three Apples by Cezanne to her brother Leo when they separated their collection, and the drawing of Cocks, 1905, which Picasso gave to a friend of Gertrude Stein's in exchange for a Chinese gown for his girlfriend, Fernande.

Happy Birthday Mary Cassatt - A True Feminist

Mary Cassatt, A Woman and A Girl Driving, 1881
(Philadelphia Museum of Art)

Mary Cassatt was a maverick among her peers that broke all the conventions of 19th century society while living a perfectly respectable life (which was the most important thing at her day and age) and enjoying success and acceptance as an American Impressionist artist in Paris.   When we are still discussing gender discrimination and social gendered roles, Cassatt managed to work as a professional artist, exhibit with the Impressionists and  leave behind an exceptional legacy for all American artists to follow.  Some might argue at this point that she was born into a privileged background allowing her to pursue her career as an artist in Paris but  I would like to point out that she was from a wealthy family in Philadelphia which was a conservative area with very strict expectations from a woman of her position.  Like all women of her class, she was expected to marry and have children, not go traipsing about in Europe learning to paint and displaying her talents for all the world to see.  

Elisabeth Vigee-LeBrunn and Jean Metzinger - A Dialog About Maternite

Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrunn, Madame Vigee LeBrunn and
Her  Daughter, Jeanne Lucie Louise, 1789
(Musee du Louvre)

Jean Metzinger, Femme a la Fenetre (Maternite), 1911
(Private Collection, Switzerland)

 Last week was mother's day and since I was busy celebrating as a mother, sister and an aunt, I could not find the time to sit and write.  Just because I have been remiss does not mean I can pass up an opportunity to write about the most utilized theme in art history, Mother and Child.