Gary Party Essay

 

Self-Portrait as the Allegory of Painting is very unique as it was produced in the Baroque period by a woman. Today this may seen rather obvious as it is called a self-portrait and the fact that is common to have women artists. However during the time of the BAroque such things were uncommon and most of the time came as unwelcome in society. While society has deramatically changed since then there are still many ideas and practices that are focused either against equality or very much for it. However this piece serves as representative that feminism is not very new. In fact it is very old. While it was not a popular and dramatic it is still very evident in history.

 

The Baroque seems like a very long time ago but in reality it really wasn't all that long ago. Women were often treated as an accessory to houses rather than individuals. There are very few pieces of art that represent women as the exact opposite as accessories. Years ago men were chosen over women to model for art pieces and they were never considered artists. Because of this a lot of the art in the old ages show women with bulkier parts becasuse they weren't actually modelled after women. It became a huge shock when some male artisits were brave enough to use women but it was absurd when they pained them in such a way that they were defiant and dare I say independent. Gasp! Today that isn't a big deal, but back then stuff like that was reason to cause much hullaballoo. Besides that point it served as a huge shock when women started to paint. I use the term women losely, because I mean very few women dared to define society. In some rare occassions ther fathers actually trained them for art. That again barely ever happened. So when this piece came out it caused much havoc and was treated like it was infected. Nobody wanted it because it was done by a women and showcased a women as an independent. People back then made it very hard to be a female artist because they wouldn't buy it. No sales no money no living.

 

The piee itself is very warm and earthly. The main focus is of a woman bending in such a way that is even considered as unflattering as she paints on an elevated canvas. The artsist paints herself painting her portrait. He has been done before but never by a woman. What is also very shcoking is the fact that the woman is painted in such a way that messy and very natural. She doesn't purposefully make herself look better but does the opposite to show that this what women actually look like. NOt like some artsists who have painted women by using a guy as a model. Besides this the posture of the woman is suprising as it is accurate for one who would be painting. It is a piece of truth. The piece focuses more on the figure than it fdoes the background. THe background is more of a browner color so the figure attracts the most attention. Not for staring purposes but to draw attention to natural flaw but also the personality of her as she does what she wants.

 

All in all the artist makes a very unusual decision by painting herself. But then again being an artist at all during this time is probably considered social suicide. Props to her. Not only does this painting take risks but it also comes off as very real. There are no lies about the body or the way she is standing or how she looks. Its a representation of all women. Not only this but it shows off the individual and not the surrounding so as to say look at the woman working a man's job doing just fine on her own, no need for any help whatsoever. The piece is a statement to society today and through out history even it was only a small step.