Women ≠ Muse

The Art world has not changed since ancient Greece when nine goddess daughters of Zeus motivated artists to create Aesthetically beautiful Art. They always needed muses. The long record of Art history shows us some extraordinary examples of beautiful paintings of ladies that inspired artists. Do we often see men doing the muse role?
Since the Renaissance, female artists have worked alongside their fellow male artists, subduing gender discrimination to achieve a recognizable position in the Art world. They created some extraordinary art despite the struggle to exist in the art circles. Still, it is difficult to find depictions of men that were female artist’s lovers, friends and muses. Despite museums filled with beautiful female nudes, female artists were not allowed in the nude class even after a few centuries Renaissance. After looking at this fact, there comes a thought, was Renaissance was really a ‘Rebirth’ or ‘Reawakening’? Surely not for female artists. Still, female artists managed somehow to emerge as painters. Two of the famous women were Anguisolla and Galizia.

Fede Galizia's Self portrait,
 Judith with the head of Holofernes

Sofonisba Anguisolla's Self Portrait

Artemesia Gentileschi a determined female artist of Baroque period exceeded all the female artists of that time and her firm will, her struggle against gender discrimination and rebellious behaviour turned out to be a feminist inspiration for later centuries.

Artemesia's Self Portrait, 1638

Artemesia's Self Portrait, 1638

Artemesia Genteleschi, Susanna and the elders, 1610

Impressionists Berthe Morisot and Mary Cassatt painted domestic scenes, utilizing their family as models, while male impressionists like Renoir, Degas and Lautrec used their lovers and redefining the female form. Female artists here created an introvert sort of art.

Berthe Morisot, The cradle, 1872.

Mary Cassat, Breakfast in bed, 1897

The later half of the 20th century witnessed some bold female artists like Frida Kahlo, Leonara Carrington and Eunice Golden used their lovers as their muses. Frida had a tempestuous relationship with muralist Diego Rivera. Apart from painting the emotional breakdown because of her health, depictions of Diego can also be seen in some finest works of Frida.

Frida Kahlo, Diego and I, 1941

Frida Kahlo, Frieda and Diego, 1931

 “I didn’t have time to be anyone’s muse…. I was busy rebelling against my family and learning to be an artist," 

wrote Leonara Carrington in 1983. She too painted her husband as her muse. Under the mental breakdown of departing from her husband Max Ernst during World war ll, she painted this portrait of his.

Leonara Carrington, Portrait of Max Ernst, 1939.

Breaking all the barriers of society  Eunice Golden painted bare male body to create ‘male landscape’ (her famous series from 1968-80). “ The female nude for centuries has been the object of male needs, fantasies and desires.” She adds “I longed to incorporate my own erotic fantasies into my work. I wanted to challenge the art-historical bias against the male image as a subject for women artists.” This proved out to be a form of women’s liberation. “While other women artists portrayed the female body, often their own genitalia as an emblem of their own power, I wanted to go beyond that, to find my own path to challenge society’s entrenched ideology and more. My muses were male artist friends who posed for me and supported my work.”

Eunice Golden, Male landscapes.

We should not forget the brave Françoise Gilot, who once served as a muse and mistress to the great Picasso. Picasso and Gilot spent a decade together when he was at the peak of his career. Gilot was just a young girl in her 20s who wanted to explore and learn art. Picasso never really taught her but in his presence she nurtured as an artist. She hardly painted or sketched Picasso, but she grew up as an artist under the shadow of the overruling Master. Picasso’s dominance led Gilot and two children go away from him. Françoise was Picasso’s only mistress who left him. Rest all either stayed with the suffering or Picasso left them. She remarried and is a successful painter today. 

These were some successful female artists from the past who dared to desire, instead of being the passive object of desire, despite having to face challenges  from the society. Many times there was discomforting behaviour of society for a man taking up the passive role. These women liberated art from the gender biased Art world.