Virtual Art Seminar
Renaissance & Baroque Women Artists
Discover Exceptional Women who Challenged Conventions, Defied Expectations and Left their Mark on Art History
Join an intimate community for six lively discussions on the remarkable women of the Italian Renaissance and Baroque eras.
Each class will shed light on a different female painter, from Sofonisba Anguissola, Artemisia Gentileschi, Fede Galizia, Elisabetta Sirani, and more. All painted subjects that were traditionally the preserve of male artists. We'll learn how each artist navigated a male-dominated art world, competed with their male contemporaries to receive commissions from illustrious patrons, including aristocrats, cardinals, popes, and monarchs, and rose to international fame. With special attention to their self-portraits, religious and historical themes, we will observe how they portrayed themselves and their female subjects as ingenious, intrepid and heroic.
Inspired by the ongoing exhibition, Artemisia at The National Gallery, London (2020-21), this series integrates cutting-edge research and scholarship. No background in art necessary. All that's required is a curious mind. Sessions are led by Lauren Jimerson, PhD.
"I will show Your Illustrious Lordship what a woman can do" - Artemisia Gentileschi
From Milan to Rome, Florence, Bologna, Venice, Milan and Naples, learn about women's lives and the remarkable Italian women artists of the 16th and 17th centuries.
Discover women who rose to fame in a male dominated art world, including:
Sofonisba Anguissola, Artemisia Gentileschi, Fede Galizia, Elisabetta Sirani, and more...
Study their paintings of heroines from history and the Bible, still lifes, self portraits, and see the world through their eyes.
Next Sessions:
Saturdays at 10:30 am, February 27-April 3
Discover Renaissance Women Artists
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Week 1: In Search of a PaintingWhen I first saw a reproduction of Marie Vassilieff’s Homme et Femme, a double-sided depiction of male and female Cubist nudes, I was determined to find the painting. This was the start of a three-year quest all over France and beyond. As we retrace my journey, we will study this lesser-known artist and the significance of her work. We will uncover her Cubist paintings, unknown to the public, which I found in private collections. We will learn what a woman artist risked a century ago by painting male nudes and challenging gender norms.
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Week 2: The Androgynous DollIn 1915, Marie Vassilieff pioneered a new kind of art form – the portrait doll. They represented various personalities of interwar Paris – Picasso, Matisse, Josephine Baker, and the artist herself. Vassilieff’s dolls were not merely craft – she considered her creations as works of art. As we examine her dolls, we will consider their role as objets d’art and the breakdown of artistic hierarchies they imply. We will learn about the Dada movement and the women involved. We will discuss the signification of the doll itself – its traditional link with femininity and discover the ways in which Vassilieff upends its meaning.
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Week 3: Defying GenderTravel back in time to Suzanne Valadon’s world in Montmartre. A model turned artist, Valadon devoted her career to the subject she knew best – the nude. As a lower-class woman and single mother, she must have assumed that she had nothing to lose. She audaciously exhibited male nudes at an important art Salon in Paris. Shocked, one critic called her an “old slut,” but that didn’t deter her. We will examine Valadon’s male nudes in paintings and in drawings. We will see how this artist became an active agent of her own sexuality and depicted the male body as shaped by her own desires.
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Week 4: The Model's GazeAs a former model, Valadon was acutely aware of the gaze – how the body is typically displayed as an object for male viewers – but she was also perceptive to the ways class and gender shape identity and subjectivity. From her unique and embodied vantage point, which I call the model’s gaze, Valadon reclaimed woman as subject. She painted female bodies that do not conform to standard ideals of beauty. She then turned the model’s gaze on herself. Toward the end of her career, she captured her aging body with a truthful and unflattering eye in the first known old-age nude self-portrait. We will look at Valadon’s female nudes and nude self-portraits and discuss the poignant ways in which they resonate with gender theory formulated over half a century later.
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Week 5: Painting PleasureIn her representations of the nude, Émilie Charmy explored female sexuality in paint. Often, she used her own body in lieu of a model’s creating daring self-portraits. Painting the female nude in a sensual manner with opulent brushwork and vivid color, she captured both a visual and tactile representation of the body. We will learn why Charmy hid some of her work from the public and where it can be found today. We will examine Charmy’s paintings up close and discover how a woman painted pleasure one century ago.
Connect with friends around the world to explore art, history and culture!
Join us!
Next Session:
Saturdays at 10:30 am pm est, February 27-April 3
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Webinars are sold in packs of 6.
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Each webinar is limited to a maximum of 15 people to enable lively and engaging discussions.
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Held on the same day and time each week, each session is 90 minutes.
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No background in art necessary. All that's required is a curious mind.
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Feel free to invite friends!
Try the first session at no risk! If you decide not to continue with the webinar for any reason,
I will refund 100% of the remaining 5 sessions.
*To streamline the booking process, only one date appears in the booking system. However, the event is
a series of 6 seminars and your booking includes them all.*
Join an intimate community of art enthusiasts or create your own experience exclusively for you and your friends.
If you would like to propose a specific date and time, or if you have any questions,