Exhibition Maestras, a journey through the art of creative women

Organized by the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid, and sponsored by Carolina Herrera, this major exhibition, curated by Rocío de la Villa from a feminist perspective, brings together over a hundred pieces, including paintings, sculptures, works on paper, and textiles, on a journey through the artistic contributions of women creators from the late 16th century to the early decades of the 20th century.

Artemisia Gentileschi, Angelica Kauffmann, Clara Peeters, Rosa Bonheur, Mary Cassatt, Berthe Morisot, María Blanchard, Natalia Goncharova, Sonia Delaunay, and Maruja Mallo were celebrated artists of their time who are now being recognized as masters, in response to the historical neglect they faced in the art world. They are joined by lesser-known artists who also created exceptional works.

The renowned Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum presents Maestras, an exhibition curated by Rocío de la Villa, from a feminist perspective, featuring over a hundred pieces, including paintings, sculptures, works on paper, and textiles, exploring the artistic contributions of important female masters from the late 16th century to the early 20th century. The exhibition is organized around eight relevant scenes in the journey of women towards their emancipation. Starting from the current concept of sisterhood, the exhibition focuses on groups of artists, patrons, and gallery owners who shared favorable sociocultural and theoretical values, despite the patriarchal system.

The combination of historical periods, artistic genres, and themes is the main axis around which the project is structured, showing how these artists addressed important issues of their time, took a stand, and contributed with new iconographies and alternative perspectives. Maestras is the first major exhibition in the context of the redefinition of feminism that the Thyssen Museum (Madrid) has been conducting in recent years, with the support of the community of Madrid and sponsored by Carolina Herrera. After its presentation in the Spanish capital, a reduced version of the exhibition will be shown at the Museum Arp Bahnhof Rolandseck in Remagen, Germany.

Maestras represents women and their interests. These were artists who were academicians in their time, sought after by patrons and collectors, participants in women’s associations of female artists, recipients of the highest honors, and protagonists of major exhibitions. They were cultured, curious, travelers, cosmopolitan, and committed women, often supported by their teachers, colleagues, husbands, brothers, and art dealers. Among the various aspects of society, the exhibition explores botany, revealing how these women were knowledgeable about the wonders of nature. The scientific revolution marked the beginning of the decline of women’s botanical, biological, and medical knowledge, against the backdrop of the witch hunts. This section explores the role of women artists in the emergence and splendor of still-life genres and a possible female genealogy of the still-life subgenre with insects, stemming from an ecological, non-mechanistic conception of artist-scientists like the German Maria Sibylla Merian. Her work is presented in the same room as other Italian and Central European painters from the 17th century, such as Fede Galizia, Giovanna Garzoni, and Clara Peeters, as well as French and British artists like Louise Moillon and Mary Beale. A collection of paintings that not only showcases the virtuosity achieved by these painters but also their powers of observation and scientific knowledge.

The theme of motherhood has been one of the most represented in the history of art. However, it wasn’t until the late 19th century that artists began to portray women’s feelings about their own motherhood, in contrast to the patriarchal “angel in the house” discourse. Pieces like Mary Cassatt’s “Breakfast in Bed” (1897), Elena Luksch-Makowsky’s “Ver Sacrum – Self-Portrait with her Son Peter” (1901), Paula Modersohn-Becker’s “Maternity, Half-Figure” (1906), Suzanne Valadon’s “Marie Coca and her Daughter Gilberte” (1913), and Tamara de Lempicka’s “Maternity” (1932) are some of the exceptional works in this section, which also includes sculptures by Käthe Kollwitz and Emy Roeder.

Between 1900 and 1937, when women’s suffrage was achieved in most Western countries, the most advanced women artists of the time continued to address iconographies that emphasized the complicity between women and their distinctive contributions to new avant-garde languages. Many of them actively participated in avant-garde art movements and were recognized artists who succeeded in their lifetimes, serving as models of strength, commitment, vitality, creativity, and independence. However, after their deaths or due to historical events such as World War II or, in the case of Spain, Franco’s dictatorship, they were erased from history and museums. Camille Claudel, Jacqueline Marval, Helene Funke, Natalia Goncharova, Frida Kahlo, Ángeles Santos, and Maruja Mallo are some of the great masters whose works are exhibited in another section, the final one of the exhibition, which explores emancipation. There is much more to see, admire, and reflect upon at the celebrated Thyssen-Bornemisza. A weekend in Madrid, paying tribute to Art and Women.

Until February 4, 2024.

By: Isabel Figueiredo