‘Une force ignorée’: three nineteenth-century French women artists

Abstract

Despite decades of rhetoric and revolution, the efforts to achieve equality did not extend to gender equality in nineteenth-century France. The ideology that presupposed women’s inferiority infiltrated the foundation of society, shaping institutions that deprived women access solely on account of their gender. Three women artists disrupted traditional constructions of gender identity and broke through social norms to establish artistic careers: Hélène Bertaux, Marie Bashkirtseff, and Suzanne Valadon. They bypassed institutional barriers to create alternative routes of access to artistic education and exhibition forums. This thesis addresses how these three women artists resisted the patriarchal institutions of artistic production in nineteenth-century France, created opportunities for themselves, and established networks of like-minded women in pursuit of equality during the Third Republic. Hélène Bertaux, Marie Bashkirtseff, and Suzanne Valadon defied society’s expectations as women artists in nineteenth-century France. For Bertaux and Bashkirtseff, collaboration and collective action became invaluable tools in the deconstruction of institutionalized barriers. Bertaux organized women artists and created a space for expression, advocacy, and debate. Bashkirtseff was vocal in advocating for equal access for women artists into academic education, and she recorded vital information of her lived experience as a woman artist. By moving from model to artist, Valadon disrupted notions of respectability, agitated societal constructions of gender identity, and allied herself with woman gallerist, Berthe Weill. Each of these women relied on other women within the artistic community to act as advocates and create opportunity. By refusing to tacitly engage with the institutions that dictated the boundaries of gender in nineteenth-century France, Bertaux, Bashkirtseff, and Valadon created their own systems of influence and ideology cultivated through relationships of women. In examining their lives and works, I provide insight into how women artists engendered agency through collective action.