When we talk about the pictorial genre of the “self-portrait” in painting by women from the 16th to the 19th centuries, we should begin our reflection with a brief overview of the situation of women in the history of art. The presentation of a general context of the subject helps in understanding how “artistic practice and the history of art were structured by power relations based on gender” (Griselda Pollock). The second part will focus on the analysis of some emblematic self-portraits of this production and we will discuss specific issues. In a way, thinking about the self-portrait made by a woman is also understanding her intention to legitimize herself as an artist, even though this practice was carried out by both men and women for many centuries. However, how can we think about the
self-portrait beyond a simple study or historical record of oneself? In most cases, the creative space, the palette, its tools and procedures are visible. What does self-representation mean, therefore, for a woman artist for her recognition and professionalization within the art spaces?
REFERENCE MATERIAL
POLLOCK, Griselda. Modernity and spaces of femininity. In: MACEDO, Ana Gabriela; RAYNER,. Francesca (Org.). Gender, visual culture and performance.
HIGGIE, Jennifer. The Mirror and the Palette: Rebellion, Revolution and Resilience: 500 Years of Women's Self-Portraits.
BORZELLO, Frances. Seeing Ourselves: Women's Self-Portraits.
GARB, Tamar. Man of genius, woman of good taste: the gendering of
art education in Paris at the end of the 19th century.
Liz Rideal, Whitney Chadwick, et al. Mirror Mirror: Self-Portraits by Women Artists
NOCHLIN, Linda. Why have there been no great women artists?
NOCHLIN, Linda; HARRIS, Ann Sutherland. Women Artists 1550 – 1950.
SIMIONI, Ana Paula Cavalcanti Simioni. Artist profession: Brazilian academic painters and sculptors.
_____________ Genres of art: female self-portraits and the condition of women artists in the late 19th century.
CHADWICK, Whitney. Women, Art, and Society. Thames and Hudson, 1990.
HESSEL, Katy. The Story of Art Without a Men.
WOOLF, Virginia. A Room of One's Own.