The Thread of Life
How women's work has been represented in art
- Date/time:
- 27 September 2011 - 25 October 2011
Tuesdays 10.45am - 12.45pm
- Venue:
- 1 Berkeley Street, London W1J 8DJ
- Lecturer:
- Nicola Lowe
- Fees:
- Full course (5 lectures) £175.00
Single lecture £40.00
(Includes morning coffee, biscuits and refreshments)
Book your place now on this Women’s Work Represented in Art Course
“The best art history course that I have experienced”
From earliest antiquity to the present day, artists have depicted women spinning, weaving and sewing indicating their intimate association with textile arts. But how close is this to reality? Why does the image persist in the face of social change? Is the distaff an emblem of empowerment or imprisonment? Using examples that range from the Paleolithic Venus of Willendorf to Vermeer’s Lacemaker and today’s mass media we unpick the tangled threads of this ubiquitous motif and explore its complex range of meanings.
Course outline
Setting the Scene
We look at key images of the spinning, weaving woman and consider the myths, beliefs and cultural associations that cluster round them. Examples include the ancient Greek Fates who controlled destiny with the thread of life.
The Cultural Value of the Image
Textiles drove the economy during the Christian Middle Ages and religious and social concerns merged in images of women working with spindle and loom. Examples are depictions of Eve, the Virgin Mary and illustrations from the 14th c Luttrell Psalter.
Painting with the Needle
Commercial textile production was taken over by men but artists continued to valorise women working with the needle at home. Case studies this week are exquisite examples of “Opus Anglicanum” and paintings by Campin and Cranach.
Accomplishment Art
From the 17th to the 19th centuries educated women produced fine embroidery as evidence of class and refinement. We compare images of women sewing with examples of their work. Case studies include samplers and paintings by Vermeer, Chardin and Rossetti.
Women’s Work
What happens to the needle-working woman in the 20th century? We consider images from the war years to the mass media and the stitched art of Louise Bourgeois and Tracey Emin.
