355 Harris Ave.
This course focuses on the art and biographies of groundbreaking women artists of the Renaissance and Baroque eras. In Europe during the 1400s, all the successful professional artists were men, but by the mid-1500s, led by Sofonisba Anguissola, pioneering women began to break societal barriers.
We examine the cultural context that made it difficult for women to receive training in the arts and analyze the changes that created greater opportunities for women artists. While women of the mid- and late 1500s found some success as portrait and still life painters, sculpture and history painting remained male domains.
In the early 1600s, Artemisia Gentileschi broke the glass ceiling and triumphed in the highly competitive field of painting of historical events. This century saw the emergence of increasing numbers of women artists, particularly in the Netherlands, and produced the first successful female sculptor, the Spanish artist Luisa Roldán.
Instructor: Teresa Martinelli
Teresa Martinelli has a master’s degree in Art History from the University of California, Davis. She has been teaching for more than thirty years, both full-semester courses for credit and non-credit continuing-education classes. Her recent research has focused on reclaiming the place of women artists in the pantheon of art history.
