라비유 기야르(Labille-Guiard)와 비제 르 브룅(Vigee-Le Brun)의 초상화에 나타난 여성성 연구

Abstract

With the Enlightenment in full swing the art scene quickly expanded from the royal palace to the homes and inner social circles of the aristocracy in mid 18th century France. Amidst this social change women artists became identified through the Salons (in particular, Académie de Saint-Luc's Salon) as legitimate practitioners even as their status within society became more recognised. Among these, Adélaïde Labille-Guiard and her contemporary Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrunwere the first women to be accepted into the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture and receive support from the royal palace. However, with Napoleon's reign this rise in social status and recognition faltered and was altogether ignored by the political upheaval as well as later historians of art. The role of the woman in art was relegated to that of object or model, for male artists to express into art. However, these two artists took the role of artist not as object but as subject dealing with such themes as independent identity, motherhood and the aristocracy in their work. Although these artists did not succeed in establishing a new sense of femininity in the art world they did set a new standard of the female image as a creative identity in an otherwise limited social environment. Also, it can be said that they were pioneers in the development of women artists before and after the revolution. This paper looks into the portrait work done by these two artists and analysis what it meant to be a woman in those times, taking into consideration the social and cultural landscape of 18th century European aristocracy and how these women artists were torchbearers in that period of history. Their portrait work show the 'role of women' and 'cultural change' as well as the ideology of that era. In addition, this paper seeks to show the historical significance of the woman and her role in 18th century Europe in the same context.