Power and Absence: Women in Europe, 1500-1680

While this exhibition considers the representation of women in European art from around 1500 to 1680, known as the Renaissance and Early Baroque periods, most of the works on view were made by men. These artworks, including some created to decorate the homes of married women and meant to emphasize their unions to men, thus reflect limited perspectives. In them, women are varyingly portrayed as untouchable ideals, threatening monsters, enterprising community leaders, ornamental accessories to power, and models of faith. Portraits of men from this era, meanwhile, express their power, talents, or intellect.

The Museum holds work by only one woman artist from this time: Sofonisba Anguissola. This relative absence is not unusual. From the Renaissance to the end of the nineteenth century, women were largely barred from formally training as artists because of societal expectations around gender. Some women, like Anguissola, circumvented such limitations through family connections and established successful artistic practices. Even still, the legacies of these exceptional women artists have often been overlooked in art historical narratives. Power and Absence examines the systems that have stifled the talent of women artists throughout time and considers how decisions are made about which artists are written into history and collected by museums into the present.

Power and Absence: Women in Europe, 1500-1680 is curated by Rosamund Garrett, Ph.D., Head of Collections, Chester Beatty; former Chief Curator, Memphis Brooks Museum of Art.

All exhibitions at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art are underwritten by the MBMA Exhibition Fund: Lead support provided by Kay Clark, and Maggie and Milton Lovell, with additional funding from Anonymous, Irene and Ron Ayotte, Gloria and Kenneth Boyland, Deborah and Bob Craddock, Susan and James Edelman, Debi and Galen Havner, Sally Hergenrader, James R. Humphreys, Betty and George Johnson, Kristen and Jay Keegan, Valerie and Carl Person, Deborah D. Tipton, Bill Townsend, and the Doris S. and Hubert Kiersky Charitable Remainder Trust.