Nudged: Get To Know One Great Woman in The Arts

I don’t recall what originally inspired this nudge. Maybe it had to do with wanting to look outside my comfort zone for creative inspiration. Now that I think about it, I recently encouraged a client, who was experiencing some burnout, to take a break from writing writing writing! He had fallen into a rut of forcing himself to churn out pages or a set word count, so I suggested he go to a museum and take in some visual art for a change. Or just get outside and take in some natural beauty. He reported back that he returned to his desk with renewed energy and ideas for his work. Huzzah!

So maybe this week I’ll wander a local museum and stop whenever I’m attracted to something. Or maybe I’ll check out some books about an artist or school of artists from the library.

I do need to acknowledge this nudge is not about revisiting my favorites (Monet, pretty much all the Impressionists) and focusing on female artists. As I think on this, I’m leaning toward getting to know a new-to-me visual artist, but for you it could be a musician, actor, or other entertainer. Or a poet, essayist, or novelist.

Have fun with this!

What Happened: I started by jotting a list of great female artists off the top of my head–Mary Cassatt, Georgia O’Keefe, Frida Kahlo, Annie Leibovitz, Berthe Morisot, Judy Chicago–the usual suspects. I added one I know personally, Anna Mita, whose gorgeous paintings blow my mind, then added Mother Nature because, well, why not? But I am already familiar with their works, so it was time to expand my horizons.

An online search led me to “10 great female artists you need to know”, and that’s how I found Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1653). I thought the name sounded familiar, and as I read her story, I realized we’ve heard a lot about her in the past few years in connection with #MeToo. As a teenager, Artemisia was raped by her teacher, then she was tortured during his sensational trial with thumbscrews, a method employed to verify her testimony. Good heavens! He was found guilty, though he didn’t suffer much in consequence. She was called a “noble survivor”.

Then, exhibiting remarkable resilience, she channeled her energy and experiences into her work. Many of her paintings are described as “bold” and “dramatic” and feature heroines. She was once described as having “the spirit of Caesar in the soul of a woman”, and she is the model for some of her paintings, including this:

“Judith and her Maidservant”

1625, by Artemisia Gentileschi. Now in detroit institute of Arts.

Artemisia was successful during her lifetime. In fact, she was the first female member of the Academia di Arte del Disegno in Florence. You can learn more about her work in this video.

The Ah-Hahs: I suppose I could say I’m inspired by Artemisia’s resilience. She could have given up on her ambitions after her early trauma, lived a quiet life as a wife and mother; certainly that would have been the norm in her time. But honestly, this nudge was just a pleasant diversion. Sometimes I don’t need to learn more or embolden myself or gain some life-altering insight. Sometimes all I need to nudge myself to do is notice and appreciate the abundance of beauty in my world.