Art Appreciation – June/July 2025

Female Artists 

For the June meeting, members were invited to choose a work of art by a female artist.  Over many meetings, we have been learning about more female artists whose work and reputation has often been overlooked.  This was an opportunity to extend our range further. 

Of course, there are many highly regarded and much loved works of art produced by women, perhaps none more so than the Impressionist painter Berthe Morisot’s The Cradle which beautifully and sensitively portrays a mother watching over her baby asleep in a cradle.  Many of us will have seen this on a greetings card.   

Another impressionist who was able to achieve acclaim in her life time was the American Mary Cassat.  She struggled to become an established painter but eventually was supported by Degas and other impressionists.  Her work is notable for her exploration of women’s role in society, and her campaigns for women’s rights including the right to vote. 

Perhaps the most famous female artist of the past century is Frida Kahlo.  Her art work expressing the pain she suffered as a result of an accident in her early life, as well as her experience of miscarriage and emotional trauma, have made her a powerful symbol for feminists.  Also well -known to millions of people – but at the other end of the spectrum – is the work of Beryl Cook, a self-taught artist whose career began well into her life.  Her hilarious, often saucy and well-observed paintings make her one of the nation’s favourite artists.   

Less well-known to most of us is the 17th century Flemish artist Clara Peeters.  Little is known of her life but her work deserves more attention.  Her skill in painting interiors was extraordinary in its detail.  The 19th century French painter Rosa Bonheur is similarly unfamiliar.  In her lifetime she had a considerable reputation for her portrayal of animals, having studied animal anatomy by spending time in abattoirs and the Paris veterinary college.  Her work was much loved by Queen Victoria bringing her popularity in this country.  Bonheur clearly understood her market, and included many scenes of the Scottish countryside which was much in vogue. 

Two American photographers were selected, reminding us that art is not confined to painting and drawing.  We saw two of the most famous images of the 20th century but of very different subject matter.  In her career, Annie Leibowitz has photographed some of the most famous people in popular culture, and many have appeared in glossy magazines around the world.  She has the ability to create striking and memorable images.  Perhaps her most remarkable ‘coup’ was to photograph John Lennon and Yoko Ono just hours before John was shot dead in 1980.  By contrast, the moving image of a migrant mother with her children taken in 1936 by Dorothea Lange, for many people it  is the supreme encapsulation of the human misery of the Great Depression.   

Included in our list of works by female artists was a sculpture by Maggi Hambling, one of the most distinguished British artists practising today.  Her large sculpture The Scallop is situated on the beach at Aldeburgh.  It is a tribute to the composer Benjamin Britten whose home was in Aldeburgh.  On the shell is some of the text from his most famous opera Peter Grimes which is set on the Suffolk coast. 

At the July meeting, there will be a presentation on the Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser.  

Lynne Vick, Convenor