Dana Katz

ARTE 344
September 7, 2016
Facilitation Sheet #2
Title: The Guerrilla Girls Bedside Company to the History of Western Art
Author(s): The Guerilla Girls
Source/Date:
The Guerrilla Girls (1998). Chapter 3: The Renaissance Lives of Girl Artists. In The Guerrilla
Girls Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art (pp. 28-37). Harmondsworth,
Middlesex: Penguin Books.
Main Idea/Purpose (2-3 sentences):
Chapter 3 of Guerilla Girls seeks out to highlight the women artists of the Renaissance
who have been previously looked over. It discusses the strong female figures of the era that went
against the typical role of women to become their own unique person and artist, and also some of
the challenges they faced.
Short Overview (Including at least 2-3 important quotes):
When looking at the most influential artists of the Renaissance, its hard to understand
that there were more than just a few strong white male artists. This is because all of history has
chosen to only highlight the select few men, giving zero credit to women and making it appear as
though a womens role as an artist had yet to begin. As quoted by Guerrilla Girls (1998) in
chapter 3, everyone assumes that art in the Renaissance was an all-guys game. Also noted was
a quote by Toroyato Tasso in 1573 which said, Every women would prefer to be a man, just as
every deformed wretch would prefer to be whole and fair. And every idiot and fool would prefer
to be learned as wise. Based on this attitude, it is no wonder that white males dominate the
history books.
While the chapter highlights many significant women artists, it goes into more detail
about two particular ones. The first is Maria Robusti. Though she had the support of her father
who not only educated her in both art and music, but also dressed her as a boy to help with her
success, at the same time, she was also held back by him in terms of potential artistic growth
(The Guerrilla Girls, 1998). She was invited by the King of Spain and Emperor of Austria to
come work for them, but her father felt too strongly tied to her and would not allow her to go.
Instead, he offered her the opportunity to get married, to which she agreed. Four years after her
marriage, she died. As stated by the Guerilla Girls, the idea that is most significant about her
death, was the fact that her husband, whose work looked extremely similar to her own, suddenly
stopped created anything new, claiming he was too full of grief. Guerilla Girls raises the question
of whether Robusti was creating work for the two of the, allowing him to sign half. This could
explain why he was no longer able to work after she died. an extremely talented The Guerilla
Girls
The final female artist that the chapter goes into detail about is Artemisia Gentileschi.
Though not noted in many art history books, Gentileschi paved the way for women to take a
stand against male abuse and continue on living your life regardless. Gentileschi was raped by
her fathers colleague, Agostino Tassi (The Guerilla Girls, 1998). To save her reputation, he
offered to marry her, but backed out last minute. Gentileschis father took Tassi to court and

exposed to true criminal he had always been. Tassi was imprisoned and Gentileschi was free to
live out a her life as normal as she could. Despite this horrific event, Gentileschi went on to be
the first female admitted into the Academia Del Disegno and also marry someone of her own
choosing. She challenged the stereotype that women are delicate, dependent thinkers possessing
an air of feminine sweetness.
Critical Response: Reflections and/or relevance to personal art educational experiences/or
teaching experience
This book would be a great tool to use to help a class understand that there were more
than just males dominating the field of art during the Ranaissance. It can also help show how
history has been altered to present a certain viewpoint of the past, most likely created from the
lends of privileged white male. It would be interesting to have students do research to learn more
about one of the artists of the chapter, or even see if they can find any other females who have
been overlooked. As the chapter stated, I grew up believing that the only artists of the
Renaissance were white males, and this book gave me a whole new perspective, developing
more of an appreciation for how far women have come today. Based on the style in which this
book is presented in, it could be the perfect resource to hold middle schoolers attention and also
teach them a new piece of information about art, and hopefully making them question and do
research in other areas of the past well