The Writer As Explorer

Tracy Chevalier has truly captured readers’ attention with her story Girl With A Pearl Earring. We are captivated by Griet and her story.  Chevalier has taken this painting done by Johannes Vermeer and turned it into this one novel. Page turner after page turner. She deals with many changes that range from difficult to amazing, which leads her […]

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Girl With A Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier is filled with commentaries on 1600s sexism, classism, and the story behind this mysterious painting. That being said, the one thing that needs to be talked about more is the beautiful writing that takes us to a completely different world. Chevalier uses similes, symbolism, and foreshadowing to create a […]

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When her husband was drafted in 1942, Grace Hartigan decided to study mechanical drafting and worked as a draftsman in an airplane factory.  For the first 2-3 years of having her artwork in galleries, she exhibited her work under the name George Hartigan as she knew that showing her artwork under a man’s name would […]

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Cindy Sherman prefers to use self-portraits to send messages about current issues, showing herself portraying different characters and personas. In this way, Sherman could also be classified as an actress along with a photographer. She has portrayed roles as a prostitute, women in varying intense emotional states, an abused housewife, and a dancer. She prefers […]

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Marie-Guillemine Benoist is a famous French artist during the late 1700s, a female artist inspired by the Neoclassicism movement. Her work was a substantial feat for women in the art world, as she was outspoken about educating women, specifically in the arts. She was also inspired by the abolishment of slavery, inspiring a portrait of […]

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Facts Agnes Martin was publicly known to have schizophrenia, though it was undocumented until 1962. It is speculated that she had a relationship with artist Lenore Tawney. In an interview in 1989, discussing her life and her painting, Agnes Martin said, “Beauty and perfection are the same. They never occur without happiness.” Story Concept Agnes […]

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Frida Kahlo was a Mexican artist who drew inspiration from surrealism. Kahlo’s art during the 1920s and 1930s was prevalent in Mexico but, unfortunately, took time to catch up in the United States. Kahlo is known for her self-portraits, striking emotions into every viewer of her artwork. She first started self-portraits when she was hospitalized […]

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Facts She originally wanted to study architecture, but felt lost as she was the only woman in the course. She married Alfred Ardnt, who happened to be an architect. She used costumes for many of her self-portraits, similar to Cindy Sherman’s work, though way prior to her. Story Concept: Gertrud Ardnt creates fancier versions of […]

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Facts: Arbus’s parents were not very involved with raising their children; they were overseen by maids and a governess. (Her family was very wealthy, even during the Great Depression.) Diane Arbus and her husband divorced in 1969, and he pursued his career in acting, becoming Dr. Sidney Freedman on M*A*S*H. Diane Arbus struggled greatly with […]

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Lee Krasner Facts Married to Jackson Pollock She almost didn’t graduate high school because of her art class grade. The teacher gave her a 65 just to be able to pass and graduate. She produced art for 50 years. Story: I make art that people believe has meaning. Maybe life will be more beautiful this […]

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Georgia O’Keeffe was an American artist around 1918-1986 who was one of the first female artists to break into the modernism trend in art. She centered her artwork around flowers, which were often viewed by the public as “provocative” due to the fact that some of the flowers seemed to simbolize a woman’s sex organ. […]

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Facts: One of the earliest photographers. Photographed Charles Darwin during her career. People said her work was bad. They said it is “original, but at the expense of all other photographic qualities.” Story: She looks as if her children have been taken away from her, although nothing has changed. Could be a death that is supposed […]

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  Marisol Facts: Her mom committed suicide when she was 11. An interpretation of the picture could be her fear manifesting into her art. She fears that she will lose her dad like she did with her mom, so she has to act/get ready for her dad to die by creating this box for him. […]

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Shirin Neshat Facts & Information – An Iranian visual artist who lives in New York City, known primarily for her work in film, video and photography Since Iran has undermined basic human rights, she focuses a lot of her work has gravitated toward making art that is concerned with tyranny, dictatorship, oppression and political injustice, particularly since […]

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Elisabetta Sirani  Facts & Information –  Baroque painter and printmaker and was one of Bologna’s most innovative and influential artists She was a pioneering female artist in early modern Bologna, and established an academy for other women artists She died in unexplained circumstances at the age of 27 – some believed her maidservant poisoned her, but nothing was […]

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Marie-Denise Villers Facts & Information – Her husband was wildly supportive of Marie’s profession as an artist after they got married, during a time where women typically were forced to stop Her life between the time of her last dated painting (1814) and her death in 1821 remains unknown Story Idea(s) – There’s an altercation between […]

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During the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, which burned through thousands of buildings in the city—including the jewelry store where Cassatt’s paintings had been put on display. She was unharmed, but her artworks were destroyed. Though Cassatt never married or had a family of her own she was well known for her tender, yet unsentimental […]

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It is believed Kollwitz suffered anxiety during her childhood due to the death of her siblings, including the early death of her younger brother, Benjamin.[16] More recent research suggests that Kollwitz may have suffered from a childhood neurological disorder dysmetropsia. In the years after World War I, her reaction to the war found a continuous […]

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Amy won the National Portrait Gallery’s Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition in 2016 along with a $25,000 award with her painting Miss Everything (Unsuppressed Deliverance). She was the first African American to win the competition. She was chosen by First Lady Michelle Obama to paint her official portrait for the National Portrait Gallery. Sherald painted a portrait […]

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“Self Portrait” by Alice Neel Alice Neel Born January 28, 1900, Gladwyne, PA; Died October 13, 1984, New York Neel lived for 25 years in East Harlem In 1980, Neel completed her first self-portrait at the age of 80 Story– On a routine visit to have her pacemaker checked, X-rays indicate that she has advanced […]

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”Trees” by Joan Mitchell Joan Mitchell Born February 12, 1925, Chicago, IL; Died October 30, 1992, American Hospital of Paris, Neuilly-sur-Seine, France In 1959, Mitchell took up residence in the French commune of Vétheuil, where Claude Monet had once worked. Mitchell, who was far-sighted, often had to stand back to see her paintings in the […]

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Sister Gertrude Morgan Born 1900, LaFayette, Alabama, Died 1980, New Orleans, Louisiana Spent nearly twenty years as a Holiness-Pentecostal missionary and street preacher 1966, Morgan claimed God instructed her to draw pictures of the world to come— the New Jerusalem She would at times sign her artwork with signatures such as: Bride of Jesus, Bride […]

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In 1968, when the Whitney Museum of American Art neglected to include any African American artists in its exhibition of 1930s sculpture, Ringgold helped organize demonstrations A huge fan of the Japanese number puzzle Sudoku, Ringgold created a visual art variation of the game in the form of an app called Quiltuduko Ringgold is also […]

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She is perhaps best known for her portrait of John F. Kennedy, commissioned by the Truman Library. The president sat for her several times, and she created hundreds of sketches and at least two dozen canvases as she attempted to capture his character and energy Not a fan of the term “woman artist,” de Kooning […]

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Achieved prominence through her early 1990s photographic project The Kitchen Table Series  While in her early twenties Weems was politically active in the labor movement and as a union organizer Her recent work Slow Fade to Black (2010) explores the lost image and memory of African American female entertainers, including singers, dancers, and actresses, in the […]

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Judith Beheading Holofernes (11618) depicts Judith, a beautiful widow, is able to enter the tent of Holofernes because of his desire for her. Holofernes was an Assyrian general who was about to destroy Judith’s home, the city of Bethulia. Overcome with drink, he passes out and is decapitated by Judith. Artemisia was the first woman […]

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The Cradle (1872) is an intimate portrait of the artist’s sister Edma with her new-born daughter Blanche. Morisot made several attempt to sell the painting, but to no avail. It subsequently remained with her relatives until its acquisition by the Louvre in 1930. Critics tended to review Morisot’s works more positively than her Impressionist peers. One […]

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  As a child, Lorna Simpson’s parents were advocates for the arts and frequently took her to museums, plays, and performances. During the summers spent at her grandma’s house, she would take classes at the Art Institute of Chicago. Reportedly, this appreciation was innate and her parents ‘did not think they had an artist in […]

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The Dinner Party (1979) was a product of Second Wave Feminism, a movement that has since been widely criticized for overlooking racial politics and unique issues facing women of color. The Dinner Party received kickback for its lack of diversity and inclusivity. My gender kept slipping into my work,’ says Chicago. ‘I either had to try […]

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Jacqueline Marval is a pseudonym, her real name was Marie Josephine Vallet. “Marval” is a composite of her first and last names, MARie VALlet. She was first married to a travelling salesman, but they separated after the death of their son. She then moved to Paris and entered a relationship with painter Francois Girot. He […]

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She led two separate artistic lives: her public art, which she made a living from, was mostly landscapes and other natural forms, while her more secretive “life’s work” consisted of abstract, symbolic and spiritual paintings. She had at one point tried to have this work shown publicly but was rejected. She later requested that these paintings be kept […]

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She was expelled from two schools for rebellious behavior as a child, and was sent to Florence by her parents, where she attended Penrose Academy of Art. She first encountered surrealist art in Paris at age 10. Her partner, Max Ernst, had to flee the Nazis after getting arrested once for being a “hostile alien” and once […]

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Tracy Chevalier’s novel Girl with a Pearl Earring follows Griet, a teenage girl living in 17th century Holland. The novel explores themes of classism and sexism through the eyes of someone who is, for the first time, coming into her role as a lower class woman in this society. What I want to focus on, […]

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Revisiting the first chapter of Girl With A Pearl Earring, several things stood out to me. When Vermeer and Catharina enter the kitchen with Griet’s mother, Vermeer takes interest in the way Griet had laid out the chopped vegetables, neatly arranging them so that the colors do not “fight”. Taking place in 1664, color theory […]

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Chevalier portrays Griet as a people pleaser. She seeks to meet the standards of her parents, she does what she is told and nothing more, and carries tensity at all times. First burdened by her household expectations and duties and then again in an unfamiliar environment. Her emotions are comparable with those of college students […]

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The story starts out with a lower class family where their trade is artistic work. The father is blinded by an accident and the son is off on his apprenticeship, trying to learn to support his family. The story centers around Greit, who is a daughter in the family mentioned above. She is sent off to work […]

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Girl With A Pearl Earring delves into seventeenth century life by showing it through Griet’s eyes, though it is from the perspective of her looking back on everything. From the beginning, her cleverness and ability to see the world gains her work in a higher household than her own. This opportunity is good for her […]

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There were a lot of things that stood out to me while I read through A Girl with a Pearl Earring, though there were certain things that stayed consistently with me throughout the entire piece.  This main focus was the overarching relationship between Griet’s two masters, the Vermeers, who she works for – three, if you […]

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Girl with the Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier tells the story of a young girl named Griet who is hired to work as a maid for a famous painter. Griet is a headstrong and clever girl who is deeply loyal to her family, especially her Father, who was injured in a kiln accident. When Griet […]

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In the Girl with the Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier, we are taken through 17th-century Holland through the eyes of the main character, Griet, a sixteen-year-old girl in the lower class. Through her eyes, we, as readers, see a remarkable story that summarizes inequalities of classism in the 1600s.  Our opening scene is of Griet […]

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