Throughout the history of art and architecture, social beliefs within society have profoundly influenced the acceptable volume of input and the extent of the rejection imposed on queer artists. Although the discovery of female and queer artworks is emerging as a growing contribution to art history, the ongoing struggle of these minority groups to gain recognition has shed light on the impact of the suppression of certain gender and sexual categories all inside the history of art. Through arguments presented by Christine Battersby (1946-), Aaron Betsky (1958-) and Griselda Pollock (1949-) and Rozsika Parker (1945-2010), I will consider the confinement of women to specific genres of artwork, the concealment of female gender in relation to unsigned and misinterpreted artworks, and the disguised expression of homosexuality within queer artworks. Taking into account each of the topics discussed, I wish to establish the importance of gender and sexuality in relation to the credence they have received and therefore their significance in historiography within art history. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay It cannot be disputed that throughout history, the female gender has continually struggled and suffered from misogyny; art history is a clear example and supporter of this. In her book "Gender and Genius: Towards a Feminist Aesthetic", Battersby points out that "We still associate the great artist with certain (male) personality types, with certain (male) social roles, and with certain (male) energies." . stressing that 'Women who want to create still had to manipulate aesthetic concepts drawn from mythology and biology that were profoundly anti-feminine', limiting themselves to expressing themselves artistically through art forms such as embroidery. Because women were largely excluded from the male-dominated art world, they often needed to use their wits to earn the right to continue creating what little art they could. Patricia Mainardi (1942-) commented that women "instead place their creativity in the arts of embroidery which exist in fantastic variety wherever there are women, and which in reality are a universal feminine art form that transcends race, class and national borders". Embroidery was often used as a way to determine a woman's social class, and thus became dominant in the world of women's art as women could use their embroidery to display their social class and also increase their position in the sphere of 'feminine art as their work would have done. aspire to be equal to others, gaining their credibility. However, although embroidery has become so predominant in the world of women's art, it is still often dismissed as a simple craft that is part of a tradition, rather than receiving the credit it often deserves for its detail and complexity, a component of art that can rarely be argued to have been overlooked in the male artistic sphere. Pollock in his book 'Vision and Difference: Femininity, Feminism, and the Histories of Art' argues that 'what modernist art history celebrates is a selective tradition that normalizes, as the sole modernism, a particular and gendered set of practices ', thus suggesting that gender has played an important role in the dismissal of women's artworks and thus in its contribution to art history as it is often overlooked in aspects of the details it portrays in relation to the praise received in artworks created by men. This is furtheremphasized by Battersby's observation that "the achievements women have succeeded in creating are overshadowed by an ideology that associates cultural achievements with the activities of males." Therefore, it is evident that sexuality plays a crucial role in how we view the history of art as women over time have become "bound to a lack of genius" and thus their contribution to the art world has changed .been actively limited through beliefs in the art society. Within art history, the female gender, especially in more recent years, has become more prominent in the art world, although, as Betsky points out, 'We still live in a sexist society. Women can create a place for themselves, but usually still within a structure established by men. The level of acceptance towards female artists has grown significantly over time, however in the limitation of female artists' freedom as a form of repression in the past, the practice of artist concealment as a means of publication highlights the impact of sexism and gender in art history. In their book Old Mistresses: Women, Art and Ideology, Pollock and Parker point out that, although women have established forms of artwork in which they can thrive and to which they can contribute, “asserting their worth in the face of male prejudice does not displace the hierarchy of values”. in art history", which contributed profoundly to misinterpretations within art history regarding the original creators of works of art. Artists such as Judith Leyster (1609-1660), whose works were attributed to her husband Jan Miense Molenaer (1610-1668) for almost 200 years after his death (and continued to be deliberately misunderstood into the early 20th century as Molenaer's work was considered to be of greater value) highlight the impact of the genre in relation to recognition of artworks. The ongoing struggle to dismantle patriarchal norms of feminist artworks to shed light on the concealment of female gender in relation to unsigned and misinterpreted artworks is highlighted by Parker and Pollock who illustrate how the term "woman" has acquired negative connotations as less capable of the actions of a male, thus suggesting that gender matters in the history of art as the patriarchy entrenched in society has led to works of art created by female artists who are misinterpreted both intentionally and unintentionally in an attempt to keep the prices of artworks higher due to their being made by the male gender and as a form of repression so as to exclude women from the genres of art they were said to be" male". The suppression of queer artists has played a crucial role in art history as their suppression as a whole has led to masked works of art. Before 1861, there was the death penalty for people convicted of gay sexual acts in Wales and in the United States, those found guilty of sodomy could be punished by mutilation in some states. Such consequences meant that any references to homosexuality in art had to be heavily hidden, and Betsky therefore points out that "The queer space of internalized modernism was therefore what passed for old and anonymous." Betsky pointed out that, in its origins, masked queer artworks were presented in subtle ways that would only be clear to particular viewers as artists such as Cecil Beaton (1904–1980) designed their works with "shifting layers of abstract illusion ” so as to express oneself in the purest form possible without the certainty of punishment, while maintaining the possibility of popularity and recognition. Betsky suggests that “style.
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