Overlooked Women at the Met

These women—some known, some anonymous—hail from a wide variety of cultures and time periods. They include the Egyptian pharaoh Hatshepsut (ca. 1507-1458 BCE); the Greek lyric poet Sappho and anonymous Greek women weavers (6 ^th century BCE); a Roman kithara player (1 ^st century BCE); Mary Magdalene (1 ^st century CE); the anonymous but educated Byzantine woman with a scroll (late 4th–early 5th century); the Early Christian martyrs and later saints Barbara and Catherine (3 ^rd -4 ^th century CE); the Medieval Japanese poet and author of the world’s first novel Murasaki Shikibu (ca. 973-ca. 1014 or 1025);  Queen Idia of Benin (16 ^th century), widely regarded as the first woman to raise an army; Sofonisba Anguissola (ca. 1532-1625), the first woman to gain an international reputation as an artist; the pathbreaking German entomologist and artist Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717); the French artist and champion of young women artists Adélaïde Labille-Guiard (1749–1803); the animalier Rosa Bonheur (1822-1899); the indigenous artists Nampeyo (1859–1942) and Carrie Bethel (1898–1974); the stained-glass artist Agnes Northrop (1857-1953), who only recently received recognition for her work at Tiffany & Co.; the Surrealist painter and novelist Leonora Carrington (1917-2011); the contemporary painters Kay WalkingStick (Cherokee, b. 1935) and Beatriz Milhazes (Brazilian, b. 1960); and Master Sgt. Andrea Motley Crabtree (b. 1959), U.S. army’s first female deep-sea diver.

Five classes of In the Picture are held in the Met’s galleries; in Fall 2024, student admission fees were funded by a Council of Independent Colleges Teaching Art in Context grant, funded by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation. Students return to the Met on their own to locate other Overlooked Women. They conduct research on these women and present their research in two forms. The first is aTea Party in the style of Chicago’s Dinner Party. To this end, each student selects a motif or section of a work of art that best represents their Overlooked Woman. Then, guided by Professor of Art Hallie Cohen in The Judy, they paint those motifs onto plates. The complete Tea Party is installed in The Judy’s Digital Immersion Lab. Each place setting also features an information sheet with research sources. Projected onto the walls are images from Chicago’s extraordinary installation, which is permanently housed in the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum, and photographs of the MMC student artists/historians creating their works of art. The students give presentations on the subjects they have brought to light.

Later in the semester, students select a second Overlooked Woman in the Met and create a Pinterest board on both of their subjects. They link one or both women to a current organization fighting for women’s rights or gender equality. For example, Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun’s portrait of her young daughter Julie (1787) could be linked to She’s the First, an international organization that teaches girls how to speak up for themselves. At the end of the semester, students give a second presentation on their Pinterest boards and describe connections between the overlooked women they selected and social justice for women today.

In the end, students learn about the lives and struggles of women unjustly omitted from or misrepresented in traditional historical accounts. Thety find unexpected role models. At a time when women around the world still face enormous challenges in exerting and securing their rights, students also discover some of the many practical ways in which they can help to combat longstanding gender discrimination.

Click here for a copy of our catalogue for the Fall 2024 Tea Party

Reflections from students on studying Overlooked Women:

“I have found that learning about, discussing, and making art about overlooked women/women artists has helped me to put all my prior knowledge of history and art into perspective…. Going throughout time and attaching one of these women’s stories to each moment in history has better equipped me to actualize and grasp the reality of these events and lives. I have also trained my eyes to examine art with a new lens.” –Alex Eichholz, ’25 (BFA, Musical Theatre)

“If we are going to study or create art, we must give these women their proper recognition. They are figureheads and icons. They are people to learn from. Most of all, they are fellow artists who deserve our attention, and I think it’s time we give it to them.”                –Andi Maroney, ’25 (BFA, Musical Theatre)

“So many of my favorite works of art are of women made by men, and because of that, I think it has perpetuated the idea that men are the makers and women are to be made. This class has shown me women who create, who reject the idea that the female body is an object, and who represent autonomy for themselves and others. Perception shapes reality, and my perception of ‘artist’ has changed.” –Paige McAllister, ’25 (BFA, Acting)

“Seeing historical women represented in art and women artists reminds us that our struggles are not new; women even from thousands of years ago experienced violence, discrimination, and erasure, but they came out stronger despite their struggles.”               –Kate Parker, ’27 (BA, Dance & Environmental Studies)

“I have learned to look more deeply into the lives of women artists, to think more about the context of not only the subjects represented but also the worlds in which the artists lived. It has made me more aware of my privileges now and made me want to learn more about how we got here.” –Reagan Seeley, ’28 (BA, Art History; BFA, Film and Media Production)

“Art is the backbone of culture and so many artists—in this case women artists, specifically—are overlooked in favor or dominant male perspectives. If art by women and about women is proudly showcased, discussed, and studied, our culture can shift toward one that celebrates women and makes space for the marginalized.” –Isabel Torok, ’25 (BFA, Dance)

“It is abundantly clear that women hold power and influence in the world despite attempt after attempt to crush them. Women fight through in order to be seen and heard, and that fight can only continue if young girls can see themselves as powerful, influential people….So much female empowerment takes place in the creation and learning of art, and it is cruel to restrict that kind of learning from young women today.” –Charlie Trzell, ’27 (BFA, Musical Theatre)

“We must know the [overlooked women], learn their names and stories, and appreciate the value of their work. Women artists are also human artists. Why shouldn’t they be known? Why should their work be buried or scattered to the four winds? The answer is: they shouldn’t be. And the best place to ensure that that does not happen is the classroom.” –José Zayas, ’27 (BFA, Musical Theatre)