Date of Award
Spring 5-1-1978
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Department Not Listed
First Advisor
Cornelius B. Carron
Second Advisor
Harriet M. Caplaw
Third Advisor
Roslyn R. Erbes
Abstract
The nineteenth century bequeathed few women artists and composers to art and music history as currently recorded. Those women, noted by biographers and historians, seem to be inferior to their male contemporaries in status and significance. This paper has attempted to trace the development of two women in the arts, Mary Cassatt and Clara Wieck, and in comparing their talent, growth, and contributions, uncover possible reasons for the inequality of repute they have been given. The problem, then, was to discover any significant differences in the education, criticism, and acceptance of nineteenth-century artists and composers on the basis of sex. A case study approach was used. Edgar Degas, artist, and Robert Schumann, composer, were compared and contrasted with their feminine counterparts in every area of developmental significance. Generalizations were drawn on the basis of these individual studies. Historical analyses of the conditions of woman in the nineteenth century were consulted. Numerous biographies, critical essays, and current scholarly articles provided multiple perspectives and insights into the development and the repression of woman's role in the arts, both in the past and in the present. The author concluded that many distinctions based on sex did hamper the development of both Mary Cassatt and Clara Wieck. The expectations of nineteenth-century parents, peers, and educators iv affected both the ambitions of and the avenues open to women in the arts. The crucial role of critics is given special attention and four veins of sexist criticism are explored. They are: derivative, maternal, virile, and effeminate. The author also concluded that the arts are not equally open to women and men at the current time and recommended a mode of contemporary critic ism which excludes sex as a referent for critical judgment.
Recommended Citation
Munchel, Carol Ann O.S.F., "Mary Cassatt/Edgar Degas And Clara Wieck/Robert Schumann: The Comparative Status of Female and Male Artists And Composers in the Nineteenth Century" (1978). All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 3559.
https://scholars.indianastate.edu/etds/3559