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Cleopatra (London, private collection)

Cleopatra is painted with realistic lighting that sharply defines the women’s body. It portrays the moment that the curtain is pulled and Cleopatra’s body is found, dying. The painting of the body is done in rich fleshy tones for two reasons. Firstly, it symbolizes the person being represented by accentuating their body with vividly rich colors. Secondly, it adds an artistic heightened quality in the painting, aiding a certain aesthetic. Deeper in the painting, we see that crown and flowers are not only ornamental details in the piece, but also a rare example of still life in her art.

Artemisia Gentileschi goes further than her representation of the main woman figure in her exploration of women in this work. Unlike the fair, pale skin servants often associated with Western art, the servant presented in “Cleopatra” is of African descent and care was taken in representing her correctly. This practice of putting non-European women into pieces of fine art was unheard of at the time and is a testament to the feminist attitudes that present themselves in “Cleopatra” as well as Gentileschi’s other pieces.

Even as a women painter in a period in which women were not respected in the field, Gentileschi employed incredible technique in the creation of this piece. The use of harsh lighting, chiaroscuro, as well as balanced construction show themselves to be evident, making her art technically equal to her contemporaries.

Series 1, No. 8

Series 1, No. 8 by Georgia O’Keeffe was painted in 1919 in Abiquiu, New Mexico. This artwork, as well as many of O’Keeffe’s other works was based on feeling, leading to works that are invoked with a spirituality. This is one piece in multiple series that showed abstract landscapes. She employed techniques such as mirror imaging and a surreal palate of colors to invoke emotion and communicate the feeling she experiences in creating her works. Series 1, No. 8, one of those surreal landscapes, uses natural forms and shapes in its composition. Because of this, objects like a heart can be seen. More interestingly, the center yellow mass appears to look like a female vulva. This imagery of the female vulva, intentional or not, highlights the running theme of finding female sexuality and beauty within nature and bolsters a feminist lens in O’Keeffe’s approach to art. The organic shapes that O’Keefe uses to shape the landscape with its genitalia motif creates a louder message that femininity itself is organic, beautiful, and can be found within nature. Her use of colors seen in this piece reflect the profound effect that New Mexico had on her and boldly shows itself in her art.