Vigee Lebrun and Frida Khalo

            Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun and Frida   Kahlo:

Female Art and Experience

Sanjana Reddy Samala

Undergraduate Thesis

ABSTRACT:

Two female artists from different influential periods of art will be discussed:Frida Kahlo De Rivera, active in 20th-century Coyoacán , Mexico, and Elisabeth Vigée- Lebrun in 18th-centurty France. An examination of how the self portraits of Frida Kahlo and Elisabeth Vigée- Lebrun demonstrated their style, techniques, female virtues, feelings and self expression will be discussed through historical context and formal analysis of the themes that manifested within their self portraits.

These days, with the plethora of self photos and selfies available to us ? thanks to  computerized digitals, iPhones ,disposable cameras and moment Polaroid pictures it is easy to overlook the significance of portrait painting in the past. Self portraiture has long been a vigorous genre in the history of art. Within the genres of art, self-portraits have been considered to one the most interesting since they convey to us how the artists interpret themselves and the world around them. until the end of the fifteenth century, painters did not paint self-portraits. At most, beyond the work of manuscript illuminators in the Middle Ages, they would paint their own images mingled with other characters in a clandestine fashion or merge some of their features with the features of one of the characters being painted^[1]. The birth of self-portraiture, as we know it now, was a major event inaugurated by Albrecht Diirer at the end of the fifteenth century^[2]. The art of self portraiture was mastered by these Two famous female artists from different influential periods of art : Frida Kahlo De Rivera, active in 20th-century Coyoacán , Mexico, and Elisabeth Vigée- Lebrun in 18th-centurty France. 

Marie Louise Elisabeth Vice

Marie Louise Elisabeth Vigee, better known under her married name of Le Brun, and generally spoken of as Madame Elisabeth Vigée- Lebrun, was born in Paris on April 16, 1755. Her father, Louis Vigee, was a pastel painter of moderate talent, devoted to his art and always ready to commend and encourage his daughter's talent. ^[3] Her talent and charm led to early success; even at a young age of fifteen, she earned enough money to support her mother and younger brother. In the traditions of her time, Vigée- Lebrun learned her techniques by studying the work of masters artists such as Rubens, Raphael, and Rembrandt. She was especially influenced by Rubens after a visit to Holland to see his work. ^[4]She adopted his working methods , beginning with ground of brown-tinted gesso and then adding a light sketch.^[5] [pic 1]