Women Artists in the Spanish Cultural Scene and their Relationship with Europe, 1803-1945

In 1804, Francisco de Goya portrayed María Tomasa Palafox, marquise of Villafranca, one of the first Spanish amateur female painters of whom we have graphic evidence in contemporary Spain. A year earlier is dated the Self-portrait as a Painter executed by Mariana Fernanda Waldstein, in which she shows herself painting, in a firm act of self-representation and highlighting her activity as an artist. That same year 1803, Adélaïde Labille-Guiard died in Paris. She had also painted a self-portrait, surrounded by her disciples, vindicating her mastery over many French women artists.

Their work is the starting point of the research project Women Artists in the Spanish Cultural Scene and their Relationship with Europe, 1803-1945, dedicated to the analysis of a long and complex process that begins at that time and concludes after the Second World War; a period during which the most important transformations in the history of art took place and during which women artists overcame the scarce consideration and social valuation they received as professionals at the beginning of the 19th century.

The purpose of the study is to investigate how this process developed in Europe, especially in countries such as Spain, France, and Italy, in which the scarcely studied relationships established between female artists from different European countries are a matter of particular importance. These relationships undoubtedly contributed to the progress towards a more egalitarian training, professionalization, and public presence of women artists in Spain and other European countries. 

Directed by Concha Lomba (University of Zaragoza), the project includes Jaime Brihuega (Complutense University of Madrid), Rafael Gil, Ester Alba and Mariángeles Pérez-Martín (University of Valencia), Magdalena Illán (University of Seville) and Alberto Castán (University of Zaragoza).

Women Artists in the Spanish Cultural Scene and their Relationship with Europe, 1803-1945 is the continuation of the research project Women Artists in Spain, 1804-1939 (HAR 2017-84399-P), also funded by the Agencia Estatal de Investigación and developed between 2018 and 2021.