Looking for the "Modern Woman Artist": The French Example and its Reception in Fin-de-Siècle Buenos Aires

GLUZMAN, GEORGINA

Washington DC

Conferencia; College Art Association 104th Annual Conference; 2016

College Art Association

At the turn of the century, the modernization of women?s roles in Argentina was accompanied by a reflection on the situation of women in other countries. For many, France was the most progressive nation vis-à-vis the ?woman question?. Moreover, the idea of the French woman artist was at the core of discourses about art in fin-de-siècle Buenos Aires. This paper unravels the importance of the representation of the ?French woman artist? in the Argentine press at the turn of the century. These representations are important in analyzing the growing interest in female artists. To better understand the reception of the French example, I ask and answer the following questions: which women artists did art critics in Buenos Aires select as their subject?, how was the ?modern French woman artist? portrayed, in image and text, in Buenos Aires?, and finally, how did these representations impact women artists working in Buenos Aires?