Her Half of History
131 episodes - English - Latest episode: 6 days ago - ★★★★★ - 48 ratingsWhy don't women's clothes have more pockets? Who are the female writers and artists my education forgot to include? How does a woman go about seizing control of her government? What was it like to be a female slave and how did the lucky ones escape? When did women get to put their own name on their credit cards? Is the life of a female spy as glamorous as Hollywood has led me to believe?
In short, what were the women doing all that time? I explore these and other questions in this thematic approach to women's history.
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Episodes
12.9 Marie Antoinette, the Luckiest Princess
April 25, 2024 05:00 - 24 minutesThere is so much written about Marie Antoinette, much of it contradictory, that I just could not squeeze her story down into a single episode, not even with liberal use of the backspace button. So this is the first of three episodes on a woman who many hoped would be the last queen of France. In this episode: she is born in Vienna, though we don't know much about her childhood she wins (or loses) the dice roll the determines who marries who between Versailles and Vienna a hasty education f...
12.8 Zainatuddin Kamalat Syah, Last Queen of Aceh (Indonesia)
April 11, 2024 05:00 - 20 minutesThe sultanate of Aceh enjoyed no fewer than four reigning queens in a row. They defended their country against rampant expansion by the Dutch and then the English. The last queen, Zainatuddin Kamalat Syah, was eventually deposed in 1699, through a combination of religious and personal factors, ending 59 years of a highly unusual political experiment in which women were seen as not just acceptable rulers, but preferable to men. Visit the website (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts,...
12.7 Arwa al-Sulayhi, Last Queen of the Sulayhids (Yemen)
April 04, 2024 05:00 - 19 minutesYes! There have been Muslim queens who ruled their own countries! One of them was Arwa al-Sulayhi who ruled Yemen for 60 years in the 11th and 12th century. She outlasted her husband, her other husband, her son, and her other son, continuing to rule on her own authority through it all. Though the memory of her has faded, her mosque is still there, and so is her palace. Visit the website (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures. Support the show on my Patreon page (https:/...
12.6 Xiuhtlaltzin, Last Queen of the Toltec (Mexico)
March 28, 2024 05:00 - 19 minutesThe history of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica is hard for historians because the best sources were all destroyed. Those that remain are of dubious historicity, but they do tell of the Queen Xiuhtlaltzin, who reigned somewhere in the 800s or 900s, shortly before the fall of the Toltec empire. Since the records are so sketchy, this episode is not exactly a biography, but it does cover: what written records the people of Mesoamerica left why the written records didn't survive (they got burned) how...
12.5 Jinseong, Last Queen of Silla (Korea)
March 21, 2024 05:00 - 18 minutesThe kingdom of Silla in ancient Korea had three queen regnants (a very good score, compared with most other countries of its time). Two reigned in Silla's golden age, but the last was Jinseong, who ruled at a time when decay had set in and the odds were not in her favor. Visit the website (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures. Support the show on my Patreon page (https://www.patreon.com/user?u=83998235) for bonus episodes, polls, and a general feeling of self-satisfac...
12.4 Zenobia, Last Empress of Palmyra (Syria)
March 14, 2024 11:14 - 23 minutesZenobia is one of the great enemies of Rome. From the oasis city of Palmyra (in modern-day Syria), she rose up in rebellion and conquered a great empire from Asia Minor through to Egypt. This episode covers: the background of Palmyra as an important stop on the Silk Road just how disastrous the 3rd century was for Rome how Zenobia's husband Odaenathus saved the eastern empire how he died how Zenobia took control on behalf of her son how she expanded her empire how Rome fought back and ...
12.3 Boudica, Last Queen of the Iceni
March 07, 2024 06:00 - 24 minutesRome stole her country, publicly flogged her, and raped her daughters. The woman known variously as Boudica, Boudicca, Boadicea, Bonducca, and a dozen other variations fought back with everything she had. This episode includes: How Rome came to the isle of Britain How the Icenian king split his country between Rome and his daughters How Rome wouldn't take half for an answer How the Icenian queen gathered an army and burned three successive cities to the ground How Rome won the last battl...
12.2 Cleopatra, Last Pharaoh of Egypt (rebroadcast)
February 29, 2024 06:00 - 31 minutesCleopatra inherited a joint throne, but pushed first one and then a second brother out of it to rule alone. In a world where rising Roman dominance was a fact of life, she managed to maintain control of her country by negotiating (in every possible way) with both Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. Though she lost in the end, she still managed to close out 3000 years of Egyptian history on her own terms. This episode originally appeared in series 2 on Women Who Seized Power, but it fits equally w...
12.1 Salome Alexandra, Last Queen of Judea
February 22, 2024 12:30 - 24 minutesShe had many names: Salome, Alexandra, Shelamzion, and Schlomtzion, but the last monarch of an independent kingdom of Judea was a Queen Regnant. She ruled from (roughly) 78 to 69 BCE. Her time was remembered for generations as the golden age before Rome. Visit the website (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures. Support the show on my Patreon page for bonus episodes, polls, and a general feeling of self-satisfaction. Or make a one-time donation on Buy Me a Coffee. Join ...
The Last Queen, for Now (by Cheryl Ciucevich)
February 15, 2024 06:00 - 20 minutesIf you follow the royal news, you may be aware that we had a queen abdicate last month. Or possibly, you missed it because it wasn’t in the British royal family. It was Margrethe II of Denmark. I am researching last queens for series 12, fully aware that the word “last” is a little ambiguous here, but I must confess, the connection with this current event, never crossed my historically minded brain. Until I read a blog post on exactly that connection, and a definition of “last” I had not cons...
LaVern Baker (by The Dead Ladies Show)
February 08, 2024 06:00 - 27 minutesIt's Black History Month, and we're looking at LaVern Baker, the pioneering R&B singer LaVern Baker. Today's episode is a guest episode from the fabulously named Dead Ladies Show, which celebrates women - both overlooked and iconic, through live history storytelling on stage in Berlin, and beyond. Check out other episodes from The Dead Ladies Show on their website (https://deadladiesshow.com/podcast/) or wherever you get your podcasts. Visit my website (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, tra...
Interview with Kelly Chase from the History Detective Podcast
January 25, 2024 06:00 - 22 minutesKelly Chase of the History Detective Podcast interviewed me last year about how and why my podcast is produced. Here is our conversation about podcasting and history and why it is important. Kelly is also the author of History, Her Story, Our Story, a fantastic resource for middle and high school students and teachers, as well as anyone who wishes their knowledge of history included a few more women. Her Website: (https://historydetectivepodcast.com/) X: https://twitter.com/HistoryDetect I...
11.13 The Discovery of Teenagers
January 11, 2024 06:00 - 24 minutesFor most of human history, teenagers have been lumped in with children or with adults, depending on which way was most convenient at the time. People between the ages of 13 and 19 didn't become "teenagers" until the 20th century. In this episode, I talk about: how the Classical writers defined the difference between childhood and youth/adolescence how important it was for girls of that age to maintain virginity or marry, nothing in between how in 1904 an American psychologist informed us t...
11.12 Coming of Age: A History of Puberty
January 04, 2024 06:00 - 25 minutesGirls have always been reaching puberty, but what that meant for her has varied. In this episode we look at the age of menarche (when girls start their period) and whether that was cause for shame or celebration: In ancient Greece, girls at puberty "acted the she-bear." In Rome they dedicated their dolls to Venus. In many cultures girls entered a period of seclusion and fasting at menarche. In 18th and 19th Western cultures, menarche meant the begining of concealment, discomfort, and dang...
11.11 Girls at Work in the Industrial Age
December 21, 2023 06:00 - 27 minutesThe Industrial Revolution did not invent child labor, but it changed how people viewed it. A growing middle and upper class provided their kids with long childhoods filled with play, education, and preparation for a productive adulthood. The poorer classes sent their children to work in factories and fields where they worked long hours at dangerous jobs and learned very few skills. Girls in particular worked in textile mills, breathing in lint and climbing over whirling machinery. But girls a...
11.10 Girls at Work
December 14, 2023 06:00 - 24 minutesChild labor has existed since the beginning of humanity. Poor girls, both slave and free, worked as cleaned, carried water, cared for other children, and worked in the fields, often with long hours under harsh treatment. Most of their stories went undocumented but this episode does have anecdotes from Harriet Tubman, Elizabeth Keckley, Mary Jemison, and others about what it was like to be a working girl. The Industrial Revolution was initially hailed as a great and wonderful thing because it...
The History of St Lucia's Day
December 07, 2023 06:00 - 20 minutesSt Lucia’s Day is December 13th. It is celebrated in a number of countries, but today is specifically about the Swedish celebration. You may have seen a picture of a beautiful blond girl, dressed in a white dress with a red sash and a wreath on her head with burning candles? That is St Lucia, as celebrated in Sweden or countries influenced by Sweden. But the origin of the story is in Italy. In 304 CE, the Roman emperor Diocletian ordered a persecution of Christians. That much is history. St L...
11.9 Girls at School
November 30, 2023 06:00 - 26 minutesThe underlying question behind educating girls is: Why? Why are you educating them? Throughout history, there have been varying answers to that question, and each answer has produced a wildly different strategies on how to do it. This episode covers the major strategies, from home tutoring to convent schools to governesses to listening in on your brother's lessons. All of these methods continued even as the 18th century saw the rise of boarding schools (of dubious value) and the 19th century ...
11.8 The Reading Girl (after 1860)
November 16, 2023 06:00 - 24 minutesThe 1860s blew new life into children's literature, especially for girls. Alice in Wonderland (1865) has been called the first modern children's book, and one in which moral didacticism was replaced by a fantastic and total disregard for the laws of physics. Little Women (1868) pioneered the intimate home life story and is still one of the best examples. On the trashier side, dime novels were also first published in the 1860s (and they were read by girls as well as boys). Children's picture b...
11.7 The Reading Girl (up to 1860)
November 09, 2023 06:00 - 25 minutesIs there anything better than books? Today I’m not talking about the compulsory part of books at school (that’s a later episode in this series), I’m talking about reading for the love it. Reading because as Meg Ryan's character said in You've Got Mail, “When you read a book as a child, it becomes part of your identity in a way that no other reading in your whole life does.” Most historical girls were illiterate, unfortunately, but even for those who could read, the growth of literature intend...
11.6 The Clothes Make the Girl
November 02, 2023 05:00 - 26 minutesWhy pink? And when did girls start dressing in pink, for that matter? (Hint: a lot more recently than you probably imagine.) This episode also covers whether you actually need baby clothes (probably not, historically speaking) and how long a girls skirts should be, and we also touch on why the boys don't get lace, ruffles, and pink. I also mention Kelly Chase and the History Detective Podcast which you can find here: https://historydetectivepodcast.com/. Her new book History, Her Story, Our S...
The Fox Sisters (a haunted history)
October 26, 2023 05:00 - 24 minutesIn 1848, the Fox family prepared to go to bed as usual, but the darkness was punctuated by mysterious rapping noises for which they could find no source. Through hours of terrified questioning, they eventually discovered that it was the ghost of a peddler murdered by a previous resident. Or so the story goes. . . Kate, Maggie, and Leah Fox became the most famous mediums of 19th century America, giving rise to the worldwide movement of Spiritualism and leading thousands about thousands of thei...
11.5 From Knucklebones to Bicycles (a history of girls at play)
October 19, 2023 05:00 - 25 minutesGames and pastimes mostly don’t get a mention in the records that are more concerned with the death of kings and the collection of taxes. If we manage to know about an ancient or medieval game at all, we usually have no idea who played it, and certainly there is no logical reason to think that only one age or gender might enjoy a game. And yet at least in some times and places, gender associations spring up anyway. Today's episode is the history of girls playing with knucklebones, hopscotch, ...
11.4 From Venus to Barbie (a history of dolls)
October 12, 2023 05:00 - 24 minutesOf all the words I did not think I would have to define, doll probably tops the list. We all know what the quintessential girls’ toy is, right? Only it turns out we don't. Separating the dolls from the statues, idols, effigies, puppets, and fertility symbols is a complex (and possibly hopeless) task in the pre-modern world, but we give it a go in this episode with dolls from prehistoric times, plus Egypt, Greece, Rome, Japan, Peru, and that's all before we get to the mass-produced blockbuster...
11.3 Of Nursery Rhymes and Fairy Tales
October 05, 2023 05:00 - 25 minutesHistorical mothers did not have a lot of pink and purple merchandise for their baby girls, but they did have words. Lullabies, nursery rhymes, and fairy tales are probably as old as humanity, but they mostly didn't get written down until the 17th to 19th century. This episode ranges from the one (and sadly only one) ancient Roman lullaby we know, to the origins of Little Miss Muffet and her Mother Goose compatriots, to the origins of Disney's favorite princesses like Snow White, Cinderella, a...
11.2 The Discovery of Childhood
September 28, 2023 05:00 - 21 minutesChildhood doesn't sound like it needs discovering, right? Surely everyone, up to and including a large number of animal species, are aware of children. But the historical record does not really agree with you on that. Ancient biographies tend to start at adulthood. Apparently nothing interesting happened before that, even to very interesting people. Historians have called the ages zero to seven "the silent years" because we have so little information. Today's episode is a look at how we got f...
11.1 It's a Girl! (the history of being born female)
September 21, 2023 05:00 - 26 minutesIn the days before ultrasounds, expectant mothers still wanted to know if they were having a boy or a girl, and experts from Aristotle to celibate male monks to midwives were eager to help them find out. Methods ranged from dubious to really, really dubious, but if you want to try any of them out, this episode will tell you the most common methods. Assuming you actually were born a girl, then your problem was survival in a world with not just high infant mortality, but adult-assisted infant m...
Captain Carolyn Kurtz (by Shipwrecks and Sea Dogs)
September 14, 2023 05:00 - 1 hourToday I have an episode by fellow Into History podcaster Rich Napolitano, of the Shipwrecks and Seadogs podcast. He looks at maritime history across the world and across the ages. Historically speaking, ships were often named as women, but they didn’t have a whole lot of women working on them. With some exceptions. There are a handful of known women mariners in history, and that is a potential future series topic for me. In this episode Rich interviews a woman who is currently working in the ...
Annie Oakley (by Wild West Extravaganza)
September 07, 2023 05:00 - 25 minutesOn the Wild West Extravaganza podcast, Josh tells the stories of the tumultuous American Old West, including characters like Billy the Kid, Jesse James, Wyatt Earp, and Wild Bill Hickok. But in this episode he tells us about the amazing Annie Oakley, a sharpshooter, an entertainer, and one tough lady. I am still on research break. Series 11 on the history of girlhood will start on September 21st. Visit the website (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures. Support the s...
Helen Keller (by Kate Twitchell King)
August 31, 2023 05:00 - 24 minutesToday's episode is by guest writer Kate Twitchell King, who researched Helen Keller, a deaf-blind American, born in 1880. There are many books, many films, and many TV shows about her, especially about her early childhood, but this is the story of what happened after her extraordinary breakthrough with her teacher Anne Sullivan. I am still on research break (series 11 on the history of girlhood is coming soon). Visit the website (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures...
100th Episode! A Comedy Retrospective
August 24, 2023 05:00 - 21 minutes - 13.7 MBThis episode is my 100th episode! As has been a theme during this research break, I have a special guest today, but this is my only nonhuman guest. No one seems 100% certain whether AI will usher us into a techno paradise or simply take over the world and eliminate us as superfluous. I decided to find out whether ChatGPT could write my podcast better than I can, so I asked it to write some episodes for me. I am pleased to report that I am not yet obsolete. But with a great deal of proddin...
Elizabeth Freeman (with People Hidden in History)
August 17, 2023 05:00 - 29 minutesAugust 21st will mark 242 years since an incredible woman named Elizabeth Freeman sued her owner for freedom and won. In celebration, I am going to play today an interview with her that I did with Kathleen Langone of the People Hidden in History podcast. Kathleen began historical research by doing her own family history, and she has branched out from there, with episodes about Flora MacDonald, the 18th century revolutionary and Connecticut witch trials. She is a particular expert on the Gild...
Double Feature: Nellie Bly and Queen Victoria (by History Daily)
August 10, 2023 05:00 - 35 minutesHistory is made every day, and the History Daily podcast is too. For today's episode, I am bringing you two of their episodes: Nellie Bly Races Around the World and Queen Victoria Survives Assassination for the Eighth Time.You can hear more of History Daily wherever you get your podcasts or on their website (https://www.historydaily.com/) or in the Into History Network. Many thanks to Lindsay Graham and his team for allowing me to use their content this week!Meanwhile, I am deep in research f...
Artemisia Gentileschi (with A History of Italy)
August 03, 2023 05:00 - 28 minutesI am currently on a research break working on Series 11, but instead of going dark during this time, I have lined up a variety of content for you. This week I am playing an interview I did a few months ago with Mike Corradi of the fabulously entertaining History of Italy podcast. He starts with the Fall of the Roman Empire and has just recently completed the Middle Ages, meaning that he has already covered about 1000 years of history, which is epic. I learned about learning about Queen Amalan...
10.14 Georgia O'Keeffe, an American Painter
July 27, 2023 05:00 - 24 minutesGeorgia O'Keeffe is the hardest to classify of all the painters I have covered. Her work is neither abstract, nor realistic, nor surreal. She is simply a modern painter, most famous for her gorgeous flower paintings and landscapes of New Mexico, which feature bold colors and swirling shapes. She made it big in the art world in a way that few other women have, and she also holds the record for the highest auction price ever paid for a female artist’s work. Visit the website (herhalfofhistory...
Announcement: Into History Podcast Network
July 22, 2023 14:00 - 2 minutesI’m happy to announce Her Half of History is now part of the Into History podcast network, a brand-new subscription channel of podcasts made by history lovers for history lovers. You’ll get access to hundreds of ad-free episodes, plus exclusive curated feeds around a topic, a bookclub, a newsletter, and a community hub to keep the conversation going. In addition to Her Half of History, you will get outstanding podcasts such as History Daily, Wild West Extravaganza, American Elections: Wicked ...
10.13 Frida Kahlo, a Mexican Painter
July 20, 2023 05:00 - 23 minutesAre you a Fridolatrist? A fan of Fridamania? An admirer of the unibrow, the surrealism, and the shocking way in which Frida Kahlo portrayed the most private parts of her life on canvas? This week's episode explores the life of a woman who has been claimed as a secular saint by artists, feminists, Chicanos, the disabled, and the LGBTQ+ communities. Whether you love her art or loathe it, she is truly one of a kind. Visit the website (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures....
Requiem for Paula Modersohn-Becker (by Rainer Maria Rilke)
July 13, 2023 05:00 - 18 minutesOne year to the day after Paula Modersohn-Becker died, her friend, the celebrated poet Rainer Maria Rilke, sat down to write a Requiem for her, and today’s episode is that requiem in translation. I suggest listening to last week's episode before this one because the poem has numerous references to Paula and her life: · the amber necklace that appeared in many of her paintings, · her pursuit of still life in which she arranged fruits in a way quite different from the traditional ...
10.12 Paula Modersohn-Becker, an Expressionist Painter
July 06, 2023 05:00 - 24 minutesIf Paula Modersohn-Becker had lived as long as Picasso, you might know her name as well as you know his. That is the claim of multiple art historians who celebrate her for her use of color and her breaking open of the nude genre. Her work is startling for portraying women as real women, with absolutely no regard for the masculine gaze. Her life was a struggle to find her way between the demands of her career, the demands of her society, and the demands of her own heart. Unfortunately, she die...
10.11 Hilma af Klint, an Abstract Painter
June 29, 2023 05:00 - 22 minutesIn the early years of the 20th century, an obscure woman in Sweden invented abstract art to reflect her spiritualist views in which the physical world we know was only the lowest plane of existence. Despite her mixed efforts, few people knew about her art for decades until it was rediscovered in the 1980s to high critical acclaim.Also, the poll for the topic of Series 11 is available on Patreon and it is free for anyone to vote. Visit the website (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcript...
10.10 Mary Cassatt, an Impressionist Painter
June 22, 2023 05:00 - 19 minutesMary Cassatt was born in the US, but spent most of her life in France, where she became known as a prominent member of the Impressionist movement. She was known for her exquisite paintings and prints, many of them revolving around the intimate bond between mothers and children. She had a close working relationship with Edgar Degas. Her artwork can be found in renowned museums worldwide, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, and the National Gallery ...
10.9 Uemura Shōen, a Japanese Painter
June 15, 2023 05:00 - 17 minutesUemura Shōen painted bijin-ga, a traditional Japanese style of art which featured beautiful women. She had her first international success at the age of 15 and continued with many decades of painting, right through two world wars and changing fashions. Visit the website (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures.Support the show on my Patreon page for bonus episodes, polls, and a general feeling of self-satisfaction.Join Into History for a community of ad-free history podca...
10.8 Amalia Küssner, Portrait Painter (by Kathleen Langone from People Hidden in History)
June 08, 2023 05:00 - 17 minutesToday I welcome guest podcaster, Kathleen Langone from the People Hidden in History podcast. Kathleen talks about one of her own distant relations: Amalia Küssner, who painted the portraits of the wealthy and famous during the Gilded Age and traveled across three continents to do it.You can see Kathleen's show at peoplehiddeninhistory.com or follow her on Twitter (@phihpod) or Instagram or LinkedIn.I have personally appeared on her show twice: once to talk about Elizabeth Freeman, the 18th ce...
10.7 Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun, French Portrait Painter
June 01, 2023 05:00 - 22 minutesElisabeth Vigée Le Brun was a genius at portrait painter. She rose from obscurity to being Marie Antoinette's official painter, which was great right up until it wasn't. When the French Revolution came, Elisabeth fled to Italy, Austria, and Russia, painting portraits all the way. Later generations have denigrated her, largely on the theory that anyone painting something so appealing must not have been a serious artist. Listen to hear why I disagree and see what you think! Visit the website (h...
10.6 Maria Sibylla Merian, Painter and Scientist
May 25, 2023 05:00 - 24 minutesIn a world where words like "entomologist" and "ecologist" had not yet been coined, Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717) managed to be both. She was trained as a painter of flowers but was really more interested in the bugs on the flowers. Her adventures took her from her native Germany to Holland, across the Atlantic to Surinam, and back, where her paintings of wildlife were admired by scientists across Europe and contributed to Carl Linnaeus's system of scientific nomenclature. Visit the websit...
10.5 Li Yin, a Chinese Painter
May 18, 2023 05:00 - 18 minutesArt flourished in Ming dynasty China. Scolar-officials (and their wives and concubines) pursued the painting of birds, flowers, and landscapes as a sign of their cultural refinement. Li Yin was a celebrated painter of the 17th century, and during her lifetime over 40 other artists were imitating her work and selling it with her name on it. Her works can still be seen in the Palace Museum in Beijing. Visit the website (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures.Support the sh...
10.4 Judith Leyster, a Dutch Master Painter
May 11, 2023 05:00 - 18 minutesIn the Dutch Golden Age, Judith Leyster was a Master Painter who ran her own workshop and created some of the greatest masterpieces of the age. Then she died, her name was completely forgotten, and her works were attributed to her contemporaries (all men). Until a lawsuit in the late 19th century sparked an investigation that dug her back out of the archives to great critical acclaim. Visit the website (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures.Support the show on my Patreo...
10.3 Artemisia Gentileschi, a Baroque Painter
May 04, 2023 05:00 - 23 minutesArtemisia Gentileschi was a woman who would not be kept down. She created some of the greatest masterpieces of her time and some would say that she was the first in all of art history to portray women as realistic protagonists in their own story. Her most famous works include women with bloody swords. She was a card-carrying member of the #MeToo movement (or at least she would have been if it had existed then). And she once told a prospective male patron that he would "find the spirit of Caes...
10.2 Sofonisba Anguissola, a Renaissance Painter
April 27, 2023 05:00 - 20 minutesSofonisba Anguissola was the first of the female Italian Renaissance painters. She studied with Michelangelo, worked as court painter for Spanish royalty, and continued to paint throughout a very long life. She pioneered still life and intimate family moments long before others made them a viable art form. Her status as a noblewoman actually raised the profile of artists. She is the first of many to achieve success as a female painter in this series.If you're interested in the history of Ital...
10.1 Female Painters in the Premodern World
April 20, 2023 05:00 - 22 minutesPaint doesn't last as long as some other art forms, so premodern painters of any gender are tricky to find. Nevertheless, there is scattered evidence of women painting everything from prehistoric rock paintings to Roman portraits to Indian villages to medieval illuminated manuscripts. I also delve into why none of the women in this series will be on the same name-recognition level as Michelangelo, Monet, or Picasso. In the words of art historian Linda Nochlin, "our stars, our hormones, our me...