The dry, wrinkled skin, crow’s feet and rheumy eyes of old women can be seen universally; yet the actual images and their meaning differ widely, and the very absence of these old women in certain settings also reveals both a discomfort with the aged and an ease in their invisibility. This is true in writing about art and often in the art itself. The physical markers of aging, even implications of death or the nearness of death, make many of these images of old women, haunting; in the 16th and 17th centuries, they become emblems of anger and avarice, though portraits of known elderly women are often created with a sense of awe, and in some cases, authority.
This book provides a frank examination of old women, from medieval “old wives” to contemporary reimaginations of shamans and witches and empowering self-portraits. Works from medieval Europe to colonial-time Polynesia, present West Africa, Japan, and the Americas, in a multiplicity of media are explored. These studies of varied representations of “old women” offer fresh perspectives and a dialogue about society’s values and preconceptions regarding the “golden years” in different times and cultures. Images of old women may be the very opposite of what one considers the ideal, but this discussion makes these often overlooked images seem fresh and highlights their many positive associations.
Introduction Frima Fox Hofrichter (Pratt Institute, USA) and Midori Yoshimoto (Jersey City University, USA) 1. Alchemy’s Old Wives M.E. Warlick (University of Colorado at Denver, USA) 2. Anger, Avarice and Aging: Transgressive Old Women Jane Kromm (State University of New York at Purchase, USA) 3. Silenced, Sidelined, and Even Undressed: Old Women in Seventeenth-Century Religious Art Zirka Filipczak (Williams College, USA) 4. Frans Hals’s Portrait of an Older Judith Leyster Paul Crenshaw (Providence College, USA) 5. Old Maids: Images of Elderly Servants in Early Modern Europe Diane Wolfthal (Rice University, USA) 6. Paetini and Vaekehu: Change and Aging in the Portraits of Two Nineteenth-Century Marquesan Matriarchs Carol Ivory (Oregon State University, USA) 7. Portraits of Power: Depictions of Nineteenth-Century Northwest Coast Matriarchs Megan A. Smetzer (University of British Columbia, Canada) 8. Old Women/New Vision: Lucia Moholy’s Photographs of Clara Zetkin Vanessa Rocco (University of New Hampshire, USA) 9. Sculptor, Hostess, Witch: Unpacking Louise Nevelson’s Boxes Johanna Ruth Epstein (Independent Scholar, USA) 10. To Honor or Condemn: Museums and the Women of Sande Susan Kart (Lehigh University, USA) 11. Women and Aging in Contemporary Japanese Art: The Case of Yanagi Miwa Midori Yoshimoto (Jersey City University, USA) 12. Aging and Feminist Art: Semmel’s Visible Bodies Rachel Middleman (University of California at San Diego, USA) List of Contributors Bibliography Index
Frima Fox Hofrichter is Professor of history of art and design at the Pratt Institude, USA. She is the author of Judith Leyster: A Woman Painter in Holland's Golden Age (1989). Midori Yoshimoto is Associate Professor of Art History and Gallery Director at New Jersey City University, USA. She is the author of Into Performance: Japanese Women Artists in New York (2005) and contributed to Yoko Ono One Woman Show (2015), Gutai: Splendid Playground (2013), and Yayoi Kusama(2011).
Reviews for Women, Aging, and Art: A Crosscultural Anthology
Drawing on innovative new research, the authors fearlessly tackle controversial issues, find humor in surprising places, and convincingly argue that aged women can, and should, be viewed as wise, powerful, creative, and—yes, beautiful. * Nancy G. Heller, Professor of Art History, University of the Arts, Philadelphia, USA * It reveals as much insight into the at times conflicting and contrasting approaches to art historical method as it provides material for comparative analysis from a global and largely decolonized perspective. * Woman's Art Journal * A fascinating exploration of a little discussed subject … The book is a revelation, one that opens up new vistas for both art history and age studies. * Julia Twigg, Professor of Social Policy & Sociology, University of Kent, UK *
