A Woman Like That

Originally, I had a marvelous plan to do a post about feminism for Valentine’s Day. Clearly that didn’t happen, but for once I do not regret it. That Thursday, I had to attend a film for my “Thinking About Art” class. It was entitled “A Woman Like That” and had been screened at the Denver Art Museum the night before. We were lucky because the director, Ellen Weissbrod, was there to present her film, and there was a question and answer session and reception following the film. First, let me say that if you are so fortunate as to get the chance to see this film, you definitely should. The director’s distributing it herself, so you might not, but if you do you will not regret going.

The film is a documentary, and follows Weissbrod’s journey to tell the story of Artemisia Gentileschi, and also tells of the inspiration that Weissbrod takes from her. Who is Artemisia Gentileschi? It’s a shame so few people know the answer to that question. I didn’t, before I watched the film. Artemisia was a female Renaissance-Baroque painter of extraordinary talent, great notoriety during her time, and relatively little fame today. She had passion and determination, and I wish I had learned about her sooner. Her work is scarce and mostly lost, but what survives is beautiful. There is no doubt that she was just as good as her male contemporaries, although she suffered extreme discrimination because she was a woman trying to make a living at a man’s profession. However, Artemisia never gave up doing what she loved because of adversity; painting was her life and her heritage, and so she stayed the course and carved out a place in history.

While we learn Artemisia’s story, we follow the people she has touched and inspired. There’s a wealth of people who speak about the artist, from scholars and historians to high school students and regular people off the street. Owners of her work and Italian museum employees also make appearances, and it’s fascinating to hear what the world takes away from Artemisia. I wish a few more men had given their opinions in the film; they seemed quite underrepresented. As a film, “A Woman Like That” isn’t too bad. The beginning and the end are rather slow, but the middle is absolutely excellent. Weissbrod’s story of herself is tedious at times, and does not exactly explore new territory in terms of the Who Am I? narrative, but it’s a worthy addition and certainly helps to bring Artemisia out of the past. One of my favorite parts of the film was the groups of random women who had never met acting out scenes that Artemisia painted. Of particular note is the comparison between Caravaggio’s depiction of Judith slaying Holofernes (top) and Artemisia’s (bottom); acting out the scenes reveal how much more sense Artemisia’s painting makes.

I suppose what I take away from the film, Valentine’s Day, and the original post I had planned is that feminism is still very much necessary and important, and that it always has been. What feminist women are striving toward is to be like Artemisia – to have the right to do what we love, and by doing so contribute to the destruction of social barriers that keep women from being equal to men. Artemisia is a person who did that, and while she may not be especially famous or important in the grand scheme of art and history, she is invaluable as an inspiration to people of all stripes. Shouldn’t we all try to be women like that?