Allegory, identity and the performative muse: Angelica Kauffman's London self-portraits, 1766–1781
As a woman, artist, painter and Academician, Angelica Kauffman’s (1741–1807) place in art history is assured. At the point of the eighteenth century, she was recognised as one of the leading artists of her age. Yet contemporary interpretations, as well as subsequent art histories written after her l...
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| Format: | Thesis-Doctor of Philosophy |
| Language: | English |
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Nanyang Technological University
2024
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/178233 |
| _version_ | 1826120755476168704 |
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| author | Wu, Ellice Kai Wen |
| author2 | Christopher Peter Trigg |
| author_facet | Christopher Peter Trigg Wu, Ellice Kai Wen |
| author_sort | Wu, Ellice Kai Wen |
| collection | NTU |
| description | As a woman, artist, painter and Academician, Angelica Kauffman’s (1741–1807) place in art history is assured. At the point of the eighteenth century, she was recognised as one of the leading artists of her age. Yet contemporary interpretations, as well as subsequent art histories written after her lifetime, tend to treat Kauffman and her works through the conventional tropes and limiting lens of feminine passivity, charm and desire. These observations undermine the professionalism that women artists of the period sought to achieve. In this dissertation I challenge these critical tendencies by re-examining Kauffman’s self-portraits from her London period (1766–1781) as images of cultural complexity and gendered self-referentiality. By situating Kauffman within London, I also argue that these fifteen years were integral to the making of her professional artistic identity. As a female painter in a male-dominated profession, the ways she saw, and depicted, herself indeed offers a nuanced reflection of the sensibilities surrounding gender, professions, class, and internationalism within the art world of late eighteenth-century London. Kauffman’s range of self-portraits, in paintings, prints and drawing, are therefore examined in personal, social and institutional terms. She presents herself above all else as a professional artist, giving new value to the figure of the Muse, acting as the embodiment of allegory, and is always conscious of the performative aspects of public display. As a foreign national included as a founding member of the Royal Academy of Arts, situated at the heart of the arts in a nascent empire, she would strike a fine balance between her performative identities. She is simultaneously the painter and the painted; the artist and sitter; the subject and model.
Diverging from an oft-taken retrospective view, this study projects Kauffman’s self-portraits as a forward-looking means of making and constructing identity from the standpoint of the late eighteenth century. This dissertation thus presents a renewed understanding of Kauffman’s London self-portraits, where in these images she firmly depicts herself as an artist or alludes to her person in response to the cultural and social contexts of her time. The analysis of her self-portraits is contrasted by an examination of portraits of Kauffman by her male contemporaries, where the subject is perceived differently in terms of her professional identity. A broader understanding of the challenges and opportunities that female professionals similarly faced in London during these years is also created as a result. This inquiry into this crucial period of Kauffman’s career in London thus examines how her self-portraits contributed to the making and establishment of her professional identity, as she consciously, and strategically, navigated social, cultural and institutional norms to achieve her personal ambitions and gain artistic success. |
| first_indexed | 2024-10-01T05:22:01Z |
| format | Thesis-Doctor of Philosophy |
| id | ntu-10356/178233 |
| institution | Nanyang Technological University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-10-01T05:22:01Z |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| publisher | Nanyang Technological University |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | ntu-10356/1782332024-09-04T01:07:09Z Allegory, identity and the performative muse: Angelica Kauffman's London self-portraits, 1766–1781 Wu, Ellice Kai Wen Christopher Peter Trigg Neil Murphy Michael J K Walsh School of Humanities CAMurphy@ntu.edu.sg, cptrigg@ntu.edu.sg, mwalsh@ntu.edu.sg Arts and Humanities Angelica Kauffman Self-portraiture Eighteenth-century British art Women artists As a woman, artist, painter and Academician, Angelica Kauffman’s (1741–1807) place in art history is assured. At the point of the eighteenth century, she was recognised as one of the leading artists of her age. Yet contemporary interpretations, as well as subsequent art histories written after her lifetime, tend to treat Kauffman and her works through the conventional tropes and limiting lens of feminine passivity, charm and desire. These observations undermine the professionalism that women artists of the period sought to achieve. In this dissertation I challenge these critical tendencies by re-examining Kauffman’s self-portraits from her London period (1766–1781) as images of cultural complexity and gendered self-referentiality. By situating Kauffman within London, I also argue that these fifteen years were integral to the making of her professional artistic identity. As a female painter in a male-dominated profession, the ways she saw, and depicted, herself indeed offers a nuanced reflection of the sensibilities surrounding gender, professions, class, and internationalism within the art world of late eighteenth-century London. Kauffman’s range of self-portraits, in paintings, prints and drawing, are therefore examined in personal, social and institutional terms. She presents herself above all else as a professional artist, giving new value to the figure of the Muse, acting as the embodiment of allegory, and is always conscious of the performative aspects of public display. As a foreign national included as a founding member of the Royal Academy of Arts, situated at the heart of the arts in a nascent empire, she would strike a fine balance between her performative identities. She is simultaneously the painter and the painted; the artist and sitter; the subject and model. Diverging from an oft-taken retrospective view, this study projects Kauffman’s self-portraits as a forward-looking means of making and constructing identity from the standpoint of the late eighteenth century. This dissertation thus presents a renewed understanding of Kauffman’s London self-portraits, where in these images she firmly depicts herself as an artist or alludes to her person in response to the cultural and social contexts of her time. The analysis of her self-portraits is contrasted by an examination of portraits of Kauffman by her male contemporaries, where the subject is perceived differently in terms of her professional identity. A broader understanding of the challenges and opportunities that female professionals similarly faced in London during these years is also created as a result. This inquiry into this crucial period of Kauffman’s career in London thus examines how her self-portraits contributed to the making and establishment of her professional identity, as she consciously, and strategically, navigated social, cultural and institutional norms to achieve her personal ambitions and gain artistic success. Doctor of Philosophy 2024-06-07T01:43:47Z 2024-06-07T01:43:47Z 2023 Thesis-Doctor of Philosophy Wu, E. K. W. (2023). Allegory, identity and the performative muse: Angelica Kauffman's London self-portraits, 1766–1781. Doctoral thesis, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. https://hdl.handle.net/10356/178233 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/178233 10.32657/10356/178233 en This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0). application/pdf Nanyang Technological University |
| spellingShingle | Arts and Humanities Angelica Kauffman Self-portraiture Eighteenth-century British art Women artists Wu, Ellice Kai Wen Allegory, identity and the performative muse: Angelica Kauffman's London self-portraits, 1766–1781 |
| title | Allegory, identity and the performative muse: Angelica Kauffman's London self-portraits, 1766–1781 |
| title_full | Allegory, identity and the performative muse: Angelica Kauffman's London self-portraits, 1766–1781 |
| title_fullStr | Allegory, identity and the performative muse: Angelica Kauffman's London self-portraits, 1766–1781 |
| title_full_unstemmed | Allegory, identity and the performative muse: Angelica Kauffman's London self-portraits, 1766–1781 |
| title_short | Allegory, identity and the performative muse: Angelica Kauffman's London self-portraits, 1766–1781 |
| title_sort | allegory identity and the performative muse angelica kauffman s london self portraits 1766 1781 |
| topic | Arts and Humanities Angelica Kauffman Self-portraiture Eighteenth-century British art Women artists |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/178233 |
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