Getting Away with It: An Artist's Blog about Art: Woman's Work

The artistic spotlight in the nineteenth century has almost always been a prize which men possess but, sometimes, a woman came along to claim the prize. As a young girl, Rosa Bonheur was well on her way to claiming the prestigious title of what most people deem as the most influential artist of the nineteenth century. Her art is depicted as realistic and “animalistic”, though some will argue that the way she acted and the fact that she was a woman contributed largely to her influential status.

Bonheur was born in France and studied art under the gentle hand of her father. She began working as an artist at the age of thirteen, first practicing in prints and engravings and then working her way to copying some of the masters shown in the Louvre. Her interests and subject matter in her later years revolved around the ideas of human and animal qualities, physiognomy, and cruelty.

Although Bonheur’s subject matter wasn’t much different from what other artists produced at the time, perhaps what made her so revolutionary were her mannerisms. Since she was a young girl, Bonheur insisted upon dressing in trousers rather than the traditional dress a woman would wear. She stated that, “I was forced to recognize that the clothing of my sex was a constant bother. That is why I decided to solicit the authorization to wear men’s clothing from the prefect of police. But the suit I wear is my work attire, and nothing else.” She claimed that, because she was always working and painting around animals, the proper clothing for women was impractical for her. It is rumored that Bonheur was an early lesbian but nothing has ever been confirmed.

Her two most famous works of art were completed in the middle of her life. Horse Affair, completed in 1855, stands as Bonheur’s largest painting. She described herself as a painter, sculptor, and animalier. When she painted Horse Affair, she dressed as a man and actually went to the horse affairs in Bordeaux (a place where women were not commonly seen). Her other acclaimed work is called Plowing in the Nivernais.