The Construction of Women as Artists: Art, Gender and Society

Abstract

According to Battersby (1989), the term ‘masterpiece’, commonly used to signify the exceptional work of renowned male artists, was first used by the medieval craft guilds to indicate that the piece of work produced by an apprentice for the master, or magister, was of sufficient skill to allow the apprentice access to the privileges of the guild and secure his position. Women were active in these guilds despite the need to produce a ‘masterpiece’ (Battersby, 1989).