Above: Amy Hague, Who would believe a woman could paint this?, 2023, Oil painting on recycled plywood canvas, 80 x 110cm.
Who would believe a woman could paint this? by Amy Hague focuses on a European art historical fact that women were mostly excluded from professional art practice.
Creating a hybrid appropriation from Young Woman Drawing by Marie-Denise Villers and Jacques-Louis David’s Self- Portrait, Hague’s painting depicts David stealing a young female artist’s studio chair and sketchbook.
The painting reads like a crime scene with David staring with cold-hearted defiance at the viewer and holding up the young artist’s dismembered hand; the owner of both hand and drawing lying maimed and unconscious at his feet. Hague’s subtle modernisation of Viller’s window scene, depicting two onlooking witnesses suggests equity is an ongoing issue.
CASSANDRA HARD LAWRIE
CURATOR & VISUAL ARTS COORDINATOR, ART SPACE ON THE CONCOURSE (WILLOUGHBY CITY COUNCIL)
Amy’s work candidly conveys the story of two artists, depicting the form of Jacques Louis-David taking the place of the Young Woman Drawing, a matter that throws a stark spotlight on the issue of female representation in both art and history (Jacques Louis-David took credit for Marie Denis Villers’ work of 1801).
Hague has taken much of the same composition and detailed elements of the original piece but in her grim satire, the young woman has been brutally murdered and replaced. The male figure’s central and elevated position draws the eye and dominates the work and becomes the primary focal point, demonstrating yet a further injustice as he stares defiantly at the viewer.
The hand, hacked from her body and held nonchalantly as a tool, shows the indifference of the male figure to the suffering that has been inflicted on the woman. It is a powerful metaphor.
LUKE POTKIN
FAIR DIRECTOR, THE OTHER ART FAIR
Through her skilful appropriation of works by both Marie Denise Villers and Jacques Louis-David, Hague seeks to shed light on the systemic injustices faced by women artists throughout history. By inserting Jacques Louis-David’s self-portrait into Villers’ Young Woman Drawing, Hague exposes the complexities of authorship and the ways in which women’s contributions have been overshadowed and undervalued. Powerfully depicted, the composition seeks to engage dialogue, spark interest and fuel debate. Who would believe a woman could paint this? serves as a powerful indictment of the historical erasure of female artists and the pervasive gender biases that have long plagued the art world.
GRACE ALTY
FINE ARTS SPECIALIST AT INTERNATIONAL ART CENTRE, AUCKLAND