The cabinet exhibition builds on the show “To work. The work and toil of women” at the Kupferstichkabinett from 2023 and takes up another aspect of art on paper: The contribution that women made and still make today to the functioning of society has often gone unseen and unconsidered in art, their names and personal stories forgotten today. Until the 18th century, women’s work in the fields, caring for children or even manual activities were rarely the sole subject of a print, but were at most only marginally addressed. This special presentation uses French, German, Italian, Spanish and Dutch works to take a look behind the allegorical scenes in order to shed light on the working world of women.
Image above: Lucas Hugensz. van Leyden (1494-1533), The Milkmaid, 1510, copperplate engraving (sheet size: 11.8 x 15.7 cm), © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett / Dietmar Katz.
Barefoot, the milkmaid carries the heavy bucket full of milk. Two maids concentrate on doing their mistress’s hair. Maids carry a tub of fish or pull a heavy cart with barrels. A farmer’s wife offers fruit and vegetables from her vendor’s tray at a market, while an old woman bakes pancakes and sells them to bystanders. A lady in a fine dress amazes bystanders with her work at the workbench. Another woman draws water from a well with a bucket and fills it into a container that she will then carry home.
The depictions of women at work are complex and varied, sometimes appreciated, sometimes tainted with prejudice. They often conceal allegorical or religious content: Christ, for example, sits on the edge of the aforementioned drawing well and addresses the woman of Samaria. But behind these backdrops, a rarely addressed aspect is revealed: without women, their energetic efforts and their seemingly patient work, a society characterized by male and patriarchal structures would not have been able to function.
This small thematic exhibition presents 25 French, German, Italian, Spanish and Dutch prints from the 16th to 18th centuries from the Kupferstichkabinett’s rich holdings. The prints selected show women in their everyday activities to earn a living: as peasants, teachers, maids, midwives or courtesans.
On the one hand, it provides an insight into professions dominated by women, such as attending a birth as a midwife, and on the other, it also shows areas of society in which the sexes work side by side – on an equal footing? – go about their work side by side. The allegorical layers of meaning often include self-confidently active women, but the toil of everyday drudgery is not hidden either. To this day, so-called care work for children, the elderly and family hardly receives the necessary recognition; work is being done to reconcile work and family life and to achieve equality, including in financial matters, but this has not yet been achieved.
At the same time, it becomes clear that many of these depictions were created by artists: Albrecht Dürer, Lucas Cranach, Rembrandt, to name but a few. Their (male) view of women shaped the perspective for centuries. With Louise Magdeleine Horthemels (1686-1767) and Marguerite Ponce (1745-1800), two female artists are also represented in the exhibition who probably earned their living by producing works of art – with them as “art makers”, the exhibition ties in with the 2023 exhibition. The cabinet exhibition is a contribution to Women’s Month in March, but also to “Equal Pay Day” (March 7) and “Labor Day” (May 1).
“To work. The work and toil of women” is curated by Dagmar Korbacher, Director, Mailena Mallach, Curator of German Art before 1800, and Christien Melzer, Curator of Dutch and English Art before 1800, Kupferstichkabinett.
WHEN?
Exhibition dates: Tuesday, February 18 to Sunday, May 18, 2025
Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 10 am to 6 pm
WHERE?
Kulturforum Berlin, Picture Gallery
Johanna and Eduard Arnhold Platz (formerly Matthäikirchplatz)
10785 Berlin
COST?
Regular: 16 EUR
Reduced: 8 EUR
