A painter. A woman painter?!

Károly Ferenczy’s painting captures a wonderful and characteristic moment. The working artist pauses for a moment to examine her creation. Is she satisfied or not? It is difficult to decide based on the picture, but it is certain that Ferenczy was justifiably satisfied with his picture The Painter, thanks to its wonderful proportions, impressive colour scheme and naturalness.
The latter fact is worth emphasizing if only because the existence of female painters was not always self-evident, even when the picture was born in 1903. Although a lot of emphasis was placed on art education for young middle- and upper-class girls in the 19th century (and earlier), the main purpose of this was to maintain/increase social status, which also meant better marriage chances.
This was changed by the Model School of Drawing, opened in Budapest in 1871, where women could take professional drawing courses – separately from male students. Here, they could even obtain an art teacher’s qualification, but equality regarding the curriculum and common education had to wait until the 1908/1909 school year. Who knows, maybe the heroine of the picture is not looking at her picture, but at her artistic future.

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