Who's that girl?

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Hommage to Lise Meitner at the entrance of Humboldt University, Berlin

Interesting lady: Hannah Höch

Name: Hannah

Surname: Höch

(Gosh! it feels as if I'm copying Wikipedia, but I've been doing this for ages!)

Date of birth: November 1, 1889

Nationality: German

Why did she call my attention: She is the pioneer of the artistic form photomontage and member of the Dada movement

What WikiP says: "Many of her pieces sardonically critique the mass culture beauty industry, at the time gaining significant momentum in mass media through the rise of fashion and advertising photography"

I got this information here

And some photomontages here

The photomontages of Hannah Höch

Interesting lady: Elena Lucrecia Cornaro Piscopia

Name: Elena Lucrecia
Surname: Cornaro Piscopia
Nationality: Italian
Date of birth: 5 June 1646, in Venice

Main achievements: She is the first woman to get a  doctor of philosophy degree
Subject: Aristotle
She spoke: Latin, Greek, French, Hebrew and Arabic
Main fields of study: Mathematics, Philosophy and Theology

Studied at: Padua University (thanks to her father's good influence)

Main challenges:  Officials in the Roman Catholic Church refused to confer the title of doctor of theology (she could teach the monks aftewards!), so she had to go for philosophy instead.

Funny fact: There were so many people who wanted to attend her oral examination that it had to be held at the Cathedral instead of the University


 More reading: agnes scott - wikipedia

She was born at the Loredan palace in Venice

The Cornaro window, at the Thompson Memorial library (USA) depicts the graduation ceremony and the disciplines she mastered: Grammar, Dialectics, Music, Philosophy, Astronomy, Medicine, Geometry and Theology.

Interesting lady: Marie Laurencin

Name: Marie
Surname: Laurencin
Nationality: French
Date of birth: 31 October 1883
Occupation: painter

Main achievement: She was a successful painter during her lifetime. Salon des Indépendants, stage design, illustrated books....
She could have become a Cubist, but managed to develop her own personal artistic style even though she met Picasso, Braque, Guillaume Apollinaire...
Colour favourites: pastel tones of pink, blue, purple and grey

Exhibition :

Marie Laurencin, Musée Marmottan, Paris 

21 February-30 June 2013

Interesting lady: Zenobia

 apparently this bust, though found in Palmyra, is not really a representation of Zenobia, what a pity

Name: Zenobia
Full name in Roman: Julia Augusta Zenobia
Lived: III century
Occupation: Queen of Palmyra
Where's Palmyra: it was one of the main cities of the ancient Near East, nowadays it is in Syrian land.
Main achievement: She led a revolt against the Roman empire, whose armies wanted to conquer every territory they set foot on as usual.
Achievement nº 2: She led expeditions, expanded and ruled over the Palmyrene empire after the death of her husband in 267. This included the invasion of Egypt.
Date the dream is over: in 274, when she was defeated by the Roman emperor Aurelian and taken to Rome as prisoner.

To know more: wikiyouknowhat, and on the blog Zenobia, empress of the East

Interesting lady: Madame de Staël

Mme de Staël as Corinne

painted by Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun

Name: Anne Louise Germaine Necker

Username: Madame de Staël
Date of birth: 22 April 1766, in Paris

Occupation: writer, host of literary, political and philosophical salons , advicing politicians, travelling all over Europe
Main works: Delphine, Corinne, De l'Allemagne
Main challenge: enduring exile due to Napoleon's suspiciousness on her political views and surviving the Reign of Terror after the French Revolution
Quote from Corinne: To be totally understanding makes one very indulgent


Frederic Harrison on Madame de Staël

"In Delphine a woman, for the first time since the Revolution, reopened the romance of the heart which was in vogue in the century preceding¨"
Her works, "precede the works of Scott, Byron, Shelley, and partly of Chateaubriand, their historical importance is great in the development of modern romanticism, of the romance of the heart, the delight in nature, and in the art, antiquities, and history of Europe."

Katie Daffan on Madame de Staël

She was the first woman to make a place for herself in the literary world; she stood far ahead of any woman of her time. By her pen, which was always brilliant, though sometimes sarcastic, she pleaded for that which was true and permanent, and condemned the false and unstable. Her charm, manner, and wonderful power in conversation brought to her side many who were first admirers and later sympathizers.


Read more about her fascinating life  on The Collective Biographies of Women

Interesting lady: Vittoria Colonna

I'd  been really missing this section

Vittoria Colonna  by Sebastiano del Piombo, c 1520

Name: Vittoria Colonna

Date of birth: 1490

Title: Marchesa de Pescara

Nationality: Italian

Occupation: intellectual, poetess,  influence important figures of her time, write letters.

First published work: Rime de la Divina Vittoria Colonna Marchesa di Pescara, in 1538

Good friend: Michaelangelo Buonarrotti. They exchanged letters, she inspired him and he wrote poems to and about her. He also made a drawing of her , this one:

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more about her life

Link to Other Women's Voices

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Interesting ladies: De claris mulieribus

Book: De claris mulieribus
Translation: On famous women
Subject: a collection of biographies of historical and mythological women
Author: Bocaccio
When: 1374
Why bother talking about it: it's the first collection devoted exclusively to biographies of women in Western literature






And they are:

1. Eve, the first woman in the Bible
2. Semiramis, queen of the Assyrians
3. Opis, wife of Saturn
4. Juno, goddess of the Kingdoms
5. Ceres, goddess of the harvest and queen of Sicily
6. Minerva
7. Venus, queen of Cyprus
8. Isis, queen and goddess of Egypt
9. Europa, queen of Crete
10. Libya, queen of Libya
11 and 12. Marpesia and Lampedo, queens of the Amazons
13. Thisbe, a Babylonian maiden
14. Hypermnestra, queen of the Argives and priestess of Juno
15. Niobe, queen of Thebes
16. Hypsipyle, queen of Lemnos
17. Medea, queen of Colchis
18. Arachne of Colophon
19 and 20. Orithyia and Antiope, queens of the Amazons
21. Erythraea or Heriphile, a Sibyl
22. Medusa, daughter of Phorcus
23. Iole, daughter of the king of the Aetolians
24. Deianira, wife of Hercules
25. Jocasta, queen of Thebes
26. Almathea or Deiphebe, a Sibyl
27. Nicostrata, or Carmenta, daughter of King Ionius
28. Procris, wife of Cephalus
29. Argia, wife of Polynices and daughter of King Adrastus
30. Manto, daughter of Tiresias
31. The wives of the Minyans
32. Penthesilea, queen of the Amazons
33. Polyxena, daughter of King Priam
34. Hecuba, queen of the Trojans
35. Cassandra, daughter of King Priam of Troy
36. Clytemnestra, queen of Mycenae
37. Helen, wife of King Menelaus
38. Circe, daughter of the Sun
39. Camilla, queen of the Volscians
40. Penelope, wife of Ulysses
41. Lavinia, queen of Laurentum
42. Dido, or Elissa, queen of Carthage
43. Nicaula, queen of Ethiopia
44. Pamphile, daughter of Platea
45. Rhea Ilia, a Vestal Virgin
46. Gaia Cyrilla, wife of King Tarquinius Priscus
47. Sappho, girl of Lesbos and poetess
48. Lucretia, wife of Collatinus
49. Tamyris, queen of Scythia
50. Leaena, a courtesan
51. Athaliah, queen of Jerusalem
52. Cloelia, a Roman maiden
53. Hippo, a Greek woman
54. Megullia Dotata
55. Veturia, a Roman matron
56. Thamyris, daughter of Micon
57. Artemisia, queen of Caria
58. Verginia, virgin and daughter of Virginius
59. Eirene, daughter of Cratinus
60. Leontium
61. Olympias, queen of Macedonia
62. Claudia, a Vestal Virgin
63. Virginia, wife of Lucius Volumnius
64. Flora the prostitute, goddess of flowers and wife of Zephyrus
65. A young Roman woman
66. Marcia, daughter of Varro
67. Sulpicia, wife of Fulvius Flaccus
68. Harmonia, daughter of Gelon, son of Hiero II of Syracuse
69. Busa of Canosa di Puglia
70. Sophonisba, queen of Numidia
71. Theoxena, daughter of Prince Herodicus
72. Berenice, queen of Cappadocia
73. The Wife of Orgiagon the Galatian
74. Tertia Aemilia, wife of the elder Africanus
75. Dripetrua, queen of Laodice
76. Sempronia, daughter of Gracchus
77. Claudia Quinta, a Roman woman
78. Hypsicratea, Queen of Pontus
79. Sempronia, a Roman Woman
80. The Wives of the Cimbrians
81. Julia, daughter of the dictator Julius Caesar
82. Portia, daughter of Cato Uticensis
83. Curia, wife of Quintus Lucretius
84. Hortensia, daughter of Quintus Hortensius
85. Sulpicia, wife of Cruscellio
86. Cornificia, a poetess
87. Mariamme, queen of Judaea
88. Cleopatra, queen of Egypt
89. Antonia, daughter of Antony
90. Agrippina, wife of Germanicus
91. Paulina, a Roman woman
92. Agrippina, mother of the Emperor Nero
93. Epicharis, a freedwoman
94. Pompeia Paulina, wife of Seneca
95. Poppaea Sabina, wife of Nero
96. Triaria, wife of Lucius Vitellius
97. Proba, wife of Adelphus
98. Faustina Augusta

99. Symiamira, woman of Emesa

100. Zenobia, queen of Palmyra

101. Joan, an Englishwoman and Pope

102. Irene, Empress of Constantinople

103. Gualdrada, a Florentine maiden

104. Constance, Empress of Rome and queen of Sicily

105. Camiola, a Sienese widow

106. Joanna, queen of Jerusalem and Sicily

what are they wearing, those two??? 

    

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Links and more on this page of wikipedia

 

 

 

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Interesting lady: Nut

Who: Nut, Sky Goddess
Occupation: Welcomes with open arms the body of the deceased Djehuti
When: 3.500 BC
And who was Djehuti: servant at the service of Hatshepsut, one of the few women pharaohs
Why are you posting this: Djehuti's burial chamber was discovered last March
Where: Egypt
Yeah right, but where exactly in Egypt: Luxor, ancient Tebas

Source:rtve

Interesting Lady: Murasaki Shikibu

Name: Murasaki Shikibu

Place of birth: Japan

Interesting achievement: Writing one of the first novels in history, Tale of Genji

When: Between 1002 and 1022 AD


Excerpt from The Tale of Genji

a woman writer replies to Prince Genji's comments about novels and the women who write them

"I have a theory of my own about what this art of the novel is and how it came into being. To begin with, it does not simply consist of the author's telling a story about the adventures of some other person. On the contrary, it happens because one's own experience of people and things has moved one to an emotion so passionate that it can no longer be shut up in one's own heart. Again and again something in one's own life or in the lives of those around one will seem so important that the thought of letting it pass into oblivion is unbearable. There must never come a time, one feels, when people do not know about it. That is my view of how this art arose."

Writing Murasaki Shikibu, by Kikuchi Yosai (1788–1878)

More,but unfortunately not much, here
Excerpt can be found in womeninworldhistory.com
Top illustration: Tosa Mitsuoki (17th century)

Interesting lady: Sylvia Beach

... And a word on inspiration

Inspired by her friend Adrienne Monnier, who had been one of the first women to found her own bookshop in France, "Amis des Livres", Sylvia Beach set up her own English language bookshop in Paris and she named it "Shakespeare and Company". They were lending bookshops, where they organized readings and supported the the work of young writers.

Sylvia Beach was the first publisher of James Joyce's Ulysses

Many years later, Mr. George Whitman went on to open his own English language bookshop, and also named it Shakespeare and Company, with the intention of preserving the spirit of the original store .

It is currently run by George Whitman's daughter.

And guess what her name is...Sylvia Beach Whitman.

Photos from the literary traveler and Parler Paris

More on Sylvia Beach

Interesting Lady, Christine de Pizan

Name: Christine de Pizan

Date of birth: Venice, 1364

Occupation: Writer

Other interests: Philosophy, poetry,feminist activism and earn her living

Main works: The Book of the City of Ladies (1405)

Quotation:

"Alone am I, and alone I wish to be;

Alone my sweet love has left me.

Alone am I, without friend or mate,

Alone am I, mournful and angry."

More: Here, and also in this site