In between dilettantism and self-assertion: amateur to New Woman

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to deepen into women-art relationships between the 19th and 20th centuries in Spain as stages of transition to a female participation as art maker unimaginable by its theme and significance. It is about showing the evolution of the feminine artistic panorama from the nineteenth century condescension, that allowed women to approach painting as an element of distraction, to its conquest, during the first decades of the 20th century, by a new prototype of women who challenged the patriarchal structure through both an unprecedented aesthetic and social transgressions. To illustrate this achievement, we have chosen the paradigmatic example of the artist Delhy Tejero, a unique reflection of the Spanish avant-garde in appearance, involvement and professional career.