What is a woman to do? : a reader on women, work and art, c. 1830-1890

410 Pages·2011·2.275 MB·English

by  Patricia Zakreski, Kyriaki Hadjiafxendi

CISRA Vol 13
What Is a Woman to Do?
A Reader on Women, Work and Art, c. 1830–1890
Kyriaki Hadjiafxendi and Patricia Zakreski (eds)
Peter Lang
Cultural Interactions:
Studies in the Relationship between the Arts
This anthology contributes to a scholarly understanding of the aesthetics and
economics of female artistic labour in the Victorian period. It maps out the
evolution of the Woman Question in a number of areas, including the status
and suitability of artistic professions for women, their engagement with new
forms of work and their changing relationship to the public sphere. The wealth
of material gathered here – from autobiographies, conduct manuals, diaries,
periodical articles, prefaces and travelogues – traces the extensive debate on
women, work and art from the 1830s to the 1890s.
Combining for the first time nineteenth-century criticism on literature and
the visual arts, performance and craftsmanship, the selected material reveals
the different ideological positions surrounding the transition of women from
idleness to serious occupation. The distinctive primary sources explore the
impact of artistic labour upon perceptions of feminine sensibility and aesthe-
tics; the conflicting views of women towards the pragmatics of their own
creative labour as they encompassed vocations, trades and professions; and the
complex relationship between paid labour and female fame and notoriety.
Kyriaki Hadjiafxendi is Lecturer in Victorian Literature and Culture at
the University of Stirling. Her publications include the co-edited collection
Authorship in Context: From the Theoretical to the Material (2007). She is currently
working on a monograph on George Eliot, the nineteenth-century literary
marketplace and sympathy.
Patricia Zakreski is Teaching Fellow in the Department of English at the
University of Exeter. She is the author of Representing Female Artistic Labour:
Refining Work for the Middle-Class Woman (2006). Her current project con-
cerns the relationship between nineteenth-century industrial design and
women’s writing.
www.peterlang.com
What Is a Woman to Do?
C I
ultural nteraCtIons
Studies in the Relationship between the Arts
Edited by J.B. Bullen
Volume 13
PETER LANG
Oxford • Bern • Berlin • Bruxelles • Frankfurt am Main • New York • Wien
Kyriaki Hadjiafxendi and
Patricia Zakreski (eds)
What Is a Woman to Do?
A Reader on Women, Work and Art,
c. 1830–1890
PETER LANG
Oxford • Bern • Berlin • Bruxelles • Frankfurt am Main • New York • Wien
Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.
Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche
Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data is available on the
Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
What is a woman to do? : a reader on women, work and art, c. 1830-
1890 /
Kyriaki Hadjiafxendi and Patricia Zakreski (eds).
p. cm. -- (Cultural interactions : studies in the relationship
between the arts ; vol 13)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-3-0353-0062-8 (alk. paper)
1. Middle class women--Employment--England--History--19th century. 2.
Women artists--England--History--19th century. 3.
Women--England--History--19th century. I. Hadjiafxendi, Kyriaki, 1976-
II. Zakreski, Patricia.
HD6136.Z255 2010
331.4’8170094209034--dc22
2010036973
ISSN 1662-0364
ISBN 978-3-0353-0062-8
Cover Image: Three Women Working (oil on canvas) by Theophile
Alexandre Steinlen (1859–1923), Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France/
Giraudon/ The Bridgeman Art Library
© Peter Lang AG, International Academic Publishers, Bern 2011
Hochfeldstrasse 32, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland
[email protected], www.peterlang.com, www.peterlang.net
All rights reserved.
All parts of this publication are protected by copyright.
Any utilisation outside the strict limits of the copyright law, without the
permission of the publisher, is forbidden and liable to prosecution.
This applies in particular to reproductions, translations, microfilming, and
storage and processing in electronic retrieval systems.
Printed in Germany
To Will and Merry,
for always giving Tricia something to do.
To γιαγιά Ελένη,
whose indefatigability means
that there is always less for Kyriaki to do.

Contents
Acknowledgements xiii
Editors’ Note xv
Introduction: Art and Economics for the Middle-Class Woman 1
Section One Negotiating the Domestic Ideal 15
Introduction 17
[Sarah Lewis], Woman’s Mission (1839) 21
Marion Reid, A Plea for Women (1843) 27
‘Advice to the Ladies’, Eliza Cook’s Journal (1850) 35
Barbara Leigh Smith [Bodichon], Women and Work (1857) 39
[Dinah Mulock Craik], A Woman’s Thoughts about Women (1858) 47
[Harriet Martineau], ‘Female Industry’, Edinburgh Review (1859) 57
Florence Nightingale, ‘Cassandra’ (1860) 63
A. R. L., ‘Facts Versus Ideas’, English Woman’s Journal (1861) 69
[Dora Greenwell], ‘Our Single Women’, North British Review
(1862) 75
viii
Charlotte Mary Yonge, ‘Money-Making’, Womankind (1877) 83
Emily Pfeif fer, Women and Work. An Essay, etc. (1888) 89
Section Two The Feminine Aesthetic 97
Introduction 99
Frances Anne Butler [Fanny Kemble], Journal (1835) 103
M. A. [Mary Ann] Stodart, Female Writers: Thoughts on Their
Proper Sphere, and Their Powers of Usefulness (1842) 109
R. H. [Richard Hengist] Horne, A New Spirit of the Age (1844) 113
[Anne Richelieu Lamb Dryden], Can Woman Regenerate Society?
(1844) 119
Currer Bell [Charlotte Brontë], ‘Editor’s Preface to the New
Edition of Wuthering Heights’ (1850) 127
Anna Mary Howitt, An Art Student in Munich (1853) 133
[George Eliot], ‘Woman in France: Madame de Sablé’,
Westminster Review (1854) 139
Elizabeth Strutt, The Feminine Soul: Its Nature and Attributes.
With Thoughts upon Marriage, and Friendly Hints upon
Feminine Duties (1857) 147
R. H. [Richard Holt] Hutton, ‘Novels by the Authoress of
John Halifax’, North British Review (1858) 155