Heroine of the Weekend

Since today is my birthday, it seemed like a good time to get organized and start doing some blog posts again!! I'm going to start by adding in some new Heroines, since I have missed them. Today's Heroine is Bertha Morisot, born on January 14, 1841.

Morisot was born in Bourges, to a well-to-do and respectable family who nevertheless encouraged their daughters Berthe and Edma in their pursuit of art. (Edma married young and gave up painting, while Berthe was more ambitious). Berthe first studied with Barbizon School artist Camilly Corot, who encouraged her interest in plein-air landscape painting, and later with Edouard Manet, who became one of her greatest friends and colleagues and who used her as his model many times (there are rumors of romance, but no proof has come to light...)

Her first appearance in the prestigious Salon was in 1864, with 2 landscapes. She continued to show at the Salon, to mostly positive reactions, until she joined up with the rebellious Inpressionists in 1873. Her light, free style fit well with their aesthetic, though like the other female Impressionist Mary Cassat she mostly painted images of her own milieu of intimate domestic life, women in their homes, and landscapes.

In 1874 she married Edouard Manet's brother Eugene and had one daughter, Julie. She died of pneumonia on March 2, 1895 and was buried in the Cimetiere de Passy. Her paintings can still be seen in every major museum in the world and are highly sought-after in art auctions...

Some sources on her life:

Anne Higonnet, Berthe Morisot (1995)
Julie Manet, Growing Up With the Impressionists: The Diary of Julie Manet (1987)

Hiatus And New Book

Am on a short hiatus here while I finish some deadlines! But in the meantime check out my new November "Undone!" short story--just in time for the holidays

Hottie Monday

Today's Hottie is classical violinist Charlie Siem! Enjoy :)

Heroine of the Weekend

I am off on vacation this weekend, but have to celebrate this week's Heroine--fashion designer Else Schiaparelli, who I love! She was born on this day in either 1890 or 1896 (I found conflicting reports...) Read about her life here and enjoy your weekend!

Heroine of the Weekend

It's a holiday weekend, and I am supposed to be making appetizers for a cookout tonight but have spent too long reading this morning, so no time for a proper Heroine post! But I do want to celebrate the birthday (September 2, 1838) of Liluokalani, last monarch and only Queen Regnant of Hawaii (I loved touring the royal palace in Honolulu on a trip to Hawaii and found the history fascinating....) Check out more about her life here...and have a great holiday!

Hottie Monday

So I went to see Crazy Stupid Love last week, so of course Ryan Gosling has to be our Hottie Monday! I've always thought he was a terrific actor, but never really noticed how hot he was before...

Heroine of the Weekend

So it's been a while since we've had a Heroine, isn't it? I have been a blog slacker. But I'm getting back into regular posts now, starting with today's look at Anne Hutchinson, early champion of women's rights and religious freedom, who died on August 20, 1643.

Anne Marbury was born in 1591 in Lincolnshire, England, the daughter of a dissident Puritan clergyman whose family was a follower of John Cotton. In 1634 they went with him to North America and settled in Massachusetts. (Anne had married William Hutchinson in August 1612, and they took their children with them to the New World).

But things didn't continue very well once settled. Anne held a Bible study and discussion group in her home, which grew more and more popular as she was reputed to be a charismatic speaker and brilliant thinker (it was mostly women who attended at first, but she soon attracted men to her group, including Sir Henry Vane, who was later a governor of Massachusetts). The group grew to over 80 members and attracted the attention of the authoritarian church elders of the colony. At a time of strict uniformity, Anne expressed her own interpretations of the Bible, as well as her concerns about the lack of women's rights and racial prejudice toward the Native Americans. She was brought to trial in 1637, accused of being an "antinomian heretic". Despite being pregnant with her 15th child she was forced to stand before the judges and face their grilling for days on end (she miscarried). They declared "You have stepped out of your place, you have rather been a husband than a wife, a preacher than a hearer, and a magistrate than a subject." She was excommunicated and banished from the colony, moving with some of her followers to Portsmouth in Rhode Island.

Anne's husband died in 1642, and she moved to Eastchester Bay, which was then part of Dutch New Netherlands. Unfortunately she was caught in a dispute between the Dutch and local Native American tribes and was killed in a native raid in 1643. (One daughter, Susanna, survived, reputedly because of her red hair).

...you have no power over my body, neither can you do me any harme, for I am in the hands of the eternall Jehovah my Saviour, I am at his appointment, the bounds of my habitation are cast in heaven, no further doe I esteeme of any mortal man than creatures in his hand, I feare none but the great Jehovah, which hath foretold me of these things, and I doe verily beleeve that he will deliver me out of our hands, therefore take heed how you proceed against me; for I know that for this you goe about to doe to me, God will ruine you and your posterity, and this whole state.

Some sources on her life:

Robert E. Krieger, Anne Hutchinson: Troubler of the Puritan Zion (1980)

Eve LaPlante, American Jezebel: The Uncommon Life of Anne Hutchinson (2004)

Selma R. Williams, Divine Rebel: The Life of Anne Marbury Hutchinson (1981)