Glory-eviction of women painters. 1770-1804.

On the eve of the Revolution, a movement for the emancipation of women in art emerged under the leadership of Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun and Adélaïde Labille-Guiard. They adopted new strategies to push back the limits imposed on "people of the same sex": Entry into the Royal Academy, participation in salons, formation of schools. This identity dynamics crystallizes in the genre of the self-portrait, constituting the most original and novel part of their contribution to the French Revolution and to the history of 18th-century art. When the Revolution broke out, women artists occupied an enviable position. But this movement of emancipation was quickly shattered. Excluded from republican institutions, women were relegated to a narrow, sentimental, and maternal feminine genre that would eventually clip their wings. After having achieved fame, they were marginalized from the "new regime of the arts," putting an end to one of the richest periods of French female art. When the Revolution broke out, women artists occupied an enviable position. But this movement of emancipation was quickly shattered. Excluded from republican institutions, women were relegated to a narrow, sentimental, and maternal feminine genre that would eventually clip their wings. After having achieved fame, they were marginalized from the "new regime of the arts," putting an end to one of the richest periods of French female art.