MUSINGS

τέχνη (téchni) f (plural τέχνες); 1. art, craftsmanship, style. νόησῐς (nóēsĭs) f; 1. intelligence, understanding, mental perception 2. processes of thought 3. (concrete) idea, concept

[technoesis]

Hi there!

I’m an art history and philosophy student. 22, she/her, 🇨🇦

I’m not too sure what this blog is going to be for, writing practice and photos mainly. I write (albeit, not well) about the things, ideas, and art that I like, so there might not be a very concrete theme for this blog.

My interests in no particular order

Ancient Greece and Rome Sculpture

Gothic to contemporary Architecture(historical and conceptual)

Feminist theory, women’s role/contribution in Art history

Fashion/couture

Eroticism/ sexuality

Emotionality / interpersonal relationships

Analytic philosophy

Metaphysics

Philosophy of science

Cognitive science

Astronomy

poetry, though I don’t know as much as I’d like to

Cars from time to time

[artschoolglasses]

Favourite Poet, Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, 1888

[fashionweekhighlights]

Chanel "Metier's d'art" Pre-Fall 2026 Look 1

Photographer: Filippo Fior

[04k96]

[creeroumourir]

Bartholomeus Spranger. ' Minerva Victorious over Ignorance ', ca. 1591.

[constanzarte]

Frédéric Soulacroix, The recital

[technoesis]

Jean-François de Troy, Pan and Syrinx , 1724 (Getty Musuem)

Syrinx

Did you know the myth of the pan flute? While today the instrument is often associated with pastoral music or rustic simplicity, its origin story is far more complex, rooted in chase, fear, and transformation

It starts out with a nymph, Syrinx, the daughter of the river Ladon(or the god of river Ladon), which rises in Arkadia and flows into the Alpheios at the border with Elis.

Syrinx was a wood nymph who had many times attracted the attention of satyrs, and fled their advances in turn. She was a worshipper of  Artemis, the goddess of wilderness, and, like her, had vowed to remain a virgin.

The god Pan becomes infatuated with her and eagerly pursues her. Syrinx ran to a river's edge and asked for assistance from the river nymphs, she fled into the river Ladon, and at her own request was metamorphosed into a reed. In answer, she was transformed into hollow water reeds that made a haunting sound when the god's frustrated breath blew across them. Pan cut the reeds to fashion the first set of panpipes so that he could have her with him always. This then coined the new instrument as a syrinx;  in memory of the nymph whose body has become sound.

[Sources and further reading: Larson Greek Nymphs: Myth, Cult, Lore, 155-156, Ovid’s Metamorphis, 1.689; painting: Pan and Syrinx, 1722–1724]

[technoesis]

Artemisia Gentileschi’s Susanna and the Elders (c. 1610) offers a powerful study in contrasting male and female perspectives. Where male painters often emphasized Susanna’s nudity and presented her as a passive object for voyeuristic spectators, Gentileschi centers her experience, showing her tension, distress, and clear resistance to the elders’ intrusive gaze. The painting shifts the focus from the male gaze to Susanna’s own perspective, highlighting her discomfort and agency in a scene of coercion.

The elders loom over her aggressively, their gestures invasive, while Susanna’s body language communicates unease and refusal. In comparison, male artists frequently depicted Susanna as serenely nude or complicit, encouraging viewer identification with the male perspective. Scholars such as Garrard (1989) note that Gentileschi’s approach reflects both her technical skill and personal insight, using dramatic gestures, lighting, and spatial composition to make Susanna’s perspective central; this would include things like not depicting her completely nude.

comparatively, Tintoretto’s version

By reframing the story through a female lens, Gentileschi challenges traditional male-centered narratives and explores themes of power, consent, and visibility. Her treatment of Susanna demonstrates how an artist’s gender can shape narrative focus, emotional impact, and the ethical dimensions of representation, offering a version of the story that foregrounds female interiority and resistance.

Source and further reading: Garrard 1989, History Today

[technoesis]

Hetarai

In classical Athens, the symposium was a central social and intellectual institution, a space where elite men gathered to drink, debate, and enjoy entertainment. The participation of women in these gatherings, however, was highly restricted. Citizen women were excluded entirely from sympotic life, as they were seen as ‘respectable women’ (Burton,1998). This meant that the only women with sustained access to intellectual and social spaces were the hetairai; this ​​was a type of highly educated female companion who served as an artist, entertainer, and conversationalist(but still not as respectable as the household woman) (Burton,1998). Historians have often classed them as courtesans, but the extent to which they were sex workers is a matter of dispute; and  in less formal contexts, the pornai(this is more formally a prostitute). These women occupied a unique position: trained in music, rhetoric, and manners, they could engage with ideas and conversation that were otherwise inaccessible to the majority of women.

Art and literature from the period often allude to this dynamic. Vase paintings depicting symposia frequently show reclining men attended by female musicians or companions, emphasizing the performative role women played while also highlighting their limited agency within male-defined spaces. Scholars such as Dover and Foucault argue that the presence of hetairai at symposia illustrates both the exclusion of citizen women from intellectual life and the way social hierarchies intersected with gender and sexuality.

Symposia also provided a context for socially recognized male homosexual relationships, especially pederastic bonds between older men and adolescent youths, as documented in literary and artistic sources. Within these gatherings, hetairai functioned as companions and entertainers, operating alongside these male social dynamics.

Overall, the symposium demonstrates the exclusion of citizen women, the specific access afforded to hetairai and pornai; and the coexistence of heterosexual and homosexual interactions within elite male social spaces.

From a feminist historical perspective, the symposium underscores the constraints on female education and participation, while simultaneously marking the ways some women could navigate those boundaries. The hetairai and other educated women exemplify a form of negotiated visibility: engaging in cultural and intellectual life at the margins, where knowledge and social skill could create influence despite systemic exclusion.

[Sources and further reading: Burton.1998, Dover 1978, Foucault, The History of Sexuality, Vol. 2: The Use of Pleasure, Corner, 2012]

[creeroumourir]

Alexandre Cabanel. ' Phèdre ', ca. 1880.

[canvasmirror]

Marie-Geneviève Bouliard (French, 1762–1825) • Self-Portrait • 1792 • Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, California, U.S.

Marie-Geneviève Bouliar was one of a small number of women artists to receive public recognition in 18th-century France. The daughter of a tailor, she learned to paint under the guidance of the acclaimed portraitist Joseph-Siffred Duplessis. Early in her career, Bouliar was among the first generation of women to exhibit their work in the Parisian Salon, and she won the Prix d’Encouragement (Encouragement Prize). Soon after, the government provided her with a rent-free studio in the Louvre, indicating official recognition of her talent.

[classicalcanvas]

Skull of a Skeleton with Burning Cigarette (1886) by Vincent van Gogh

[venustapolis]

The source (Georges Lorin, 1857 - 1938)

[technoesis]

Artemisia

During the Renaissance, women faced significant barriers to practicing visual art professionally, yet some managed to navigate these constraints and leave a lasting mark. Artists like Sofonisba Anguissola, Lavinia Fontana, and Artemisia Gentileschi found ways to train, gain commissions, and develop distinctive voices in a field dominated by men. Their careers reveal that despite societal limits, women could assert creative authority and professional skill.

Much of their visibility came through family connections or courtly patronage, which opened doors to workshops, commissions, and public recognition. Artemisia Gentileschi’s Judith Slaying Holofernes (c. 1614–1620) is a striking example of a female artist taking control of narrative and representation. Judith is depicted as active, powerful, and decisive, overturning the traditional passive portrayal of women in biblical stories.( I’m planning to write a more in-depth post specifically on this painting!)

Looking at these works today, it’s clear how women used their art to negotiate visibility, influence, and professional identity. Recognizing these contributions reshapes the story of Renaissance art, showing that creativity was not the sole domain of men, and that women could command both technical mastery and thematic power in their work.

Sources and Further readings : Gerard, 1991 smarthistory

[constanzarte]

The Death of Icarus, by Alexandre Cabanel

[aqua-regia009]

Circe Invidiosa (Red edit), 1892 - oil on canvas — John William Waterhouse (English, 1849-1917)

[technoesis]

Women as Support

The Caryatids of the Erechtheion on the Athenian Acropolis (c. 421–406 BCE) are among the most striking examples of how women’s forms were woven into the visual and symbolic architecture of classical Greece. Serving as sculpted supports in place of traditional columns, the six marble maidens balance the weight of the temple’s south porch upon their heads, merging the aesthetic with the structural. Their draped garments, composed and dignified stances, and restrained expressions present an idealized vision of womanhood, one that embodies both beauty and endurance.

Scholars such as Jeffrey Hurwit and Mary Beard have noted that the Caryatids represent a paradox: they elevate women to architectural prominence while simultaneously fixing them into a permanent posture of service. As symbols, they reflect the broader dynamics of Athenian gender ideology, where female virtue was associated with stability, modesty, and silence. Yet their physical presence on a sacred temple dedicated to Athena complicates this reading. The Caryatids stand as literal and figurative bearers of the city’s spiritual and civic identity.

From a feminist art-historical perspective, the Caryatids mark a tension between representation and participation. They illustrate how classical art codified women’s societal roles, but they also offer a rare, enduring visibility, female figures rendered monumental, essential, and inescapably public.

[Sources and further reading : Hurwit, 1999, Merriam Webster , Caryatid, Anasynthesis, Acropolis Musuem , Smarthistory]