Get to Work!

Using French, German, Italian, Spanish and Dutch works on paper, the exhibition attempts to take a look behind the allegorical scenes in order to shed light on the hard work in the fields, the care of children and also the handicrafts carried out by women up to the 18th century.


The small thematic exhibition presents 25 French, German, Italian, Spanish and Dutch prints from the 16th to 18th centuries from the rich holdings of the Kupferstichkabinett. Works were selected that show women in their everyday activities: as a farmer's wife, maid, teacher, maid, midwife or courtesan.


On the one hand, it provides an insight into jobs that were carried out by women, such as caring for a birth as a midwife, and on the other hand, it also shows areas of society in which the sexes work side by side - on an equal footing? Underneath the allegorical layers of meaning, self-confident women are often found, but the hardship of everyday drudgery is not hidden either.


To this day, so-called care work for children or the elderly hardly receives the recognition it deserves; work is being done on the compatibility of work and family and on equality in financial matters, but these have not yet been achieved.


At the same time, it is clear that many of the depictions shown were created by men: Albrecht Dürer, Lucas Cranach, Rembrandt, to name just a few. Their (male) view of women shaped the social perspective for centuries.


With Louise Magdeleine Horthemels (1686–1767) and Marguerite Ponce (1745-1800), two female artists are also represented who earned their living by creating works of art.


The cabinet exhibition is the Kupferstichkabinett's contribution to March, the women's month, but also to "Equal Pay Day" (March 7th) and "Labor Day" (May 1st).


Curators

The exhibition is curated by Dagmar Korbacher, director, Mailena Mallach, curator for German art before 1800, and Christien Melzer, curator for Dutch and English art before 1800, Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.


A special exhibition by the Kupferstichkabinett in the Gemäldegalerie of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin