Representation Of Gender Roles In Mexico In Paintings Of Olga Costa

Although the field of art was dominated by men during the Mexican Cultural Revolution of 1910-1948, Olga Costa was one of the few female artists that was recognized for her paintings. Olga Costa is from German, however her and her family fled to Mexico to escape the persecution of Jews during World War I. Throughout her adolescent years, Costa saw Veracruz in a different lens being from Berlin and was very appreciative of the appearances of everything which she showed mostly in her artwork with the usage of color. Art to Costa was at first a hobby and didn’t start to see herself as a “serious artist,” which is why she only went for three months to the Academy of San Carlos back in 1933, which is also why she is acknowledged as a self-taught artist. As an artist she was more fascinated in depicting the impressions of what she saw especially the forms of indigenous female and children. Olga Costa demonstrates feminism in many of her paintings especially in El Nino Muerto and La Novia by reflecting how poverty effects many womxn during the Mexican Cultural Revolutions of 1910-1948. This allows us to see the struggles of the indigenous womxn in Mexico because Costa painted a more realistic depiction of life in Mexico.

During the 1910 through 1948, Feminism in Mexico centered around the tearing down of the culture of Machismo which was the fault of not having many opportunities for the indigenous womxn. Men were seen to be more superior than womxn because of the “nature” conceptions that society had on men. Given the fact that art was dominated by men, the representation of women was more so in a males perspective of the womxn’s experience which also had an influence of the social expectations of how a womxn should look, feel, and act. Although Costa used her art as a form of cultural promoter, she also used it to portray the indigenous womxn’s struggles because of the effects of poverty.

In 1944, Olga Costa painted an art piece known as El Nino Muerto. In this piece, we see a brown woman looking down at what I assume it to be her son of about the age of 5 years old. The young boy in laying on a flower bed and given the title of the piece this is a illustration of a funeral for her son. The first thing that I had noticed was that Costa only painted the mother and the son which goes to show that the relationship that a child has with his mother. Another reason is the mindset that the father can’t mourn because that questions his manhood and isn’t seen in this painting because he needs to continue working to provide for his family.

Another part that I would like to touch on is the fact that the viewers can assume that the mother is sad from her facial expressions however she is not crying. Although losing a child is something tragic, poverty normalized deaths of children due to the horrible living conditions that many of the working-class and poor families in Mexico especially the indigenous families had to endorse. Which had an outcome of high death rates for these families. Costa painted this indigenous mother to represent the effects of poverty through the perspective of the mother. Many of the women carry the pain of the family and in the case of the painting of El Nino Muerto, the message is outcomes of poverty and infant death.

For the secondary art piece by Olga Costa that demonstrated feminism, is known as La Novia that she painted in 1941. In this piece, we see a brown womxn which I assumed it is the soon to be wife, sloughed down, and holding her colorful wedding dress looking down at the grass. In the background, we can also see a chair with a beautiful and colorful bouquet of flowers which made me realize that she is outdoors because the floor being the grass. During the Mexican Cultural Revolution, many of the women desired families that at a young age were expected to marry a man that could provided a family. Women in Mexico did not have the opportunity to pursue school or even join the workforce because success was seen as married and having children. The gender roles put on women were to exclusive serve the husband and her children.

For my first observation, in Costa painting of La Novia, is that facial expression of the soon to be wife which demonstrates sadness and a feeling of hopeless. Costa painting the soon to be wife sloughing down, to me, that was Costa depicting the weight of society pressures of the need to be married due to society normalizing womxn as the first step towards a fulfilling life and the reason as to why womxn were put on earth in the first place. During this time, although many women did not picture a future in which they got married and had children it was seen as disrespectful and even brought shame to the womxn’s parents if they didn’t. So that’s why many womxn would marry although they didn’t want to because they didn’t want there families to be disappointed.

Another reason why I choose this piece was because the way Costa painted a womxn who isn’t the idolize body that society pictures when it comes to a womxns’ body. This just goes to show that Costa painted paintings based on how she saw things and being a women herself, this was a step towards demolishing the expectations of a womens’ body. During this time many men were the ones painting women and when they did they painted the western ideals of beauty; skinny, light skinned, and without showing cleavage because that was seen as a sign of marriage material and loyalty. Costa did the complete opposite by illustrating a curvy, showing cleavage, and brown womxn. This women can also be seen as a victim of poverty because many women had to depend on marriage because they didn’t have the money to explore other opinions. Many of the women carry the burden of having to have a future that only results into married and having children and in the case of the painting of La Novia, the message is pressure put on womxn because of society.

Although El Nino Muerto is different from the painting La Novia, they both represent a larger role of how society in Mexico during the 1910-1948 depicted women based on looks, how they should act, and feel. El Nino Muerto we can see the concept of gender roles that society puts on womxn such as catering to being a mother and also how they are the ones that are more so affect by poverty. This concept can also be seen in the painting La Novia because we can see the how poverty affects the womxn because all that can “save” them is marriage and the fact of society pressures towards marriage. Women in Mexico during the Mexican Cultural Revolution of 1910-1948, did not have the right to choose how to live their own life because of poverty and social pressures. Olga Costa approach, towards painting El Nino Muerto and La Novia reflects feminism because of the real representation of how indigenous women struggled in Mexico due to how they were treated.