The American painter Mary Cassatt moved to Paris in 1874 and, after a visit to her studio by the French artist Edgar Degas, the two instantly recognised they had a shared sensibility. This began a lifelong association. Unlike sculptors Camille Claudel and Rodin, there was no romance or power play — just an equal meeting of the minds. In 2014, the National Gallery of Art honoured this association with an exhibition Degas/Cassatt. More interesting than the similarities are the subtle differences in their works. While stylistically similar to Degas and other Impressionist artists, the subject matter of Cassatt’s work is seen as groundbreaking in the context of her time.

Susan Fillin Yeh notes Cassatt does not conform to male images of women. Her women are shown absorbed in their own independent lives, whether in domestic settings or outdoors. They read, sew, bathe their children, have tea with friends, pick fruit in the orchard or go to the opera alone. They are not decorative and many are older women. The easy companionship of female friends had not yet been explored in Western art or literature.

Cassatt believed “a woman should be someone not something.” One of her much acclaimed works is ‘Reading Le Figaro’, a portrait of her mother reading the French daily newspaper, an intellectual pursuit usually considered a male activity. A large mirror behind her goes unnoticed by her, in sharp contrast to the use of mirrors as symbols of vanity in earlier paintings such as Velasquez’s ‘Venus’.

The term ‘female gaze’ emerged in the context of films that depicted how women view other women, men and the world around them. There are a growing number of women directors and scriptwriters across the world, including Sangeeta, Pakistan’s most prolific female director. Most follow commercial trends, some promote feminist protagonists but a few, such as Jane Campion, present female characters in real settings of emotional conflict without, as Sue Gillett says, “telling her audience

what to think or how to respond.” In all the strident gender politics, little attention has been given to how women view the world when left with their own thoughts.

Travelogues and letters written by women give valuable insights into the views and desires of women. Lady Mary Montagu’s 1717 account of her visit to Ottoman lands provides a contrast to the heavily judgmental accounts written by men. Charmed by the women she encountered, she presented an enlightened and advanced society. Lucie Gordon, travelling to Egypt in 1892, described, with an undercurrent of envy, a female Bedouin travelling on her camel: “She is a virgin and fond of travelling and of men’s society … no one seemed surprised, no one stared.” The letters of the Raj women give intimate accounts of life in India and Africa, often seen as freer than the restrictive society they grew up in.

Closer to home, aapbeeti or autobiographies written by women — Shehr Bano Begum in 1887, Sultan Jehan Begum in 1903, Atiya Faizi in 1906, Ada Jafri, Hamida Akhtar Hussain and Kishwer Naheed in 1995 and the 16th century historical account of Emperor Humayun by his sister Gul Badan Begum — provide a female perspective of events. A charming painting by Sahifa Banu, a princess in the court of Emperor Jahangir, and the only woman artist to gain fame in the Mughal era, shows her painting a self-portrait in the intimate surroundings of the harem.

In the struggle against patriarchy, contemporary Pakistani women artists focus on the suppression rather than the expression of the female voice. The quiet female voice, often drowned out by feminist protest, needs to be heard to complete the tapestry of social history.

Durriya Kazi is a Karachi-based artist and heads the department of visual studies at the University of Karachi Email: durriyakazi1918@gmail.com

Published in Dawn, EOS, March 29th, 2020