{"id":36881,"date":"2020-11-05T17:58:58","date_gmt":"2020-11-05T17:58:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artzealous.com\/?p=36881"},"modified":"2020-11-05T17:59:02","modified_gmt":"2020-11-05T17:59:02","slug":"empowering-women-in-contemporary-society-via-allegory-myth-and-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artzealous.com\/empowering-women-in-contemporary-society-via-allegory-myth-and-hope\/","title":{"rendered":"Empowering Women in Contemporary Society via Allegory, Myth, and Hope"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Guest post by visual artist Nanci France-Vaz<\/em>, New Jersey State Ambassador for the Portrait Society of America<\/em>. Nanci France-Vaz is an Allegorical Realist and uses symbolism to create visual stories on canvas. France-Vaz draws inspiration from the Pre-Raphaelite and Naturalist periods of art, poetry, and classic literature. She combines her strong foundation in life painting with imaginative backgrounds fusing classical with contemporary realism.\u00a0<\/em> Since my youth, I have had a fascination and passion for the Greek and Roman mythological tales, the Arthurian legends, poetry, and the visual storytelling of past masters. In elementary and junior high school, I wrote short stories for my English class that were created from 20 spelling words on our tests. They always had a magical and mythological outcome.\u00a0 When I was in School of Visual Arts to earn my BFA, I took many literature and drama classes. I was amazed and angered by the way these stories, written primarily by men centuries ago, perceived women in their society.\u00a0 The History and Pre-Raphaelite paintings depicted women as being overcome by the male figures of lust, portrayed prostitutes or as the \u201cother\u201d woman that lusted after another\u2019s husband or love, and the model displayed for the male gaze of the young female goddess and Arthurian heroines. The role of women in art has changed over the centuries from visual stories of goddess, lover, prostitute, sorceress, wife, mother, and heroine.\u00a0
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