History students present the "project Kora. Arte en femenino", an initiative to make Renaissance and Baroque women artists visible.

History students present the "project Kora. Arte en femenino", an initiative to make female artists of the Renaissance and Baroque visible.

With the publication of four magazines set in the period, they claim the bequest of Sofonisba Anguissola, Lavinia Fontana, Artemisia Gentileschi and Clara Peeters.

The students of the subject "Renaissance, Baroque and Enlightenment in Europe", of the School of Philosophy and Letters, have presented the results of the "project Kora. Arte en femenino", selected by the Servicio de Planificación y Mejora de la teaching as an innovative professor project and directed by Professor Javier Azanza, which seeks to rescue from oblivion the great female artists of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

The project, developed during the first semester, culminated in the elaboration of four monographic issues of a historical magazine set in the period of each artist studied: Sofonisba Anguissola, Lavinia Fontana, Artemisia Gentileschi and Clara Peeters. Thus, each group designed a complete magazine -with cover, publishing house, reports, analysis of works, fictitious advertising of the period, pastimes and even simulated interviews with the artists themselves-, respecting one criterion: all the content had to be historically and documentarily set in the time in which each author lived. As Professor Azanza explained, this involved exhaustive research to avoid anachronisms, from the choice of images to the selection of cultural references or mentions of other historical figures.

During the presentation of the issues, the students shared with the audience the creative process and the difficulties encountered. Among the main challenges, they highlighted the scarcity of reliable information on some of the artists, or the need to combine historical rigor with an attractive publishing house format. " research was one of the biggest challenges. We had to track down numerous sources and, at times, resort to creativity to reconstruct aspects that were poorly documented," explained the members of one of the groups. Others emphasized the complexity of recreating a magazine with contemporary aesthetics, but consistent with the 16th or 17th century: "In the edition, we had to take care of every detail: the exact date, the vocabulary, the elements of the cover... Everything had to be related to what was happening at that historical moment.

For his part, Professor Azanza stressed the importance of an initiative that combines academic learning with a commitment to making visible the contribution of women artists, historically relegated to a secondary role in textbooks. "One of the problems detected is that our students arrive at the university without female references in Art History. The previous teaching they receive in this field practically does not include women artists and this project wants to put a face to the invisible ones, bring their work closer and make them present in the teaching programs", she said.

He also stressed that "creativity has been fundamental, but also the ability to edit, written expression, critical thinking and the use of digital tools and AI manager . Hence the importance of the meetings held with the different groups throughout the semester to correctly orient the contents".