A Lack of Ego: Hannah Finlator's Interpretations of 15th Century Women Painters

“Thinking has come to life again; the cultural treasures of the past, believed to be dead, are being made to speak, in the course of which it turns out that they propose things altogether different from the familiar, worn-out trivialities they had been presumed to say.”

This quote by Hannah Arendt almost completely governs my perception of Hannah Finlator’s paintings. Finlator closely and meticulously studies the work of 15th century women painters. She sketches the works, and with varying degrees of interpretation and alteration incorporates these sketches into under paintings and finally into finished works. Finlator uses art historical sources as references in an attempt to answer questions such as: How can I show the past as exerting influence on the future? I find this question interesting in relation to Finlator’s work. I consider what Finlator does, to a large extent, to be appropriation. It may not be direct copying of others’ images but in my mind it is close enough. So, Finlator is asking, in simple terms: how can I show the past’s influence on the future? How can I emphasize the ever-present effect of what has happened before on the now? And in some ways, Finlator’s answer is quite literal, maybe even obvious. Her work duplicates the past, just as “history repeats itself” and we often imitate what has come before whether it be in family structure, architecture, farming, or business. However, Finlator adds a twist to the work that complicates this seemingly straight forward answer. Finlator changes the works, adds additional characters, changes symbols, and adds texts to the paintings. These changes are what, for me, give the work interest and make them more dynamic. One of these changes is the inclusion of self. During the lecture Professor Friebele asked Finlator to discuss her inclusion of herself in the paintings. I, too, had noticed that there was a recurrent character that seemed to be depicting the artist. The figure, most often show in contemplation, was a mysterious presence in the mundane scenes of rural life in the 16th century.

Another aspect of her work that Finlator discussed was the diptych format that she sometimes uses. This topic resonated with me because I am currently investigating and struggling with different actualizations of my work that include singular images, diptychs, and series. Finlator commented that her works can stand alone but create something altogether different when placed in a diptych set up. The idea that works don’t have to be one or the other is a simple one but nonetheless one that I have not yet considered very thoroughly.

An additional conversation Finlator delved into concerned her choice of 15th century women to study. Among other reasons one of Finlator’s deciding factors was that the paintings these women created were not for monetary gain, they were not meant to be bought or sold, they were not commissioned; the women created the work for another reason entirely, simply to create the work. I feel that this idea is often lost in the modern art world. It is okay to make a work of art for the sole reason and purpose of making a work of art.