Picturing Power: Elizabeth I and Frida Kahlo
What do Elizabeth I and Frida Kahlo have in common? At first glance, there is little to link these women of different vocations, centuries and cultures. Art history teacher Penny Huntsman, however, finds remarkable parallels in their lives by looking at portraits of the two women.
Crafted to project distinctive identity and female power, these paintings proclaim the sacrifices each woman made for her nation. Huntsman explores the symbols and strategies at play in these works. Whilst the two women may have had different motives, Huntsman considers how they could be considered 'two sides of one coin'.
Penny Huntsman
Art History Teacher
Penny Huntsman has taught A-Level Art History alongside A-Level Sociology for over 14 years and currently teaches both subjects together with the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ). She has also taught A-level Media Studies, A-level Critical Thinking and GCSE Philosophy and Ethics. With a BA (hons) in Art History and an MA in Cultural and Critical Theory, she takes a characteristically interdisciplinary approach to the teaching of art history.
She is currently writing a Ph.D. on education and social justice. She is passionate about providing art-history tasters in state schools and champions the subject's wider inclusivity. Penny joined the schools' committee of The Association of Art Historians, and wrote the first dedicated AS-level textbook: Thinking about Art. The textbook's publication was the fruition of plans the Schools' Group had hatched years earlier in a bid to make the subject accessible to all.
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