Gender Roles In The Man Ray And Marcel Duchamp As Rrose Selavy

Man Ray and Marcel Duchamp’s photo Marcel Duchamp as Rrose Selavy did more than just represent the change occurring in gender roles during the time of its creation in the United States during the 1920s. This photo and the others of Marcel Duchamp as Rrose Selavy influenced many artists including Yasumasa Morimura. Morimura went as far as to make a parody of the famous photo Marcel Duchamp as Rrose Selavy. Morimura’s image was called Doublonnage (Marcel) and was created in 1988 but this is not the only photo that Yasumasa Morimura has taken that depicts or goes against gender roles within the world around him. Another one of his photos that brings about the question of gender roles is Portrait (Futago) or Olympia which was created in 1999 in …show more content…
Just as in Eduard Manet’s Olympia Morimura is laying in the exact same position as the woman in the painting by Manet including the placement of his hand which also matches the woman in the painting. Morimura even makes sure to have a porcelain black cat to stand in for the black cat that is seen near the woman’s feet in the painting. Unlike the painting Morimura’s image consist of a variety of colors that are brighter than those in the painting by Manet. Morimura’s image even includes a very similar background and bed. There is even a black female servant offering flowers to Morimura in his image just like how there is a black female servant offering flowers to the girl in the painting Olympia. Morimura made sure to stick as close to the painting as possible which make the title of his photo perfect. The title of Morimura’s parody of Manet’s Olympia is Portrait (Futago). Futago means twin in Japanese. Morimura’s photograph is essentially the twin to Manet’s painting. Even though Morimura took the idea of this photo from a painting that does not make the significance and the meaning of the photo any less …show more content…
Both photos Marcel Duchamp as Rrose Selavy and Portrait (Futago) show the difference in gender roles within the society and cultures they were created. Both used men dressed as women combining the two opposite sexes into one. These images helped to show the world that men in women did not need to be separated and that women could possibly even over power or even overshadow the male figure. These two images brought about the idea through photos that men and women were equal, even if the society in which these images were created refused to see men and women in that