• Edgar Degas was one of the most obsessive painters of the female body in the entire history of art, producing almost six hundred images of ballet dancers alone and many nude works. The variety of the Degas collection is complemented by the wide range of media used such as Oils and pastels, prints and drawings,and sculpture. This book ‘Edgar Degas Dancers and Nudes’ introduces Lillian Schacherl where she brings to life the world lived in by these women Edgar Degas paints. She rejects the interpretation of the images as voyeuristic. The artist's intention, she argues, was neither to glorify the glamorous world of the ballet nor to celebrate the beauty of the female form.…
The objectification of the female body is commonly done by men, who see women as something that is of use or owned by them. Although, this usually has negative implications Marie de France’s lai Guigemar objectifies the female body as a tool to expose the negative aspects of society. By objectifying the female characters her message is more easily understood and even satirizes, the patriarchal society. Marie explores the problems women face in society and how they are so much more than the box they are placed in.…
Due to this active painting, we are able to see the contemplation that this woman has, once again establishing this idea of validation over objectification. This painting is not only a work of art but a social…
By daylight, she sneaks with a delicate finger pressed to her ruby lips, effectively silencing others while keeping her own mouth tightly shut. Daylight keeps her captive until the moon rises, its supernal power granting the woman behind the wallpaper enough strength to shake and rip through with a deadly vengeance. The uncanny nature of “The Yellow Wallpaper,” ergo, seems to present its readers with an intriguing discourse concerning the issue of feminism. By utilizing the skillful juxtaposition of the common Victorian tropes of “The Angel of the House” versus that of “The Madwoman in the Attic,” Charlotte Perkins Gilman certainly encourages the dismantling the oppressive norms of patriarchal society, as well as offers a voice to a group whose…
It is part of many portraits painted by Saville. One thing I appreciate about Jenny Saville is that she shows the reality of women’s lives. In this painting she shows a women with many scars and bruises on her face. Many women today suffer from domestic violence and are too afraid to speak up. Meanwhile, others are oblivious to the fact that there are many women who are too weak to fend for themselves.…
In reading world literature, it becomes abundantly clear that the reality of women being subjected to different and sometimes harsh treatment by society is not a regional or even a national truth. It is a theme that is extended from the beginning of time until present day in literary works. While there are many examples of this truth, Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl” is exceptionally poignant. Kincaid’s careful use of form and character identities work in perfect tandem to convey the truths of human femininity.…
In the first instance, the act of observing intimate effects of Lady Audley’s boudoir, her sanctum, and Robert ‘seat[ing] himself on a chair before [the portrait] for the purpose of contemplating [it] at his leisure’, calls into play the ‘hierarchized paradigm of male gazer/female object’ which gave men power over their subject. Of this gaze, Laura Mulvey surmises: ‘In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female. The determining male gaze projects its fantasy onto the female figure, which is styled accordingly’. Lady Audley’s portrait, and the ways in which characters interact with it, can thus be read as a commentary on Victorian gender identity. In this passage, woman is reduced by the male gazes of Robert, George, and the unnamed pre-Raphaelite artist, so that her physiognomy exists, and is immortalised, as a source of male scopophilic pleasure.…
In Italo Calvino 's "The naked bosom," the protagonist Mr. Palomar undergoes an internal conflict of viewing a woman 's bare bosom as she sun-bathes along a beach. Palomar is discreet upon his actions, yet he fails to realize the implications of viewing the woman 's breast in such a derogatory manner. His inner restrictions, specifically society’s perception of nudity, compel his course of actions as he is torn from one thought to another. It is suggested that social conventions related to nudity create confusion and miscommunication amongst individuals.…
The short story, “A Story about the Body,” seems to be about how people look to other’s exterior appearances to love an individual, however that is not necessarily the case. Depending on whose lens one chooses to view the events through, there are many takes on the true meaning of the short story but personally the one take that seems true of both characters revolves around insecurities with physical bodies. “A Story about the Body” does truly give the reader much to mull over with regards to emotions and analysis of both the painter’s body and the composer’s reaction and behavior towards her body. Robert Hass transforms a simple, boy-likes-girl setting into a complex and sensitive situation in so few words. For example, the young…
Berger then talks about the beginning of portraying nude women. According to him, it started with illustrations of Adam and Eve’s Myth of Creation. In a 2 page December 2010 French Vogue spread, there are 3 young girls pictured. One of the young girls is shown gazing into a mirror while another young girl is beside her looking lost and confused into the camera. This is an example of when Berger states, “The real function of the mirror was otherwise.…
Guerrilla girls The contemporary poster “Do Women Have to be Naked to Get into the MET Mueseum,” (1989) was made by the Guerilla girls in response to the conscious and unconscious discrimination in the art world at the time. The Guerrilla Girls are intersectional feminist activist artists who since their inception have underminde the idea of a mainstream narrative by revealing the understory and subtext in order to expose bad behaviour in the art world. Working collaboratively as a group to discuss and brain storm creative ways to use facts and humour to reach a wide audience and grab the attention of millions. - Through public collections theyre statements are made permanent into records, their critiques on 20th and 21st century art world Although female artists had played a…
The Pastoral Concert is an oil painting, which was painted either by Giorgione or his pupil Titian. Modern critics are back and forth on the subject, but the most widely accepted theory is that the master Giorgione began the painting, and after his death, his pupil Titian completed the work. The painting portrays two nude women, one standing and pouring a pitcher of water, and the other lounging on the grass, paused attentively with a flute in her hand. The women appear robust by today’s beauty standards, but in the time of Titian and Giorgione, represented the ideal of female beauty. The figures are curvy and sensual, but not overly eroticized.…
Comparative Essay Feministic ideas, now and over the years, are rooted in the various attitudes of our social and cultural behaviors. To lack the acceptable image created by society is to be labeled less than ideal. Whether by bluntly stating it or carefully hinting the idea, many American poets, novelist, and social activist have, in one way or another, embarked on the idea. In “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy and “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin both authors portray the life of a woman judged by the world around her. Analyzing the way each author presents their argument, it becomes evident that the iconic image instilled in women causes their destruction.…
This piece is falls under contemporary art. Everyone should be told that they are beautiful no matter what size,shape,color,gender or sexuality. This piece represents the kind of generation we live in today. The media has a huge impact on what society thinks the perfect image of beauty is. Nowadays the media represents figures with unrealistic bodies.…
Standing Female Nude poem actually derives from George Braque’s La Grande Nude portrait which belongs to the Cubist art movement which began in Paris around 1907. The Cubists used analytic system which requires to redefine the three parts of the portrait from several points of view, instead of using the single point of view. The moment is mentioned as ‘a new way of representing the world’ and divided into two phases as Synthetic(1913-20’s) and Analytic(1907-12) phase which is implied and mocked in the Standing Female Nude.…