Group 3 Presentation

Sara, Erini, Ayo, Tabitha
19th Century


Our group presented on Art and Women in the 19th century.  We began our presentation with events that occurred in that period that may have affected art and society in general.  These events included: abolishment of slavery, technological advances, educational reform, and more. We then presented four specific women and their background and how they contributed to feminist art in the 19th century.  These women were: Rosa Bonheur, Harriet Powers, Camille Claudel, and Edmonia Lewis. Rosa Bonheur was an openly lesbian cross dresser who painted animals and is famous for painting The Horse Fair.  Harriet Powers was an illiterate slave who was freed but managed to stitch stories and events into quilts. Camille Claudel was a French sculptor who constantly expressed an overt sexuality.  She was kicked out of her parents house and became a master/lover to Auguste Rodin so she can continue practicing art.  The final artist we discussed was Edmonia Lewis, an African-American orphan who discovered drawing as a passion and made a living out of it.

Question: How did photography influence the development of painting in the 19th Century?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7O5Nh30Z-JnbE90Q1YzN2VSV0k/view?usp=sharing

Group 2 Presentation

17th and 18th Century Europe

The introduction of Calvinism (Reformed Tradition) was created by John in the 17^th Century. It was the major branch of Western Christianity that emphasizes the rule of God. Calvinism spread quickly in the middle decades of the 16th century

“Northern European art was dominated by new, middle-class ideals reflecting the growth of commerce and the Protestant Church” (Chadwick, 117)

The 17^th Century Themes included Still-Life, Genre Scenes, Flower Paintings, and Topographical Landscape.

Angelica Kauffmann (1741- 1807)

Known as the first woman painter to challenge the masculine monopoly over history painting. History painting at the time was the most prestigious category at the time. Did not have access to formal training because she was a woman. Often criticized because historical painters received training from nude model. Became one of the founding members of the Royal Academy of Arts in London (30+ members,  only 2 females)

 

Angelica Kauffmann Zeuxis Selecting Models for His Picture of Helen Troy (1764)

Angelica Kauffmann Self Portrait

Maria Merian

Born April 2, 1647. Father was an engraver & died when she was an infant. Mother then married the dutch flower painter Jacob Marrel. Started out painting nature, insects, and other surroundings. Found a mentor, Johann Andreas Graff and later married him. Published a 3 part catalogue of her flower painting known as Nues Blumen Buch (New Flower Book).  Went to the dutch province of friesland with her 2 daughters and continued to draw insects. Went to south africa in 1699 with her daughter Dorothea and spent 2 years drawing both native insects and flowers. Forced home by malaria and published her most significant book in 1705, insect of surinam

Maria Sibylla Merian portrait from 500DM banknote

Merian, Maria Sibylla - Spiders and other insects, sun

Merian Maria Sibylla Flowers, Sun

Maria Sibylla Merian - A Parrot Tulip, Auriculas, and Red Currants, with a Magpie Moth, its Caterpillar and Pupa

Elizabeth Louise Vigee Le Brun

Her father was a painter and also her mentor. Became a member of the Academy of Painting in Berlin. At age 15, she went from being penniless after her father’s death to supporting her whole family. In 1787, she caused a minor public scandal violating painting conventions. This is an example of how women have been (and are) portrayed and have portrayed themselves in the late 18 to 19th century. Marie Antoinette, queen of France, helped Vigée-LeBrun to be inducted into the very prestigious Paris Royal Academy of the arts, where she was one of only four women.

Elisabeth- Louise Vigee- Lebrun Portrait of Marie Antoinette with her Children 1787

Judith leyster (1609- 1660)

Leyster painted genre works, portraits, and still lifes. Leyster was one of only two women at the time who were members of the Haarlem Guild of St. Luke. This allowed her the right to establish her own workshop and take on pupils. Her independent artistic career ended in 1636 when she married Harlem artist Jan Miense Molenaer (leaving most of work forgotten). It later emerged that many of Leyster’s works has been falsely attributed by her male contemporaries.

Judith Leyster, Self Portrait

Jan Vemeer, The Procuress ca. 1656

Judith Leyster, Man Offering Money to a Young Woman, 1631

Question:

How does religion play a role in the success of Female Artists?

Group members: Ashley Alvarez, Aysha Afroz, Matthew Acosta and Esteven Eskandar

Study Guide for Midterm Exam

The Gaze and the Guerilla Girls
Guerilla Girls, Advantages of Being a Woman Artist, 1989
Guerilla Girls, Do Women Have To Be Naked To Get Into The Met?, 2005
bell hooks' definition of Patriarchy
John Berger's definition of Male Gaze

Middle Ages
Herrad of Landsberg, Hortus Deliciarum, after 1170
Hildegard of Bingen, Scivas c1142-52
Christine De Pizan, Christine De Pizan in her Study, from The City of Ladies, 1405

Renaissance
Sofonisba Anguissola - Self Portrait, 1561
Queen Anne of Austria, 1570
Boy Bitten By a Crayfish, before 1559
Elisabetta Siriani, Portia Wounding Her Thigh, 1664
Artemisia Gentileschi, Susanna and the Elders, 1610
Tintoretto, Susanna and the Elders, 1555
Orazio Gentileschi, Judith and her Maidservant, 1610
Artemisia Gentileschi, Judith and her Maidservant, 1618
Artemisia Gentileschi, Judith Slaying Holofernes, 1612
Artemisia Gentileschi, Self Portrait, 1630

17th & 18th Century Painting
Judith Leyster, A Woman Sewing by Candlelight, 1633
Vermeer, The Lacemaker, 1665-68
Anna Maria Sybilla Merian, Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium 1705
Rachel Ruysch, Flowerpiece, after 1700
Angelica Kauffman, Sellers of Love (Vendor of Love), after 1766
Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun, Portrait of Marie Antoinette with Her Children, 1787

Victorian England
Edith Haylar, Feeding the Swans, 1889
Alice Walker, Wounded Feelings, 1861
Anna Blunden, The Seamstress, 1854
Rebecca Solomon, The Governess, 1854
Emily Mary Osborn, Nameless and Friendless, 1857
Rosa Bonheur, Plowing in the Nivernais, 1848
Rosa Bonheur, The Horse Fair, 1854
Elizabeth Thompson, Calling the Roll After an Engagement, Crimea 1874

19C American Craft
Harriet Powers, Pictorial Quilt 1895
Lilly Martin Spencer, We Both Must Fade, 1869
Lilly Martin Spencer, War Spirit at Home, 1866

Harriet Hosmer, Zenobia in Chains, 1859
Harriet Hosmer, Beatrice Cenci 1857
Edmonia Lewis, Old Arrow Maker, 1866-72
Edmonia Lewis, Forever Free, 1867

Impressionism
Alice Barber Stephens, The Female Life Class, 1879
Susan MacDowel Eakins, Portrait of Thomas Eakins, 1889
Berthe Morisot, Mother and Sister of the Artist,1870
Berthe Morisot, Mother and Sister of the Artist,1870
Eva Gonzales, Pink Morning,1874
Mary Cassat, A Cup of Tea, c 1880
Mary Cassat, Woman in Black at the Opera, 1880
Berthe Morisot, Psyche, 1876

Male Gaze and Patriarchy

      John Berger's concept of the male gaze in Ways of Seeing is an idea on how a man views a woman in terms of her own appearance, mostly to show her sexual appeal to make herself empowered towards the people around her. Men seemed to keep this developed idea throughout history to the point that women also agreed with it. Significant examples are the many paintings, portraits, and pictures of naked women during the Renaissance era, and contemporary examples are the various photos, magazines, and movies of female models in the modern era. When one sees these pictures of a naked woman, she is portrayed to in a sexually attractive pose. The woman makes a pose in that manner to get the male viewer to look at her, exposing her own body to him. The man's viewpoint at the naked woman's body as an object vividly defines the male gaze; Berger expresses, "A naked body has to be seen as an object in order to become a nude," and he notes that the sight of the naked body as an object "stimulates the use of it as an object," (54). The male gaze causes people to expect what women in art portraits, pictures, and paintings will be illustrated as based primarily on her exterior looks, especially in sexually attractiveness. From viewing the naked body as an object as well as paying attention principally on what the woman looks like, the male gaze may be linked to the men's old notion of thinking that they are more dominant in determining what are considered norms in society. This old way of thinking came from the concept of patriarchy.

      Patriarchy is, according the article "Understanding Patriarchy" by Bell Hooks, "a political social system that insists that males are inherently dominating, superior to everything and everyone deemed weak, especially females, and endowed with the right to dominate and rule over the weak and to maintain that dominance through various forms of psychological terrorism and violence," (18). The systematic idea that men are the primary controllers of power while women are considered supplementary is an long-established, long-determined societal model to assume what the social roles and expectations of both men and women are. Patriarchal thinking chiefly stemmed from what people are taught about the expected roles of both sexes in religion. To illustrate, Hooks expresses her thoughts on the subject through her own personal experiences as a Christian. She says that people learn that "God created man to rule the world and everything in it and that it was the work of women to help men perform these tasks, to obey, and to always assume a subordinate role in relation to a powerful man," and in addition, they learn that "God was male," (Hooks 18). The belief that God is supposed to be male established the patriarchal thinking that women are supposed to take on and behave in the subordinate role. The idea that God proclaimed that men should be the ones to possess the power over everything in the world also reinforced the persistent notion. Moreover in the subject that religion had a notable influence on patriarchy, there is the traditional origin story represented by Adam and Eve, the first nudes. In the Genesis in the Bible, Eve ate the forbidden fruit in the tree out of temptation. When God found out that Eve had perpetrated His order, God told the woman, "I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband and he shall rule over thee," (Hooks 48). This excerpt from the Genesis gave men the justification for being inherently dominant and superior over everything as well as perceiving women to be subordinate.  Hooks conveys that the prevalent teachings of various religions such as Christianity heavily influenced individuals and institutions alike determine who should be in charge and who should comply with that authority.

      John Berger sums up these structures to effectively understand it in one simple phrase, "men act and women appear," (47). I can clearly see this notion in motion when I see celebrities of both genders. While a man's looks are supplementary to his career, a woman's looks matter particularly due to patriarchal thought's firm influence on society throughout history. My views on art and media portrayal of both genders had changed from being unaware of it to being aware of it. The portrayal of the social structure based on what both art and media depicts men and women is a mentality that has yet to be thoroughly grasped instead of being too overlooked or unexamined. Because of the social structure's prevalence, it is considered normal or standard in reality. If people were able to find a way to think without too much emphasis on one's own sex as well as break down their understanding of patriarchy, society may be able to view the person without depending on the widespread patriarchal mentality.

Work Cited:

Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. London: British Broadcasting Corporation and Penguin Books. 1972.

Hooks, Bell. "Understanding Patriarchy." 2004. The Will to Change. New York: Atria Books. 2004. 17-33.

The Male Gaze

Before John Berger starts to talk about the male gaze, he discusses what the male presence and the female presence is.  One might think well what is the difference but Berger outlines the strong difference between the two. He describes the male presence as what a male is capable of doing to a person or for a person.  However when he describes the female presence as her own attitude to herself. Berger also states that how a woman appears determines how she’ll be treated by a man. We see evidence of this today in our society. If a woman is dressed in a outfit that bares too much skin and then gets raped , it is automatically assumed to be her fault and that she was asking for it. Society has defined the existence of a woman for the purpose of a man.  The surveyor is often the male while the surveyed is the female, turning females into sexualized objects.  Men are almost entitled to look at women in this sense because of the “power” they posses leaving the women to be considered as a possession. We see evidence of this in our culture and especially in art and media.

        When we look at paintings that depict female nudity we always see an object that is common across many nude paintings. We see a mirror depicted in most of the nude paintings to take away from the fact that she is being looked at from a male gaze. The mirror is also used to portray the vanity  of the women  as to distract the women from what is to come. “ The real function of the mirror was otherwise. It was to make the women connive in treating herself , as first and foremost, a sight.” ( Berger pg. 51) Lots of the artwork we see in Berger’s  Ways of Seeing is from previous centuries but the male gaze idea is still very popular today. In today's culture we see lots of advertisements that depict women as sexualized objects.  Sometimes it’s women advertising lingerie where that itself is a sexualized object. But other times we see objects without any sexualized connotation become sexualized and it’s always catered towards what would interest the male or spark the male gaze.  

Here we see food being sexualized but in a way where once again the women is the sexual object, even though we always see alcohol in sexualized ads this ad can be considered as overly sexual. Companies have found that the way to sell or increase their product is to sexualize their product because sex appeals to most people. However the question is how come only females are in these sexual ads, we rarely see Men being depicted in the same positions or actions above. 

        

In this ad we see yet another women being sexualized for the male gaze. However what's suprising about this ad in particular is the organization that's being advertised. PETA is a non profit organization that raises money and awareness for the sake of animals that are abused and mistreated. This company  values the ethical treatment of animals and prides itself in that but when it comes to trying to advertise their organization it's almost ok to put all ethical ideas to the side. Not only is this a sexualized ad but her body is split into various portions like the leg, breast or shoulder. The main indirect message we see here is a woman being compared to animal. 

Patriarchy often demeaning towards females. Our country is made up of a patriarchy and we see the idea of patriarchy all over in our society. From our Religions depicting God always a male to treating girls and boys differently when the only difference between them is their anatomy.  Bell Hooks discusses the difference she noticed in her life between her and her brother growing up. Coming from a culture where having a son is valued over having a daughter , I can completely understand where she comes from. I don’t have a brother but I’ve seen the difference in treatment among others coming from a middle eastern background. Girls are taught to be weak and allowed to be emotional where boys are taught to be strong and also taught to never cry or display emotions that might make him seem weak. One dangerous thing abou this is that boys are taught that violence is ok. “ He was taught for a boy, enjoying violence was a good thing. He was taught that a boy should never express feelings, or at least some of them” (Hooks pg.19) From when kids are young they are being taught what they should and should not be and we are forming our children into what we want rather than what they should want to be. Our culture puts so much value into patricharty it’s no wonder why females are often mistreated or females start to think it's ok to be mistreated.

Works Cited: Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. London: British Broadcasting Corporation and Penguin Books. 1972. 

Hooks, Bell. "Understanding Patriarchy." 2004. The Will to Change. New York: Atria Books, 2004. 17-33. 

Male Gaze & Patriarchy

            The prevalence of the male gaze has tenured itself as a fixture in society for centuries. As it stands and has stood, men rule society. Women are valued as they pertain to men; their appearance, actions, and even thoughts of themselves inherently revolve around how it will appear to their male counterparts.

            “To be born a woman has been to be born, within an allotted and confined space, into the keeping of men. The social presence of women has developed as a result of their ingenuity in living under such tutelage within such a limited space. A woman must continually watch herself. She is almost continually accompanied by her own image of herself,” says Jon Berger.

            Regarding the topic of the male gaze in art and media, if the subject is a woman, then the surveyor is the man. The work is meant to appeal to the man, and it will always be meant to appeal to the man intentionally or unintentionally. Therefore, the surveyor of the art or object is male and the subject, a woman, is the surveyed and is in turn, objectified.

                        It is human nature to look deeper into why women act the way they do. Maybe that is why they are so self conscious of their public image. Berger writes, “She has to survey everything she is and everything she does because how she appears to others, and ultimately how she appears to men, is of crucial importance for what is normally thought of as the success of her life. Her own sense of being in herself is supplanted by a sense of being appreciated as herself by another,” (46) Hence, a woman’s self value is based on how she appears to men.

            This notion is the underlying theme found in nearly every work of art. Specifically, when talking about works of nudity we find the biggest sect between male and female. When a male is presented as the subject of a nude work, he is usually unassuming or confident and completely unaware that he is being surveyed. There is an innate confidence in the male physique.

            The woman, however, is much more aware of the presumably male surveyor. “To be nude is to be seen naked by others and yet not recognized for oneself. In the average European oil painting of the nude the principal protagonist is never painted. He is the spectator in front of the picture and he is presumed to be a man.” (Berger, 54)

            He continues, “Everything is addressed to him. Everything must appear to be the result of his being there. It is for him that the figures have assumed their nudity. But he, by definition is a stranger with his clothes still on,” (54).

2003 Gucci Advertisement Shot by Mario Testino

           Tom Ford and Mario Testino teamed up for a highly controversial 2003 Gucci ad which epitomizes the presence of the male gaze. In the ad, a man is pulling down a female's underwear, only to reveal her pubic hair in the shape of a "G." The viewer could vicariously imagine himself as the man pulling down the woman's underwear, pleasantly surprised that his woman shaved herself to his liking.

          Another controversial ad is Alexander Wang's 2014 denim ad. In the photo, a woman is pictured pleasing herself with her brand new Wang jeans hanging off her waist. The photo puts the viewer in a voyeuristic position, getting a bird's eye view of a woman masturbating. One could even argue that the cropping suggests it could be anyone's hand down this woman's pants.

             

            

         

          Hip hop has become the universal popular music of choice. However, it is also a genre that is notorious for degrading women through music and its videos. 2 Chainz's "Birthday Song" is a video which exemplifies the patriarchal views in our society. In short, the video follows the rapper through his house. The song is all about men only wanting a big booty ho for their birthday, and the video is filled with big booty women in spandex shaking it for the rapper. A man shouldn't want anything but a well-endowed woman to shake it for them on his birthday.

      

           The patriarchy is not limited to male rappers. Although an affirmative feminist, Nicki Minaj has always found a way to contradict her feminist movement with songs and videos like "Anaconda." The song is all about her butt, but more importantly it's about using her butt to please the male species.

            The idea of the male gaze is only a subtopic in the grand scheme of inequality between men and women. This grand scheme is defined by the institution of patriarchy, embedded into the human race from the very beginning of time. In short, patriarchy is the belief that men are superior in every facet, and women are weak. Bell Hooks has a much more comprehensive definition of patriarchy.

            “Patriarchy is a political-social system that insists that males are inherently dominating, superior to everything and everyone deemed weak, especially females, and endowed with the right to dominate through various forms of psychological terrorism and violence.” (Hooks, 18)

            Furthermore, she cites psychotherapist John Bradshaw who says “patriarchal rules still govern most of the world’s religious, school systems, and family systems…blind obedience – the foundation upon which patriarchy stands; the repression of all emotions except fear; the destruction of individual will power; and the repression of all emotions except fear; the destruction of individual willpower; and the repression of thinking whenever it departs from the authority figure’s way of thinking.” (23)

            The ideals of patriarchy coincide with the male gaze. As a male living in 2016, I find these readings to have an immense impact on the way I view things in daily life, social media in particular. I find the objectification of women to be incredibly easy when it comes to Instagram. I have certainly been around friends, scrolled explore page and found myself salivating over beautiful women, and scouring over unattractive ones.

            That inherent objectification is inevitable, because Instagram is the ultimate form of vanity. Women on Instagram more often than not use it as a tool to take pictures of themselves: when they wake up, when they pick their outfit, when they’re hanging with their friends, when they’ve just finished bathing and are in nothing but a towel, in their undergarments. This constant oversharing subjects the woman to objectification, whether it is art or not. And whether they know it or not, they are looking for gratification via likes, likely from men. They base their self-value on the amount of likes and equate that to their success in today’s society. 

Bibliography

Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. London: British Broadcasting Corporation and Penguin Books. 1972. 

Print.

Hooks, Bell. "Understanding Patriarchy." 2004. The Will to Change. New York: Atria Books, 2004. 17-33. Print. 

The Male Gaze

“Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at.” –John Berger  

(John Berger on the female nude)

To understand the male gaze, is to understand power of the male gender. The gaze defines a women’s place, as she becomes an object for the male viewer. In John Berger’s Ways of Seeing, he states, “in relation to the woman, the man becomes the agent of God" (Berger, 48.) In theory this interlinks with the subject of patriarchy as it portrays the social construct that our world revolves around the power of men, specifically white men. In art and media, women are captured as an image that appeals to others, ultimately for the male audience to objectify. Berger identifies that this theory of the male gaze dates back to nude European paintings in the Renaissance period. The first nude paintings demonstrated the story of Adam of Eve, where Eve is portrayed to be easily seducible and naturally rebellious and as a consequence Eve is punished by being made subservient to the man. 

bell hooks, author of "Understanding Patriarchy" defines patriarchy as a "political-social system that insists that males are inherently dominating, superior to everything and everyone deemed weak, especially females" (hooks, 18.) This form of ideology comes from a long history of patriarchal thinking that stems from the belief that God created man to rule the world and everything in it as Berger demonstrated in illustrations of European art. Male dominance in society still plays a vital role in social, economic, and political inequality between genders. This type of understanding not only isolates women but also people who are non-gender confirming. Media today uses male dominance as a strategy to use female bodies an object to sell to the male audience.

The image above is one of several advertisements by Suit Supply that targets a male audience by over sexualizing females. Suit Supply started a "shameless" campaign that includes a variety of ads that display provocative images of well-dressed men with women that are either naked or barely clothed. This sort of advertisement, which is deemed normal for many in our society, represents the male gaze. The advertisement is aimed to convince men that if they buy a suit by this company then they are guaranteed for them to encounter a sexually attractive woman. In many cases, advertisements sell their product by putting a naked female body on it or next to it, turning the female into an object, specifically a sexual object. The following advertisement implies Berger's argument where he states, "the 'ideal' spectator is always assumed to be male and the image of the woman is designed to flatter him" (Berger, 64.) In this image you see an attractive thin woman who becomes the representation of all attractive women in society. The consequence of women being an object of vision creates a social pressure for females to become a image that appeals to men's ideals. 

In this advertisement by American Apparel, two women are posing in very sexual positions while wearing American Apparel clothing. The two images above also demonstrate the "ideal" women as sexual beings. You see women in art and media hairless and barely clothed for the viewer's interest. And, although, it is acceptable for women to be barely clothed in the media, it is not acceptable for women to be barely clothed in public. It is this patriarchy that led females like myself to become feminists to challenge the system of institutionalized gender roles. Females continue to be judged by their male counterparts, which create a social pressure for women to challenge each other to fit into a specific category that does not necessarily exist.

In a society dominated by patriarchal beliefs, I was constantly told to be “lady-like” and to dress accordingly to my gender. At fifteen I was not allowed to be out late because of the constant worry of assault, while my brother, was given permission to do what pleased him. It is very hard for someone to remove themselves from forced gender roles when it’s been taught through generations for many years. The Verizon commercial “Inspire the Mind” is one way to dismantle the patriarchal system to encourage girls to discover their own path despite the pressure of being a female. I believe if we begin to understand the ways in which a patriarchal society oppresses people, we can then begin to make a difference by not conforming to the unjust social structure.

Work Cited:

Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. London: British Broadcasting Corporation and Penguin Books. 1972. 

Print.

Hooks, Bell. "Understanding Patriarchy." 2004. The Will to Change. New York: Atria Books, 2004. 17-33. Print.