Justin Wright post 6

Certain formal elements of art have been embraced by men, and countered by women. One of these is the choice of subject, which in feminist aesthetics, determines the “gaze” of the work. The gaze can be gendered, and this is one of the ways that gender does matter in art. “The gaze is male whenever it directs itself at, and takes pleasure in, women, where women function as erotic objects.” (Devereaux, p. 121) It seems to be a modern trend that women are treated in a more sexual manner in Western culture, but examples of the erotic in the eyes of the male gaze date back centuries.

In the painting “Portrait of a Blonde Woman: Flora,” by Palma il Vecchio (1524), the exposed breast of the woman is sexual rather than just aesthetic. Many period paintings and sculptures contained partial or total nudity, but there is a distinction in the presentation of the body between a sculpture such as Michelangelo’s “David,” and Palma’s painting. The woman’s dress is falling down, and her expression is indifferent. The fact that only one breast shows is also a clear indicator that this painting has an erotic tone, because it shows just part of the body and invites the viewer to imagine more. This is a clear example of the male gaze, as the woman is placed as an object of male scrutiny rather than universal admiration of physical perfection.

“Portrait of a woman, so-called ‘Turkish Slave,’” by Parmigianino (1532), presents a more modest woman. Although she is totally clothed, her expression is seductive as she glances sideways and smiles mysteriously. Also, she holds her hand out limply, is if expecting a man to take it. Thus she is both an object of desire, as her expression invites male attention, and submissive with her hand timidly raised to accept more powerful company.

In contrast, “Untitled Self-Portrait” by Laura Aguilar (1991), uses the male gaze to create revulsion instead of desire. The woman is naked, but obese instead of attractive. She presents herself as an object to be assessed by the male eye, like in the two paintings above. This helps reveal the importance of the male gaze, which would go unnoticed to anyone not familiar with feminist aesthetic theory. The way of presenting the female form is the same, but the lack of sexual attractiveness creates a much different reaction than to other, traditional art with nudity.

Therefore, the male gaze determines what is typically considered aesthetically pleasing in art. Devereaux argues that even women have been conditioned to an extent to view art with a male gaze. Gaze helps determine the subject of a work, its presentation, and also its sexuality (if any).

Another way that gender matters is the assignment of aesthetic qualities to gendered subjects. As Simone de Beauvoir said, “Representation of the world, like the world itself, is the work of men; they describe it from their own point of view, which they confuse with absolute truth.” But also, women have learned to see the world the same way. Both men and women see the world through a male gaze. “Men – like women – do not simply look. Their looking – where and when they do it and at what – mimics a particular way of thinking about and acting in the world. So, understood, seeing never escapes a way of seeing.” (Devereaux, p. 127) The male gaze, or this particular way of thinking, includes gender roles. The first thing one does when presented with an image of a person is realize what sex they are, and interpret the aspects of the image in terms of stereotypes and gender norms.

Janine Antoni created three works, each titled “Mom and Dad,” which challenge this way of assigning gender to images. In the first picture, there appears to be two women at first, but the person on the right has more masculine features, and the title implies that there must be a male there. Thus the implication is that the more masculine figure is a cross-dressing male. The second picture shows the same arrangement with two men, with the one on the right with more feminine features and implied to be actually female. The third picture surprises the viewer, showing the two people who appeared to be cross-dressing as the real “Mom and Dad.” Antoni shows that while we try to discern gender in images, any conclusions we come to are inherently subjective, even with clear male/female figures. This provides an enormous opportunity for subjectivity in the way the artist sees the world, because ways of perceiving gender are not universal.

References:

Devereaux, Mary. “Oppressive Texts, Resisting Readers.”

All images found on ARTstor.