Feminism and Art History

Prehistoric and ancient artists represent men and women in various ways and the works of art tell an altered story, which reinforces old-fashioned gender roles. Additionally, representations of prehistoric and ancient genders illustrate the social standards of their specific periods. The views of gender presented by the works of art are still recognizable, despite all individual’s current sensibilities and views today. An individual’s contemporary view is of gender and gender rules illustrates the significant social progress that the human culture has made. Although the Woman of Willendorf and Kouros/Statue of standing Youth artworks were created at different times, the genders can still easily be depicted within the artwork.

“Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has known.” -Oscar Wilde. Women are wild, sensitive, magnificent, mysterious, and above all: individual. Art’s many different medias allowed artist throughout the ages to capture women at both their strongest and most vulnerable points. It has the power to capture a woman: as a naïve, young girl clutching her brother as they are painted into a lasting portrait, a golden statue of an angel sent down to Earth to help a saved man take his first steps into an eternal life with God, to the powerful goddess, Artemis, transforming a hunter into a deer and having his hunting dogs tragically attack him. The six pieces of art chosen express the individuality of each women who has walked, walks, and will walk the earth.

In the Renaissance period women are almost invariably shown as completely passive and as an object for contemplation. The reclining female nude in the Renaissance raises questions of the male gaze more often than any other artistic stereotype. Female nudes were only an open acknowledgement of not only male desire but also the right males had to express that desire. A woman’s feelings when looking at such images of members of their own gender were never discussed or asked until recently.

In addition, I will examine the differences between male and female sexuality and how each tended to be perceived and treated by society. Then, I will look at prominent female artists and their personal experiences and beliefs on feminism and the female in their art focusing on how it tended to be received along how male artists responded to it. Mainly, I will be analyzing the clash of sexualized images in art, focusing on the differences not only between male made art versus female art, but the differences in the women’s art community, as well. What are the reasons and goals for women to use a “sexualized image” of women in their art versus

How do the works of Yasumasa Morimura, Julie Rrap and Anne Zahalka challenge conventional ways in which gender has been depicted historically in the visual arts?

Also, in my discussion I reflected on how, “this image is culturally important because it represents that females can be strong and powerful.” I never realized how much art can reflect upon the society and how important the media is when it. There are a lot of politics in art, but not all art forms can be pleasing to the viewers, it’s about doing what you like and there is no need to adjust your point of view. There are so many different types of art forms, and I’m glad we experienced and learned about them in this class. I have ultimately formed a love for different art forms, and can’t wait to experience them in the future.

In Chapter 3 of his book, “Ways of Seeing”, John Berger argues that in western nude art and present day media, that women are largely shown and treated as objects upon whom power is asserted by men either as figures in the canvas or as spectators. Berger’s purpose is to make readers aware of how the perception of women in the art so that they will recognize the evolution of western cultured art.

Generally feminist criticism examines how men and women are presented in artifacts. The human race has a

The paintings and sculptures that first appear as a general and social commentary on the depiction of African Americans in the 18th and 19th century art canon, painted by contemporary artist Titus Kaphar, have given a voice to Black figures in the historical and artistic context. In The Preacher 's Wife (2010), a painting part of the ‘Classical Disruption’ exhibition, Kaphar seeks to explore the role of black women and their misrepresentation in the 18th and 19th art historical trajectories. Recreating paintings by great American artists such as Copley and Eakins, Kaphar reconstructs social and historical narratives (Berzon). While maintaining a common denominator throughout his works, Kaphar’s art has been recognized for inserting African Americans in paintings and telling the narrative of their absence and exclusion from the art historical canon. A graduate of Yale Art School, Kaphar also credits the contemporary style of his art to his studies at De Anza College in Cupertino where he took an African American Literature class that introduced to the art of the Harlem Renaissance with Omonike Weusi Puryear. Yale and De Anza College, collectively, contributed to the way Kaphar gives form and authority not only to black men, but also to the women who have been objectified or erased altogether from the art historical canon (Frank).

Throughout history people can see many of the developments and differences among cultures, through the artworks that were produced. This essay will carefully analyze, evaluate, and compare four distinct works, from different time periods and cultures. The works to be compared are: The Woman from Willendorf, The Bust of Nefertiti, Figure of A Woman, and Young Flavian Woman. Throughout this paper the style and function of each individual work will be explored, along with the cultural ideas presented in each piece.

Form of "afterlife insurance" in order to trick the soul into staying alive in the event of the body's destruction

First, almost all the present figures are philosophers, the elite, in other words. Moreover, remarkable figures like Plato and Aristotle were placed exactly in the center of the fresco, matching the vanishing point and giving a sense of gravity to their importance more than the rest. Second, women are not, if any, included in this state gathering, a masculine notion that would last for centuries. Women’s absence does not merely happen in state policy making, but also happens in things related to knowledge and art. It should be

The later 20th century saw the manifestation of the Post-Modernism, in which the use of appropriation and re-contextualisation was developed to test previous conventional depictions of gender in the visual arts. Artists Yasumasa Morimura, Julie Rrap, Anne Zahalka and Cindy Sherman have each employed the use of appropriation to question the historical ideologies of gender, particularly in relation to women, and their role in art and society. They all borrowed past paintings and promoted them with new context to portray and explore different meanings towards gender, being mediated.

In terms of a Marxist view of social art history, not only are feminists looking for a change in future art, but an overlook of works from the past that had been misconstrued because of supposed feminine issues that drew away from the common practice of other women during their time. Art from women like Frankenthaler may not have had a direct impact during their time of creation, but in the recent desire for feminism, these works of art are now considered to be a driving

When one thinks of art and religion, one may think of gender role defiance and non-conformism. While this may be generally true in present times, it was not always this way. Women and men have had distinctly different places in society, these places often being unequal. Generally most well-known works throughout the ages have adhered to and represented what society regarded as the proper gender roles for men and women. This is represented in three works of art which will be discussed: Hamlet by William Shakespeare, The Courtier: Book 3 by Baldassare Castiglione, and Luncheon on the Grass by Eduoard Manet. While these three forms of art come from different times and are of different mediums, they are connected in that they follow and represent the gender roles of their time.