Gender Roles In Art

In our current world, gender expectations apparent in our society be traced back to ancient mythology. Women of today find inspiration in beauty and fashion often unknowingly form ancient cultures. Similarly, popular masculine attributes are relatable to the myths of heroes and important gods. Basing current social standards upon mythological texts however creates problems. In striving to achieve such physical greatness people of this era are attempting to reach the impossible: to become a god or goddess of immortal standards themselves. By relating ancient myths to that of the current media, one can view the effect that the ancient world has upon the social standards apparent in our society today.

A review of the world’s great artists conjures familiar images: Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel; Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night; Pablo Picasso’s The Tragedy. There are many more, of course: Monet, Moya, Warhol, Rembrandt, Kandinsky. What is immediately noticeable, however, upon any brief study of art, is the significant absence of women as heralded artists—not only in our ancient pasts, but even today, amongst valiant efforts for gender equality.

“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.

Some features include the size of the women and appearance. The size of the women in the sculpture shows that she is big and powerful. And the appearance and how she is sitting shows that she is a royalty or like Mellaart said goddess. Another understanding could of been that it was just a sculpture pertaining to body image.

In present day all around the world, society has certain expectations for the actions and behaviors of males and females. There are many factors in our everyday lives that contribute to the gender norms that society has set. This essay will discuss how situations in life can play a part in how people treat other people based on their gender. It is believed that males are the leaders of our world, but in present day woman can do as much as men can do. From The Journal of Marriage and Family, Hu states, “Differentiated gender roles in adulthood are rooted in one’s gender role socialization. In order to understand the persistence of gender inequalities in the domestic sphere, we need to examine the gendered patterns of children’s housework time.”(2015, P.1). Gender roles are society’s expectations of the proper behavior, attitudes, and activities of males and females that they must be taught. These roles define how females and males are viewed in society, their household, and workplace. In The Journal of Sports behavior by Hardin, he states, “Although gender role differences from biological and “Natural” exists in popular consciousness, research has long demonstrated that instead, many are long time socially constructed… Individuals understand their gender because they are given names and treated in particular ways, such as dress in pink for girls and blue for boys, that reflect social construction of gender. Bandura's social cognitive theory is key in understanding the factors in socialization”(2009, P.3). Bandura's theory of of social cognition is that behavior, environmental events, and cognitive factors are the main keys that shape attitudes and actions of an individual. Although, gender roles play a very big part in our society, specific genders are treated differently while dealing with peer influence, media influence, as well as employment.

The most prominent key that supports this idea is that she has a smirk on her face that is reminiscent of archaic smile that is seen in works such as the Peplos Kore (Figure 3) in the archaic period (Kleiner 112). This hint of a smile not only draws the viewer in, but displays that she is aware of a viewer watching her in a private setting, since she is nude, which then led to the fact that she instinctively covers her genital area in a way that creates a more sensual experience for the viewer (Kleiner 143). Another notable feature is the usage of contrapposto, the figures weight is seemingly shifted to her right leg, allowing for her left knee to gently bend, adding to the display of realistic pose of her body. She is also posed in such a way that has been given a name known as the modest Venus, which involves a nude female discreetly covering her private areas with one hand (Lapatin). The sculptor, Praxiteles, paid close attention to the composition and rendering of the goddesses’ form which was left to be a mesmerizing display, muse, and inspiration for generations to come.

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.

The Greek period, ca. 900-30 BCE, was famous for its developed ideals of human beauty, the concept of ideal heroic male nudes and what they depict, and progression from symbolic works to naturalism. Using the discussion of the following artworks, the (Anavysos)Kouros, the Kritios Boy and the Spear Bearer (Doryphoros), I will discuss their symbolic and naturalistic characteristics.

One of the most prominent examples of this is the debate surrounding the Great Goddess of Teotihuacan which can be seen in Figure 2. With a lack of textual evidence to help understand this deity's gender or potential role in Teotihuacan culture, we as historians are forced to make assumptions often relying “on modern, Western stereotypes of femininity and masculinity” (Mandell, 29). As seen in Elisa C. Mandell’s article “A New Analysis of the Gender Attribution of the “Great Goddess” of Teotihuacan” from Ancient Mesoamerica, the depiction of the Great Goddess is complicated due to a lack of obvious primary or secondary sexual organs (Mandell, 30). Because of this, analysis of the deity's gender must be based upon more subjective elements such as clothing and ceremonial dress. However, unlike the Aztec, we have no textual evidence like codices or colonial hybrid documents to designate gendered clothing or depictions in Teotihuacan culture. We cannot even assume the deity's gender from Post-classic text as it can easily be misinterpreted like the initial theory that the Great Goddess represents the rain god Tlaloc. Whereas in the post-classic period we can look at at statue of Coatlicue and connect her skirt of snakes to the textual depiction of her image, we have no basis of comparison to identify or gender the Great Goddess. And while Mendell’s argument for the female gender of the Great Goddess remains sound, she is forced to draw from a variety of complex representations of Teotihuacan art and iconography such as sculpture, bowls, and murals that lack a direct translation and association which inherently leaves room

The sculptures and paint show details how society viewed and interpreted women body, sexuality, and maternity. In addition, revealed that these women were protected from threats around them with ornaments. Civilizations since early times, believed that we were in permanent threat from forces we do not see or cannot explain and because of it, we protected ourselves with artificial elements in a form of jewelry, crowns or caps. This idea has been continue from one generation to the next to the point that in modern societies some of us still use this type of protection in our bodies (e.g., small cross, divine images, tattoos, etc.).These pieces of art also indicate that humans believed in gods with superpowers and they are looking over us constantly. Humanity also believes in dark forces or demons trying to makes us do things that would upset the good gods. Some of the differences between these sculptures and paint are the material in which each one of them were created. The first figure, the Woman of Willendorf was carved in limestone, the second piece, the portrait of Queen Tiye was carved in wood and the last piece, the Virgin and Child Icon was created of tempera on a wood. You can also notice how the details on their faces and bodies changes throughout the time and years. The woman of Willendorf figurine offers details of a voluptuous nude women’s body but there is not face, or feet. Queen Tiye statue shows the face of a woman in detail closed to the gods but without any body parts and lastly The Virgin and Child Icon, is an expression of divinity of the views, reflections and beliefs from the gospel. Because communities started to innovate on the art of carving and painting, populations began to discover and/or create art with the objective of expressing different purposes of our daily lives, such as the beauty of a woman’s body, or to commemorate an ancient

Across, Europe at various archeological sites, archaeologist most famous artifacts found is the Woman (Venus of Willendorf). For the most part, it showed that an early civilization of the Upper Paleolithic period, and the practice of their ritual, and creating sculptural arts and cave drawing. During, they ‘re moment across Europe following the herds of animal during the changing seasons. Accordingly, scholars, believe the Woman (Venus of Willendorf) found in Austria dating from 22,000 to 21,000 BCE, (Paleolithic pg. 6). However, the 4 to 5 inches sculptural artifact found would be used for religious and spiritual influence, and the female figurines imagery suggests they have been marilined, were the line of descent is through the woman in

I was drawn to this time period as well as these two sculptures. As I researched both sculptures I was fascinated by how much respect the people of that time had for their women. Not only for what they could do for them, but also for what they looked like. They didn’t see the weight and size as a grotesque thing; but more as a thing of beauty. In

Similarly to Aphrodite of Knidos, the traditional contrapposto stance underscores the subject’s womanly. Furthermore, the positioning of the arms in both pieces incorporates the use of negative space. With the dark material of Standing Woman contrasted against the white museum walls, the viewer’s attention is drawn to the shape of the body and the curved line of that form. Lastly, while it is more prevalent in Standing Woman, both sculptures harness some aspect of modesty. While Praxiteles depicts Aphrodite of Knidos to be fully undressed, he applies the traditional use of covering her genital region with her hand.

In many works of art throughout history, female breasts have been featured prominently and in the nude. The symbolic meaning credited to the breast was usually associated with fertility and nourishment, both spiritual and physical, and in the wider sense, with life. Eroticism, nourishment, abundance, expression, feminine power, as well as feminine subservience, are different contradicting themes of the breast played out in time.

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.