In Dr. Joan Wallach Scott’s book, Gender and the Politics of History, she explains that those intrigued by the study of women, no matter their field of practice, will be challenged with the problem of maintaining original content. However, she also explains that this obstacle can be conquered by presenting women as “a focus of inquiry, a subject of the story” (Joan Wallach Scott). One such artist that displayed herself as “a focus of inquiry” or the “subject of the story” is Cindy Sherman. Sherman is an iconic American photographer that has been classified as a feminist artist by art historians and scholars since the early 1980s as her earliest series were created, Untitled Film Stills (1977-1980) and Centerfolds (1981). The Untitled Film …show more content…
At this point, a question must be asked: Is Cindy Sherman a feminist artist or not? Does Feminist art theory provide insight into her work? Through observing past writings about the artist as feminist as well as by looking at her more recent work and commentary, I argue that Cindy Sherman is not a feminist artist. The interpretation of her work as feminist was placed on her by art historians and critics rather than what she had intended of her work in the first place and distracts from the works inherent …show more content…
She mentioned one of her photographs from her Centerfolds show (one which she calls ‘Black Sheets’, being that all of the works in the series are untitled). Sherman explained that many see the character in the photograph as a rape victim, yet she envisioned a girl who is going to bed terribly hung-over due to being out and partying all night (Art21). Sherman does leave her works untitled to leave room for the viewer’s interpretation. However, this interview is a sign of how one’s interpretation can differ greatly from what the artist intended. If one is stuck on the idea of Sherman being a feminist, it becomes nearly impossible to view the work as anything besides a feminist piece. In the case from the interview, feminist ideologies placed on her work turned the character in the image from an abused victim, to a party girl whose self-induced intoxication has worn off and left her to
Admittedly, the first time I listened to Sonia Sanchez read her “Poem for Some Women” the words stung a bit. As her voice oscillates between a soothing and demanding tone, the topic shifts from a drug addicted mother to a child’s traumatic experience of rape and assault. Briefly put, in a desperate attempt to quell her addiction, the poem’s narrator trades her seven year old daughter in exchange for drugs. In the end, the child runs away from home. Despite its graphic imagery and poignant portrayal of both sexual assault and addiction, the poem is not criticizing the actions of the women it depicts.
Barbara Carrasco is an artist and muralist based in Los Angeles. Her works range from pen and ink drawings, to paintings, to posters and countless murals. Her artwork has been exhibited nationally and internationally. Barbara Carrasco is considered to be a renegade feminist. Her art is known for critiquing, dominant cultural stereotypes involving socioeconomic, race, gender and sexuality.(Revision history statistics "Barbara Carrasco" 2017)She is known for bringing awareness to the Chicano art movement and their sexist attitudes sometimes seen in Chicano art. Barbara Carrasco works in advocating to change treatment of women. I decided to do my research paper because I believe that there's a difference between how a Chicano depicts and paint images and how a Chicana depicts and paints images. As a Latina woman, learning about Barbara Carrasco
When Answering the question whether Sally Bowles fails as a femme fatale and becomes a striking figure of a woman of the 1970s feminist, this concurs a question that we must intern first, who is Sally Bowles?
Georgia O’Keefe is a famous American painter who painted beautiful flowers and landscapes. But she painted these images in such a way that many people believed she was portraying sexual imagery. “O’Keefe’s depictions of flowers in strict frontality and enlarged to giant scale were entirely original in character . . . the view into the open blossoms evoked an image of the female psyche and invited erotic associations.” (Joachimides 47) O’Keefe denies these allegations and says that she “magnified the scale of the flower only to ensure people would notice them.” (Haskell 203) O’Keefe’s artwork was misinterpreted because of cultural prejudice, her non-traditional lifestyle, and gender bias art criticism. But despite these accusations, Georgia O’Keefe’s artwork was not based on sexuality.
Frida Kahlo and Barbara Kruger’s issues faced throughout their lifetime can be connected to our course. Frida Kahlo’s artwork could be discussed in the Guerrilla Girls book that we have read early in the semester. The Guerrilla Girls portrayed different artists, and their battles faced as women. Frida Kahlo’s art was overshadowed by her artistic husband, Diego Rivera, similarly to many other women artists in the Guerilla Girls. Most women were not credited for their artwork, and were not portrayed in guilds unless they were married or came from a wealthy family. Barbara Kruger’s photography portrayed many feminist prints. Throughout this course, we have discussed the meaning of being a feminist and the issues feminist face
She lists a series of abuse done to women that all start with “It is a violation of human rights when…” For example, she says, “It is a violation of human rights when women and girls are sold into the slavery of prostitution for human greed -- and the kinds of reasons that are used to justify this practice should no longer be tolerated.” These series of eight statements also gives a pathetic appeal because these types of tragedies cause the listener to have pity and compassion for the victim(s).
No other artist has ever made as extended or complex career of presenting herself to the camera as has Cindy Sherman. Yet, while all of her photographs are taken of Cindy Sherman, it is impossible to class call her works self-portraits. She has transformed and staged herself into as unnamed actresses in undefined B movies, make-believe television characters, pretend porn stars, undifferentiated young women in ambivalent emotional states, fashion mannequins, monsters form fairly tales and those which she has created, bodies with deformities, and numbers of grotesqueries. Her work as been praised and embraced by both feminist political groups and apolitical mainstream art. Essentially, Sherman’s photography is part of the culture and investigation of sexual and racial identity within the visual arts since the 1970’s. It has been said that, “The bulk of her work…has been constructed as a theater of femininity as it is formed and informed by mass culture…(her) pictures insist on the aporia of feminine identity tout court, represented in her pictures as a potentially limitless range of masquerades, roles, projections” (Sobieszek 229).
Throughout history art has played a major role in society. It started out with paintings and went to photography and eventually to films. Artistic interpretation depended on whom the artist was and what he or she wanted to present to the audience. When it came to portraiture, whether it was paintings or photography, the idea of mimesis was very important. However important this may have been, the portraits were mostly products of the media and fashions during that time period. Whatever was popular during the time was used such as columns or curtains in the background. The face was the main focus in the painting and there was little focus on the body. Later on during photography the body was focused on more. Even though photography was used much later after paintings were used, it allowed the artist even more artistic interpretation because of the ability to play a different role and not having to be ones self. The artists that will be focused on are Frida Kahlo and Cindy Sherman. They lived during different periods and their artistic intentions varied because of that. They also had similarities in that they thought outside of the conventional roles. These women were both self-portraiture artists and although they were considered that their interpretations did not always make their portraits self-portraits. Traditionally the artist was an outsider, but when it came to self-portraiture they became the subject and the audience became the outsider. The similarities and differences of Frida Kahlo and Cindy Sherman’s art were tied into the strength and also vulnerability they had because of their roles as women. They wanted the audience to see a background story to the portraits and not just an image of a beautiful face.
These specific ploys that are performed by the Guerrilla Girls are in the way they dress, the masks they wear, pseudonymous names of dead women artists and the witty factual evidence in their works. These are all examples to evoke audiences in challenging not only the art society which dictates the value and worth of women in art, but also to confront yourself and your own beliefs in a way that makes audiences rethink these growing issues. Over the last twenty years, the Guerrilla Girls have established a strong following due to the fact that they challenged and consistently exhibited a strong supportive subject matter that defies societal expectations. In an interview “We reclaimed the word girl because it was so often used to belittle grown women. We also wanted to make older feminists sit up and notice us since being anti- “girl” was one of their issues....
Her days are spent bedridden after an unknown trauma forces her husband to prescribe “rest cures” as the antidote. During this time period, women were dehumanized to an object that was to be seen and not heard. Resistance during this era was futile, so whatever a man deemed worthy of a woman’s doing, she permitted to do so. “If a physician of high standing, and one’s own husband, assure friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression- a slight hysterical tendency- what one to do?” (Gilman 126) Although nothing is specifically identified in the story, this woman is suffering from post-partum depression and delirium. There is no baby to be found in the story, so one may assume a miscarriage or a stillborn death. This initial period of isolation is a key factor in helping the narrator identify truly with herself, for she starts to question the actions of the people around her who are pleading their merit through their absence. This negligence, this abuse helped to mold the mindset that she has been forced to create due to the lack of communication between doctor and patient. Feminism comes into play when the gender of the patient compromises treatment. Due to the severity of this trauma which was kept on an extremely low profile, this woman was not able to properly grieve for her lost
Feminism and political issues have always been centered on in the art world and artists like to take these ideas and stretch them beyond their true meanings. Female artists such as Hannah Höch, who thrived during the Dada movement in the 1920s in Germany and Barbara Kruger who was most successful during the 1980s to 1990s in the United States, both take these issues and present them in a way that forces the public to think about what they truly mean. Many of Kruger’s works close in on issues such as the female identity and in relation to politics she focuses on consumerism and power. Höch, like Kruger, also focuses on female identity but from the 1920s when feminism was a fairly new concept and like Kruger focuses on politics but focuses more on the issues of her time such as World War I. With the technique of photomontage, these two artists take outside images and put them together in a way that displays their true views on feminism and politics even though both are from different times and parts of the world.
Many modernist art movement moved away from traditional medium, topic and form in attempt to change the world through their art, including the influential feminist art movement who, through the efforts of individuals such as Judy Chicago and groups like the controversial guerilla girls, effectively altered the world and the way in which woman are viewed. The successfulness of the feminist art movement had on changing the world is reliant on individual opinion
Pretty Woman is a modern take on the classic Cinderella story where a poor misguided girl meets her prince and her life is dramatically changed. This film has fairy tale elements, but the biggest element in the movie is the use of sex; Vivian, the main character, is a prostitute. She meets her “prince” and is swept off of her feet, but what this really means is that she is bought for an entire week by a handsome, wealthy business man. One would assume that he was buying her for sex, but this is not your average prostitute transaction. This movie has a lot of third wave feminism ideals. Third wave feminism deals with using the female gender and sexuality to further the cause and portray their views. The ultimate goal of this paper is to show that Vivian Ward (portrayed by Julia Roberts), is the poster girl for third wave feminism.
For one, brief hour she was an individual. Now she finds herself bound by masculine oppression with no end in sight, and the result is death.
At the end of the 19th and start of the 20th centuries, a series of events occurred that would be known as the feminist movement. During this time, many woman were starting to change the way they thought of themselves and wanted to change their social roles. In his views on feminist analysis Donald Hall says, “Feminist methodologies focus on gender…and explore the complex ways in which women have been denied social power and the right to various forms of self-expression the many perspectives that fall under the heading ‘feminism’ vary wildly”(Hall 199). Since women were denied social power and self-expression, they went against what society saw as acceptable, a patriarchal world. In the stories The Awakening, by Kate Chopin, “Story of an Hour” also by Chopin, and “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman we see just how woman’s expected gender roles affect these woman. In The Awakening we meet Edna Pontellier who struggles with her social and gender role. In “Story of an Hour” we see a woman who is glad she is free from her husband. In “The Yellow Wallpaper” a woman fights for her happiness. Through the author’s portrayal of these characters, we see how feminism affects the actions of the characters and how the woman change.