The Gaze a Critical of the Female Figure in Art and Advertising

Ideas and Perspectives Module 2012/2013 Claire Hynds The Gaze A Critical of the feminine Figure in Art and Advertising 22/01/2013 Contents accounting entry4 Chapter 1 Hi novel of The Nude inwardly European anele Paintings.. 5-6 Chapter 2 Susanna and the Elders 6-10 Chapter 3 The Vanity of Women.. 10-11 Chapter 4 Helene Fourment in a fur cover11-12 Conclusion 13 Bibliography. 14 List of Illustrations Peter enceinte of Minnesota Rubens Susanna and the Elders (1636-40).. Artemisa Gentileschi Susanna and the Elders (1610) 9 Tintoretto Susanna and the Elders (1555-56)10 Rubens Helene Fourment in a Fur Coat (1577-1640)12 Introduction Women brace practically been observed in society as existence opposite from a man. A mans strawman is seen as world a powerful force whereas a charrs presence has been depicted as being a sensual emanation, a kind of h eject. It has been said that from a young age a womanhood has been taught to constantly watch her every move, whether it be her wal exponent across a room, or whilst weeping at the death of a love maven.To be innate(p) a woman was said to re round been born inwardly a confined space, or into the keeping of a man. through prohibited history men have al shipway surveyed a woman in the lead they considered treating them. Consequently how a man treats a woman can be determined by many things, for instance if a woman is to bewilder a glass on the floor, this is how she expresses her anger towards a situation and how she would alike it to be perceived by others, yet if a man was to do the corresponding this would be read as an expression of his anger. As nates Berger states in slipway of Seeing (P. 47) Men act and women appear. Men catch at women.Women watch themselves being anticipateed at. This determines not only most traffic between men and women but also the relation of women themselves. The surveyor of women in herself is antheral the surveyed is egg-producing(prenominal). Thus she turns hers elf into an object and most particularly an object of vision a sight (John Berger Ways of Seeing Page. 47) Chapter 1 History of The Nude within European oil Paintings In the history of European oil characterization it has been said that women were known for being the primary and ever-recurring subject. In the subject of women they were give awaystrip known for being painted in the naked.It is said that the first nudes to have been depicted in the history of art was that of exaltation and Eve. John Berger has state (P. 47) that is was worth mentioning the story of Adam and Eve as told in multiplication And when the woman saw that the maneuver was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof and did eat and she gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat. And the eyes of them twain were opened, and they knew that they were naked and they stitched fig-leaves together and made themselves aprons.And the Lord God call(a)ed unto the man and said unto him, Where argon super C? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked and I hid myself. Unto the woman God said, I pull up stakes 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 regulate over thee What is found striking roughly this particular story is how Adam and Eve become aw atomic number 18 of each others nudity the exact moment they take a bite of the forbidden fruit, as a result of this they saw one another in a completely different way.Nakedness was created in the mind of the beholder. What is also striking about this story is how the woman is blamed and made to suffer by being made to serve the man. As the traditions of icons become more secular, other themes are offered up as an opportunity for painting nudes. But in all of them there remains the circumstance that the subject (a woman) is all too apprised of being watched by the spectator. She is not naked as she is. She is naked as the spectator sees her. (John Berger Ways of Seeing. Page. 50) Chapter 2 Susannah and the EldersSusanna and the Elders was one of the most popular images of the sixteenth part century, these pieces were taken from the Old Testament story of Susanna and the Elders. The images that were done of Susanna and the Elders were depicted from limited passages from the 13th Chapter of the book of Daniel. Unlike most versions of Susanna and the Elders, the Schonborn painting presents the central foeman between the main characters, the exact moment within the story when the Elders rescue to the garden to seduce Susanna. Mary Garrard (Artemisia and Susanna, Feminism and Art History inquiring the Litany, Norma Broude and Mary D.Garrard, eds. , pp. 146-171) had this to say on her account of these paintings Few artistic themes have offered so satisfying an opportunity for l egitimized voyeurism as Susanna and the Elders. The subject was taken up by relish by artists from the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries as an opportunity to display the female nude, in much the same musical note that such themes as Danae or Lucretia were approached, but with the added advantage that the nudes erotic could be heightened by the presence of ii lecherous old men, whose inclusion was both ichnographically justified and pornographically effective. The story of Susanna and the Elders is seen as a queer willing of the mans ego, a biblical theme of the exemplum of a females chastity which shows the celebration of sexual opportunity. Or as gunk Rooses enthusiastically described Rubens version of the story as a gallant enterprise mounted by two adventures. Peter capital of Minnesota Rubens, Susanna and the Elders, 1636-40 Griselda Pollock (Differencing the Canon, p. 105) states the following on the subject of Susanna and the Elders. The biblical story of Susanna and theElders tells of a young married Jewish woman living in Babylon during the first exile of the Jewish people (after 586 BCE. ). Susanna is bathing in her garden. She sends her two maids into the house to fetch oil and perfumes for her bath. Two lecherous elders of the community sleuth on her, conspiring to force her to submit to them sexually. They threaten her that, if she refuses, they will denounce her of adultery with another man, adultery being, according to ancient Jewish law, a capital crime for women.Susanna refuses, preferring the fate of death to the sin they propose. She is so falsely criminate by the elders and condemned to death. Daniel, of leonine fame, vindicates Susanna by exposing the elders mendacity. Interrogating them separately, he asks them under which tree Susanna committed adultery. Each names a different kind of tree. They are then executed for the crime of false witness. This story is seen as a intricate narrative of sexual desire and visual tempta tion.During the Renaissance the focus of the womans nakedness while bathing is exposed to a lecherous conspiracy which emphasized the sexual, voyeuristic and visually violating aspects of the theme, while at the same time providing a biblical and even a theological defense of the painting as an erotic female nude, a genre that was acclivitous in this period, shifting the focus of the female nude from its traditional railroad tie with truth towards a more modern signification of desire and its intimate visuality.Garrard and Pollocks focus on the subject of Susanna and the Elders is of a painting based on the same subject by Artemisia Gentileschi. Artemisa Gentileschi, Susanna and the Elders, 1610. In one of the many versions of Susanna and the Elders by Tintoretto, Susanna is seen aspect at herself in the mirror. In turn she becomes the spectator herself. Tintoretto, Susanna and the Elders, 1555-56. Mary Garrard Mary Garrard (Artemisia and Susanna, Feminism and Art History oppu gn the Litany, Norma Broude and Mary D.Garrard, eds. , pp. 149-150) presented the following on Tintorettos painting of Susanna stating Tintoretto, whose adventurers stage their lift in a manner more sneaky than bold, nonetheless offers a representative depiction of the theme in his emphasis upon Susannas gamy body and upon the Elders ingenuity in getting a closer look at it. Chapter 3 The Vanity of Women The Mirror was often used within paintings to show the vanity of women. The moralizing, however, was seen as being quite hypocritical. You painted a naked woman because you enjoy looking at her, you put a mirror in her hand and you called the painting Vanity, thus chastely condemning the woman whose nakedness you had depicted for your own pleasure. (John Berger, Ways of Seeing, P. 51) The main function of the mirror was to make the woman throwaway herself and see what men see her as, a sight. It is a well-known fact that some paintings do include a male lover. However, the woma ns attention isnt always directed straight at him.The woman is usually panting looking away from the man or she is seen looking out of the painting supposedly looking towards her true love, or in this case the spectator-owner. In one instance of this type of theme is that of Lelys painting titled Nell Gwynne at painting done especially for the king of that time. In this piece it is pass on that the woman is looking passively out of the painting at the spectator, in this case the spectator turns out to be the king. However, Nells nakedness was not the expression of her own feelings, but alternatively was the sign of her submission to the kings demands. Chapter 4 Helene Fourment in a Fur CoatOne painting that was found to be particularly fascinating was that of Rubens young second wife, who he had happily married even though he was, at the time, quite old. Rubens Helene Fourment in a Fur Coat 1577-1640 In this piece we see Rubens wife in the cover of turning, as she does her fur coa t begins to gradually slip off her shoulders. It is clear that if she continues with what she is doing she will not remain covered for very much longer. As her body faces us, even if it isnt full frontal, it is shown as being a well experienced body. Her appearance has, in the eye of the painter, been altered passing game his subjectivity.As John Berger (Ways of Seeing, P. 61) describes There is a displacement oblique of about nine inches. If looked at closely it is easy to work out that her thighs, where they are meant to join up with her hips, are seen to be at least(prenominal) a couple of inches apart from the left side of her body. Conclusion The ways of seeing a woman and the way they are presented within a painting have not changed. Women were depicted as being different from men, not because of the difference between feminism and masculinity, but because the spectator is often assumed to be a man and a painting of a naked woman were designed to flatter him. In the art-for m of the European nude the painters and spectator-owners were usually men and the persons treated as objects, usually women. This unequal kindred is so deeply embedded in our culture that it still structures the disposition of many women. They do to themselves what men do to them. They survey, like men, their own muliebrity. (John Berger, Ways of Seeing, P. 63) In the end what was found was quite remarkable and found that women were often observed in society as being different from a man. It just goes to show that even in paintings women will always be seen as objects and nothing more.Bibliography Books Berger, J. (1972) Ways of Seeing. London Penguin Books. McMillan, K. Weyes, J. (2011) How to relieve Essays & Assignments. 2nd ed. Ashford Pearson Educations Limited. DAlleva, A. (2010) How to Write Art History. 2nd ed. London Laurence fagot Publishing. Broude, N. Garrard, M. D. (1982) Feminism and Art History Questioning the Litany. 1st ed. New York harpist & Row. Websites Til t, S. (2011) Susanna and the Elders Online. Available at http//employees. oneonta. edu/farberas/arth/arth200/women/susanna. html Accessed 14 January 2013