Artists of different time periods have made it clear that social movements and happenings have a great deal of importance in their work. Whether it is sculptures, paintings on walls in buildings like churches, or on canvas, the way that social movements and the ways in which society has changed their ways of looking at things, in particular women, have been depicted in artwork for centuries.
In various forms of art throughout history, women are shown as sex symbols, weak, as servants to men and as housewives, men are depicted as being leaders, masculine, breadwinners, and decision-makers.Simple because society as a whole for the most part believed that way, doesn’t mean it was unheard of for women to seek their rights, however, in most cases, women continued to be seen in those ways in various medias though out time. As far back as the eighteenth century during the Enlightenment period, women were seeing gender differences made within society and some, as did the British writer Mary Wollstonecraft who wrote “A Vindication of the Rights of Women” 1792.She argued that women be have fuller participation in the political process and be better wives and mothers if they were educated (Benton & DiYanni, p 420). Although this was only the beginning of the fight for women’s rights, literature was, like most others forms of art, an active participant in the moves as we’ve seen throughout history. As we know, women continuously were deemed as second class citizens who were not able to own property, work, or do anything short of having and taking care of the children in the household other than being readily available for sex as the man deemed necessary.
In the article “Gender Role Stereotypes in Fine Art: A Content Analysis of Art History Books” the author Charlotte G. O’Kelly shares a study made about gender differences in art in the past and in the ways there continues to be differences. Throughout different eras in history, men have typically been the dominate figures in art work. According to O’Kelly, not only are men depicted in mostly masculine roles, but women’s changing place in society is visible throughout the periods studied but has not made an impact enough to lessen the differences.
The sociological study described in the article was geared at finding the continued stereotypes and gender differences made throughout time and laid out the findings in order by period of time. Although not very much detail was given to each period, the main points were given as in what roles women took in art during that particular time and how it deferred from that of men. In the conclusion the author does state that further research is needed to add to what the study will mean to the effects of gender role images in the future.According to the article, during the Renaissance, many women were seen as sex objects in artwork rather than as a productive part of the household. During the Romantic Era, in Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres’ canvas painting La Grande Odalisque, 1814, a woman is laying on what seems to be a bed, leaning on a pillow, nude. As mentioned in the text, the proportions were off in this painting which not only characterized this artist’s style, but also made the women look much curvier.
Her look is sensual and she seems to be lying over her clothes, which could lead the viewer to think that she had just finished something, and by her looks, it could have been sexual. Odalisque were in fact were females slaves that were known for doing sexual favors. They were at the bottom of social status and they in order for them to move up in social class they were expected to do just that social favors. These women were used by men sexually and artists like Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres typically would paint them as sensual, physical beings as he also did in Odalisque with a slave, 1874.Eugene Delacroix, another Romantic Era artist, painted Odalisque (1845-50) in which there is a difference in the brushwork and the way the women is painted. Compared to Ingres’ fine lines were very precise and the colors were darker, more subtle, in Delacroix, the brushwork is a focus and the colors are much more vibrant.
The woman in Delacroix’s painting is facing the viewer and although still nude, she is not as human-like as Ingres’. Nudity and sexuality seem to be two things that seem to have continued throughout time as a means for artist’s to get their points across in their work.Nineteenth Century Frenchman, Auguste Rodin’s sculpture The Kiss (1886-98), shows a nude man and woman’s body intertwined in a very seductive stance. The marble sculpture shows the woman and man in a kissing position though their lips are not touching.
Like in much of his other work, Rodin gave his models a very fit and sometimes muscular body which was made apparent by the shadows and the light-catching of the sculptures. Although women had a part in the artwork, they were depicted as the stereotypical figure of women- crying, fainting, or helping out as servants.Once the Modern Period hit women had more roles. Although still stereotypical and men had the leading-type, more productive jobs, women seemed to participate more in activities in artwork.
Pablo Picasso, who is considered to be one of the greatest painters of all time, in his famous Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907), painted about prostitutes in Barcelona (Benton & DiYanni, p 543). He painted the ladies disproportioned, and in positions not regularly seen in art and with strong facial expressions. German Emil Nolde, painted another distinct piece that depicted women in a whole other way.In Dancing Around the Golden Calf, women are painting very vaguely in bright colors, dancing around but not in a feminine kind of dance, these women look as though they are wildly chanting and they dance topless and in a scandalous manner continuing the stereotypes and ways in which women are depicted differently than men in to the early twentieth century. Looking forward to the mid-twentieth century, pop art became visible in most of all media.
From advertising to comic strips, most forms of media had pop art in them somehow or another.Andy Warhol (1928-87) made the term pop art recognized as he made it a point to make all everyday things, including celebrities and their lives, a form of art. Warhol’s Marilyn Diptych (1962) is a repetitive picture of Marilyn Monroe’s face fading to black and white to the right until it fades away almost completely, which was a form of painting her own tragic end (Benton & DiYanni, p 613). In Roy Lichtenstein’s Drowning Girl (1963), he painting a comic strip of a woman who is saying “I don’t care! I’d rather sink than call Brad for help! ” referring to a romantic relationship dilemma.
Lichtenstein thought that although his picture was comic, some women would relate to that which could be thought of as he thought that women were becoming more eager to be independent and stand for themselves no matter what regardless of whether the man is there or not. Pop artists saw what was going on around them and made simple everyday items and ideas, as minimal as they could be, and made them in to recognizable art pieces. As paintings and sculptures have seen a change or a drift from their focus of people and women as a sexual focal point in artwork, women artists and activists have seen an increase in attention.Judy Chicago created The Dinner Party (1974-79) which shows women’s achievements throughout time. The triangle is made up of squares in which each one represents a specific woman in history and symbolizes Jesus’ Last Supper in that the place settings are arranged with thirteen on each side.
This piece brought attention to female artists as a means to bringing all good things women have done in a single piece of art that is to be recognized as “good” or important as men’s.According to the text, the impact of women on the art world has increased significantly in recent years partly because of the activist group the Guerrilla Girls who beginning in 1985 they put posters all over New York City questioning the inequality in women’s art. Throughout history and with continued change, society has seen and will continue to see many differences in gender roles and what is defined as a man’s role and a women’s role in the private sphere however there are still many new developments in this study.The ideas that society has challenged and continues to challenge will only grow in amounts as new generations arise and new ideas are brought by people within the US and all over the world. And as women will continue to fight for equality new ideas will evolve in how society defines gender and sexuality and views equality and roles played by both men and women.
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