WOMEN IN THE ART WORLD; ARTIST OR MUSE
Throughout history, women have been objectified when being portrayed in art, whether it be literature, a painting, or a sculpture. These creations were made by men and meant to be consumed by men. For so long, women were not allowed to join the narrative on their own bodies and minds until it was allowed by men. From then until now, women still don’t have full control of their narratives. I want to explore this in my three-piece painted series.
In this presentation, I want to engage with the viewers, making art no longer just an observational experience but a thought provoking, engaging one. This project really is just a collective of lived experiences, and seen experiences being brought to us and interpreted through the eyes of the society we grew up in. The significance of a piece of art, whether that be film, literature, music, sculptures or paintings, depends on how the consumer absorbs it and how they continue to share it with others. I will talk about the collective of these pieces but also individually, explaining the meaning behind the work.
The reason I chose this project is because being a female artist and being a consumer of the arts, I have noticed just how male dominated it is. I can name a handful of male artists without even skipping a beat. Before I started this project. I could not have said the same for women artists. There have been many female authors that had to write under fake male names in order to publish their works. I can also think of female artists throughout history that have had trials and tribulations trying to be successful in the artistic world. Some of the women eventually received the recognition they deserved (Hilda af Klint, Frida Kahlo, Artemisia Gentileschi, and Alma Thomas). I have also seen how women can create great works of art while having the male dominated world constantly ridicule and belittle that work, as well as the general struggles they have faced just to have their works seen, respected, and admired. Men can create works of literature, art, science, etc. based on the mind and bodies of women and achieve the status and recognition that comes with those fields easily.
In one of the books I read called Women in the Picture: What Culture Does with Female Bodies by McCormack, Catherine, she stated that “Historically speaking, woman have not been allowed to look; held back from studying and entry into the professional sphere, they were not allowed to look at books nor at the world – more specifically, they weren’t allowed to look at the world of men, in case they found something that they wanted to challenge. This restriction also meant that women have historically been excluded from looking at bodies, either as doctors or as artists. This privilege not only gave men near total control over the way women’s bodies worked, but also over the way women’s bodies have appeared. In everything from paintings and sculptures to medical textbooks, cinema and political cartoons – these representations are not necessarily reflective of the myriad ways in which women see themselves.” Pg.8 I felt this helped explain historically why women are in the situation we are in today and why women have been working so hard to change that.
Some of the art pieces are from my own photos from the SAM, The Louvre, and the National Gallery in London. The other photos are from museum archives online, Google art & culture, or from blogs. I painted these with acrylic and gouache paints.
THE WHOLE COLLECTION:
In my artwork for this project, I wanted to continue the conversation on women in the art world, whether it is about the artist or the muse. I created three canvas paintings of the same museum with different perspectives. As a whole, we are transported to a museum hall and performance art you might say. In the first piece, we have the female artist painting, while surrounded by beautiful inspirational pieces of art. In the second painting, we have a group of spectators, where only two people look towards the first painting of the woman artist, while the rest of them look at the third and final painting of the male artist with his live model. In the last painting, we have a woman model nude for the male artist to paint, surrounded by women painted by men.
PAINTING #1:
In this first painting, I wanted to show the woman artist creating her work, while being in a museum environment allowing anyone to look and watch.
The canvas in this painting is not facing the viewers on purpose due to a few reasons. One is to represent how many different genres and possibilities there are for women artists to be in, if we aren’t being told what to look at and what not to look at, and not being pushed by a specific narrative. It can also represent the restrictions they could have and how women's art isn’t looked at with the same seriousness as men’s art. This illustrates how the importance of women’s art is seen in our society
The woman figure I created purposefully wasn’t the “typical beauty standard”. I felt that having the woman physically exposed shows her vulnerability when creating art, and the power she is taking back over her own body. She regains the narrative from men and puts it in the hands of women. In the background of this painting, she is surrounded by women artists who have broken barriers in so many ways, opening doors for women artists to create amazing works today.
PAINTING #2:
In this painting, both the female and male artists' work are displayed in a hall, and can be viewed by the spectators. On the left side of the back wall, the art is created by a woman, and on the left side of this wall, there is art created by a male artist. The Unknown Painter is from the Fontainebleau School, with context clues most likely male due to the contents, the school it was produced by, the timeframe of the production of this painting, and who commissioned this (King of France).
There are only a few spectators looking in the room with the woman artist painting in the first painting. The rest of the spectators are facing the male artist with his female muse.
The reason I have the majority of the spectators looking that way is because I wanted to represent the way our society looks at art, usually quickly glancing over the women artists and moving onto the works done by either famous male artists or iconic paintings of women. There are still a few people who give the time and respect the women artists deserve. In making this piece, I wanted to convey the way our larger society views this topic.
PAINTING #3:
In the last painting, I wanted to show the perspective of a male artist with his muse. The male is the only clothed character besides some of the spectators, while the muse, a woman, remains naked. I felt that doing this represents how he doesn’t have to be vulnerable while creating art.
The model is naked because I felt that it would show how courageous she is to be exposed to so many eyes, and how vulnerable she has to be to allow her to be drawn or altered in any way, according to the painter. This shows the control the male painter has of the narrative of women.
In the movie, Renoir by:Gilles Bourdos there is a scene when the model meets the son of the painter and mentions how his dad always makes her look fatter than she is and how annoyed she is by it. This scene helped inspire the thought process of having her nude. In my painting, being able to view the painting he is creating allows the influence of his work to take precedence over the female artist (from the first painting). We are left wondering about what the woman is painting while we have the satisfaction of having a “finished” idea of the painting he is making. This shapes our perspective of art, women, or men. You can also look at it from the opposite perspective - since the woman’s painting can’t be seen, it is also not limiting her creativity and art compared to his (because we already know what he makes) making her art linger in our heads a bit longer. The paintings of women covering the walls around him are by other male artists. Some of these point out the objectification of women, while the rest are just to admire the aesthetics of women.
