{"id":282,"date":"2020-12-08T15:09:28","date_gmt":"2020-12-08T15:09:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/art-history-2560-fall-2020-through-her-gaze\/?page_id=282"},"modified":"2020-12-16T17:21:27","modified_gmt":"2020-12-16T17:21:27","slug":"the-female-nude","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/art-history-2560-fall-2020-through-her-gaze\/the-female-nude\/","title":{"rendered":"“The Female Nude”"},"content":{"rendered":"

“The Female Nude” highlights different representations of the Female nude across artists and its connection to selfhood and sexuality. Historically, The Female Nude has allowed artists to highlight culturally acceptable images of nakedness as it provides viewers to gaze upon the female body without \u201cconsequence\u201d or guilt. This theme also addresses the standards of beauty relating to desirability.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Female Nude has typically depicted the white woman’s body as desirable, an idealized representation of the standard of beauty. These objects focus on several depictions of the Female Nude, across mediums while projecting themes of sexual agency and individualism. They depict the ways BIWOC have reclaimed agency over the image of the female nude, challenging historic representations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Mickalene Thomas
April 1977
2017
Collage<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mickalene Thomas is an African-American, contemporary visual artist whose art aims to re-envision female beauty, sexuality, and power. Thomas is known for her representations of Black women as confident, bold, provocative, and powerful. April 1977<\/i> depicts the female nude using a Black woman as the muse while pulling inspiration from Blaxploitation films. Blaxploitation films are a subgenre of exploitation films that debuted in the 1970s placing Black characters and the black community as main characters and heroes. These films perpetrated Black stereotypes but argued as a recuperative expression of Black empowerment. Thomas uses photographs of Black women from Jet Magazines<\/i> pin-up calendars, Beauties of the Month<\/i>, published between 1971 and 1977, in order to reclaim agency and challenge assumptions on beauty based on desire. The woman is posed on her knees, revealing her backside as she smiles and looks back, also making direct eye contact with viewers. The collage places the woman on a bed with silk sheets and her pose is sexy and confident; her gaze asserting power over her sexuality. Historically, the depictions of the female nude represent ideals of beauty and allude to desire, yet most of them are images of white women. Thomas puts Black women at the center as she challenges notions of beauty through desirability. In what ways does the reference to Blaxploitation films address selfhood and sexuality in this collage?<\/p>\n

Sources: \r\n\r\nWinters, Edward. \u201cBlaxploitation and Black Beauty: Mickalene Thomas \u2013 Beaut\u00e9s Du Mois.\u201d Trebuchet-Magazine , 2020. https:\/\/www.trebuchet-magazine.com\/blaxploitation-and-black-beauty-mickalene-thomas-beautes-du-mois\/.<\/a><\/span>\r\n\r\nHaughton, Aaron. \u201c5 Of The Baddest Babes Of Blaxploitation,\u201d February 3, 2018. https:\/\/www.viddy-well.com\/top-5\/babes-of-blaxploitation. <\/a><\/span>\r\n\r\n<\/pre>\n
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\"Saar,
Alison Saar
Compton Nocturne 2012
Color Lithograph 19 \u00bc x 25 in National Museum of Women in the Arts, Promised gift of Steven Scott, Baltimore<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Alison Saar is a multiracial, LA based sculpture, printer, and installation artist whose work relates to themes of the African diaspora, the way the body connects to identity, and the experience of powerful women complicated by race and gender. Compton Nocturne<\/em> is part of her exhibition Mirror, Mirror, a collection of prints over the last 35 years, which explore self reflection as well as the relationship between identity and society. Many of the subjects in her work are informed by Greek, Roman, and African mythology. This piece is a re-interpretation of Saar\u2019s sculpture, Compton Nocturne<\/em>, which illustrates power in a woman reminiscent of an African deity. The image is based on Duke Ellington\u2019s jazz song, \u201cHarlem Nocturne,\u201d known for its sultry qualities which connects to the bold depiction of the female nude in Saar\u2019s print. Saar substituted Harlem with Compton, a predominantly African-American community in LA. The blue hues further the nocturnal aspect of the painting. Saar explains that the spirit bottle tree, originally a West African tradition used to lure evil spirits into upturned bottles, represents \u201cher dreams that are being captured as opposed to wicked spirits that are trying to trespass.\u201d The tree composed of her own dreams stemming from her head protects her despite her vulnerable nude position.<\/p>\n
Sources:\r\n\r\n\u201cWatch: Mirror Mirror: The Prints of Alison Saar Keynote Lecture.\u201d <\/span>Tandem Press<\/span><\/i>, December 1, 2020, <\/span>https:\/\/tandempress.wisc.edu\/watch-mirror-mirror-the-prints-of-alison-saar-keynote-lecture\/<\/span><\/a>\r\n\r\nPatterson, Tom. \u201cRevealing reflections: Alison Saar\u2019s prints and sculptures make bold statements at the Weatherspoon.\u201d Winston-Salem Journal, January 25, 2020, <\/span>https:\/\/journalnow.com\/entertainment\/arts\/revealing-reflections-alison-saar-s-prints-and-sculptures-make-bold-statements-at-the-weatherspoon\/article_6dc798ac-8fd0-5f8c-8e90-ff17bec9098b.html<\/span><\/a>\r\n\r\n\u201cMirror, Mirror: The Prints of Alison Saar.\u201d New Media Gallery, Toledo Museum of Art, July 26, 2020, <\/span>https:\/\/www.toledomuseum.org\/art\/exhibitions\/mirror-mirror-prints-alison-saar<\/span><\/a><\/pre>\n
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Martine Gutierrez
Body En Thrall, p120 from Indigenous Woman,
2018
C-print mounted on Sintra,
48 x 32 inches (121.9 x 81.3 cm),
Edition of 8<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Martine Guiterrez is a Brooklyn-based performance artist, who is often both the artist, subject, and muse of her works. Reflecting on her identity through the public and private sphere, Gutierrez explores societal constructs around gender, race, sexuality, and space. Body En Thrall p120 <\/i>is one image from her Indigenous Woman<\/i> art publication. Indigenous Woman<\/i> featured images of Gutierrez and symbolism from pop culture to address identity as a social construct. In her Body En Thrall<\/i> series, Gutierrez creates imaginative scenes around a pool while including slogans and imagery from the advertising industry. Body En Thrall <\/i>addresses the power complex between one being held captive and holding someone captive. In this photograph, Gutierrez is posed with a mannequin with both her legs wrapped around his body. Gutierrez says \u201cWhile gender is inherently a theme in my work, I don’t see it as a boundary. The only profound boundaries are those we impose upon ourselves. \u2026Our interpretation of these constructs is subjective and not immutable. reality, like gender, is ambiguous because it exists fluidly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sources:\r\n\r\nMartine Gutierrez: Indigenous Woman \u2013 RYAN LEE Gallery. Accessed December 16, 2020. https:\/\/ryanleegallery.com\/exhibitions\/martine-gutierrez-indigenous-woman\/. <\/a><\/span>\r\n\r\nM a r t i n e \u00a0 G u t i e r r e z. Accessed December 16, 2020. http:\/\/www.martinegutierrez.com\/.<\/a> <\/span><\/pre>\n
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Tschabalala Self
Origin
2018
Oil, Flashe, acrylic and fabric on canvas
84 \u00d7 72 inches
(213.4 \u00d7 182.9 cm)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Tschabalala Self is an African American figurative painter who seeks to explore the intersectionality of race, gender, and sexuality within the female nude. Origin<\/em> combines sewn, painted, and collaged material as a way of reclaiming black identity in contemporary culture. This piece explores the beauty and complexity of the female nude through the unconventional and exaggerated representation of the female genitalia. The way in which the figure\u2019s abstracted body emerges daringly from the canvas allows the woman to exist for herself, for her own pleasure, unphased by the viewer. Her role is not performative, her gaze is not vulnerable\u2014the agency and pride she seems to have in her own naked body is unparalleled. Sexuality makes people uncomfortable,\u201d Self says. \u201cAnd if you\u2019re dealing with women of color and their sexuality, it compounds all those anxieties.\u201d These unflinching compositional choices boldly defy the misconceptions often surrounding the black female body while referencing Self\u2019s relationship with her own body and culture. Though the figure is not Tschabalala herself, what does the depiction say about Self\u2019s own sense of identity as a black woman in America?<\/p>\n
Sources:\r\n\r\nBuck, Louisa. \u201cTschabalala Self: \u2018what information is needed for one\u2019s body to become gendered and racialized?\u2019\u201d The Art Newspaper, February 7, 2020. https:\/\/www.theartnewspaper.com\/interview\/tschabalala-self-asks-how-little-information-is-needed-for-one-s-body-to-become-gendered-and-racialised<\/a>\r\n\r\nChristie\u2019s. \u201c10 Things to Know about Tschabalala Self.\u201d Christies, February 11, 2020. https:\/\/www.christies.com\/features\/10-things-to-know-about-Tschabalala-Self-10259-1.aspx<\/a>\u00a0\r\n\r\nGray, Arielle. \u201cWhat Tschabalala Self\u2019s \u2018Out of Body\u2019 at the ICA Taught Me About My Own Body.\u201d\r\n\r\nWBUR ARTery, February 7, 2020. https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/artery\/2020\/02\/07\/what-tschabalala-selfs-out-of-body-at-the-ica-taught-me-about-my-own-body<\/a>\r\n\r\nICA Boston. \u201cTschabalala Self: Out of Body.\u201d Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston. Accessed October\r\n26, 2020. https:\/\/www.icaboston.org\/exhibitions\/tschabalala-self-out-body<\/a>\r\n\r\nKazanjian, Dodie. \u201cArtist Tschabalala Self Upends Our Perception of the Female Form.\u201d Vogue. April 13, 2020. https:\/\/www.vogue.com\/article\/tschabalala-self-studio-visit<\/a>\r\n\r\n\u201cTschabalala Self\u201d. Accessed October 28th<\/sup>, 2020. https:\/\/tschabalalaself.com<\/a><\/pre>\n
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\"William
William Witt
Black Nude Hands On Chest
1941
Printed in 1950\u2019s
Early gelatin silver print on paper
14 x 11 in.
Bowdoin College Museum of Art
Gift of Jon and Nicole Ungar
2016.46.219<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
William Witt, born in Newark, New Jersey, was a photographer whose images of New York City attempted to highlight its vibrancy. Growing up during the Great Depression, Witt was inspired by documentary photographers that showed the realities of life. His 1941 photograph Black Nude Hands on Chest<\/i> places a nude Black woman against a pitch-black background, with her body being the brightest source of contrast in the image. The stark contrast of the image means that the highlights contour her figure while the shadowed elements soften in the background. This effect makes the viewer feel that her identity doesn\u2019t matter, as her face – and by extension identity – is almost fading into the background, while focusing the viewer\u2019s attention on the brightest part of her body: her bare chest. Witt being a white man raises questions about the historic objectification and sexualization of the Black female body by white men, and how it turns women into objects of pleasure. Does the model seem in control of her body, or is she portrayed as just a nameless nude body on display for our pleasure?<\/p>\n
Sources:\r\n\r\n\u201cBill Witt.\u201d Elizabeth Houston Gallery, July 15, 2019. <\/span>https:\/\/www.elizabethhoustongallery.com\/project\/bill-witt\/.<\/span><\/a>\r\n\r\nGanzel , Bill. \u201cFSA Photographers.\u201d FSA Photographers Document the Great Depression, 2003, livinghistoryfarm.org\/farminginthe30s\/water_14.html.<\/span><\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
“The Female Nude” highlights different representations of the Female nude across artists and its connection to selfhood and sexuality. Historically, The Female Nude has allowed artists to highlight culturally acceptable images of nakedness as it provides viewers to gaze upon the female body without \u201cconsequence\u201d or guilt. This theme also addresses the standards of beauty … <\/p>\n
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