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Sexuality and beauty have always been commonly associated with the female form however these representations have almost always been reactionary often eliciting a woman's lack of control over her own body by showing the female form as nothing more than a tool to be used by men. I plan to challenge this tradition by depicting a woman in control of herself and her sexuality on a large scale oil painting, using Feminist artists as references to create my work. The question I will be asking is How can I present the nude female figure Through an oil painting in an empowering way, that subverts the tradition of the male gaze allowing the subject matter to gain control over her sexuality.
It's common knowledge that majority of the portrayals of women have been depicted by men and so they serve men and not women, this idea has remained present in many artworks from both the Pre Modernist and Post Modernist periods of art. Despite the similarities there are some differences women in the Pre modernist period were often represented as young, white and submissive, their gazes shifted away from their viewer passive and unaware of their own sexuality. Representations of female sexuality in the Post modernist period became more complex and ambiguous and became largely tied to the perception of the individual artist. Woman become ugly and grotesque in art. Possibly as a reflection of the changing time as the role of a women began to change threatening the hierarchy, also becoming something to fear. This could have largely been due to the beginning of the Sexual revolution with the creation of the pill giving women the freedom to express their sexuality and have a sense of control.
Throughout history flowers have become a sexual metaphor for female sexuality and the vulva, in the early years in the classical age many virginal women were compared to flowers, even in Shakespeare renowned sonnets and plays there are many botanical metaphors for females, above all in Hamlet, in which Ophelia strews flowers all over Elsinore. You need only think of the names Rose, Lily, Daisy, Violet. Some of the flowers often associated with women are the pomegranate, the lily, pink camellias etc.
One of the major influences of my work will be the feminist artists of the early 60's to the late 80's, using both their techniques and their tactics to spread awareness about certain topics. To feminist artists art was not merely an object of adoration or aesthetic but was something to open up dialogue about the social and political landscape, and through this questioning, possibly affect the world and bring change toward equality. While their have been many female artists throughout history many have been neglected by the history books so to get their message out many feminist artists were forced to the extreme, such as artists like Yoko Ono, the Guerilla girls and Judy Chicago. Many feminist artists would employ things that are traditionally feminine subverting them and reclaiming them back as their own, for example many feminist artists incorporated their nude bodies asserting control over their own sexuality.
As I’ve stated before some of the artists that I will be using are feminist artists whether they be self identified or not, such as Hannah Wilke, Paula Modersohn-Becker and Georgia Okeefe, and others being Lucian Freud and Gustave Courbet. The reason why I’ve chosen Hannah Wilke is particularly the unconventional way she poses photography and the way she employs her nude body to shock the viewer, I’ve chosen Georgia O’keefe for the way she presents her flowers, as soft, colorful and complex, and for its direct symbolism it is towards the vulva. Paula Baker is a female artist who worked in the early 1900’s and isn't discussed in comparison to other artists of her time, what drew me to her was her self portraits and how she depicted herself in said portraits, as nude and delicately holding a flower she combines both the genre of the female nude and the traditional artist portrait, placing herself as just as equal, talented and beautiful as any artist before her reclaiming the male dominated genre of the female nude as her own. Gustave Courbet and Lucian Freud are the only two male artists I plan on using as I want to focus on a predominantly Female perspective.
Pre Modernist vs Post Modernist
It's common knowledge that majority of the portrayals of women have been depicted by men and so they serve men and not women, this idea has remained present in many artworks from both the Pre Modernist and Post Modernist periods of art. Despite the similarities there are some differences women in the Pre modernist period were often represented as young, white and submissive, their gazes shifted away from their viewer passive and unaware of their own sexuality. Representations of female sexuality in the Post modernist period became more complex and ambiguous and became largely tied to the perception of the individual artist. Woman become ugly and grotesque in art. Possibly as a reflection of the changing time as the role of a women began to change threatening the hierarchy, also becoming something to fear. This could have largely been due to the beginning of the Sexual revolution with the creation of the pill giving women the freedom to express their sexuality and have a sense of control.
Flowers as symbols
Throughout history flowers have become a sexual metaphor for female sexuality and the vulva, in the early years in the classical age many virginal women were compared to flowers, even in Shakespeare renowned sonnets and plays there are many botanical metaphors for females, above all in Hamlet, in which Ophelia strews flowers all over Elsinore. You need only think of the names Rose, Lily, Daisy, Violet. Some of the flowers often associated with women are the pomegranate, the lily, pink camellias etc.
Radical Art and Feminism
One of the major influences of my work will be the feminist artists of the early 60's to the late 80's, using both their techniques and their tactics to spread awareness about certain topics. To feminist artists art was not merely an object of adoration or aesthetic but was something to open up dialogue about the social and political landscape, and through this questioning, possibly affect the world and bring change toward equality. While their have been many female artists throughout history many have been neglected by the history books so to get their message out many feminist artists were forced to the extreme, such as artists like Yoko Ono, the Guerilla girls and Judy Chicago. Many feminist artists would employ things that are traditionally feminine subverting them and reclaiming them back as their own, for example many feminist artists incorporated their nude bodies asserting control over their own sexuality.
Artist Models
As I’ve stated before some of the artists that I will be using are feminist artists whether they be self identified or not, such as Hannah Wilke, Paula Modersohn-Becker and Georgia Okeefe, and others being Lucian Freud and Gustave Courbet. The reason why I’ve chosen Hannah Wilke is particularly the unconventional way she poses photography and the way she employs her nude body to shock the viewer, I’ve chosen Georgia O’keefe for the way she presents her flowers, as soft, colorful and complex, and for its direct symbolism it is towards the vulva. Paula Baker is a female artist who worked in the early 1900’s and isn't discussed in comparison to other artists of her time, what drew me to her was her self portraits and how she depicted herself in said portraits, as nude and delicately holding a flower she combines both the genre of the female nude and the traditional artist portrait, placing herself as just as equal, talented and beautiful as any artist before her reclaiming the male dominated genre of the female nude as her own. Gustave Courbet and Lucian Freud are the only two male artists I plan on using as I want to focus on a predominantly Female perspective.
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