FEMINISM

&
ART

LOCATING FEMINISM (USING MARXISM)

Marxism taught us that social structures are based in Economic
relations
Ownership of CAPITAL (money) leads to POWER and AUTONOMY
DIVISION OF LABOR:
Men : Paid work, the breadwinners
Women: Unpaid work, the homemakers
Consequence: Women are economically dependent on Men
which makes them lose any choice or sovereignty and
establishes an unequal balance of power between the two
parts of society

SOME MORE MARXISM

Means of Production are made invisible through a system
of cultural beliefs, traditions and social structures
The imbalance of power between men and women has
been historically NATURALIZED instead of being seen as a
cultural product
This system is called PATRIARCHY
Feminism: Making this imbalance visible through history
and trying to achieve equality between genders: socially
and economically.

PATRIARCHY IS UNFAIR TO ALL

GENDERS!
MEN and WOMEN
both are given
fixed roles to
PERFORM
Deviation from
these fixed
standards is
considered
morally, socially
and culturally
unfit

WOMENS
L I B E R AT I O N
M OV E M E N T
1960S

Itself based on a legacy of

important political, literary
works that have been
produced through history
One IMPORTANT aspect was
looking at art and u

Chapter 1: ART HISTORY

AND THE MALE GAZE

WHAT IS GAZE?
Gaze: The Oxford English Dictionary
defines the verb gaze as "to look fixedly,
intently, or deliberately at something,
Gradually the word has been come to be
used specifically in relation to ART
Contemporary art criticism focuses on
how the gaze is used as a vehicle for
communication, and how exactly a gaze
transmits information and assumptions
about the viewer/viewed.

GAZE AS SOCIAL THEORY

The Viewer and the Viewed are linked through the Gaze
The audience gazes at the art work in order to
understand it, interpret it and enjoy the art work
Thus the art work becomes a SUBJECT for the audience
The manner in which this subject is represented reflects
certain concepts about the art work, the artist and the
time that the art work was produced, according to critics

NOTIONS OF SURVEILLANCE
OFTEN EMERGE FROM THE GAZE
The viewer holding a
certain power of the
viewed
Martin Jay, has argued
that the rise of
modernism has laid
special emphasis on the
visual medium
Making anything visible
thus gives the person
automatic power over the

BACK TO MALE GAZE

Feminists have
argued that
historically art
was the domain
of men
The viewer and
the artist were
both male,
depicting the
female form
Women in such
artworks lose
their subjectivity
to become just
objects in a Male
dominated world
Sexual Desire
and Authority is
inscribed on
their body and

THE GAZE AS AN
I N V I TAT I O N
Apart from the obvious
difference of men being
clothed and the woman
nude, notice the BODY
LANGUAGE:
The women rests her
gaze as an INVITATION
across the canvas to
the (male viewer) while
the men sit with a
stance of authority.

Luncheon on the Grass; Manet

Click icon to add picture

T H E B I RT H O F
VENUS

R E P R E S E N TAT I O N
O F T H E B O DY:
T H Emale
V I R gaze
G I N in
AN
D
The
art
T
H E Wa
H binary:
ORE
creates

Either the woman is

the site of his desire
or the site of purity
and nothing in
between.
The body of the
woman then becomes
a site where society
tries to define
morality, right and
wrong and other such
CONSTRUCTED
distinctions

ABSORPTION IN
VERMEERS
INDOOR
PA I N T I N G S

The indoor paintings

highlight the other side of
the binary.
Critics point out that the
female subject in Vermeer
often seems to be avoiding
meeting the viewers gaze
and is engaged in her work,
representing a DOCILE, SHY
and INWARD character of
women within the
household.

MALE GAZES TELLS WOMEN

How to behave and find their
identity in the approval of the male
gaze even outside a painting
Their body is not their own but a
site of desire and pleasure entitled
to the men around them
The continuation of such
representations in contemporary
visual culture generates an
unhealthy obsession amongst
women regarding their bodies

BARBARA
KRUGER

Polish
Contemporary
artist Jan Smaga.
inDog,2007,
shows the male
figure
isoverwhelmed
beneath a swarm
of images of nude
women which
threaten to
obscure his
identity