Project 21: Images of Women (John Berger)

This week’s tasks were to read and make notes from chapter two and three from John Berger’s Ways of Seeing. 

In this Berger takes a similar view from Mulvey in Project 20, though not from a radical feminist perspective i.e. patriarchy is the fundamental problem. Instead, Berger takes on images of women from a neo-Marxian perspective; linking power with ownership and other economic relationships. 

While a post-feminist may consider the representation of the naked female body as now in their control – they can do with it what they wish – others believe this to be a false consciousness that, through a process of hegemony, men have convinced women of this for their own means. 

Berger argues that the tradition of the nude in painting is almost exclusively that of the female form which then was presented to the male spectator.  As an object the female nude is possessed not only by the male collector but also the male spectators. Viewing a woman is defined by their appearance and thus the male gaze still operates.

Task One: The Visualisation of Women Today

It was asked – using newspapers and magazines as my source – to construct a visual essay illustrating the visualisation of women today. This consists of two collages: collage one is images of women taken from female magazines; collage two is images of women taken from ‘lads’ magazines.

Collage One: the female form from a 'female' perspective

Collage two: the female form from a 'male' perspective

It is interesting to note that while Collage One reflect Lacan’s mirror phase – the inadequate of oneself results in a projection on the images – , the representation of women in Collage Two seems to confirm Berger’s argument.Collage One appeals to female desire while Collage Two appeals to male.

Courbet, A. 1866. Woman with a Parrot. [Oil on canvas] New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Anton Courbet’s Woman with a Parrot confirms Berger’s argument. Here is the female form on display. Not for her own pleasure, as the picture would suggest, but for that of the male spectator. Although she gazes at the parrot, her body turns to one side towards the viewer.  This is so that is clearly displayed for the benefit of the collector; through his purchase and through his gaze he objectifies the female form.  It could be also seen as a form possession on part of the artist. 

Bronzino, A. 1545. Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time. [Oil on wood] London: National Gallery.

Angelo Bronzino’s Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time is used by Berger as an example. It is similar to the purpose of the second collage – constructed from images from men’s magazines – in that has nothing to do with the female figures sexuality; it is all about the male spectators’ sexuality. This is because of the position of the female form in regards to the viewer. Despite the display of the Venus’s body towards the spectator in Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time this is implicit in comparison to the covers of Sophie and Sophie from Nuts; while they stare directly acknowledging their sexuality, Venus’s gaze is directed towards cupid.   

Von Aachen, H. 1600. Bacchus, Ceres and Cupid. [Oil on canvas] Vienna: Kunsthistorisches Museum.

In relation to Brozino’s Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time, Von Aachen’s Bacchus, Ceres and Cupid acknowledges the spectator. Ceres’s attention is not on Bacchus but is directed towards the male spectator. This pose allows the male artist, and by extension, the male spectator to posses the female. A power relationship is created; the male spectators possess the female form. Like Bacchus within the image, the possessed becomes objectified by the male gaze. 

Freud, L. 1966. Girl on a Turkish Sofa.

Compared to all other images chosen as part of this project the female form is not idealised in Lucian Freud’s Girl on a Turkish Sofa. Freud’s style could be seen – in regards to conventional representation – to find new meaning in the female form by de-sexualising the nude. Turned away from the spectator, the girl shuns any knowledge of the male gaze.

Bibliography

Berger, J.  (1972) Ways of Seeing. London: Penguin Publishing.

Cartwright, L., Sturken, M. (2001) Practices of looking: an introduction to visual culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press.