Wednesday, 16 November 2011

CREATIVE CULTURES - AUDIENCE AND ENCOUNTER: 'THE GAZE'

Laura Mulvey - 1975
- Analysed Alfred Hitchcock films, suggesting in particular that the view point is from a male white view due to the way in which his films were made. 
John Berger - Could also be referenced when thinking about this notion.

'The Male Gaze'
- Andrea Del Castagno, 'Portrait of a man' 1450
- Positioning 3/4, emphasises power.
- Returning the gaze/offering the gaze
- Eye contact, insight into character














     - Alesso Baldovinetti, 'Portrait of a lady' 1465
     - Female in profile view.
     - Emphasis on her body shape, dehumanising.
     - High forehead, represents time period.
     - Representing her family rather than herself.
     - Profile view shows the family crest.
     - Wearing her identity compared to 'being' the identity.
     - 'Object to be looked upon' - Berger.






- Botticelii, 1470s
- Male, worldly.
- Religious setting, biblical.
- Liberation, escape, the water signifies travel.














    - Ghirlandiro, 1488
    - Female associated with religion, tradition.
    - Domesticated.
    - Stereotypical, virginal.
    - Rossary beads and bible reflect her values.
    - Profile view.










  - Fra Filippo Lippi, 'Double portrait' 1435-45
  - Her gaze is 'glaced' whilst the male's face is is focused.
  - Reference John Berger 'Ways of Seeing'.
  - Representative of a confession box.














- Piero Della Francesca, 'The duke and Duchess of Urbino'
- Female is adorned
- Male clothing is saturated/plain.
- The detail is on his face and on her jewellery.
- Feminised, historical.
- Water illustrates industry and commerce. 
- Escape, compared to the female's background.


           - Barbara Kruger, 'Your gaze hits the side of my face'
           - Connotations of violence.


















The Reclining Female Nude

- Titian, 'Venus of Urbino' 1538
- Seductive posture, gaze is at the viewer.
- Overted view, drawing in the viewer.
- Loose hair = loose women.
- Erotised pose, mythical women.




- Manet, 'Olympia' 1863
- Uncomfortable position.
- Confrontational gaze, alert posture.
- Subject = Prostitute, viewer could be the client.
- Choker around her neck seperates her mind and body.
- 'Covering' herself, less provocative.
- Servant is attending to her, position of power/dominence.

* Composition of both paintings illustrate a clear repoussoir, the bedding draws the reader in.

- Valie Export, 'Tapp und Tast' 1968
- Object to be looked at.
- Performance piece.
- Offers a direct confrontational gaze.
- Subersive.












Analysis of Bio-Chemist article in relation to gender:
The first image/headline is taking a 'professional' take on offering beauty advise. The headline concentrates on the profession of the female and 'recommends' the product; along with this the image to accompany the article is formal, the female is holding a direct gaze making it appear confrontational. You could note that the headline and image are challenging what we view as a female profession, women can be women and bio-chemists.
The second image/headline takes a different approach. The 'Women' as described lets the reader know that she 'Loves' the product, a word we often associate with females and emotions. Along with this her lips are slightly parted in the image which gives a completely different identity to the other image. She is slight turnt to the left which offers the viewer and view of her shoulder line and also illustrates a 'softer'expression which is less confrontational. 
Joan Rivier
- Rivier talks of women in powerful positions, she explains how women often enter hyperfemnine actions as opposed to submissive actions. She bases this on how women are represented, e.g Hilary Clinton being 'professional' and male like but wearing makeup and bold clothes that would be associated with people being very feminine.
- Judith Butler 


Renoir, 'The Bathers' 1887
 - Sexual relationships with this work.
- Always dipicting the female, gaze.
- Viewer is detatched from the scene.
- Non confrontational
- Highly erotised.
- Female/nature/homogenized.

Note: Michelangelo, 'David' 1501-4
- The male nude, strong and vertical, lower levels of eroticism.




What audience are visual representations for now?

- Caillebotte, 'Young Man at his Window' 1875
- Double view point, man is looking a something below.
- Elevated view, looking down at the street/at a female.
- Theatre environment, street is a stage.
- Spectacle, sights of display
- Subject: Man 'looking', active.
- Object: Women 'being looked at', passive.
- Or are we the subject?
- Man is occupying both fields.














- Degas, 'Young Women drying herself'
- Lack of awareness.
- Being looked at, viewer is the voyer.
- She is/could be performing
- Female sitter is almost horizontal, representative of the way females were represented in paintings.










- Caillebotte, 'Man at his bath' 1884
- Lack of awareness.
- Again the view is the voyer.
- He is in a vertical position.
- Powerful body language. 
- Could be seen as quite evocative in terms of perspective.
Note: Many of these paitings present were for bourgoise males so many of their aspects were apparent because of their target audience. For example, the way the male body and female body are portrayed. 


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