400 Words on The Gaze



Above: "Venus of Urbino" (1538) by Titian

 All throughout art's history, women have been at the man's centre of attention, playing the lead role in a pornography hiding under the respectable guise of art. Grandiose paintings of the nude were regarded as a proud statement of power and wealth, displaying women draped in eased poses amongst decadent homes.

Although today the context's changed, the state is still the same. Women as we all know too well, are heavily exploited as sexualised objects, referring back to John Berger's quote... ‘...according to usage and conventions which are at last being questioned but have by no means been overcome - men act and women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at...’. This notion of 'men and women appear' only reaffirms the idea of the woman being available upon the man's demand. Berger is also explaining that a women is constantly conscious of her image under the gaze of a man, but this promiscuity and seduction can not be offered by the man himself, a sexism that has evidently existed not just now, but through the centuries.

Above: Katy Perry, photographed by David LaChapelle
 for GHD (2011)

 Perry imitates Venus, although their postures may differentiate greatly in the positioning of the arms and legs, both women act as the man's ideal alluring temptress, decadent and indifferent as though the man they're waiting for is their only reason for being. We the viewer are fooled in to believing the intention and desire seen in the image of the woman is of her own conscious control, but this is false. The creator of the image is the soul dictator of the image's message, not the subject themselves, meaning the subject (the woman) should not necessarily hold the responsibility for her sexual suggestiveness.

The Venus of Urbino has become a patriarchal fantasy of the nude waiting for her husband to arrive home, depicted and warped by men in a way that would sexually arouse other men under the guise of art. The photographic depiction of Katy Perry works in the same vein, with Perry posing and beckoning a man in to her boudoir. This provocativity is only imposed by the auteur, which drives a twisted ideal that suggestible young girls thrive to reach and ultimately fall victim to.

'Dennis' (1978) by
Robert Mapplethorpe

An interesting challenge posed against the conventions of the gaze is the introduction of homosexuality and a man's seductive beckoning and display as opposed to that of a woman's.

One particular artist that explores this idea is Robert Mapplethorpe, who's sculpture and photography introduces the idea of sexuality and spirituality. His work displays the beauty of the male body and harks back to Renaissance sculpture, often undiscovered under the tide of the female shape.