'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.' - (John Berger)
Hans Memling 'Vanity' (1485).
Shows a women looking at her distorted reflection, we see in the mirror what she would see, not from our perspective. We are led to think she is primarily interested in looking upon her own reflection.
Alexandre Cabanel ' Birth of Venus' (1863).
We see how she covers her own face with her hand. This is seen often in contemporary photography and advertising. It looks like a focus on the body instead of her face as a character.
Sophie Dahl for Opium, `Photography.
Sexual references, hand touching breast, legs open. Originally landscape but deemed too indecent, was turned portrait which gave a greater focus on the face and was then deemed acceptable, though it is fundamentally the same image.
Titian's Venus of Urbino, (1538).
Passive nude. Berger compared it to MANET 'Olypia'. The hand over by it's position looks casual in one and defensive in the other. Feels voyeur, relaxed.
MANET - 'Olympia' (1863).
Defensive, looks wealthy due to the cloth and slave giving flowers. The tilt of her head looks as though she is addressing us.
Ingres 'Le Grand Odalisque' was used by the Guerilla Girls as a feminist rights protest campaign within the art world.
MANET - Bar at the Folies Bergeres, 1882.
We can see her from two positions, one as ourselves and one as the character who can be seen talking to her reflection. A comment on social perception.
Jeff Wall 'Picture for Women' (1979).
Doubling of the gaze, we are reminded of the gaze of the camera and the gaze of the figures. Instead of feeling like an invisible spectator, you are being looked upon as you are looking upon them.
Coward, R. (1984).
The camera in contemporary media has been put to use as an extension of the male gaze at women on the streets.
Eva Herzigove, 1994.
Wonderbra billboard advert. 'Hello Boys'.
Coward, R.
The profusion of images which characterises contemporary society could be seen as an obsessive distancing of women... a form of voyeurism. Peeping Tom, 1960.
Dolce & Gabbana, 2007.
Male bodies are reflected as a fitness way, it is not passive. They return the gaze. Feels like a celebration of the human body. Different to female bodies in advertising.
Marilyn: William Travillas dress from 'The Seven Year Itch' (1955).
Freud describes the enjoyment of looking upon another body. The cinema is a perfect environment for voyeurism. The pleasure of looking has been described as a split between an active male and a passive female.
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider.
A visual spectacle to be consumed. Overly sexualised object. Pleasure is in the fantasy of her destruction. Seen as powerful but still seen as a sexual female object.
Artemisia Gentileschi 'Judith Beheading Holofernes'. 1620.
Painting by a women showing an active role, forceful. The arms are emphasised, not the body. The gaze is challenged.
Pollock, G (1981)
Cindy Sherman, "untitled Film Still 6. 1977 - 79.
Turned image like the Opium advert. Mirror facing away so can't see any reflection. Focus on the face. Would of been perhaps sexual but has been challenged and the gaze has been altered. Awkwardness with her hand, looks strange, challenges conventions of the male gaze.
Barbara Kruger ' Your Gaze Hits the Side of my Face' (1981).
Figure turning away from the male gaze. 'Hits' is a direct attack against female objectivity.
Sarah Lucas 'Eating a Banana' 1990.
Eating a banana is a sexual reference but it feels self-conscious. The realisation of eating a banana in public could look sexual. She's almost saying 'what are you looking at'. Almost challenging the viewer.
The mail caught with fake story of the Amanda Knox trial.
Social networking is used to perpetuate the male gaze/ the gaze of the media.
Susan Sontag (1979) 'On Photography'. To photograph is to appropriate the thing photographed.
Reality Television. Appears to offer us the position as the all seeing eye. The power of the gaze. Allows us a voyeuristic passive consumption of a type of reality. Editing means that there is no reality. Contestants are aware of their representation. We are only seeing an edited version, it's not reality. It's mediated.
The Truman Show (1988) Peter Weir. Look at this reality concept.
Big Brother 2001. Gives us the female and male body to focus on. Voyeurism has become everyday and saturated. They are aware they are being viewed, not truly voyeur.
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