GAZE – POWER – GENDER
figures , whose actions entail disastrous outcomes . Between 1860 and 1920 , characters like Judith , Lilith , Medusa , or the Sirens become overly popular motifs in the arts , as does Salome , most famously dramatized in the 1891 play by Oscar Wilde .
Typical for the mid-nineteenth century , Rossetti ’ s femme fatales , such as Helen of Troy from 1863 , poster child of the exhibition , are alluring but always ambiguous and ambivalent . This changes dramatically at the turn of the century , coinciding with the first feminist movements . The more that powerful groups like the Suffragettes got , the more misogynistic these images became .
Franz von Stuck , Gustav Klimt , and Edvard Munch leave no room for ambiguity : the women they depict are dangerous temptresses and the demonization of female sexuality is overt . Stylized as coldblooded murderesses , they are bound to a repetitive repertoire of attributes such as snakes . This period constitutes the zenith of misogyny , supported even by prominent intellectuals like the psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud .
Around 1900 , the femme fatale image is projected onto real life people : actors , dancers , or artists , such as the famous Sarah Bernhardt , Alma Mahler , or Anita Berber . In the 1920s , the so-called New Woman picks up on aspects of the femme fatale in a more playful way . As more female artists try to establish themselves and photography becomes an important medium , women also start to take charge of their own image . A strictly binary gaze , i . e ., the male gaze , is challenged , and androgynous styles in fashion , like the bob , take a foothold .
It is not until the 1960s , however , that feminist artists initiate a more drastic turning point . Not only are old pictorial traditions questioned but also genderrelated viewing habits . Sylvia Sleigh ’ s interpretation of Lilith , 1976 , goes beyond binary gender boundaries , which in the form of an over-life-sized nude , can appear initially quite disturbing . Also shown are important early works of the feminist avant-garde by Valie Export ( best known for provocative public performances ), Maria Lassnig , Betty Tompkins , and others .
Contemporary artists exploring queer and intersectional feminist perspectives include Mickalene Thomas and Nan Goldin , whose photos of the New York drag scene , Madonna , Greta Garbo , or Marilyn Monroe , show how highly stylized these female icons have become and that gender can even be as much or as little as a performance .
Few of the artworks are by and about black women , who in these depictions are — most importantly — portrayed without being reduced to their suffering or racial trauma . These are rarely shown images , like a large painting , Lounging 1 : G fabulous by Zandile Tshabalala . Depicted is an unmistakably black and nude woman who is not shown in a marginalized , voyeuristic , or sexist manner . Here , the power of the gaze no longer lies with a voyeur but emanates from the sitter .
As the Canadian author Margaret Atwood in The Robber Bride ( 1993 ) provocatively concludes : “ You are a woman with a man inside watching a woman . You are your own voyeur .”
Are you ?
58 HAMBURG HAPPENINGS