Star Gazin'

I attended a seminar this afternoon, misguided by an incorrect timetable, but I thought it would be rude to leave, so I stayed.  I endured.  Well it really was not that bad.  Just frustrating to waste precious time when you are busy, am I right?

One aspect of the presentation grabbed my attention, however, though because of the former studies in History Art, my interest was manipulated rather than satisfied.  The speaker ruminated over the meaning of "the Gaze", though unfortunately not referencing its place within art history.

For those unsure, in classical paintings the Gaze signifies the patriarchal authority over the female body.  The female thus has no autonomy in and of itself.  Alexandre Cabanel's Birth of Venus, 1863, is one such painting, in the Neo-Classical genre, that illustrates female form in exaggerated ecstasy under the suppressive eye of her male counterpart.

Of course then Edouard Manet, in the same year no less, came along and put the art world in a head-spin with a female who was undoubtedly in charge of her subjectivity and stared unabashedly out into the audience, reverting the authority of the Gaze to her, changing the politics of painting with it.

I love this series by Ana Mendieta.  Not only is she embracing and claiming the Gaze, but she has distorted the institutionalized notions of feminine beauty here.  

Untitled (Glass on Body = Face), 1972. 

 Seriously all this was basically going through my head as I attempted to listen to a perfectly delivered presentation.  Blog posts, you never know where they will strike you.