The Female Body in Art
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- $19.99
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- $19.99
Publisher Description
From the Renaissance to the present day, this is the history of art told through the female form, with over 80 works of art.
A cultural mirror of the times, the female body has captivated both artists and audiences for centuries. But what can we learn from these pieces of art? What are they trying to tell us about the world we live in? And how has that changed over time?
Explore the luminous portraiture of Gustav Klimt, astonishing wartime photography from Lee Miller and the ground-breaking performance art of Marina Abramović. Meet Leonor Fini's shepherdess, Barkley L. Hendricks's 'Madonna', Graciela Iturbide's 'Medusa', Toyin Ojih Odutola's adventuresses and Hayv Kahraman's 'army of fierce women'.
Discover the idealized female body as envisioned by Sandro Botticelli and the gender non-conforming portraits of Zanele Muholi and Yuki Kihara, as Amy Dempsey looks at how and why the female body has been depicted time and time again, and why its portrayal has often delivered important messages about - and to - the world.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Art historian Dempsey (Styles, Schools & Movements) explores in this thought-provoking survey how women have been portrayed in art over the past 500 years. In 80 short essays—one for each work—she explores how renderings of the female body have shaped and been shaped by societal values. Titian and Alexandre Cabanel's paintings of Venus, for example, depict an idealized nude figure whose "mythical assignment" allowed her to be viewed without scandal, while Édouard Manet's Olympia shocked audiences with its subject's "confrontational gaze" and helped to "modernize the tradition of the female nude." Dempsey also considers how these works responded to their political contexts. For example, Lee Miller's 1944 photograph FFIWorker, Paris, France, depicts a Resistance fighter whose striking hairstyle and bright lipstick served as an implicit rebuke of Nazi ideals of femininity. British sculptor John Bell's 1853 work A Daughter of Eve—A Scene on the Shore of the Atlantic, which portrays a shackled African woman, communicated a pointed anti-slavery message during the American Civil War. Also discussed are Australian sculptor Julie Rrap's SOMOS (Standing on My Own Shoulders), which features two life-size casts of the 73-year-old artist's body, and Mexican photographer Graciela Iturbide's Nuestra senora de las iguanas (Our Lady of the Iguanas), which documents the everyday lives of the Zapotec people. Comprehensive and lucidly written, this is a worthy addition to any art lover's library.
