Fine Arts Center Assignment

Christopher Varano

Professor Steen

CS Fine Arts Center Assignment

6 July 2013

Artistic Dominance

            The gallery at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center is an eclectic collection of various types of visual art.  There is sculpture, oil paintings, photography, film and clothing displayed, and all of it can be experienced from different perspectives. Many diverse perspectives regarding visual art are described in John Berger’s authoritative book Ways of Seeing, in which he examines many misconceptions and exposes some universal truths about art and the relationships between the artists, their subjects, and the audience. Of all his points, his examinations regarding the portrayal of the genders in art are the most intriguing to me and it was easy to find a work of art at the CSFAC that exemplified Berger’s thesis.  Blake Boyd’s painting “Incest” reinforces Berger’s claim that gender roles in art are primarily designed to promote the dominance of the male and the submission of the female.

            Boyd’s painting caught my eye immediately. It shows two people from above and up close, a man and a woman, locked in an embrace and kiss. They are both obviously wearing well-known superhero costumes; those of Superman and Supergirl. Art is always open to interpretation and it’s no guarantee that everyone will agree about certain things about a piece, but it seems that Superman is in the dominant role and Supergirl is playing a submissive role. These gender roles may seem to make sense given the characters being portrayed, but these specific roles and how they are seen have an artistic and historical genesis.

            Berger writes at length about gender roles in Ways of Seeing. Although most of his thoughts center on the role and portrayal of women (which we will get to) there is some mention of the roles of men in art as well. For Berger, men in art are defined the power they either have or don’t have. Based on how a man is presented in a work of art in relation to the setting, other men, and especially women, the audience can determine how much power the man is said to possess (45-46). In Boyd’s painting, the power portrayed by Superman is obvious. He towers over Supergirl and is actively leaning her back. Although it appears that Superman is being tender with the application of his power, the power is felt by the viewer nonetheless. Boyd’s painting perfectly illustrates Berger’s point that the way the man is portrayed directly influences the audience’s perception of him and the woman.

            Simply because women seem to be the subject of more art than men, their portrayal is more complicated and convoluted than those of men. Berger sums up his general idea like this: “To be born a woman has been to be born, within an allotted and confined space, into the keeping of men” (46). Those “men” can be in the picture, of the audience, or the artist himself. What’s more important than the man is how the woman is displayed. Berger’s most important point is that the ideal audience is always assumed to be a man, and therefore the painting and its subjects are designed to make the man feel flattered and important (64). Berger provides many different examples of this fact such as “Baccus, Crees and Cupid” by Von Aachen and “Les Oreades” by Bouguereau (56-57).

 In both these paintings, the women (or woman) are on display for the men, both in the painting and in the audience, respectfully. In Von Aachen’s piece, the woman is ignoring the man in the picture and looking at the audience, presumably a man. In the piece by Bouguereau, the women are literally on display, for the men in the painting as well as the men in the audience. Both of these depictions of women make the men feel special and powerful, thus objectifying the women and making them submissive.

Relating Berger’s thought and his examples to Boyd takes a little mental gymnastics, but eventually it becomes clear. First of all, the picture is cut off mid-face, making the man and the woman in the picture basically anonymous. This anonymity allows the audience to picture themselves as the man or woman in the picture. Given the submissive position of the female and the dominant, anonymous look of the male, the audience (assumed a man) can slide into the powerful dominating role. This exemplifies Berger’s point perfectly.

On another, quasi-Berger related note, there is the consideration the roles of the superheroes play in this painting. Both Superman and Supergirl are super-human, and, in theory, evenly matched. However, in this painting it is clear that Supergirl is submissive to Superman. This added detail inserted by Boyd further enforces Berger’s idea that the role of women in art is to serve and flatter men.          

Works Cited

Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. London: British Broadcasting Company and Penguin Books, 1972. Print.  

Blake Boyd, Incest, 2002, Cibachrome with Plexiglass.