CS Fine Arts Center

Sabrina's Protection. Lucio Pozzi, 1993

            In John Berger’s book, “Way of Seeing”, particularly in Chapter 3, he argues that in western nude art and present day media, that women are largely shown and treated as objects in which power is asserted by men either as figures in the canvas or as observers. Berger’s purpose is to make readers aware of how the perception of women in the art so that they will recognize the evolution of western cultured art.

            Berger begins by claiming that in nude art the “presence” of a man is that of an actor who asserts his power over women, who are presented as objects. By presence, I believe Berger means how men are authorities over women in the paintings. An example would be in Reclining Bacchante by Trutat  (45), the woman in this painting is wanting to appear pleasing to the artist and those that view her by laying in a way that her naked body is clearly visible. While in the window, a male is awkwardly looking in through the window at the woman’s private parts. These kinds of actions of the man represent how men exerted power over women and make them feel or looked upon as objects.

            Walking around the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, I can see how it was easy to find paintings, sculptures, or photographs that could certainly favor Berger’s argument about women, nudity, and control. The picture I chose to analyze was Sabrina’s Protection by Lucio Pozzi. It’s a current abstract piece of art. It may not fall right in line with the thought process of Berger with the more realistic paintings but I think that it shows how art has progressed. I see strength in the combination of nudity and abstraction. Berger says that in modern art the category of the nude has become less important (63). This is true in Sabrina’s Protection; if you take a close look at her face there is less of softness and more of masculinity. Women will always be portrayed differently than their male counterpart but not because the feminine is different from the masculine. Berger believes it is because the “ideal” spectator is always assumed to be male and the image of a woman is designed to flatter him (64). While Pozzi’s painting walks a fine line in this argument due to its abstraction I don’t believe that portrayals of nude women necessarily mean it was to appease a male viewer. 

Works Cited: Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. London: British Broadcasting Corporation, 1972. Print.