Transcript The Issue of Biological Essentialism in Art

The Issue of Biological
Essentialism in Art
Artemisia Gentileschi and the
Image of the Female Hero in
Italian Baroque Art
Edited By: Dr. Picart
Associate Professor of English
Courtesy Associate Professor of Law
Aims
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Discuss biological essentialism in the Italian
baroque.
Show how Gentileschi and her contemporaries
interpreted traditional gendered themes and
how the interpretations related to ideas of
biological essentialism.
Show how Gentileschi’s interpretation was
markedly different from her contemporaries.
The Issue of Biological Essentialism
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What is
Essentialism?
What is Biological
Essentialism?
Class Activity
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Using what you have learned about the
depiction of the female hero and
Gentileschi’s art, examine the similarities
and differences in the following set of
paintings. Discuss compositional elements
as well as issues of iconography and what
you perceive as artist intent.
Questions for discussion
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When art historians discuss major canonical works, they speak of
“Old Masters” and “masterpieces.” How do feminists deal with the
problems of jargon when writing their own critiques?
Why are some figures canonical and others excluded? Gentileschi,
Frida Kahlo, Georgia O’Keefe seem to be included in many survey
texts. Is there an attempt by art history to counter the historical
dominance of male artists to create its own “woman worthies”?
What are some problems with classifying figures as ‘major artists,’
i.e. canonical.
Holger Maass states that his digitally manipulated photographs are
related to ads and TV commercials. To what extent do we witness
biological essentialism in modern art or ‘common’ arts such as
advertising? What does such art say about our culture?
Sources
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Garrard, Mary. Artemisia Gentileschi: the Image of the Female Hero in Italian Baroque Art.
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1989.
Ripa, Cesare. Baroque and Rococo Pictorial Imagery: The 1758-60 Hertel Edition of Ripa’s
‘Iconologia’ with 200 Engraved Illustrations. Ed. Edward A. Maser. New York: Dover Publications,
Inc., 1971.
Grosz, Elizabeth. “Sexual Difference and the Problem of Essentialism.” Inscriptions. Vol 5.
“Traveling Theories, Traveling Theorists.” Eds. Faith Beckett, James Clifford, Vivek Dhareshwar,
Mary E. John. Santa Cruz, CA: Center for Cultural Studies, 1989.
“The Nine Worthies.” Heraldica. http://www.heraldica.org/topics/worthies.htm 7 July 2004.
Image sources:
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Biological essentialism
www.southalabama.edu/ genderstudies/
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Gentileschi’s Susanna and the Elders
http://www.kfki.hu/~arthp/html/g/gentiles/artemisi/susanna.html
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Tintoretto’s Susanna and the Elders
http://encarta.msn.com/media_461528469/Susanna_Bathing.html
Sources
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Orestes Sarcophagus
http://mkatz.web.wesleyan.edu/wescourses/2003s/cciv110/01/draft/Background/
background.choephoroi.html
Michelangelo’s Expulsion From the Garden
http://www.abcgallery.com/M/michelangelo/michelangelo34.html
Gentileschi’s Judith Slaying Holofernes
http://www.svreeland.com/judith-uffizi.html
Caravaggio’s Judith Beheading Holofernes
http://www.sepulchritude.com/chapelperilous/decollete/salome/judithcarava01.jpg
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Gentileschi’s Self Portrait as Allegory of Painting
http://www.mystudios.com/women/fghij/gentileschi_self.html
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Maass’s Judith Und Holofernes
http://www.podgallery.com/index.cfm/hurl/action=artwork/MSGID=158