chapter 6: reproduction and sexuality

Draped Reclining Mother and Baby

Henry Moore

1983

bronze

Female Fertility Figure (found at Çatal Hüyük)

6000 BCE

terracotta

→ fertility; powerful woman w/ lions at her side

→ found in grain bin

Idol from Amorgos

Cycladic Islands (Greece)

2500—2300 BCE

marble

→ burial figure (“plank idols”) carved into w/ obsidian

→ feminine youth; opposite of Venus of Willendorf

factors influencing civilization growth:

• proximity to water

• farming → food surplus → division of labor

• cities becoming centers: political, economic, social, cultural, religious

• trade between urban centers

• development of formal religions

• political/social structures: hierarchies, bureaucracy

• written language

• military class emerged

• cities merge into empires

• women subordinate to men

Mesopotamian walled city states, along rivers Tigris and Euphrates:

Eridu, Ur, Uruk, Umma, Lagash

→ all in Sumer area

→ cuneiform

→ first wheel use

earliest fertility artifacts from

Paleolithic and Neolithic periods

• fat, plump bellies, breasts, and thighs

• fertile figure

Akkadian Empire

2300 BCE: Sargon united Mesopotamian city-states

Egyptian kingdoms:

Old Kingdom: 2686—2125 BCE

Middle Kingdom: 2100—1700 BCE

• hieroglyphs (writing)

sympathetic magic

invoked through art object; functions to ensure human reproduction

Venus of Willendorf (Austria)

25,000 BCE

fertility goddess/charm/fetish

possible uses:

• childbirth

• ward off death

• good health

• good fortune

God Te Rongo and His Three Sons

Cook Islands, Polynesia

1800s—1900s

wood

→ large penis; virility/fertility

→ large belly

Figure of a Deity: A'a Rurutu

Austral Islands, French Polynesia

1820

wood

→ creator (god) creating humans (babies) all over his body

Initiation Rites of Dionysus

Villa of Mysteries; Pompeii, Italy

50 CE

fresco

→ art for a ritual; sex, fertility

→ trompe l’oeil (“fools the eye”, volume)

→ young woman being prepared to have sex with Dionysus

→ priestess unveiling sacred objects: phallus?

Potawatomi Male Figure (Love doll)

Wisconsin

1800—1860

wood and wool fabric

→ used as “medicine” to control health/behavior, OR to gain romantic attention of desired person

Standing Female Figure (Bamana)

Mali

1800s—1900s

wood, copper, beads, metal

→ used in rituals to help infertile women with conceiving/birth OR initiation rites for young men

Ashanti Akua'ba Doll

Ghana

1900s

wood

→ carved for women to help w/ conceiving, healthy baby

→ care for/carry the doll like a baby (on her back)

→ focus on perfectly formed doll instead of deformations

beauty reduced to simple forms

The Expulsion from Paradise

Masaccio (Florence, Italy)

1427

fresco

→ depicts anguish of primordial couple (Adam & Eve)

→ marriage ritual; creation myths

Dogon Seated Couple

Mali, Africa

1800s—1900s

wood

→ idealized harmony, equal importance; provider vs child-rearing

→ sexual union; jewelry = sexual power

• woman: labret piercing, w/ a child

• man: quiver, beard

Wedding Portrait

Jan van Eyck

1434

oil on wood panel

→ wedding certificate, but a portrait

→ lots of symbolism: divine presence candle, in bedroom chamber sex for children, no shoes standing on holy ground, dog for fidelity, St. Margaret for childbirth

→ “Jan van Eyck was here” written in mirror

Aztec Marriage Couple — Codex Mendoza

Mexico

1541

→ literally tying the knot; marriage ceremony

→ matchmaker; details ceremony steps

Oil Lamp with Love-Making Scene

Roman

1st century (100) BCE

→ likely used in a home

→ ideal Classic Greek sculpture

Moche Pottery Depicting Sexual Intercourse

Peru

1000—1250

ceramic vessel (for chicha, corn beer)

→ bury pots w/ dead; naturalistic imagery

→ likely made by women

→ maybe for sex education/birth control?

A Pair of Lovers (from Poem of the Pillow)

Kitagawa Utamaro

1788

wood block relief print

→ “shunga” erotica print (“spring pictures”)

→ “ukiyo-e”: floating world; Buddhist: transient life, fleeting pleasure; merriness

Radha and Krishna in the Grove

Kangra (School), India

gouache on paper

→ idealized; tender sex; even though uneven status (shepherdess/god)

→ union through sex = union with god

→ Radha (shepherdess); Krishna (Vishnu; god)

→ instructive art

Relief Carving from the Kandarya Mahadeva Temple

Khajuraho, India

1000 CE

→ Hindu celebration of sexual love

→ carnal eroticism = union with divine “unbounded”, leads to redemption

La Grande Odalisque

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres

1814

→ nude Turkish harem woman; orientalism; made for 19th century men (viewers imagined themselves as Turkish sultan)

→ being depicted alone = woman is available

→ gaze completes sexual exchange implied in painting

Olympia

Edward Manet (France)

1863

alla prima; oil on canvas

→ unromantic because of cold gaze; not coy like Venus

→ realest depiction of famous prostitute (unacceptable way to show nudity; must be idealized)

→ exposed 19th century men; not hiding nudity behind religious art or idealism; too real

→ social status; African maid, white mistress

→ inspo: Venus of Urbino

Deep Contact

Lynn Hershman

1990

interactive video installation (MoMA, SF, CA)

→ mass media, Western sexuality, etc

→ surveillance camera flashes viewer’s face on screen occasionally; voyeurism

→ interactive; viewer is no longer distant/anonymous. cannot be passive

Untitled (Your Body is a Battleground)

Barbara Kruger

1989

screen print on vinyl

→ 1960s political slogan and model portrait repurposed to show sexuality, reproduction rights in western society

→ abortion; uses gender neutral pronouns; attitudes about sexuality/race are not fixed by nature

Justin Bond

Catherine Opie

1993

Chromogenic print

→ crossdresser; gender/sexuality complexity

→ complicates idea of privileged male viewer; challenging expression

→ challenging viewer to see his behavior as wrong 

Grey Line with Lavender and Yellow

Georgia O’Keeffe

1923

oil on canvas

→ feminine; vagina; abstracted sexual imagery

Torso of a Young Man

Constantin Brancusi

1924

polished brass

→ capture essence/universality of pure form

→ influenced by Romanian folk/African tribal art

→ philosophy of 11th century monk Milarepa

Blind Man’s Bluff

Louise Bourgeois

1984

marble

→ appearance/name invites touch

→ looks like phallus covered w/ breastlike forms

→ fetish; fixation on sexual parts, not attached to an individual as a whole

→ blurs gender lines

Pregnant Woman

Alice Neel

1971

oil on canvas

→ progeny; western image

→ physical/emotional effects of pregnancy

Kidder Figure

Mayan; Guatemala

250—100 BCE

ceramic vessel

→ emphasizes belly w/ hands

→ face: content, joy, anticipation

Moche Pottery Depicting a Woman Giving Birth Assisted by Midwives

Peru

1000—1250

ceramic

→ clinical, straightforward depiction

→ Moche birthing position/technique (used for teaching)

Virgin and Child in a Niche

Rogier van der Weyden

1432—1433

oil on panel

→ architectural space

→ Mary is gently nursing Jesus; ominous (Old Testement prophecies) but loving

Mother and Nursing Child

Cahokia, Illinois

1200—1400 (Mississippian period)

ceramic vessel

→ effigy (in one’s image) of mother and child; nursing

→ may have ensured her potential to have children in afterlife

→ simple, geometric = stable, calm

India and idealized erotic art

common as sculptures (Hindu temples) and miniature paintings

sexuality in modern Western art is complicated because of:

power relationships btwn men/women

• homosexuality/heterosexuality = political debates

• sexuality = used to sell products

• abstract works on sexuality capture energy, leave specifics undefined

Manet’s defenders praised Olympia for:

• impasto (thick paint applied directly on canvas)

• flat, bright color (less tenebrism/illusion of depth)

• high contrast; few midtones

• gestural mark making (as opposed to hiding brushstrokes)

• experimental paint application

went against academic art of the French academies