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In this essay, I want to address the overshadowing of gender equality by feminism within painting. Gender equality is defined as having equal rights, responsibilities, and opportunities for women and men. In the realm of painting the issue of gender inequality has been steeply shadowed by the importance being placed on feminism- the perceptions of women and the purpose of the female body as many female artists are reclaiming their bodies through painting women’s reality and using their work as a social commentary on the pressure to fit into societies ideals. Artists like Jenny Saville explore the issues of plastic surgery, eating disorders, and many other body image issues, but solely in regards to women, even though hospitalizations of males with eating disorders went up 53% between 1999 and 2009, with men now equating over 25% of the total people living with eating disorders and according to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS), the total number of cosmetic surgical procedures performed among men was 1.2 million in 2015.
Saville is one of the most prominent examples of how gender equality can be seen to have been overshadowed by Feminism. Jenny Saville is a contemporary British painter, her studies focused on her interest in the “imperfections” of flesh with all of its societal implications and taboos. Saville’s work relates to and influences the concept of gender through her focus on destroying the social control and social regulation of women’s bodies by centering her work on the reality of plastic surgery and obesity, issues that are normally glossed over or completely ignored in painting as society considers them ugly or unconventional, but three out of four men are classified as overweight, compared to two in three women, yet she only uses the female body.
Saville (1994) stated in an interview ‘I’d always wondered why there had been no women artists in history. I found there had been but not reported. I realized I’d been affected by male ideas, going through a male-dominated art college’. In trying to undo the male gaze she stereotypes men, she creates a female gaze assuming that all men are the same and all want to objectify and sexualise women through painting which is almost derogatory to the contemporary’s man’s humanity, making her both for and against gender equality. She wants to create a platform with painting that empowers women and that they can relate to but carrying the view that there is a male or female way of doing things is a very narrow perception of what gender itself is.
The fact that Saville uses her work as a social commentary to speak to society’s expectations of the ideal body and repression has made her a key figure in the feminist art movement. Her work is seen to be incredibly empowering as she paints women how they see themselves, painting a women’s reality instead of a sexualized version of women for the pleasure of men but this only addresses the ideals placed on women but the patriarchal society as she ignores it’s counterpart toxic masculinity. Masculinity is defined as a set of traits or a culture we consider masculine and toxicity refers to behaviours, feelings, and thoughts that hurt the individual and those around them, so toxic masculinity therefore refers to when traits considered masculine are exaggerated to a point at which they become harmful, as well as traits which if expressed at all will harm others. Saville’s work is surrounded by the idea that women will not submit to men, but that in itself puts men in the dominant position, fuelling the stereotypical ideal that men are always in control, strong, and don’t share the same weaknesses and vulnerabilities as women which only adds to the problem of toxic masculinity. Men are far less likely to admit to themselves or others that they are struggling which leads to them having a higher suicide rate, this is partially due to the current lack of artists focusing on the vulnerability of men and this is only reinforced by Saville's dismissal of gender equality in favor of feminism. There have been debates over how feminist Saville’s paintings are, some suggest the abscess of the flesh is also supposed to represent women’s inner entrapment and imprisonment, and in other cases, the flesh is suggestive in a general way of meat, with implications about submission and the consumption that follow, these feelings are universal yet she didn’t assume men would have the same insecurities.
Lucian Freud was a painter from a Jewish family; he was the grandson of a famous neurologist and founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud. Freud has been criticized by many feminists for the differentiation of the stances he had his sitters pose depending on sex. He had most of his female sitters sit in positions considered submissive and weak, with his most common stances for them being- helplessly lying on the floor or across a sofa and his men stand in strong, dominant positions showing his disregard for both feminism and gender equality. This is part of the problem that leads 61 percent of Britain’s young men to feel pressured to “man up” as a result of damaging gender stereotypes, new research from YouGov revealed
Freud (1987) stated ‘When I look at a body it gives me a choice of what to put in a painting, what will suit me and what won't’, he paints his social construct of how he thought men should be, which can reflect the period in which Freud’s nude figurative paintings were beginning to be created. The 50s saw the beginning of the crisis of masculinity as corporations rose, making the white-collar worker the commonplace and discarding of the traditional blue collar careers. Factories and traditional manufacturing jobs were declining leaving men and the stereotypical masculinity displaced. There was a rise in the need for soft skills that were previously considered feminine, so there was a lot of pressure at the time to reclaim masculinity. His views can also be seen as a reflection of his grandfather’s views, as within Freud’s writing women were theorized to suffer from envy of the male penis, but Freud did not acknowledge the possibility of wanting women’s breasts, also Freud had the idea that woman was emotionally unstable and weak. Schama (2011) wrote in the Financial Times- ‘I sometimes think that if Lucian Freud had a heart, as well as the eye of a hawk, he might have become as great a painter of the human body as Jenny Saville already is.’ Freud’s inability to see women as more than submissive objects and see men with equal emotional capacity hindered his place in current society. Some state that the bold naked positions of the male sitters drew all attention to them and made them vulnerable. Freud also explored the topic of pregnancy before Jenny Saville, showing women as more than just a sexual object and giving a diverse range of body types though it is painted in a more domesticated and submissive light that would play into his ideals and opinion of women. Although towards the end of his career, he had a few pieces that reflected gender in a contemporary light including ‘After Cézanne’ where he imaged male instead of a female crisis, but even with the social dissonance of the man, there are women in the painting domesticated and looking after the male figure, whereas his female sitters are portrayed as alone in their isolation sending a mixed message on gender equality.
Alex Kanevsky is a Russian artist who came to America in the early 1980s and began painting in 1989. Kanevsky structures his loosely representational paintings according to his sensations, rather than the dictates of narrative or strict naturalism. The fact that he groups people universally rather than gender labels allows him to make insecurities and emotions applicable to everyone and this approach creates equality and allows the vulnerability in men that was missing from Freud’s work. His work contrasts the social norm as he didn’t make his male sitters stand in strong ‘masculine’ stances, which allows the men to be more than emotionless objects and gives men diversity reflecting current society and doesn’t reinforce the toxic masculinity that is so common with painting. He also embraces the body empowerment and acceptance evident in Saville’s work as he is inclusive of all body types and shows how society’s expectations can affect people emotionally. His openness to paint any gender permits him not to get caught up in the politics of feminism and create gender equality. This works against the overshadowing theory, solely seeing emotions without internally labeling them masculine or feminine allows Kanevsky to break down gender barriers and stereotypes.
When I questioned him on the idea of gender equality Kanevsky (2019) stated - ‘I am not a great fan of identity politics, or any political issues grafted onto painting’, this suggests that the reason his work demonstrates gender equality is because he isn’t using his work as a social commentary or a political point. His aversion to politics allows him to create non-biased work that simply portrays people true to life without an agenda such as promoting feminism to overshadow his interpretation of the sitter. Whilst this aversion to politics seems to inhibit Kanevsky from creating gender-equal paintings, it may also be the problem. Many female artists like Saville have used their works to speak against the repression that women have faced, yet men especially white men like Kanevsky, feel unable to see or acknowledge the repressiveness of the masculine trope, enabling the issue to have a voice and almost hindering gender equality as only the judgment of women is heard. This creates the idea that only women are suffering from society's stereotypes. When asked whether he believed feminism had overshadowed gender equality Kanevsky (2019) stated- ‘I think our struggles for equality are more than anything power struggles due to lack of compassion or even love on either side’. I also asked to what extent he believed the portrayal of men in painting can be seen as a sign of toxic masculinity. He stated- ‘Is there its counterpart toxic femininity? Are we all defined by gender stereotypes? because that’s what they are.’ This almost dismisses the idea of toxic masculinity but does raise an interesting idea of toxic femininity. Any perceptions we have, are just made up by what we construct or stereotype. Kanevsky's not being a fan of gender politics and his questioning of the reality of the concepts of toxic masculinity and femininity show in itself an opinion that needs to be explored before the idea of whether feminism is overshadowing gender equality can truly be answered.
In conclusion, feminism has largely overshadowed gender equality, whilst the undoing of female stereotypes within painting has been making strides thanks to artists like Jenny Saville, yet the male counterpart of masculine norms has sorely been forgotten. When looking at Freud’s works, many feminists call him out for being degrading to women. Most seem to be in submissive positions giving the idea that they are just object to men, but don’t think of the negative impact the constant reinforcement that men have to be dominant and strong, leading many men to stay silent about their troubles to conform to the social norms. Kanevsky’s works are the closest to the idea of gender equality as he doesn’t aim to paint gender but capture emotion, making vulnerability universal, but his dislike of gender politics means his work is unable to make him a large figure for the barriers within the subject of gender in painting. He simply paints the feelings he sees in his sitters but tries not to use his work as a social commentary, so there are no deeper meanings to the paintings than the basic emotions. Overall about the overshadowing of gender equality, the importance put on feminism means that even when the painting is done of a male figure, all the gender politics are based on how it affects women instead of how toxic the stereotypical masculinity can be to men to men’s self-image.
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