Women in the picture : what culture does with female bodies / Catherine McCormack.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

McCormack, Catherine, 1980- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Women in art.

Sex role in art.

Man-woman relationships.

Art and society.

Physical Description:

v, 231 pages : illustrations ; 21 cm

Edition:

First American edition.

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : W. W. Norton & Company, 2021.

Summary:

"Art historian Catherine McCormack challenges how culture teaches us to see and value women, their bodies, and their lives. Cultural archetypes have long been used to subjugate women, binding them within the restrictive roles of Venus, bride, wife, mother, and monster. These portrayals echo throughout the paintings and sculptures of western art--Titian, Botticelli, and Giambologna--and more contemporaneously in fashion photographs, ads, and across social media. By society empowering men to represent women, women imbibe a distorted vision of themselves and their bodies, coming up against notions of impossible beauty, idealized passivity and violence, and horrifying Medusas. In this impassioned work, art historian Catherine McCormack evaluates the production and display of portrayals of women, exposing the underlying meanings, whether overt or symbolic. She counters them by turning to women artists like Berthe Morisot, Beyoncé, Suzanne Lacy, and Faith Ringgold. These women have been overturning confining depictions of identity, sexuality, race, and power to explore the breadth and multiplicity of women's visions of their own lives"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: Venus

Mothers

Maidens and Dead Damsels

Monstrous Women.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

9780393542080

0393542084

OCLC:

1233267347