'Men act and women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at' - Berger, Ways of Seeing, 1972
- Being objectified is being the target of someones gaze
- Panopticon - Objectified by an institutional gaze
- Gaze theory emerges specifically in the 1970's
- Grows with the emergence of Marxism and feminism
- Our society is one panopticon for women
Hans Memling, Vanity, 1485
- We are looking at the subject but she is looking into the mirror - no reciprocity
- The gaze is never challenged therefore we are 'allowed' to look
- When a gaze is returned, we are forced to interact
- 'Vanity' legitimises the gaze
- All art was created by men and those who bought into art were men
- Our society had always been patriarchal
- Structures - Religion, art, law, ways of thinking about the world
- Culture emerges that reflects this patriarchal dominance of men
- Unfairness in the 'base'
- Can trace this function through culture
- Mens fantasy of domination of women - an excuse, legitimisation
- Gaze = power
Alexandre Cabanel, Birth of Venus, 1863 & Manet, Olympia, 1863
- To be an artist in the 1863, you had to exhibit your work in the Salon (Paris)
- In 'Olympia', the subject returns the gaze with a challenging look; in the other, the gaze is averted
- Venus is the goddess of love, surrounding by cupids - a fantasy scene
- Olympia - modern goddess of love, the reality - the subject is a prostitute
- The 'disgust' masks over the reality
Titian, Venus of Urbino, 1538 & & Manet, Olympia, 1863
- Manet used a similar composition in his piece
- The gaze is met implying a certain intimacy
- Domestic setting / experience, less assertive
- Dog on the foot of the bed (cat in 'Olympia') - dogs are deemed as loyal
- Ideologies and male fantasies played out - male domination
- Fantasies of female subservience to men
Ingres, Le Grand Odalisque, 1814
- Contradictory
- Childlike facial expression
Marx, Panopticism, Gaze
- Culture becomes a giant panopticon
- Giving women instructions to act a certain way, dress a certain way and so on
- Becomes a self-regulatory society
- Gaze from an entire culture
