Assignment #1: Assumptions of Art & Feminism

Candace Lee
2/13/08
WMST250

Feminism and Art Assumptions

Feminism, to me, is defined as a movement in which woman stand up for themselves and proves to everyone that they are just as capable as anyone else. I always thought of Art as paintings, draws or sculptures, but this thought was proven wrong. I had some various assumptions of art and feminism before stepping into these museums. After leaving them, I was shocked by some of the images I saw, that they referred as artwork. In addition, I saw many feminist artworks that I did not think would be displayed in public.

Before entering The National Museum of the American Indian, I assumed that the museum contained mostly Indian related artworks and paintings. I also assumed that there would be very unique artworks created by Native Americans. These might include, hand craved weapons that men used in the ancient times or maybe a quilt, Native American style. However, my assumptions of the “American Indian” museum were challenged once I entered the building. I went through the exhibits on each floor; the area was big and contains a lot more history related showcases rather than art. Although the museum may not have contain much artwork, but there were many historical facts that related to the woman. This leads us to discuss if the museum is feminist or not. I think the museum can be considered as feminist to a certain extent because the term feminist can be referred to as woman’s power or woman’s roles in society. In the exhibit of Our Lives, there was a lot of emphasis on the women roles in the tribe of Kahnawake. Some parts of it told of how the woman’s primary job in the community is to take care of house work and raise children at home. This indeed is the standard of most roles of woman in most culture. More importantly, the exhibit does not exclude telling viewers how woman has been a leader in the Kahnawake community. Women have played a major role in education for the Kahnawake children. They were the ones who took action on what was decided and to do things their way, otherwise, Kahnawake schools would not exist today. In addition, I came across a display that showed “weroausau which means, a female chief. Her name was Cockacoeske, the queen of Pamunkey and she received a silver plate award as a token of appreciation from the English Crown for signing a treaty with them. Clearly, we see that the exhibit did have some emphasis on the woman’s empowerment in the American Indian tribes. This again challenged my assumptions as I assumed woman did not have the power to have such high status back in the 18^th Century. In the early days, woman were discriminated against and men believe that they were incapable of doing what they could do, but Cockacoeske has proven to everyone that a female is just as capable as the man. Another exhibit I visited was called Identify by Design which included exhibits of the American Indian dress in the past. I assumed that they would focus more on the man’s clothing and roles in the exhibit because again in the past, males were considered as a superior to the female. The exhibit to my surprised included many female related clothing and materials they used. I also assumed that the clothing that women wore were on the conservative side. In fact, my assumption did hold true because most of the dresses that were on display did seem to would cover most of the skin if wore.

The next museum I went to visit was “The National Gallery of Art”. I assumed that the building and place would be grand and beautiful because it is the National Galley for artworks. I also assumed the art that was shown there were all going to be paintings and that the artists would be a mixture of males and females. Because I assumed that the artists were not just dominated by one gender, it led to the assumption that this museum probably won’t be too much of a feminist museum. Walking into the Gallery of Art building, I felt like it was quite glamorous. The structure was designed similar to the European styles. I walked into the first level and to my surprise the area was filled with sculptures. The majority of course focused on the human body and some on the women body. I noticed an artist named Auguste Rodin, it seems like his works involved women such as The Sirens. Although I do not know the actual meaning of The Sirens, but I saw that the sculpture had depicted the woman body. I think that has something to do with feminism and I had an assumption, perhaps this artist may be a feminist? Other arts that surprised me were in the East building of the Gallery. There was a piece of art called Henri Matisse Cutout. His art really startled me as I had to question what exactly is considered art. From my point of view, his work was basically just a few pieces of cut out construction paper pasted onto a white background. I know any type of art should be appreciated, however I did not see why this would be considered as art.

The third museum I visited was the Hirshhorn. Based on the name, I somehow assumed this museum was related to clay art and sculptures made out of clay. Little did I know, the first floor was full of what I refer as “junky” art. That is, most of the artworks displayed were made out of random pieces of junk, such as, screws, springs, car parts and many other random things. These materials appear to be crumpled up in a blob of mess. Again, I have doubts as to why this so –called artwork would be considered as art? I assumed art would have more meaning to and also grander looking, like the art in most other museums. Heading downstairs to the Current Acquisitions section, I was assumed it was going to follow the same kind of theme as what I have seen in the upper level. However, this section focused a lot more on modern art. This section of the museum is very feminist simply because the art are by females. In addition, this group of modern artists seems to be quite dedicated to their works because some sacrifice their bodies for the work itself. For example, in Mary Coble’s “Note to Self” she uses her own body and tattooed the names of lesbians, bisexual and transsexual hate crime victims onto her body. Each and every name was written onto her body without any ink, this means that the content was made possible with her own blood. This is considered feminist because she supports her own gender and is dedicated to create something that is memorable for those who were discriminated for being different from individuals who are heterosexual. I assumed that, although art does include nudity but it should not be depicted as it was pornography. In the exhibit, I came across a series of photos composed by Carolee Schneeman, which really startled me as I did not except to see such disturbing images of a nude woman. I believe there is a relationship here between art and feminism because Schneeman’s work actually shows that women are willing to give themselves up for the purposes of art. They are representing bravery by coming out completely nude to be of her artwork constructions.

The last museum I visited was “The National Museum of Woman and The Arts”. Before actually attending this museum, I assumed that this museum would be dominated by woman both employed at the museum as well as the artwork that is being displayed. When I got there, I was not surprised to see that my assumptions were correct. My explanation to why this is the case that woman dominate the building is because women are interested in their own gender, they are proud of what other women has succeeded in. Just as Carolee Schneeman mentioned earlier, this museum also contained much nudity often depicting the female body. There is a relationship between feminism and art here, as the female body is often included in artwork because the female body is respected. However, paintings of naked women and that has strong indication of it being pornographic is considered to be degrading women, in some people’s point of view. I agree that for a painting or artwork to be meaningful, it should not contain too much nudity to a point where it becomes pornographic. This is not benefiting society nor should it be consider art because simply because pornography is not emotional healthy for some individuals. Another artwork that caught my attention was the “An Adventure at Sea” by Dottie Attie, which spoke of a mother and son. This art depicted a mother and son’s close relationship, so close that they seem to have become a couple. The painting shows the nude son hugging her nude mother, touching his mother’s nipple and kissing his mother’s lips. For the most part, I found this painting to be quite odd, but also feminist because it shows and tries to message that mothers (a female) can have be considered extremely important to their child. In this case, the son seems to regard his mother has the most important figure in his life. It is feminist simply because the author did not choose the child’s father to be the important person, but the mother.

Overall, my experiences at each of the museums did startled and surprised me with some of the work being called art, when I did not think it was. Also, I did not except to see how women were so dedicated into their works of art that they would sacrifice their own bodies to be in the art itself. Some sacrifice their own bodies just to get a message across that woman should be treated equally and same sex love should not be discriminated. In addition, I learned a lot from the American Indian museum of women’s roles in the community. After visiting the four museums, I realized that there are many different types of art and almost any kind of creation or performance can be argued as being art.