Body Portrayal

Preface

This discussion comes form the thinking involved with imagery, theory, and art that comes from the 18th and 19th century in American, in particular the art and portrayal of the BODY.

Study of Body Portrayal

Looking through these archives, especially it being in the context of 1700’s United States, makes me realise how majority or one can even say “all” due to amount of representation, is done by MALE artist. What is effect of this on large scale to peoples body’s as a whole. Art is a form in which people have been able to observe from an outside perspective of what body can look like, and allows space for people to really take time to analyse a large array of body shapes, features, and ideals. But if all these portals are done by male vision, how skewed must these ideals we have formed be! It’s not just one person’s view but societal beliefs on what a body can be are ultimately distorted from what the artist biases are, and thinking even further the extent and impact this also has had on male body types. Now I recognise there is men who do properly honour and respect what true beauty and the beauty of fememnity is. I would consider myself to be one who is constantly pursuit of integrally honouring and respecting the divine femine. But, the possible impact of male art must be questioned. Thinking through this makes me go to the question of, What came first? Did these portayls come and effect the body that is being self-crafted, and constructed by women, and additionally by garments and accessories worn by women-who also has male influence particularly in large amount of male designers when looking at the modern age. Or did these body types get crafted through other means, and the result is what the artist accurately portrays? I think the truth can be questioned, theorised, and debated a number of way, but when looking at it myself it must be a combination of both. The body is formed, the artist then portrays this body and ones biased will commonly be enacted on to their painting purposefully, and unconsciously. This actually brings me back to my own experience of art, and additionally looking at other “normal” peoples portals of the body in modern age. Although it is important to note how different a time we are in and the never understated impact of social media on modern day. When drawing a nude figure I realized how I projected my own desires or gripes with my own body on the figure of drawing, say I observed my waist not being as toned and muscular as id IDEALLY like, I noticed I would make my interpretation of the live models waist to be more toned than it was in reality. I realised this was the same in everyone else’s as well the parts they like they emphasise the parts the may feel uncomfortable by, or want to change in themselves, smaller and more “quiet” then the rest of the body. Bringing it back to past times I think these biases small or large, would most likely have made its effect to the people but not necessarily fully define, change, and distort the body’s of others throughout time, partially due to the fact the world isn’t as linear and it is in a constance dance and communication with one another, in particularly for this art to muse. But I also think a lot of these ideals are also heavily are results of the psyche of a person, and additional the collective consciousness at that time. It continues the curiosity of, If art is mostly a male perspective, how much of society’s view of body has been susceptible and ultimately altered from this one sided view, and more importantly how much perspective and beauty have we missed if others were represented just as heavily throughout history?

Image Source.

Mcinnis, M. D. & Nelson, L. P. (2011). Shaping the Body Politics-Art and Political Formation in Early America. University of Virginia Press Charlottesville & London