Rachel
The 20th century appeared as a gleaming notion for individual progress and exploration, and the issue of femininity raised its delicate head. Owing to the development of Modernism, woman was no longer confined to the suffocating misogynistic ideals; harsh reality shone onto the feminine world to reveal an emerging artistic style which favored the unabashed sexuality and charged energy that created the “new” woman.
The emergence of a new female identity met criticism, as all new movements do, and Romaine Brooks’s The Crossing, completed in 1911, accurately matches the period. A portrait of dancer Ida Rubinstein, the painting depicts the figure dissolving into the background, a clear indication that returning to the norm was what women were expected to do. Within this expectancy lies rebellion, as the white sheet beneath her takes the shape of a wing, seeming to transport her across a vast emptiness to, hopefully, a better world. “Above all there is a sense of transition, of moving from one state to another, be it female to male, or life to death” (Pohl) in her pieces, and all aspects point to the rapidly changing social expectations of the era.
As an unfamiliar sexual freedom emerged, the idea of androgyny appeared alongside it, and Georgia O’Keeffe as well as Romaine Brooks adopted this look. Photographed by Alfred Stieglitz in 1918, Georgia O’Keeffe: A Portrait-Head captures the vacant, almost indifferent gaze of a woman trapped within the confines of social standards and even her own body. The lack of self-consciousness propels this photograph to a new level of innovation where even in the midst of oppression there can live liberation of the self.
Most known for her close-up portraits of flowers, Georgia O’Keeffe further revolutionized the feminine movement with her themes of sexuality and the body. Her inherently feminine piece Red Canna, completed in 1928, epitomizes the dramatic shift from the demure and submissive woman to a fiery and disobedient creature, descriptive of a wild animal born from nature. “O’Keeffe staked her claim as a modernist painter on her effort to rewrite the terms in which the body could be experienced in representation” (Pohl) rather than simple depiction; from abstraction to representation, she brought together “an alternate, modernist notion of embodiment” (Pohl), one which defies previous definitions. The edges of Red Canna dissolve into mystery while the highly suggestive sinuous lines draw the viewer closer into the bodily form, hinting at voids, folds and crevices. The contrast of color from light pink and yellow to a blood red represents a feminine energy, one which begins to emerge during this era. “O’Keeffe wanted to change the way bodies, in particular female bodies, were represented in both modernist and more traditional works of art” (Pohl), and her feminization of organic shapes helped to develop a disregard for gender boundaries.
Another artist who explored the feminization of nature was Anne Brigman. The Cleft of the Rock, captured in 1905, investigates and dramatizes the archaic connection between women, specifically their bodies, and nature; Brigman “presents herself . . . with the power to visualize the human form as part of natural rhythms” (Pohl) rather than the complicated (but deemed necessary) process of extracting oneself from that chaos. Once again, the suggestive bodily lines in her piece call attention to the emerging figure, or rather, direct focus towards the implications of the emerging figure. Reminiscent of a rebirth, Brigman arises from the rock, cautious but steady; the delicacy of this photograph emanates femininity, but the core inferences hint towards an almost masculine power from this “rebirth”, as if to say that the antiquated representations of woman were no longer acceptable and that an innovative and tenacious new era was dawning.
Works Cited
Brigman, Anne. The Cleft of the Rock. 1905. Oakland Museum of California, Oakland. Framing America: A Social History of American Art. New York, NY: Thames & Hudson, 2002. Print.
Brooks, Romaine. The Crossing (Le Trajet). 1911. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C. Framing America: A Social History of American Art. New York, NY: Thames & Hudson, 2002. Print.
O’Keeffe, Georgia. Red Canna. 1925-28. Collection of the University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tucson. Framing America: A Social History of American Art. New York, NY: Thames & Hudson, 2002. Print.
Pohl, Frances K. Framing America: A Social History of American Art. New York, NY: Thames & Hudson, 2002.
Stieglitz, Alfred. Georgia O’Keeffe: A Portrait-Head. 1918. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Framing America: A Social History of American Art. New York, NY: Thames & Hudson, 2002. Print.
The 20th century appeared as a gleaming notion for individual progress and exploration, and the issue of femininity raised its delicate head. Owing to the development of Modernism, woman was no longer confined to the suffocating misogynistic ideals; harsh reality shone onto the feminine world to reveal an emerging artistic style which favored the unabashed sexuality and charged energy that created the “new” woman.
The emergence of a new female identity met criticism, as all new movements do, and Romaine Brooks’s The Crossing, completed in 1911, accurately matches the period. A portrait of dancer Ida Rubinstein, the painting depicts the figure dissolving into the background, a clear indication that returning to the norm was what women were expected to do. Within this expectancy lies rebellion, as the white sheet beneath her takes the shape of a wing, seeming to transport her across a vast emptiness to, hopefully, a better world. “Above all there is a sense of transition, of moving from one state to another, be it female to male, or life to death” (Pohl) in her pieces, and all aspects point to the rapidly changing social expectations of the era.
As an unfamiliar sexual freedom emerged, the idea of androgyny appeared alongside it, and Georgia O’Keeffe as well as Romaine Brooks adopted this look. Photographed by Alfred Stieglitz in 1918, Georgia O’Keeffe: A Portrait-Head captures the vacant, almost indifferent gaze of a woman trapped within the confines of social standards and even her own body. The lack of self-consciousness propels this photograph to a new level of innovation where even in the midst of oppression there can live liberation of the self.
Most known for her close-up portraits of flowers, Georgia O’Keeffe further revolutionized the feminine movement with her themes of sexuality and the body. Her inherently feminine piece Red Canna, completed in 1928, epitomizes the dramatic shift from the demure and submissive woman to a fiery and disobedient creature, descriptive of a wild animal born from nature. “O’Keeffe staked her claim as a modernist painter on her effort to rewrite the terms in which the body could be experienced in representation” (Pohl) rather than simple depiction; from abstraction to representation, she brought together “an alternate, modernist notion of embodiment” (Pohl), one which defies previous definitions. The edges of Red Canna dissolve into mystery while the highly suggestive sinuous lines draw the viewer closer into the bodily form, hinting at voids, folds and crevices. The contrast of color from light pink and yellow to a blood red represents a feminine energy, one which begins to emerge during this era. “O’Keeffe wanted to change the way bodies, in particular female bodies, were represented in both modernist and more traditional works of art” (Pohl), and her feminization of organic shapes helped to develop a disregard for gender boundaries.
Another artist who explored the feminization of nature was Anne Brigman. The Cleft of the Rock, captured in 1905, investigates and dramatizes the archaic connection between women, specifically their bodies, and nature; Brigman “presents herself . . . with the power to visualize the human form as part of natural rhythms” (Pohl) rather than the complicated (but deemed necessary) process of extracting oneself from that chaos. Once again, the suggestive bodily lines in her piece call attention to the emerging figure, or rather, direct focus towards the implications of the emerging figure. Reminiscent of a rebirth, Brigman arises from the rock, cautious but steady; the delicacy of this photograph emanates femininity, but the core inferences hint towards an almost masculine power from this “rebirth”, as if to say that the antiquated representations of woman were no longer acceptable and that an innovative and tenacious new era was dawning.
Works Cited
Brigman, Anne. The Cleft of the Rock. 1905. Oakland Museum of California, Oakland. Framing America: A Social History of American Art. New York, NY: Thames & Hudson, 2002. Print.
Brooks, Romaine. The Crossing (Le Trajet). 1911. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C. Framing America: A Social History of American Art. New York, NY: Thames & Hudson, 2002. Print.
O’Keeffe, Georgia. Red Canna. 1925-28. Collection of the University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tucson. Framing America: A Social History of American Art. New York, NY: Thames & Hudson, 2002. Print.
Pohl, Frances K. Framing America: A Social History of American Art. New York, NY: Thames & Hudson, 2002.
Stieglitz, Alfred. Georgia O’Keeffe: A Portrait-Head. 1918. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Framing America: A Social History of American Art. New York, NY: Thames & Hudson, 2002. Print.