In episode 2 of “ The Ways of Seeing,” Berger talks about the difference between being naked and being nude. To be naked is to be one’s true self and to be nude is to be on display. The use of nudity in European art has brought on the idea that women must submit and please men. In many of the examples Berger gave in the second episode of “The Ways of Seeing,” he shows how the positioning an artist chose for the subject is used in pleasing the often male spectator. One example Berger shows is the 1814 painting by, Jean-Aguste-Dominique-Ingres, “La Grande Odalisque.” The face is in the direction towards the viewer and the gaze is meant to charm them. More often than not, this positioning and body language are used to show the ease and submissiveness of the subject to please the oftentimes male spectator.
There is a poster that uses the same woman and her positioning in the painting. The Poster was published in a portfolio in the 1980s by a group of anonymous, feminist, female artists that went by the Guerrilla Girls. The guerrilla Girls dedicated to combatting both race, sexism, and gender in the world of art. The use of nudity in this piece is to contradict and inquire about the use and representation of women in not just early European art, but all art.
This is interesting. Could you say a little more about how this image accomplishes those goals?