Our First Exposing the Mead

Knees and Arms

Ruth Bernhard

1976

AC 1989.121

As many of you know, this past Tuesday the 15^th, we had our FIRST Exposing the Mead discussion and to put it plainly, it was an amazingly successful affair jam-packed with insight, beauty, intrigue, and cookies. For those of you who were able to attend, thank you for showing your support and your interest in photography. For those of you who were unable to attend, we know how sad you are that you couldn’t make it and that you’ll try hard to come next time! The topic for this week’s discussion was the male gaze in photography as shown through three selected works by both female and male photographers. The facilitator for the talk, the lovely Alice Wang, prefaced her presentation with informing the audience that at least one of the makers of the photos was a woman. Before revealing the identity of each photographer, Alice let the crowd examine the photos and proceeded to give a short lecture on what exactly the “male gaze” is.

According to feminist film theorist Laura Mulvey, the “gaze,” which is more than looking and involves a psychological relationship between the power of the gazer being asserted over the object of the gaze, is an intrinsically male act. Being gazed upon, on the other hand, is an intrinsically female act. Additionally, the male gaze is voyeuristic, fetishistic, and objectifying as it relates to the passivity and inactivity of the female form.

The first photo for discussion was by Brassai and depicted the artist Henri Matisse sketching his 19 year-old model, Antoinette. Compositionally, Matisse’s central placement and bright white clothing makes him the dominant force in the photo. His model Antoinette, whose lowered head and body are cast in shadow, is conversely the submissive object of his stare in that she looks at neither the viewer nor Matisse. The versatility of the photo is due to the multiple gazes that are occurring simultaneously. The viewer is permitted a voyeuristic perspective of Matisse’s creative process as he exerts his gaze over his model which is captured by Brassai through the use of his camera. Ultimately, all the occurring gazes focus on the beholding of the model’s passive female form as an object.

The second photo, entitled Knees and Arms by Ruth Bernhard, shows the abstracted representation of the lower body of a female model. Although the soft and dim lighting makes the female form appear to be sensual and delicate, the firm and stylized position of the model’s arms and legs convey a sense of strength. The composition of the photograph can be described as showing the assemblage of appendages culminating in a mountainous formation towards the top-center of the image, imparting a sense of power not found in Brassai’s woman. Bernhard’s woman possesses the qualities typically associated with the female nude, such as sensuality and fragility, but also typically masculine features like fortitude and active force.

The last photo was an untitled piece by Merry Alpern that belonged to a series in which she clandestinely photographed prostitutes through the window of a brother from across the street. In this photo, a prostitute clad in only underwear and a wristwatch is counting money as she stands in front of the window. The dynamic of the photo is due not only the controversial subject matter of a sexual transaction taking place but also to the voyeuristic perspective the viewer is given. Because the prostitute is unaware of the viewer, she is not self-conscious of anyone’s gaze, which makes her posture unassuming and natural. Some of the audience thought the watch the woman was wearing made her appear masculine, along with her rugged pose and way her musculature is emphasized by the lighting.

Essentially, the talk concluded with the audience pondering how the female photographers challenged and reinterpreted the ideals of the male gaze. Regardless of gender, the three photographers chose to represent the female form is various ways: Brassai’s woman was very passive and subjected to the gaze of her viewer; Alpern’s woman was masculine, not sensual, and a domineering figure in the photo; and Bernhard’s woman was a reconciliation between the sensuality and elegance of the female form along with the firmness and strength typically reserved for the male body.

All in all, the discussion proved to very stimulating and everyone seemed comfortable sharing their opinions and sentiments about the photos. It was a picture-perfect beginning to what I’m sure will be a fruitful semester for Exposing the Mead. Please attend our next Exposing the Mead discussion March 1^st, the topic of which is the Representation of the Abstract, led by Thea Goldring.

Perry De La Vega

Brandt's Nude in Chair

Nude in Chair

Bill Brandt

Circa 1950s, printed late 1970s

AC 2002. 352

In order to round out our discussion of the male gaze in photography for this past week's Exposing the Mead, I would like to discuss the rather provocative image above, made by master photography Bill Brandt.

In 1929, at the age of 26, Brandt moved to Paris from Vienna and became an assistant to Man Ray where he learned many of the techniques Ray had been developing at the time. Determined to become an independent photographer, Brandt moved to England in 1931 so he could document the extreme social disparities of the pre-War years. One of his most famous works during this time was a photograph of a loose-coal searcher that emblematically captured the mass unemployment and social hardships brought on during the industrial depression in England.

Yet as the war was coming to a close, Brandt's style changed significantly, as he himself felt " Documentary photography had become fashionable. Everybody was doing it...the poetic trend of photography, which had already excited me in my early Paris days, began to fascinate me again." At this point Brandt began shooting landscapes, portraits and nudes, the last of which is our focus for today.

The photo pictured above belongs to a series of indoor female nudes made during the Fifties. Generally, in these photos Brandt made the room or space a significant interlocutor in the conveyance of the drama that for him was the female body. The same can be said for this photo--the distorted perspective of the room, coupled with the dim lighting directed toward the back end of the space as it illuminates the model, create a menacing atmosphere imbued with emotional agitation.

The physical distance between the viewer and the model, emphasized by the looming chair, hints at an emotional distance which the model conveys through her downward and resigned expression. Because she is so far and is not making any eye contact, the model's expression is difficult to interpret--is she sullen, contemplative, tired? Something that her expression and posture are not, is seductive. If we allow the theory of the male gaze to inform our interpretation, then we could say the model's aloof and enigmatic persona disrupts the male observer's desire to possess and assertively behold that which is the female nude. The tension arises as the actuality of possession gives way to an actual or perceived estrangement from the model.

While the model's equivocal pose could not be described as being actively closed off, it could not be viewed as being inviting. The silhouette of the model's breast caused by the shadow of her own arm alludes to the female sexuality, but again is obscured by a reluctance on her part to be exposed completely to the viewer. In this sense, the model does not act as a completely passive object to be subjected to the desire of the male gazer, but neither does she defiantly prevent the viewer from considering her female form and sensuality. Another "reminder" of her lacking sexuality is the way the chair in the foreground and the chair that she is sitting on echo the curvature of her figure, making me personally reflect on how I might similarly regard an inanimate object and a living woman.

One should not assume that Brandt exhibited efforts to control, subordinate and objectify the female nude in this piece as prescribed by the theory of the male gaze. But one can still consider the photographer's innate male desire to possess and control the female nude, and the possible psychic crisis in this photograph that emerges because of an unfulfilled attempt to do so because of the model's reticence and disinterest?

Hine's Glass Works

Lunch Time, W. Va. Glass Works
Lewis Hine
1908
AC 1994.144

This photograph was taken by Lewis Hine, an American photographer active particularly in the 1920s and 1930s. Because of his background as a sociologist and reformer, his work was not only intended to portray something beautiful but impart a moral suasion on its viewers for change. This particular photograph comes out of a set taken in 1908 on behalf of the National Child Labor Committee. Through this series, Hine hoped to aid the fight to end child labor. Some of his more famous photos in this series portray the children in an even more crushing light: young boys with dusty faces next to heavy machinery, young girls who look worn beyond their years.

This photograph on the other hand, seems a bit less raw. What I enjoy about it is how it manages to be incredibly beautiful while simultaneously imparting its message. Perhaps though, the aesthetic, formal beauty of the photograph overwhelms the social reform element. I cannot help but admire the perfect composition of the photograph -- the straight field of straight, parallel lines with the boys framed perfectly in the middle -- while forgetting that it shows two young boys on break from what must be backbreaking work. Hine would probably not appreciate my sentiment, but perhaps he should have made a less beautiful photo then? Let me know your thoughts on the balance between these two contrasting features in the work!

For more information on Lewis Hine, you can check out this incredibly comprehensive website on his works:
http://www.morningsonmaplestreet.com/aboutlewishine.html

And more of Hine's photography is owned by the Five College museums, including his Men at Work Holyoke series at Mount Holyoke College. The city has a long, beautiful, and heartbreaking history as an industrial town that Hine had the opportunity to capture.

Well, that's all for now, see you next week.

-Alex

A Brief Introduction

Hello there,

Welcome to Exposing the Mead's weekly blog! First, I suppose a little context is in order.

Beginning Tuesday, February 15^th, the Mead Art Museum at Amherst College will host a series of five informal discussions inspired by photographs from the Mead’s collection. Organized by Alex Strecker, Class of 2013, of Amherst College’s Marsh Arts House, the discussions will be facilitated by enthusiastic students with a passion for photography. Each session will highlight a pairing of photographs from the collection, exploring questions of subject matter and the unique influence of the photographic medium on artistic choices.

Accompanying our photo series will be this blog. The blog has several functions: to chronicle and recap our series events as well as highlighting additional photographs from the collection. We also hope to offer a forum for participants to share their own work inspired by Mead photographs.

In short, the main purpose of these conversations is to expose the Mead's impressive photo collection. Beyond that, we're hoping to raise awareness about photography on campus in general. Through our conversations in the Mead itself and then on this platform, designed to show off more of the museum's collection as well as display student's artwork, we hope that all of our college's photography will have the exposure it deserves.

So, I hope you enjoy the blog and I can't wait to meet you all at the talks!


-Alex