Oh I loved reading this piece! I love how insightfully you approached analyzing why and in what circumstances these women were painted reading and what was the purpose of that depiction. It is really sad, that even in not obvious instances (like nude paintings) women were still pictured in specific ways to fulfill desires
I'm glad you enjoyed it! And yes, the paintings are beautiful, but I think Monet's 'Springtime'/ 'The Reader' is my favourite. Do you have a favourite of the ones included in the post?
Beautiful beautiful essay! I had always thought of the books in Monet’s pieces as being a prop of the rich, but it unfortunately makes much more sense that it’s just another medium for women to be objectified :/ I’d be interested to see how women reading are portrayed in paintings around the world too, and if the artists see women in the same way!
Thank you for commenting! Yes, Monet's work does seem to focus solely around upper class life and tastes, hence the objectification of women that Victorian culture centered around. And yes, a deeper study into how women are portrayed around the world would make a great post- I'll get on that :)
I wonder how much of it is just due to the fact that a book makes it easier for the artist's model to stay put for long enough to get painted. People were painting reclining nudes long before the printing press, so it seems like a natural progression to paint reclining reading nudes, and probably doesn't have much to do with whether women actually read in the nude.
Your argument makes sense except for the fact that the models wouldn't have been able to move during the sketching process, so wouldn't have been able to turn the pages to actually read the book. Furthermore, the literacy of women was much restricted by gender and class throughout the eras depicted in the examples, so whether the model could actually read is another question. Also, to paint them reading in the nude was a deliberate choice of the artist, these are paintings with thought behind them rather than simple sketches: the artist would have considered the subject matter, and considered the meaning of what he was to produce. Thus, these are also not just reflections of a reality where women "actually read in the nude," instead they are crafted portrayals of imagined scenes for an imagined viewer. You are also overlooking the fact that for a women to read was political act, therefore to depict them as such was similarly political. The female body and her hobbies are politicized here.
Oh yes, I'm totally overlooking all the projected meanings of modern historians, and just remembering the nudes in art school. It's not true that they don't move at all, the painting is done over several sessions, and in between the artist marks out the place the model was lying so that they can resume the same position. But it's never exactly perfect, and during a session, even a model trying to stay perfectly still ends up shifting a few inches in order to avoid cramps. Turning a page would have been acceptable.
I actually hadn't considered this before, thank you! But I still think the prop book was for a symbolic purpose, rather than as any kind of distraction for the model. Rather than this being a "projected meaning," female illiteracy is very much a real problem, then and now. But thank you for this other perspective!
You're welcome! This was an interesting read, and I don't doubt that the book often served as a prop. I was thinking too about how often (especially for noble portraits) the sitter was only present for the painting of the face, and an ordinary model was used for the painting of the body.
Whew! Thank you for Cassatt’s paintings, which come as a relief after those nudes. Good grief, guys!
Oh I loved reading this piece! I love how insightfully you approached analyzing why and in what circumstances these women were painted reading and what was the purpose of that depiction. It is really sad, that even in not obvious instances (like nude paintings) women were still pictured in specific ways to fulfill desires
I'm glad you enjoyed it!
i loved this. it really made me think about reading as an act done by women plus the paintings were beautiful
I'm glad you enjoyed it! And yes, the paintings are beautiful, but I think Monet's 'Springtime'/ 'The Reader' is my favourite. Do you have a favourite of the ones included in the post?
mine is ‘The Reading Girl’ !!
Beautiful beautiful essay! I had always thought of the books in Monet’s pieces as being a prop of the rich, but it unfortunately makes much more sense that it’s just another medium for women to be objectified :/ I’d be interested to see how women reading are portrayed in paintings around the world too, and if the artists see women in the same way!
Thank you for commenting! Yes, Monet's work does seem to focus solely around upper class life and tastes, hence the objectification of women that Victorian culture centered around. And yes, a deeper study into how women are portrayed around the world would make a great post- I'll get on that :)
a bit laborious cause of the size, but pleasant so far (30% in), hope you're enjoying it as well X
I get what you mean, I've just finished volume 1 and yet the end is not in sight. But keep me updated :)
beautiful essay, and i am reading anna karenina too!
Thank you! And how are you finding the book?
I wonder how much of it is just due to the fact that a book makes it easier for the artist's model to stay put for long enough to get painted. People were painting reclining nudes long before the printing press, so it seems like a natural progression to paint reclining reading nudes, and probably doesn't have much to do with whether women actually read in the nude.
Your argument makes sense except for the fact that the models wouldn't have been able to move during the sketching process, so wouldn't have been able to turn the pages to actually read the book. Furthermore, the literacy of women was much restricted by gender and class throughout the eras depicted in the examples, so whether the model could actually read is another question. Also, to paint them reading in the nude was a deliberate choice of the artist, these are paintings with thought behind them rather than simple sketches: the artist would have considered the subject matter, and considered the meaning of what he was to produce. Thus, these are also not just reflections of a reality where women "actually read in the nude," instead they are crafted portrayals of imagined scenes for an imagined viewer. You are also overlooking the fact that for a women to read was political act, therefore to depict them as such was similarly political. The female body and her hobbies are politicized here.
Oh yes, I'm totally overlooking all the projected meanings of modern historians, and just remembering the nudes in art school. It's not true that they don't move at all, the painting is done over several sessions, and in between the artist marks out the place the model was lying so that they can resume the same position. But it's never exactly perfect, and during a session, even a model trying to stay perfectly still ends up shifting a few inches in order to avoid cramps. Turning a page would have been acceptable.
I actually hadn't considered this before, thank you! But I still think the prop book was for a symbolic purpose, rather than as any kind of distraction for the model. Rather than this being a "projected meaning," female illiteracy is very much a real problem, then and now. But thank you for this other perspective!
You're welcome! This was an interesting read, and I don't doubt that the book often served as a prop. I was thinking too about how often (especially for noble portraits) the sitter was only present for the painting of the face, and an ordinary model was used for the painting of the body.
I actually haven't heard about that, I'll look into it. Thanks again :)