Feminist aesthetics

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Feminist aesthetics first emerged in the 1970s [1] and refers not to a particular aesthetic or style but to perspectives that question assumptions in art and aesthetics concerning gender-role stereotypes, or gender. [2] Feminist aesthetics has a relationship to philosophy. The historical philosophical views of what beauty, the arts, and sensory experiences are, relate to the idea of aesthetics. Aesthetics looks at styles of production. [3] In particular, feminists argue that despite seeming neutral or inclusive, the way people think about art and aesthetics is influenced by gender roles. [2] Feminist aesthetics is a tool for analyzing how art is understood using gendered issues. [4] A person's gender identity affects the ways in which they perceive art and aesthetics because of their subject position and that perception is influenced by power. [5] The ways in which people see art is also influenced by social values such as class and race. [6] One's subject position in life changes the way art is perceived because of people's different knowledge's about life and experiences. [5] In the way that feminist history unsettles traditional history, feminist aesthetics challenge philosophies of beauty, the arts and sensory experience. [7]

Starting in the 18th century, ideas of aesthetic pleasure have tried to define "taste". Kant and Hume both argued that there was universal good taste, which made aesthetic pleasure. A feminist line of logic about these attempts is that, because fine art was a leisure activity at this time, those who could afford to make art or produce supposed universal truths about how it is enjoyed would do so in a way that creates class and gender division. [2] Even when those universal aesthetes did address gender, they categorized aesthetics into two categories: beauty and sublimity; with beauty being small and delicate (feminine) and sublimity being large and awe-inspiring (masculine). [2] Feminist aesthetics analyzes why "feminine" traits are subservient compared to "masculine" traits in art and aesthetics. [8]

Another explanation for the male-domination of forming aesthetic theory is that feminists express their aesthetic pleasure differently than non-feminist aesthetes for "whom the pleasure of theorizing [...] is a form of jouissance". Instead, a feminist is less likely to view the object as a disinterested interpreter, and intellectualize the sensation (Hilde Hein). [7] Morse [9] discusses how art is a social institution. The influence of institutions comes from those who created the structure, which is mainly by men. From a spectator's point of view, men looking at women, compared to women looking at women, produces different social implications. When understanding a feminist perspective, Morse discusses the ideas of “self-defined” and “self-determined” art by women artists. [9] Critics of feminist art argue that politics have no place in art, however, many art forms contain politics, but because of their subject position, the critics are unable to perceive it. [10]

The language used when talking about aesthetics in art is limited. The lexicon is limited because it doesn't include femme and women identifying language. The language that does exist separates them as “female” artist. The examination of the need for there to be a separate field of feminist aesthetics is discussed. If there is a separate field, women's art gets defined as feminist, then it assumes that the “normal” and all other art is automatically categorized as masculine. [11]

The idea of the creative genius is inspected in feminist aesthetics. In particular, women artists are often excluded from being creative or artistic geniuses. [encycl 1] This exclusion in part stems from the traditional masculine definitions of genius. [encycl 1] Christine Battersby has critiqued women being excluded from being known as geniuses because female artists will be separated from their art, and instead their art will be called genius, instead of the artist. [12] However, women were also excluded because they lacked the opportunities for artistic education required to be recognized as artists and geniuses. [13] In addition, the idea of the creative genius itself celebrates individualism – which Battersby calls "a kind of masculine heroism" – and overlooks the work of joint collaborations. [12]

Linda Nochlin, an art historian, understands that art history comes from a Western male point of view, which creates a dominant way of viewing art. Nochlin questions why there have been no women artists in art history and understands that this is due to the influence of Western males within the field of art. [14]

Aesthetic theories that make a distinction between "arts" and "crafts" can be viewed as anti-feminist. [15] Here, art usually refers to fine art and crafts refers to everything else which has everyday aesthetics . [5] Art forms traditionally used by women, such as embroidery or sewing, are perceived as crafts and not art, because of their domestic uses. [5] Feminist aesthetics focuses on all objects created by women, whether or not they are seen as "art". [10] Since those craft practices occur in the home where many women continue to work, their creativity is overlooked by the perception of "art", because their domain is marginalized. [16]

The Guerrilla Girls are a contemporary an activist group that focuses on how feminism plays a role in public art. Their relationship to feminist aesthetics is relevant because they expose gender and ethnic bias, as well as corruption in the art, film and pop culture worlds. The group draws attention to the idea that women are not equally valued in these areas and fight to improve gender equality. [17]

Another areas of study that is tied to feminist aesthetics is feminist art criticism. This area of study can focus on female body imagery, goddess imagery, personal narratives, and devaluation of "individual solitary genius." [18]

See also

Related Research Articles

Aesthetics is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of beauty and the nature of taste and, in a broad sense, incorporates the philosophy of art. Aesthetics examines the philosophy of aesthetic value, which is determined by critical judgments of artistic taste; thus, the function of aesthetics is the "critical reflection on art, culture and nature".

Beauty is commonly described as a feature of objects that makes them pleasurable to perceive. Such objects include landscapes, sunsets, humans and works of art. Beauty, art and taste are the main subjects of aesthetics, one of the fields of study within philosophy. As a positive aesthetic value, it is contrasted with ugliness as its negative counterpart.

Feminist film theory is a theoretical film criticism derived from feminist politics and feminist theory influenced by second-wave feminism and brought about around the 1970s in the United States. With the advancements in film throughout the years feminist film theory has developed and changed to analyse the current ways of film and also go back to analyse films past. Feminists have many approaches to cinema analysis, regarding the film elements analyzed and their theoretical underpinnings.

This is an index of articles related to the issue of feminism, women's liberation, the women's movement, and women's rights.

Écriture féminine, or "women's writing", is a term coined by French feminist and literary theorist Hélène Cixous in her 1975 essay "The Laugh of the Medusa". Cixous aimed to establish a genre of literary writing that deviates from traditional masculine styles of writing, one which examines the relationship between the cultural and psychological inscription of the female body and female difference in language and text. This strand of feminist literary theory originated in France in the early 1970s through the works of Cixous and other theorists including Luce Irigaray, Chantal Chawaf, Catherine Clément and Julia Kristeva, and has subsequently been expanded upon by writers such as psychoanalytic theorist Bracha Ettinger. who emerged in this field in the early 1990s,

Feminist theory is the extension of feminism into theoretical, fictional, or philosophical discourse. It aims to understand the nature of gender inequality. It examines women's and men's social roles, experiences, interests, chores, and feminist politics in a variety of fields, such as anthropology and sociology, communication, media studies, psychoanalysis, political theory, home economics, literature, education, and philosophy.

Feminist philosophy is an approach to philosophy from a feminist perspective and also the employment of philosophical methods to feminist topics and questions. Feminist philosophy involves both reinterpreting philosophical texts and methods in order to supplement the feminist movement and attempts to criticise or re-evaluate the ideas of traditional philosophy from within a feminist framework.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Linda Nochlin</span> American art historian

Linda Nochlin was an American art historian, Lila Acheson Wallace Professor Emerita of Modern Art at New York University Institute of Fine Arts, and writer. As a prominent feminist art historian, she became well known for her pioneering 1971 article "Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?" published by ARTnews.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Feminist art</span> Art that reflects womens lives and experiences

Feminist art is a category of art associated with the feminist movement of the late 1960s and 1970s. Feminist art highlights the societal and political differences women experience in their lives. The goal of this art form is to bring a positive and understanding change to the world, leading to equality or liberation. Media used range from traditional art forms, such as painting, to more unorthodox methods such as performance art, conceptual art, body art, craftivism, video, film, and fiber art. Feminist art has served as an innovative driving force toward expanding the definition of art by incorporating new media and a new perspective.

Feminism is a broad term given to works of those scholars who have sought to bring gender concerns into the academic study of international politics and who have used feminist theory and sometimes queer theory to better understand global politics and international relations as a whole.

Feminist theory in composition studies examines how gender, language, and cultural studies affect the teaching and practice of writing. It challenges the traditional assumptions and methods of composition studies and proposes alternative approaches that are informed by feminist perspectives. Feminist theory in composition studies covers a range of topics, such as the history and development of women's writing, the role of gender in rhetorical situations, the representation and identity of writers, and the pedagogical implications of feminist theory for writing instruction. Feminist theory in composition studies also explores how writing can be used as a tool for empowerment, resistance, and social change. Feminist theory in composition studies emerged in the late 1960s and early 1970s as a response to the male-dominated field of composition and rhetoric. It has been influenced by various feminist movements and disciplines, such as second-wave feminism, poststructuralism, psychoanalysis, critical race theory, and queer theory. Feminist theory in composition studies has contributed to the revision of traditional rhetorical concepts, the recognition of diverse voices and genres, the promotion of collaborative and ethical communication, and the integration of personal and political issues in writing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Art history</span> Academic study of objects of art in their historical development

Art history is, briefly, the history of art—or the study of a specific type of objects created in the past.

Feminist ethics is an approach to ethics that builds on the belief that traditionally ethical theorizing has undervalued and/or underappreciated women's moral experience, which is largely male-dominated, and it therefore chooses to reimagine ethics through a holistic feminist approach to transform it.

Everyday Aesthetics is a recent subfield of philosophical aesthetics focusing on everyday events, settings and activities in which the faculty of sensibility is saliently at stake. Alexander Baumgarten established Aesthetics as a discipline and defined it as scientia cognitionis sensitivae, the science of sensory knowledge, in his foundational work Aesthetica (1750). This field has been dedicated since then to the clarification of fine arts, beauty and taste only marginally referring to the aesthetics in design, crafts, urban environments and social practice until the emergence of everyday aesthetics during the ‘90s. As other subfields like environmental aesthetics or the aesthetics of nature, everyday aesthetics also attempts to countervail aesthetics' almost exclusive focus on the philosophy of art.

Carolyn Korsmeyer is an author and Professor of Philosophy at the University at Buffalo in New York. She is generally recognized for her study and research on aesthetics, feminism, and emotion theory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ecofeminism</span> Approach to feminism influenced by ecologist movement

Ecofeminism integrates feminism and political ecology. Ecofeminist thinkers draw on the concept of gender to analyse relationships between humans and the natural world. The term was coined by the French writer Françoise d'Eaubonne in her book Le Féminisme ou la Mort (1974). Ecofeminist theory introduces a feminist perspective to Green politics and calls for an egalitarian, collaborative society in which there is no one dominant group. Today, there are several branches of ecofeminism, with varying approaches and analyses, including liberal ecofeminism, spiritual/cultural ecofeminism, and social/socialist ecofeminism. Interpretations of ecofeminism and how it might be applied to social thought include ecofeminist art, social justice and political philosophy, religion, economics, contemporary feminism, and literature.

Feminist art criticism emerged in the 1970s from the wider feminist movement as the critical examination of both visual representations of women in art and art produced by women. It continues to be a major field of art criticism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Male gaze</span> Concept in feminist theory

In feminist theory, the male gaze is the act of depicting women and the world in the visual arts and in literature from a masculine, heterosexual perspective that presents and represents women as sexual objects for the pleasure of the heterosexual male viewer. The concept was first articulated by British feminist film theorist Laura Mulvey in her 1975 essay, Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. Mulvey's theory draws on historical precedents, such as the depiction of women in European oil paintings from the Renaissance period, where the female form was often idealized and presented from a voyeuristic male perspective. Art historian John Berger, in his work Ways of Seeing (1972), highlighted how traditional Western art positioned women as subjects of male viewers’ gazes, reinforcing a patriarchal visual narrative.

<i>Portrait of Charlotte du Val dOgnes</i> Painting by Marie Denise Villers

Portrait of Charlotte du Val d'Ognes is an 1801 painting attributed to Marie-Denise Villers. It is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The painting was first acquired by the museum in 1922 and attributed to Jacques Louis David. Later, the painting was attributed to Constance Marie Charpentier and finally to Villers.

Carol Greene Duncan is a Marxist-feminist scholar known as a pioneer of ‘new art history’, a social-political approach to art, who is recognized for her work in the field of Museum Studies, particularly her inquiries into the role that museums play in defining cultural identity.

References

  1. ↑ "Feminist Aesthetics: Art and Artists: Historical Background". The Feminist eZine.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Feminist Aesthetics". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved February 1, 2014.
  3. ↑ Hein, Hilde (1990). "The Role of Feminist Aesthetics in Feminist Theory". The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism. 48 (4): 281–291. doi:10.2307/431566. JSTOR   431566. S2CID   192405160.
  4. ↑ Lyudmyla Fedorivna, Bulanova-Duvalko. "Philosophical Aspects of Understanding the Trend of Feminist Aesthetics". Studia Humanitatis. 3.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Korsmeyer, Carolyn (2002). "Feminist Aesthetics". In Code, Lorraine (ed.). Encyclopedia of Feminist Theories. Taylor & Francis Group. ISBN   9780203195598.
  6. ↑ Stubs, Roberta; Teixeira-Filho, Fernando Silva; Lessa, Patricia (2018). "Artivismo, estetica feminista e producao de sobjetividade". Revista Estudos Feministas. 26 (2). doi: 10.1590/1806-9584-2018v26n238901 . hdl: 11449/157674 .
  7. 1 2 Hein, Hilde (Autumn 1990). "The Role of Feminist Aesthetics in Feminist Theory". The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism. 48 (4): 281–291. doi:10.1111/1540_6245.jaac48.4.0281. JSTOR   431566.
  8. ↑ Korsmeyer, Carolyn (2004). Gender and Aesthetics: An Introduction. Routledge. ISBN   9780415266581.
  9. 1 2 Morse, Marcia (April 1992). "Feminist Aesthetics and the Spectrum of Gender". Philosophy East and West. 42 (2): 287–295. doi:10.2307/1399292. JSTOR   1399292.
  10. 1 2 Hein, Hilde; Korsmeyer, Carolyn (1993). Aesthetics in Feminist Perspective. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
  11. ↑ Waugh, Joanne B. (1990). "Analytic Aesthetics and Feminist Aesthetics: Neither/Nor?". The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism. 48 (4): 317–326. doi:10.2307/431569. JSTOR   431569.
  12. 1 2 Battersby, Christine (1989). Gender and Genius: Towards a Feminist Aesthetics. The Women's Press Ltd. ISBN   978-0704343009.
  13. ↑ Korsmeyer, Carolyn (2004). "Amateurs and Professionals". Gender and Aesthetics: An Introduction. Understanding Feminist Philosophy. London: Taylor and Francis. p. 59. ISBN   9780203646632.
  14. ↑ Nochlin, Linda (2018-02-12), "Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?", Women, Art, and Power and Other Essays, Routledge, pp. 145–178, doi:10.4324/9780429502996-7, ISBN   9780429502996, S2CID   53325846
  15. ↑ Pollock, Griselda (1999). "Differencing: Feminism's encounter with the canon". Differencing the Canon: Feminism and the Writing of Art's Histories. New York: Routledge. p. 25. ISBN   9780415066990.
  16. ↑ Leddy, Thomas (2012). The Extraordinary in the Ordinary: The aesthetics of everyday life. Broadview Press.
  17. ↑ "OUR STORY". Guerrilla Girls. Retrieved 2019-10-17.
  18. ↑ "The Crime of Candor: Feminist Art Criticism | Studio Potter". studiopotter.org. Retrieved 2019-10-17.
  1. 1 2 Battersby, Christine (1998). "Genius and Feminism". In Kelly, Michael (ed.). Encyclopedia of Aesthetics. Oxford University Press. ISBN   9780195113075.
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