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Reviews tagging 'Rape'
Women in the Picture: What Culture Does with Female Bodies by Catherine McCormack
9 reviews
a_violentfemme's review against another edition
2.5
She splits the book (and depictions of women in art) into 4 sections- Venus, mother's, maidens and monsterous women. She uses some well known and loved case studies e.g Titan's 'Rape of Europa' and Millias' 'Ophelia' and attempts to put these in conversation with contemporary media and pop culture, like Beyonce's 'lemonade' but it all left me a bit cold.
In content this reminded me of Lauren Elkin's art monsters- which I also didn't particularly enjoy (especially all the talk of writing during the pandemic and balancing mothering and writing).
I was waiting for a mention or citation of famouse academics in this field including Lynda Nead, Griselda Pollock or Linda Nochlin and they only got a disappointing acknowledgment at the end.
Give it a go if you are a beginner in art history but maybe skip over it and read 'the female nude' by Lynda Nead instead.
Minor: Sexual violence, Sexism, and Rape
jae0141's review
5.0
Moderate: Sexism, Racism, Slavery, and Rape
cassbarker's review against another edition
4.75
Graphic: Rape and Sexism
charlottejones952's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
hannahmci's review against another edition
4.25
Moderate: Sexual assault, Rape, and Sexual violence
louise_o's review against another edition
5.0
Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault
mondovertigo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.5
Graphic: Misogyny and Racism
Moderate: Rape
arthistoryforall's review against another edition
4.75
With Women in the Picture McCormack creates a beautifully written, broad-ranging survey of feminist concerns in Western art history that serves as an entry point to feminist art history for general audiences and enriches enthusiasts’ understanding of the field. McCormack investigates the work of big names--Botticelli, Michelangelo, Morisot, Gentileschi, Ringgold, Beyoncé--as well as that of more niche figures like Mierle Laderman Ukeles and Leonor Fini, to explore four major archetypes of womanhood in art history and visual culture: Venus, the mother, the damsel, and the monstrous woman.
Within this four-archetype structure, McCormack also takes time to specifically address the implications these archetypes have for Black women’s bodies and how they are portrayed, a welcome and necessary element, given art history’s tendency to focus primarily on white, Western images, bodies, and artists. The relationship of the four archetypes to queerness, transness, and non-binary identities is occasionally discussed, but I think the book would have benefited from a little more engagement with this (for example, the “monstrous women” chapter seems like a perfect opportunity to discuss the current cultural tendency to characterize trans women’s bodies as “monstrous” or “deceptive.”) Overall, I’d love to see even more broad-ranging and intersectional analysis in this book, not because there’s any great lack of it, but because I enjoy McCormack’s analysis and want to see how far she can take it and what interesting images she can bring in for discussion.
Women in the Picture is a great addition to art lovers’ personal libraries, with elegant prose and insightful, well-supported analysis, not just of the art historical canon, but of contemporary visual and pop culture. There are some points which may be a little difficult for general readers to penetrate, and possibly some missed opportunities for further analysis, but I’d absolutely recommend this book regardless of one’s art education level
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual violence
cerilouisereads's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Body shaming, Death, Racism, Rape, Suicide, and Slavery