Cultural Criticism / Thoughts on Today's Class

Today's class was a productive beginning to what I think is a great way to begin a critical examination and inquiry into visual art--a look at how women have been portrayed in artworks, as well as the role women artists have played throughout art history.  These three short videos offer you great extensions and elaborations on our discussion in class.  the first video (below) is an historical survey of the nude in art--it is in some ways a more contemporary (and shorter) version of episode 2 of "Ways of Seeing" that we watched in class. Pay particular attention to the comparison made between Titians "Venus of Urbino" and Edouard Manet's "Olympia." The difference is illustrative of many of the issues we discussed in class.  Also of much interest is Picasso's very famous painting "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon." What a powerful painting!

The second video (below) offers a look at the role women artists have played throughout art history and the relative short shrift they have received.  The video begins with a look at the "Guerrilla Girls," who were a group of artists that became well known in the 1980s when they highlighted the near total lack of women artists in museums.  Again, I think this is a fantastic addendum to our discussion in class:

The third video offers a more thorough look at the Guerrilla Girls as two of the Girls themselves give a history of their group at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York.  What I especially like about the Guerrilla Girls is they create their own art as a means of doing art criticism.  It's a creative an humorous way of shedding light on some of the sexist aspects of the art world / art industry.  Enjoy!