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Comparison essay
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Casey Watts
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Summary of contents
1. Introduction, Page 3.
2. Interpretation of Madonna
-Feminist viewpoint
-Psychoanalytical view of the artist
3. Walter Sickert’s La Hollandaise
-Feminist Viewpoint
-psychoanalytical view of the artist
4. Comparison for the two art works
5. Conclusion
6. Bibliography
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Comparison essay
Introduction
Feminism is defined as ‘the doctrine advocating social, political, and all other rights of
women equal to those of men.’ This movement has influenced the art world which lead to
the beginning of feminist art transforming the fundamental dynamics of the art world. In
tracing the development of feminist art, and the social, theoretical and critical factors which
have arisen as a consequence, this essay will examine and compare the works of Edvard
Munch’s Madonna and Walter Sickert’s La Hollandaise from a feminist critical, theoretical
and perspective view.
These two art works will be evaluated and in consequence, the similarities and
differences of the two art pieces will be discovered. Uncovering the similarities and
differences in context to a feminist theoretical viewpoint will uncover the underlying
themes and connotations within the artwork. This essay will allow the reader to have
a greater knowledge of feminist theory and history, as well as an understanding of
the psychoanalytical perspectives of the artists themselves.
Figure 1. Madonna, (1894), Edvard Munch, oil painting
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Madonna- Feminist interpretation
The Madonna by Norwegian expressionist artist Edvard Munch was painted in 1894.
The Madonna was also called "Loving Woman" which signifies “religious and erotic
content” (Edvard Munch.com, http://www.edvardmunch.com/gallery/women/madonna.htm.) The painting displays the nude
protagonist in a state of trance or sleep in an open and inviting pose with scattered
hair and exposed breasts and abdomen creating an erotic image. A visual rotational
effect is created by her bended arms with the movement being reflected by her right
arm creating elemental movement in the background; however the protagonist
remains calm and still. Edvard Munch states (Munch, http://www.edvardmunch.com/gallery/women/madonna.htm) that the Madonna
“...embodies all the beauty of the world. Your lips, as crimson as a ripe fruit, are half
open as if to express pain. A corpse's smile. Here life and death shake hands. The
chain that links thousands of past generations to the thousands to come has been
meshed."
Munch inhabits the role of the male artist with his thoughts and views at the
epicentre of the painting, by doing so he is capable of objectifying women in
accordance to their beauty and youth as is traditional in western culture.
This viewpoint is evident in Munch’s interpretation with his theory serving as
justification to deem women as solely the givers and takers of life. It is arguable that
Munch’s mother’s early death left the artist with a distorted view of women being
unobtainable seductresses and the givers of life which expresses itself in his
agonized paintings such as the Madonna.
Suffering from Metamorphopsia, which is a symptom of retinal distortion, Edvard
Munch recognized “scotomas and metamorphopsia after suffering an intraocular
haemorrhage in his 60th year” (survey of orthamology, 2000,
http://www.surveyophthalmol.com/article/S0039-6257%2899%2900113-7/abstract)
which created distorted paintings and arguably resulted in misrepresenting the
female protagonist in an overtly erotic and religious sense.
Munch is reinforcing the sexism and patriarchy inherent in art history by judging the
protagonist in an erotic and objectifying manner. This is created by exaggerating the
Madonna’s sexuality through the use of her semi-naked body and open and inviting
pose; her eyes are closed, expressing modesty. The protagonist’s body is visible,
twisting towards the light, although she does not face the light. The erotic nude
appears to float in a dreamlike space, with swirling strokes of deep black enveloping
her. A red halo is placed on her head, which marries the attribute of sainthood to the
material form. With these elements the protagonist becomes a parody of female
sexuality and herself.
Psychoanalytical- what influenced the painting?
Whilst analysing the painting from a feminist viewpoint, it is inevitable that a
psychoanalytical perception will be needed to understand what influenced the
painting and why he views women in an idealistic way. During the production of the
Madonna and his other ‘Freize of life’ paintings ‘Munch suffered a nervous
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breakdown’ (Hodin, Page 55, 1972.) The freize of life is Munch’s collective paintings
which presents an image of the artists life and the love, sufferings and psychological
traumas which encompass it. The most potent painting of Munch’s theory ‘life and
death are inseparable’ (Smith, page 22, 1992) is the Madonna.
Edvard Munch’s mother died of tuberculosis when Munch was five years old, to
which Munch wrote ‘I learned early about the miseries and dangers of life’ (Hodin,
page 11, 1972). This inflicted his perspective of women being the givers of life, as
well as seductresses. This is evident in the floating transitional state of Madonna
which encounters the immediacy of the woman’s body, symbolising elusiveness and
the power women have in seducing men; Juxtaposing by Munch’s conflicting ideals
that women give and destroy life. It can be argued that Munch’s often focuses on
religious imagery and ideology displayed in his paintings which are influenced
heavily from his childhood as his father suffered with a “difficult temper, with religious
anxiety that bordered sometimes on insanity” (Hodin, page 11, 1992). This ideology
is evident in The Madonna
Munch painted five variations of The Madonna between 1894 and 1895 exploring the
psychological angles of the women in the painting, with his later paintings including
an embryo; this explores Munch’s conflicting perspective of women being seductress
as well as the givers of life. For the artist, The Madonna is symbolic of the ‘great
fecund power of life’ (Smith, page 22, 1992) and by producing The Madonna Munch
has created an outlet for his theory to be displayed to the world. This is evident most
notably in his later versions of the Madonna which displays an embryo in the corner
of the painting. A similar effect is present in two of Munch’s later paintings, Girls on
the Bridge (1899) and The Dance of Life (1900): the background earth and trees in
the |Girls on the Bridge, the contours of the dancing bodies in The Dance of Life,
alter into extended sperm-like stains that encumber reality which further explores
Edvard Munch’s theory of life and death being married together.
Walter Sickert La Hollandaise
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Figure 2: Walter Sickert, 1906, oil painting on canvas.
Feminist Interpretation
Walter Sickert was an English artist, art critic and was also thought to have been
Jack the Ripper. Sickert owned art studios in Camden town where between August
and November 1888 five prostitutes were murdered. In 1909, Sickert produced a
series of paintings, known as the Camden Town Murders, which were based on
these killings. The artist was a dominant figure in 19th century impressionism, and
he’s famous paintings include The Camden Town paintings which depict the grim
face if urban living.
La Hollandaise by impressionist artist Walter Sickert, created in 1906, displays a
naked woman in a dimly unkempt room. Their is no clue to the identity of the
protagonist but the title, translated as ‘The Dutch Girl,’ may refer to the “nickname of
a prostitute” in a novel by the French author, “Honoré de Balzac” (Tate Collection,
2011, www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?workid=13424) which is symbolic of crime
and sex. Walter Sickert’s famous collection of paintings titled Camden Town,
focused on the crimes surrounding Camden around the early 1900’s especially the
murders committed by Jack the Ripper, although only one painting L’Affaire de
Camden recreates the event.
Sickerts embodies the role of the male artist by viewing the protagonist from the foot
of the bed, giving the impression that the viewer is the client of the women who he
judging and assessing the “body of the women he has just purchased” (The
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Telegraph, 2012, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/3669068/Walter-SickertNudes-An-underworldstripped-bare.html.) In Walter Sickert’s Camden Town
collection, Sickert depicts the female protagonists as prostitutes, which has
conations of male ownership and possession. With Sickert’s female characters
primarily being prostitutes, it is arguable to say that the artist views women to be
solely objects and possessions, with their only advantageous characteristic being
their sexuality.
In judging the protagonist in an erotic and objective manner, Sickert is reinforcing
sexism which is inherent in the history of the art world. This is produced by
exaggerating the La Hollandaise’s sexuality by the use of her naked body and open
and inviting pose; her face is directly facing the viewer to entice the male client,
although her face has been removed with the use of harsh brush strokes. Sickert has
created the La Hollandaise faceless, as to removes her individuality and is
representative of the male gaze as La Hollandaise acts as a way to objectify women.
Psychoanalytical viewpoint
To further develop the feminist perception of the painting, this essay will discuss the
psychoanalytical viewpoint that is needed to support my feminist analysis.
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