1111 2 3 4 5111 EROTIC AMBIGUITIES 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 3111 Art is always ambiguous. When it involves the female body it can also be erotic. 4 Erotic Ambiguities is a study of how contemporary women artists have recon- 5 ceptualised the figure of the female nude. Helen McDonald shows how, over 6 the past thirty years, artists have employed the idea of ambiguity to dismantle 7 the exclusive, classical ideal enshrined in the figure of the nude, and how they 8 have broadened the scope of the ideal to include differences of race, ethnicity, 9 sexuality and disability as well as gender. 20111 McDonald discusses the work of a wide range of women artists, including 1 Barbara Kruger, Judy Chicago, Mary Duffy, Zoe Leonard, Tracey Moffatt, Pat 2 Brassington and Sally Smart. She traces the shift in feminist art practices from 3 the early challenge to patriarchal representations of the female nude to contem- 4 porary, ‘postfeminist’ practices, influenced by theories of performativity, queer 5 theory and postcoloniality. McDonald argues that feminist efforts to develop 6 a more positive representation of the female body need to be reconsidered, 7 in the face of the resistant ambiguities and hybrid complexities of visual art in 8 the late 1990s. 9 30111 Helen McDonald is an Honorary Fellow in the School of Fine Arts, Classical 1 Studies and Archaeology at the University of Melbourne. 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 40111 1 2 3 44111 i RUNNING HEAD 1111 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 20111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 30111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 40111 1 2 3 44111 ii RUNNING HEAD 1111 2 3 4 511 EROTIC 6 7 AMBIGUITIES 8 9 1011 The female nude in art 1 2 3111 4 5 6 7 Helen McDonald 8 9 20111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 30111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 TL E D 8 U G O 9 E R 40111 • • T a p 1 y u lo ro 2 r G & Francis 3 44111 London and New York iii RUNNING HEAD 1111 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1011 First published 2001 1 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE 2 3 Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 4 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 5 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group 6 This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2002. 7 Disclaimer: For copyright reasons, some images in the original version of this 8 book are not available for inclusion in the eBook. 9 20111 © 2001 Helen McDonald 1 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or repro- duced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other 2 means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and 3 recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without 4 permission in writing from the publishers. 5 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available 6 from the British Library 7 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data 8 McDonald, Helen, 1949– 9 Erotic ambiguities : the female nude in art / 30111 Helen McDonald. p. cm. 1 Includes bibliographical references and index. 2 1. Female nude in art. 2. Feminism in art. 3. Gender 3 identity in art. 4. Women artists––Psychology. I. Title. 4 N7573 .M39 2000 ′ 5 704.9 424––dc21 00–032184 6 ISBN 0–415–17098–2 (hbk) 7 ISBN 0–415–17099–0 (pbk) ISBN 0-203-44870-7 Master e-book ISBN 8 ISBN 0-203-75694-0 (Glassbook Format) 9 40111 1 2 3 44111 iv RUNNING HEAD 1111 2 3 4 5 IN MEMORY OF MY FATHER 6 CHARLES 7 8 9 1011 1 2 3111 4 5 6 7 8 9 20111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 30111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 40111 1 2 3 44111 v RUNNING HEAD 1111 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 20111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 30111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 40111 1 2 3 44111 vi RUNNING HEAD 1111 2 3 4 5 CONTENTS 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 3111 List of plates ix 4 Acknowledgements xi 5 6 Introduction 1 7 8 1 Feminism, ambiguity and the ideal 7 9 20111 1 2 Re-visioning the female nude 31 2 3 3 Historical ambiguity 53 4 5 4 Seeing ambiguity 75 6 7 5 Gender ambiguity 99 8 9 6 Making a difference with ambiguity 130 30111 1 7 Turning ambiguity around 160 2 3 4 8 Hybrid ambiguities 187 5 6 Conclusion 218 7 8 Notes 231 9 References 234 40111 Index 240 1 2 3 44111 vii RUNNING HEAD 1111 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 20111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 30111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 40111 1 2 3 44111 viii RUNNING HEAD 1111 2 3 4 5 PLATES 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 3111 1 Barbara Kruger, Untitled (Your gaze hits the side of my face) 18 4 2 Bad Girls: the media, sex and feminism in the 90s 37 5 3 Jane Burton, Two or three things I know about her 40 6 4 Fiona Foley, Native Blood 41 7 5 Untitled (Aborigine, Fraser Island) 44 8 6 Mary Duffy, Cutting the Ties that Bind 46 9 7 Zoe Leonard, Pin-up # 1 (Jennifer Miller Does Marilyn Monroe) 48 20111 8 Jusepe de Ribera, Magdalena Ventura with Her Husband 49 1 9 Zoe Leonard, Preserved Head of Bearded Woman 51 2 10 Michael Bianchino, Spirit Women 55 3 11 Nicolas Petit, Portrait of a ‘jeune femme de la tribu des 4 Cam-Mer-Ray-Gal de Novelle Galles Du Sud’ 56 5 12 Peter Paul Rubens, The Three Graces 59 6 13 Annibale Carracci, Perseus and Andromeda 60 7 14 Titian, Diana and Actaeon 60 8 15 Sydney Long, The Music Lesson 72 9 16 Sydney Long, The Spirit of the Plains 73 30111 17 Judy Chicago, Peeling Back 84 1 18 Test-tube baby (and reversal) 86 2 19 The Face, front cover 87 3 20 Linda Dement, Self and Gun 94 4 21 Zoe Leonard, Untitled Installation at Neue Galerie 95 5 22 Susan Norrie, Inquisition 96 6 23 Linda Sproul, Which Side do you Dress? 105 7 24 Jane Trengove, Sex Fluffies 117 8 25 Della Grace, Jack’s Back 119 9 26 Della Grace, Hermaphrodite Torso 120 40111 27 Linda Sproul, Difficult to Light 125 1 28 ‘Ellen’, seated 128 2 29 Lesley Sanderson, Time for a Change 132 3 30 Lorna Simpson, Hypothetical? 135 44111 31 Rea, Definitions of Difference 140 ix PLATES 1111 32 Cathy Freeman at the Commonwealth Games, Canada, 1994 142 2 33 Destiny Deacon, Indigene 144 3 34 Destiny Deacon, Welcome to my island 145 4 35 Destiny Deacon, Last laughs 146 5 36 Destiny Deacon, No fixed dress 147 6 37 Destiny Deacon, Teatowel – Dance little lady 150 7 38 Destiny Deacon, Being there 150 8 39 Destiny Deacon, Me and Carol 151 9 40 Chris Barry, Requiem 153 1011 41 Chris Barry, Looking for the Child 154 1 42 Kate Beynon, Old Poem with Unbound Feet 155 2 43 Kate Beynon, Shoes for Bound Feet with Unbound Feet 156 3 44 Kate Beynon, Li Ji 157 4 45 Jane Trengove, Self-Portrait in Bright Blue 158 5 46 Tracey Moffatt, Pet Thang, 4 164 6 47 Man Ray, Anatomies 166 7 48 Max Ernst, Une Semaine de Bonté 169 8 49 Sally Smart, The Unhomely Body 170 9 50 Sally Smart, Self-Portrait (with organs) 173 20111 51 Paul Delvaux, L’Echo 174 1 52 Jenny Kemp, The Black Sequin Dress 174 2 53 Susan Fereday, Untitled 177 3 54 Zoe Leonard, Frontal View Geoffrey Beene Fashion Show 179 4 55 Linda Dement, Fur Gash 179 5 56 Pat Brassington, Memory: Au Rebours 180 6 57 Pat Brassington, In My Father’s House 182 7 58 Pat Brassington, Akimbo 184 8 59 Pat Brassington, Drink Me 184 9 60 Pat Brassington, Lisp 184 30111 61 Stelarc, The Third Hand 190 1 62 Stelarc, Stomach Sculpture: Hollow Body/Host Space 191 2 63 Stelarc, Amplified Body, Laser Eyes and Third Hand 191 3 64 Orlan, Omniprésence 194 4 65 Linda Dement, still from Cyberflesh Girlmonster 199 5 66 Patricia Piccinini, Love Me Love My Lump 200 6 67 Patricia Piccinini, Protein Lattice 202 7 68 Tracey Moffatt, Up in the Sky, 1 207 8 69 Lyndell Brown and Charles Green, The Philosopher 208 9 70 Lyndell Brown and Charles Green, Face à l’Histoire Part 4 211 40111 71 Lesley Sanderson and Neil Conroy, Fabrication and Reality 212 1 72 Narelle Jubelin, (and hence rewritten) 214 2 73 Justin Smith, Untitled 221 3 74 Bill Henson, Untitled 222 44111 x RUNNING HEAD 1111 2 3 4 5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 3111 I thank the University of Melbourne for awarding me a post-doctoral fellow- 4 ship for women with career interruptions. This award enabled me to work with 5 staff and students in the University’s Department of Fine Arts and Cinema 6 Studies between 1993 and 1995, during which time the plan for this book 7 began to take shape.