The female nude - moral skins
Other periods in art history further endorse restrictives views on the female body. In Victorian times, ideas about morality became extremely important if some what paradoxical. As Linda Nead (1987) establishes, ‘those repressive and hypocritical Victorians, publicly advocat[ed] strict codes of chastity whilst privately endorsing a massive system of prostitution and pornography’ (73). This positioned women as either the 'morally good' housewife or the 'immoral' whore. Which ever position women found themselves in, again, they were firmly and biologically situated in the flesh of their body and determind by the boundaries of the home and domestic life.
The lack of clothing in this sense became lack of morals (Nelson: 2005), which materialised in Victorian times through the depiction of the ‘fallen woman’. These depictions warned about the fate of a woman who has fallen outside the strict moral codes of society. These paintings not only reference the patriarchal control of the time but, as with the female nude, they are a visualisation of colonial restrictions placed on the female body.
The lack of clothing in this sense became lack of morals (Nelson: 2005), which materialised in Victorian times through the depiction of the ‘fallen woman’. These depictions warned about the fate of a woman who has fallen outside the strict moral codes of society. These paintings not only reference the patriarchal control of the time but, as with the female nude, they are a visualisation of colonial restrictions placed on the female body.
The fallen women paintings
The fallen women paintings therefore act as a warning against falling outside social norms.
The fallen women paintings therefore act as a warning against falling outside social norms.
As seen in the tryptic above titled ‘Past and Present, I, II, III’ by Augustus Leopold Egg, the discovery of the woman’s infidelity resulted in the ruin of her children and apparently her death, as seen in the final image. Sexual deviance, as seen in the paintings, results in death, both of the pure ideal of woman and the woman herself.
George Edgar Hicks’ (1863) ‘Woman’s Mission'.
Again, consisting of three paintings of the same woman in different points in her life. First with her son, second with her husband and finally with her ill and aged father. In all three images, the notions of the female being a moral and guiding mother, subservient and caring wife, and a loving daughter not only position the Victorian ideal of woman ‘through her relationships with’ men (Nead: 1987, 79), but also suggest that it was through this relationship that their ‘moral status’ could be upheld.
The female skin as a moral (racist) guide
If we look at the skin of the woman in the Hicks paintings is seen in its purest form – white, unblemished and as seen in the first painting, with a luminosity that almost suggests a transcendence. This is in stark contrast to the skin of the fallen woman in Egg’s paintings. Either hidden from view in the first scene or obscured by darkness in the other two scenes. The female skin as explored in these paintings is bound by patriarchal desires, seen as a symbol of the morality of the female flesh. The skin in this sense also directs the viewer to idealise the woman as beautiful, young, able bodied, pure, heterosexual and dutiful, but also fundamentally white. As Nelson (2005) suggests,
The moral codes of this time were perpetuated through art and as Nead (1987) explains, the impact of ‘these paintings actively constructed meanings, values and morals’ (74; emphasis in original) informing the patriarchal, and more insidious colonial, codings of the day.
This historical representation regulates the white female body through patriarchal desire in terms of physical beauty and moral duty, but also paradoxically protects the white female skin, which is inherently coded as signifying beauty, superiority and moral ideals in opposition to the black body. See The Raced Skin for an exploration of this history.
Again, consisting of three paintings of the same woman in different points in her life. First with her son, second with her husband and finally with her ill and aged father. In all three images, the notions of the female being a moral and guiding mother, subservient and caring wife, and a loving daughter not only position the Victorian ideal of woman ‘through her relationships with’ men (Nead: 1987, 79), but also suggest that it was through this relationship that their ‘moral status’ could be upheld.
The female skin as a moral (racist) guide
If we look at the skin of the woman in the Hicks paintings is seen in its purest form – white, unblemished and as seen in the first painting, with a luminosity that almost suggests a transcendence. This is in stark contrast to the skin of the fallen woman in Egg’s paintings. Either hidden from view in the first scene or obscured by darkness in the other two scenes. The female skin as explored in these paintings is bound by patriarchal desires, seen as a symbol of the morality of the female flesh. The skin in this sense also directs the viewer to idealise the woman as beautiful, young, able bodied, pure, heterosexual and dutiful, but also fundamentally white. As Nelson (2005) suggests,
The moral codes of this time were perpetuated through art and as Nead (1987) explains, the impact of ‘these paintings actively constructed meanings, values and morals’ (74; emphasis in original) informing the patriarchal, and more insidious colonial, codings of the day.
This historical representation regulates the white female body through patriarchal desire in terms of physical beauty and moral duty, but also paradoxically protects the white female skin, which is inherently coded as signifying beauty, superiority and moral ideals in opposition to the black body. See The Raced Skin for an exploration of this history.
Reference list:
Nead, L. (1987) The Magdalen in modern times: the mythology of the fallen woman in Pre-Raphaelite painting. In: Rosemary Betterton (ed.). Looking on: Images of Femininity in the Visual Arts and Media. London, Pandora Press. 73–92.
Nead, L. (1992) The female nude: art, obscenity, and sexuality. London; New York, Routledge.
Nelson, C. (2005) Venus Africaine: Race, Beauty and African-ness. In: Jan Marsh (ed.). Black Victorians: Black People in British Art 1800-1900. Manchester and Birmingham, Manchester Art Gallery and Birmingham Museums and Art gallery. 46–56.
Nead, L. (1987) The Magdalen in modern times: the mythology of the fallen woman in Pre-Raphaelite painting. In: Rosemary Betterton (ed.). Looking on: Images of Femininity in the Visual Arts and Media. London, Pandora Press. 73–92.
Nead, L. (1992) The female nude: art, obscenity, and sexuality. London; New York, Routledge.
Nelson, C. (2005) Venus Africaine: Race, Beauty and African-ness. In: Jan Marsh (ed.). Black Victorians: Black People in British Art 1800-1900. Manchester and Birmingham, Manchester Art Gallery and Birmingham Museums and Art gallery. 46–56.