While reading Chapter 1 of Digital Art by Christiane Paul, I was intrigued by Nancy Burson's Beauty Composites: First and Second because there have been many interpretations throughout art history of ultimate beauty (or the lack thereof.) Specifically, female beauty. In Burson's interpretation, she digitally combines images of film stars Bette Davis, Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelley, Sophia Loren, and Marilyn Monroe for the first composite, and Jane Fonda, Jacqueline Bisset, Diane Keaton, Brooke Shields, and Meryl, Streep for the second. The composites mesh cultural icons of beauty to speak about historic trends in attractiveness, while simultaneously diluting the individuality of each star.
Immediately, the French artist Orlan came to my mind. She literally made herself into a composite of art historic beauty via plastic surgery. She documented the surgeries as performance pieces into videos and photographs during the early 90's. Using pieces of specifically male artists' portrayals of female beauty, including the chin of Botticelli’s Venus, the nose of Jean-Léon Gérôme's Psyche, the lips of François Boucher’s Europa, the eyes of Diana (as depicted in a sixteenth-century French School of Fontainebleu painting), and the forehead of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, Orlan has transformed her own face into something of questionable beauty rather than ideal beauty.
Vanessa Beecroft's version of beauty is not a composite per se, rather a performance of beauty. Her pieces include a room full of "ideally" thin women, usually nude, all wearing the same chosen garment (boots, wigs, or stockings.) There is a strong reference to the fashion industry in Beecroft's works, and the fashion industry has a strong influence on the cultural "goal" of ultimate beauty. They are all beautiful, together though, they loose their individuality, which Beecroft exaggerates in the 2001 piece I chose VB 47(VB 47.378.DR) from the Peggy Guggenheim. The women become just bodies, a collection of objects of beauty, without faces. Contrasting the previous two pieces, the viewer can only imagine how beautiful the individual faces are.
Finally, I travel back in time to the "origin" of ideal beauty, or at least the question of it. Da Vinci's Mona Lisa is the most obvious composite I could mention. She is the most famous image of intriguing and mysterious beauty. There is debate about where her image came from though, it has been said over time to have come from the artist's idea of the most beautiful woman, more recently as from a sitter, Lisa del Giocondo, and it is also argued that Da Vinci used his own image in the painting. All of these ideas could be true, at the same time forming a composite of legend, beauty between genders, and a sense of anonymity.The well known saying is that "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." Which leads us to understand there is no perfect universal beauty, only infinite attempts to achieve it and subsequent interpretations of it. It seems though, that every time ultimate beauty's epitome is attempted, it is simultaneously undone.
It's interesting to me especially how Beecroft & Orlan challenge that notion of beauty-- do people find this group of naked skinny bodies actually beautiful? I don't. And Orlan might be considered beautiful someplace outside the standards of mainstream contemporary culture... maybe in a Star Wars kind of way. These two for me definitely fall under the realm of anti-beauty.
ReplyDeleteThat sub-category of the composite is very interesting. The Beecroft might also fit, as the "beauty" being discussed derives from the composite of all the naked bodies present.
I wonder how you have dealt with these ideas in your work, if at all.
I have always been intrigued by factors that drive the definition of beauty (or lack of thereof), especially when it comes to 'benchmarking' individual's appearance. In parallel, it was interesting to see if the same could be applicable to other disciplines such as architecture. It appears that cultures that are less prone to outside influences and rapid differentiation have a tendency to retain an established definition of beauty indefinitely. Tribal cultures are the best example to support that statement. Cultures on the other side of the spectrum, however, tend to aid the definition with external elements such as evolving fashion, style, technology, accessories, all of which make 'beauty' a rather complex formula, subject to change at any time. The best example of this is taking a look at the American history. Despite it being very young, the concept of 'beauty' was defined and redefined time after time. Last 50 years is a testament to that - 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, and the last decade - all have their moments of distinction. And then there is Taj Mahal - centuries in existence, yet its unprecedented beauty is unquestionable and is recognized by all cultures and all generations.
ReplyDeleteNot to run away from individual appearance and beauty, I simply wanted to quote a series of interesting trivia facts related to the subject...
One day in 1907, the Australian actress and star swimmer Annette Kellerman ("The Diving Venus") appeared on a Boston beach in a newly designed form-fitting skirtless one-piece jersey bathing suit with sleeves shortened almost to the shoulders and legs ending just above her knees - and was promptly arrested for indecent exposure.
Aub Laidlaw - the fanatical chief inspector on Australia's famous Bondi Beach - often carried a ruler to ensure that the sides of women's bikinis conformed to the regulation 4" minimum. In 1961, he arrested a group of men for wearing a controversial new bathing suit - the Speedo.
Let me start by saying I love Nancy Burson! I have loved her since the early nineties. Her work is and was ground breaking. Coming out of MIT she combined two things I love the most in art, conceptual and smart.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of beauty has always fascinated me. Being a sculptor, I am surprised you did not mention Annette Messager. Her work on feminism and women's issues is also extremely witty and powerful.
The idea of beauty can be taken back since the beginning of time. Woman have been using various methods and techniques all in the name of beauty. From the Kayan woman who wear rings around their necks risking structural issues and even death, the scarification of body and skin used by the some African tribes for the purpose of beauty and fertility, to the bindinf of feet in ancient asian cultures.
There is always that question--is it brutality to woman and something they are forced to do, or is it women empowering themselves?