The image of the Venus, a mythological goddess born of the sea, is one of the most persistent icons throughout art history and has influenced modern ideals of femininity and beauty. The majority of contemporary representations of women in one form or another, purposeful or accidental, reference the Venus. Linda Nochlin defines this subliminal use of antique images as Nachleben, or afterlife of images. Naclhleben extends beyond “influence and is not appropriation, but is quite literally the afterlife of elements of western tradition achieving new meaning in the work of artists who use them as both continuity and critique in the representation of women.” The self-portrait Fuck, Suck, Spank, Wank, by Sam Taylor-Woods, “brings up antique and Renaissance memories through the use of the contrapposto pose, the escaping strands of hairs the trousers falling about the artists feet, it’s Venus, transported by Botticelli and made utterly new in the artists studio, with a cabbage instead of a scallop shell. The photograph is a harmoniously composed as any Greek frieze, and much the richer for its references, however unusual, to the past.” Taylor-Wood becomes the modern day Venus, no longer passive and victimized, she takes control of her sexuality and confronts the viewer. Not only does Taylor-Wood defy historical notions of femininity she also challenges the notion of the “genius” in art.
In creating her own Birth of Venus/ Primavera Sam Taylor-Wood questions the myth of the “Great Artist” and the traditional role of the female in art. Historically the role of the female has been that of the muse, or object of male desire, while the male has been that of creator, “genius”. All representations of the female body within the artistic discourse draw upon the same visual codes and reinstate the same relations of male sexual power and female subordination. In photographing herself Taylor-Wood is both artist and subject, therefore controlling the power of the gaze. This relationship questions such binaries as oppressor/victim, pure/impure, and active/passive. Fuck, Suck, Spank, Wank also confronts the notion of “genius” through its reference of the Primavera. The Venus has historically been depicted in masterpieces by men, and by creating her own Venus Taylor-Wood has assumed the role of master/great artist.
Reneke Dijkstra and Jesse Mann’s photographs also reference Botticelli’s Birth of Venus. Dijkstra’s portraits of adolescents dressed in swimsuits on the beach show the awkwardness and discomfort casued by the subjects inability to attain historically reinforced ideals of beauty. While Dijkstra’s photographs reference Nachleben through the subconscious use of classical imagery, Mann’s photographs are a direct, conscious appropriation of Botticelli’s Venus. In her self-portrait Mann assumes the role of the Venus, wearing a long blonde wig and standing in a bird bath, exposing the absurdity of the myth and the ideals created by it. Though Dijkstra and Mann’s approaches are very different they both explore androgyny, ambiguity, and self-consciousness in an attempt to challenge history.
For my photographic series I posed men in the traditional Venus/contrapposto pose in an attempt to explore contemporary issues of the representation of femininity/masculinity, challenge the notion of “genius”, and expose the performative nature of identity. I chose the “Venus pose” because it has become the icon/ideal of femininity. When placed in this pose the male subject is asked to perform/become feminine. By photographing the male subject I am reversing the historical artist (male)/ subject (female) relationship, therefore altering the power structure, and sexualized gaze
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