JUROR’S STATEMENT

Considering Womanhood

How does one define womanhood?  And, in the context of an exhibition, how do artists visually represent what it is to be a woman?  When approaching the selection process, I chose a range of works that mirror the complexity of this theme and the myriad ways artists can approach it.  I chose these images, because they are expressions of the many sides of womanhood:  the mundane and the passionate; the beautiful and the awkward; the heartbreaking and the celebratory; the contemplative and the joyous.  In other words, these works of art are for and about women.

Womanhood in art can be expressed through images of the female body, choice of material, and symbols or narratives that convey femininity, sexuality, maternity, or sisterhood.  This exhibition includes images that fit within all of these contexts, although sometimes in unexpected ways.

Art should be surprising and it should make us, as viewers, see the world differently.  The female body has been a part of artistic culture ever since humans first started painting pictures and sculpting objects.  So, when choosing works, one of the questions central to my selection process was:  how has this artist taken such an ancient, ever-present, and complex idea as “woman” and given it new life?  Whether through poignant narrative, beautiful compositions, careful technique, or humor, these images represent womanhood in special ways.

Of all the images I was expecting to see upon my arrival to the Fredericksburg Center for the Creative Arts to juror an exhibition entitled For and About Women, it was not one that included cows.  But the image reminded me that when I talk about cows, I often use the pronoun “he.” Even though I know that a cow is a “she.”  It’s just part of our culture to use the masculine when speaking in generic terms.  But all cows are female and are justly traditional symbols of the maternal.

This is why Three Graces struck me as such an appropriate addition to the show.  In this painting, a background that harkens to the Color Field works of the mid-twentieth century highlights three expertly painted cows in shades of cream and brown.  The ultimate expression of Classical femininity, those allegorical incarnations of charm, are here represented by long-eyelashed, domicile creatures— as evocative of grace as Botticelli’s red-haired beauties, though in bovine form.

Speaking of Botticelli, Venus as Paper Doll takes a Renaissance icon of female beauty and places it into a form that evokes childhood and fashion magazines, as well as more challenging ideas like female objectification.  All with a tongue-in-cheek wink, this image’s use of such a familiar figure recognizes the complexity of womanhood, as well as women’s place within art history.

Mary Magdalen, the sinner and saint who appears as another red-haired beauty throughout Western art, is re-presented as a contemporary woman in Magdalit.  A beautifully rendered work, this painting is powerful in its reinterpretation of such a storied character.  It is an image that takes a subject so closely associated with religious history and traditional femininity and asks us to reconsider her within a new context.  How do we interpret the character of Mary Magdalen if she wears tennis shoes?

The range of emotions, subjects and ideas represented by these examples is certainly appropriate and reflects the overall character of this exhibition.  Womanhood, ultimately, is a fluid, ever-evolving idea bound to half of the world’s population.  There is no one image that can clearly encapsulate it.