The development of contemporary art stimulated a renaissance of various forms of art. The rise of contemporary art has several obvious contenders within the conceptual and sculptural artistic practices. Contemporary conceptual artists like Richard Long and Cildo Morales were known for their appropriated, conceptually based works. While the development of new explorations of contemporary art ushered in an era of 3-Dimensional art and installation based artists, what was left of so-called traditional methods and mediums like painting and drawing?
How has the medium of painting adjusted and remained relevant in the conversation of contemporary art?
The resurgence of painting as a contender within the realm of contemporary art was brought on by a shift in the artistic agenda. Godfrey explains that contemporary painters were driven by a desire to "reconnect with myth and history" through "myth, fable and allegory." Contemporary painters sought to confront the contemporary world and "fictionalize in accessible and entertaining ways a new generation's fears and aspirations" .
Painters in the contemporary were drawn to expressionist execution under new terms. It was in this new iteration of painting that painter Marlene Dumas aligned with. Dumas sought to reconstruct seemingly benign fairy tales into scenes of nudity and voyeurism to comment on her white South African identity in her early contemporary oil painting Snow White and the Broken Arm.
Through her display of the feminine form, Dumas invites questions of sexualization, loss of innocence and voyeurism to highlight and explore the discomfort of living in her white South African identity during Apartheid-era South Africa. Dumas capitalizes on the theory of Male Gaze to proxy herself as Snow White and to implicate viewers in her loss of innocence and blooming social awareness as the audience.
Dumas Snow White and the Broken Arm (1988) is a clear example of the use of allegory and fable as a device for metaphor and social awareness. The painting, scaled at 55 by 118 inches, currently housed at The Hauge, is a life sized depiction of a familiar fairy tale. In this depiction, Dumas features a stylized Snow White at the forefront. Snow White is completely nude, laying on a metal table under a lamp illuminating the upper prtion of her body. Her skin is is painted cooly as you diverge from the light source centered around her chest. Snow Whites expression is one perturbed unconsciousness. In the background, there are 7 figures understood to be the 7 dwarves oggling and staring at her prone body. The dwarves are not illuminated and their The 7 dwarves are clustered and distanced from Snow White behind a counter. Snow White, located in the foreground, holds a camera facing the viewer, as polaroid pictures appear to be falling to the ground.
Dumas infuses viewers into a moment of personal exposure, in a perverse and voyueristic manner. The scene viewers are injected in places them in a position of participation with the 7 ogling dwarves scrutinizing Snow Whites prone form. The dwarves appear unashamed and intent on viewing Snow Whites form.
In doing this, Dumas positions viewers to be contributors of the Male gaze, therefore implicating us in this moment of foible. To dissect the Male Gaze, it is important to understand the factors that comprise it.
Mulvey defines the male gaze as having 3 distinct parts.
"There are three different looks associated with cinema: that of the camera as it records the pro-filmic event, that of the audience as it watches the final product, and that of the characters at each other within the screen illusion".
Mulvey explains the key components of the Male Gaze come from the relationship between the camera, the audience and the character. Each component of the Male Gaze is necessary in its promotion and subjection of women and female forms.
In the case of Dumas, viewers are implicated in their act of passive looking by the camera Snow White holds in her hands. The character portion of the Male Gaze is fulfilled in Dumas's depiction of Snow White. Her form is not handled in a delicate and sexualized manner yet we are witnesses to the other characters within the scene scrutinizing her naked form. This sort of implication is furthered in writings in an interview for "Research in African Literature" The Thread of the Story: Two South African Women Artists Talk about Their Work by Pauline Burmann. Burmann highlights this difference in depiction of Snow White stating " It is not the beautiful, fragile, sexy body normally used to depict her; rather she is naked, she is a woman". Burmann highlights a 1989 interview by Dumas where she explains the optics and feelings associated with her work.
In the interview, Dumas states that "[The] viewer feels at home with the story, satisfied that he knows what it's all about. However, this feeling can't last forever, because slowly, the inconsistency of the elements begins to dawn. It's an euphemistic technique..... Negativity and anxiety disguised with childlike humor, while the political sexuality attitudes bleed through at the edges" . This inconsistency that Dumas highights is present in Snow White and the Broken Arm through her placement of the 7 dwarves and her rendering towards Snow White. Snow White is given a cold tone and her form is limp and prone against the table where she is being displayed for viewers. The dwarves are not shying away from the naked form. In popularized tales of Snow White, the 7 dwarves are understood to be reverent and respectful of Snow White because of her demure and maiden-like disposition. Dumas reels in viewers to these seemingly innocent fairy tale depictions and then she implicates and makes viewers aware of their looking and the subject matter they are consuming.
In an a write up by curator and art critic Ingrid Schaffner, Schaffner states that Dumas "The portraits, nudes, and modern-day depictions of fairytale scenes that Dumas paints push her loss of innocence outside of a local situation into a cultural realm..[they] present reality complicated by conflicting pints of view... and unexcusable acts". Dumas uses these fairy tales original innocence to reflect on her position in South African society. Dumas's practice is heavily rooted in her South African identity and experience. In reconstructing the story of Snow White, Dumas inserts herself to be scrutinized by the viewer. Dumas invites and implicates the viewer to be a component in the loss of her innocence and a witness to the voyuerism of the 7 dwarves. In creating this relationship, Dumas exemplifies the relationship between the viewer, the characters within the canvas and the camera facing the viewers.
Snow White and the Broken Arm (1988), 140cm x 300.2cm, oil on linen
Marlene Dumas
Bibliography
1
Schaffner, Ingrid. 1991. ““Snow White in the Wrong Story: Paintings and Drawings by Marlene Dumas.” Arts Magazine, March 1991, pp. 59-63.” Ingrid Schaffner. https://ingridschaffner.com/1991/03/marlene_dumas_snow_white_wrong_story_1991/.
2
Burmann, Pauline. "The Thread of the Story: Two South African Women Artists Talk about Their Work." Research in African Literatures 31, no. 4 (2000): 155-165. https://doi.org/10.1353/ral.2000.0102.
3
Mulvey, Laura. 1989. “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.” In Palgrave Macmillan UK eBooks, 14–26. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-19798-9_3.
4
Godfrey, Tony. 2020. The Story of Contemporary Art. MIT Pre.
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5
MacKenny, Virginia. 2008///Spring. "MARLENE DUMAS: RETURNING HOME." Nka : Journal of Contemporary African Art (22) (Spring 2008): 146-151. https://libproxy.library.unt.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/marlene-dumas-returning-home/docview/222309035/se-2.