Del Mikdit

Although Michaelina Wautier painted her Triumph of Bacchus (recently on show at the Royal Academy) in the 1650s, it wasn’t until the mid twentieth century that critics finally acknowledged that a woman could have created such an ensemble of male nudes.

Eighteenth century Royal Academy founder members Mary Moser and Angelica Kauffman, and twentieth century painters Suzanne Valadon and Dame Laura Knight, all suffered from the patriarchy determining what female artists should be permitted to view and depict.

Now – almost 400 years since Wautier painted her Bacchus – the female gaze on the male nude is accepted as completely normal. Isn’t it?

Well. to judge from the 21st century painter Cecily Brown's experience, I'm not so sure. From what she reports, it sounds as if male nudes are invariably regarded as homoerotic, even when they're painted by a straight woman.

So as a male life model, posing more often than not for female artists, I want to do whatever I can to make amends for the centuries of tyranny imposed on females by the male gaze. To make a small contribution to the long overdue normalisation of the female gaze on the male nude.

Am I making any difference? No idea. But I’m grateful to Bruce Thomas of lifedrawing.art for giving me the opportunity to set out my stall last year in his Articles About Artists blog. You can find it at:

https://lifedrawing.art/blog/liberating-the-female-gaze/

You may need to copy this link and paste it into a browser before you can read the article. Or else you can message me directly and I’ll try to send you a live link. Do please persevere! Give it a read and tell me what you think.

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#malenude #maleform #malemodel
#femaleartist #femaleartists #womanartist #womanartists
#femalegaze #malegaze
#michaelinawautier #marymoser #angelicakauffman #suzannevaladon #damelauraknight #lauraknight #cecilybrown