Women In Pop Art
Allen Jones and the Nude Pop Art is an art movement that started in the mid-1950s and presented a challenge to the traditional expectations of art. Artists who were involved focused on various themes such as mass production and sexuality in the hope of making references to contemporary society. In this essay I am going to discuss how sexuality and women are presented in Pop Art by analysing Allen Jones’ works in relation to John Berger’s argument on how women are depicted in western paintings. The representation of women in Pop Art can be seen as a continuation of an age old artistic genre as the nude has been around for centuries in many different cultures. In the 1950s, pin-up girls were considered a part of popular culture and therefore
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representations of women became a common theme among pop artists. This particular theme also allowed the artists to experiment with eye catching colours and gimmicky imagery, creating a new style of art.
John Berger is an art critic best known for his book titled Ways of Seeing. In the third chapter of the book, he discusses the depiction of women in art by making references to well-known European paintings. His argument mainly focuses on the objectification of women through sexualised imagery. John Berger discusses the treatment of women in such ways, claiming that women are depicted as passive whereas men, the hypothetical-viewers, are thought to be active. He extends his argument explaining the concept of the surveyor and the surveyed. According to him, the surveyed are women, as they are constantly observed by men. Because women always imagine how they appear to others, they also play the role of the surveyor. By doing this, they manage to control their presence and how they will be treated by men. Berger, then, sums this up by suggesting ‘…men act and women appear.’1 This shows that women play a passive role in comparison to men, meaning men watch while women display themselves by highlighting their best features. Berger also discusses the meaning of nude. He claims that naked and nude are different things as ‘nudity is a form of dress’ whereas ‘naked is to be oneself.’ According to Berger a woman must be on display and seen as a sight to be considered nude. She must be aware of the spectator that surveys her and act accordingly. This obviously affects her presence by changing it to something that would flatter men. As a result, the woman isn’t recognised as herself but as an object. When she becomes an object, she can no longer be considered naked as her own body is ‘turned into a disguise.’2 One of the paintings Berger uses as an example to prove his point is titled Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time, which depicts the relationship between Venus and Cupid. Venus’ pose glorifies her body shape and according to Berger has nothing to do with her sexual passion. She displays her body to the audience and therefore she becomes an object. On the other hand, Cupid’s body is not displayed to an audience in any way. This draws a clear line between the role of women and men by identifying them as passive and active respectively and also suggests that the women is only there for the sake of the audience. ‘…the principal protagonist’, Berger argues, ‘is never painted. He is the spectator in front of the picture and he is presumed to be a man. Everything is addressed to him. Everything must appear as a result of him being there.’3 What Berger refers to is the idea that women display themselves in a certain way because of the man’s presence. In other words, if men hadn’t played the role of a spectator, Venus would have been positioned more naturally. Berger also highlights the fact that the spectator is assumed to be a man suggesting that this also affects the painting. Unlike Venus, Cupid’s position looks very natural as the painting isn’t directed at a female audience. Allen Jones is a British pop artist who focuses on females in his work. His work has elements of controversy in the sense that he makes direct references to the objectification of women. His work differs from the paintings Berger used in his book even though the same arguments can be applied to them. This is because he accepts that women are being treated as mere objects and represents it very openly whereas the paintings Berger discusses do it almost unintentionally. Table, Hat Stand and Chair is an example of Jones’ work. It features three mannequins that wear fetish clothing which brings out the feminine aspects of their bodies such as their legs, waist and buttocks, turning them into sexualised objects. The fact that Jones made a reference to fetishism is very significant as it adds to the meaning of the work. Fetish is known as ‘the sexual arousal a person receives from a physical object’. The description clearly shows that the arousal is associated with an object, highlighting the idea of women being objectified as they are the cause of the arousal. We can suggest that the three mannequins are not simply a sight. They became objects for the use of men, which adds to Berger’s argument. The artworks Berger discussed in Ways of Seeing generally provide a satisfactory sight by supporting the arguments that women are presented as something to be looked at in paintings. Jones, on the other hand, takes this further by presenting women not only as something to be looked at but also objects to be used. The idea of the three women being objects was made very clear as the mannequins were turned into furniture. This suggests that the women represent the desires of men rather than making a reference to their sexuality, which clearly supports Berger’s argument of men being active and women passive. The women in Table, Hat Stand and Chair seem to exist only for men. There is nothing that gives us information about the women. The work simply shows how perhaps men would like women to appear. Berger discusses the idea of women being objectified only for the sake of men in relation to a 17th century painting by Lely titled Nell Gwynne. ‘The nakedness’ he argues ‘is not, […] an expression of her own feelings; it is a sign of her submission to the owner’s feelings and demands.’4 This clearly states that women’s sexuality isn’t included in the painting. Instead the painting focuses on men’s desires. Similarly, Table Hat Stand and Chair became about men only when Jones reduced the women to the status of an object by using mannequins to represent them. The fact that we can imagine using the three mannequins as the objects they were turned into adds to this by suggesting that they exist for the use of men. A distinctive element of Table, Hat Stand and Chair is the mannequins’ facial expressions which are emotionless. The mannequins seem to be giving us a blank stare. The facial expression of a woman is very significant as it defines her reaction to being objectified. Berger mentioned this in Ways of Seeing by using La Grande Odalisque by Ingres as an example: ‘It is the expression of a woman responding with calculated charm to the man whom she imagines looking at her – although she doesn’t know him. She is offering up her femininity as the surveyed.’5 Berger’s example shows us how women contribute to their objectification by approving such treatments. Their expressions suggest that men are allowed to treat them as a mere sight or even an object. On the other hand, Jones’ mannequins do not have the same expression that the woman in La Grande Odalisque has. Their expressionless blank stare takes the idea of women being objectified a stage further by removing any feelings a woman might have because of the situation she is in. Unlike the woman in La Grande Odalisque, who offers her femininity to her owner and, the mannequins in Table Hat Stand and Chair have no expressions or feelings and also have nothing the say about how they are being treated. They don’t seem alive and exist to be used only and therefore can be seen as the ultimate objectified nude. Despite presenting women in such ways, Jones does not try to hide the fact that the mannequins are fake plastic models. They are not real women or representations of real women. Jones was simply making a reference to popular culture by using exaggerated imagery. He argued ‘It seems to me a democratic idea that art should be accessible to everyone on some level, and eroticism is one such level.’6 This suggests that the nude has always related to popular culture and makes it clear that Jones saw the nude as something everyone is able to respond to no matter who they are or where they come from. Berger used many examples in Ways of Seeing which supports Jones’ claim. He used examples from different cultures and periods and as a result we can clearly see that all have some sort of response to the naked female form.
Three-in-One by Allen Jones is another example of the representation of women in Pop Art. It is a painting of a woman which is not quite complete as only the woman’s essential parts, or in other words, the parts that are associated with sexual imagery are depicted. This can be related to Allen Jones’ idea of eroticism being democratic in the sense that the woman is overly sexualised to make sure that there is a response from the audience. The woman’s identity is not represented, meaning the image focuses on the desires of men rather than women. Berger argues ‘…the principal protagonist is never painted. He is the spectator in front of the picture and he is presumed to be a man. Everything is addressed to him. Everything must appear as a result of him being there.’7 In Three-in-One, the woman takes her hypothetical viewer into account by presenting herself to the audience and as a result her appearance is different from what it would be like if she was on her own. For instance, her body is slightly turned towards the audience in a way that shows off her curvy body shape and she is wearing red lipstick which highlights her features. Judging by this, we can suggest that the woman’s clothing and pose represent the audience’s taste. The fact that her identity is not represented adds to this by making her a representation of women rather than a specific person. Also, if the woman had an identity, the image would reveal something about the women and would not be only about men. When the identity is removed, nothing about the woman’s presence makes a statement about her, and the image becomes about the audience only. The woman’s hair also contributes to this idea. How hair is associated with sexual passion is fairly important as Jones seems to have refrained from including the woman’s hair in the painting. ‘Hair’ Berger argues, ‘is associated with sexual power, with passion. The woman’s sexual passion needs to be minimised so that the spectator may feel that he has the monopoly of such passion.’8 This can be seen from the examples Berger used in Ways of Seeing. Susannah and the Elders by Tintoretto is one of the paintings he analysed in relation to his arguments. We can clearly see that the woman has very short hair which was tied up off her face and has no body hair. This supports Berger theory on hair increasing sexual passion. The painting depicts the scene in which the woman is being spied on and is therefore objectified. This means that her sexual passion needs to be minimised so that she can be displayed as an object. Jones also intended to minimise the women’s sexual passion by not including her hair in his painting. As hair increases the passion, it would contradict what Jones wanted to achieve. Just like making a reference to the woman’s identity, including her hair would make the painting less about the audience and more about the woman. Jones used symbols to make it clear that Three-in-One is about the representation of women as objects. One of these symbols is the price written right next to the women. It is the cost of the swimming suit the woman is wearing, however, the woman looks more desirable than the swimsuit. This is fairly important as it suggests that one would buy the swimsuit not because of how good it is but because of the woman. This lowers the status of the woman to a commodity, making her become an object that can be bought or sold like the swimming costume. Berger commented on the representation of women for the pleasure of men: ‘Women are there to feed an appetite, not to have any of their own.’9 What this means is that women create pleasure for the sake of men but don’t get to be a part of it. As the woman is treated as an object in Three-in-One, we can suggest that her sexual passion is minimised and she simply becomes a sight. This is to emphasize the power the audience exercises on the woman. Another important point that can be made is how the position of the woman affects her presence. She is displayed in a way that pleases the audience. According to Berger, the presence of a woman is crucial in the sense that it ‘defines what can and cannot be done to her.’10 The presence of a woman can include her clothing and how she is positioned. Wearing explicit clothing adds to the list of the things that can be done to the woman. Similarly, reference to sexuality gives men an idea of how the woman can be treated. Men will observe women before doing anything and therefore a woman’s presence determines how she will be treated. So, women always control how they appear as it is a part of their presence. Judging by this we can suggest that a woman’s presence demonstrates how she wants to be treated. In the case of Three-in-One, nothing about the woman’s body language suggests that she dislikes being observed by an audience. In fact she seems to accept being treated as an object since her body is turned towards us. This shows that her body language, which creates her presence, encourages men to observe her.
Wet Seal is a part of a series of oil paintings by Allen Jones. It depicts the lower half of a woman and is a recreation of an image Jones found on an advert. Jones said ‘all the titles [of these three-foot square canvases] are names of shoes that appeared in the Fredericks of Hollywood mail order catalogues of the time.’11 This is significant as by naming the depiction of a woman after shoes, Jones once again lowered women to the status of a commodity. Wet Seal can be considered similar to Table, Hat Stand and Chair in the sense that they both objectify women by making references to objects. The woman in Wet Seal seems to have the ideal body shape. Berger discusses the presentation of women in relation to women’s appearance. ‘The ideal spectator’ he argues, ‘is always assumed to be male and the image of the woman is designed to flatter him.’12 This clearly suggests that women who are being presented are chosen according to their appearances since they should look a certain way. If they don’t meet men’s expectations of ideal women then the image wouldn’t get the reaction the artists want and as expected Wet Seal depicts a woman who has the desirable body shape. The fact that such a woman is being picked emphasizes the importance of a woman’s presence, leading women to observe themselves. By doing that they play an active role and determine how they would appear to men, which allows them to change their appearance as well as personality from who they are to who they would like to be. Berger claims ‘A woman’s own sense of being in herself is supplanted by a sense of being appreciated as herself by another.’13 When we consider Wet Seal in relation to his argument, we can see that it is likely to be true. The woman who was depicted in the painting clearly wanted to highlight her features such as her long legs. They are emphasized by the heels which would have no use if she wasn’t presenting herself to an audience. This suggests that her appearance is the way it is for the sake of men, not herself. In conclusion, one can suggest that the depiction of women in pop art can be considered similar to how they have been depicted for centuries, however Jones’ work differs in the sense that he managed to exaggerate the objectification of women to leave a stronger impression and to get an immediate response.
Rather than using women as a subject matter to flatter men, Jones uses them to emphasize the fact that they are being treated as objects. In regards to Berger’s arguments, we can see that they cannot only be applied to the works of the past but also in relation to more recent depictions of women. This supports Jones’ idea of eroticism being accessible to everyone on some level as even though the nude is such an old genre, it can still be seen as one of the most popular subject matters in today’s world. In Jones’ work sexuality and women are presented rather differently in comparison to older paintings. They mainly differ in the sense that the works of the past do not objectify women on purpose whereas Jones focuses on this particular topic and is aware of the way he presents women. On the other hand both Jones’ works and works of the past are about the female body and nude which have always been considered a popular genre. This suggests that artists of the past also aimed to make a reference to popular
culture.
representations of women became a common theme among pop artists. This particular theme also allowed the artists to experiment with eye catching colours and gimmicky imagery, creating a new style of art.
John Berger is an art critic best known for his book titled Ways of Seeing. In the third chapter of the book, he discusses the depiction of women in art by making references to well-known European paintings. His argument mainly focuses on the objectification of women through sexualised imagery. John Berger discusses the treatment of women in such ways, claiming that women are depicted as passive whereas men, the hypothetical-viewers, are thought to be active. He extends his argument explaining the concept of the surveyor and the surveyed. According to him, the surveyed are women, as they are constantly observed by men. Because women always imagine how they appear to others, they also play the role of the surveyor. By doing this, they manage to control their presence and how they will be treated by men. Berger, then, sums this up by suggesting ‘…men act and women appear.’1 This shows that women play a passive role in comparison to men, meaning men watch while women display themselves by highlighting their best features. Berger also discusses the meaning of nude. He claims that naked and nude are different things as ‘nudity is a form of dress’ whereas ‘naked is to be oneself.’ According to Berger a woman must be on display and seen as a sight to be considered nude. She must be aware of the spectator that surveys her and act accordingly. This obviously affects her presence by changing it to something that would flatter men. As a result, the woman isn’t recognised as herself but as an object. When she becomes an object, she can no longer be considered naked as her own body is ‘turned into a disguise.’2 One of the paintings Berger uses as an example to prove his point is titled Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time, which depicts the relationship between Venus and Cupid. Venus’ pose glorifies her body shape and according to Berger has nothing to do with her sexual passion. She displays her body to the audience and therefore she becomes an object. On the other hand, Cupid’s body is not displayed to an audience in any way. This draws a clear line between the role of women and men by identifying them as passive and active respectively and also suggests that the women is only there for the sake of the audience. ‘…the principal protagonist’, Berger argues, ‘is never painted. He is the spectator in front of the picture and he is presumed to be a man. Everything is addressed to him. Everything must appear as a result of him being there.’3 What Berger refers to is the idea that women display themselves in a certain way because of the man’s presence. In other words, if men hadn’t played the role of a spectator, Venus would have been positioned more naturally. Berger also highlights the fact that the spectator is assumed to be a man suggesting that this also affects the painting. Unlike Venus, Cupid’s position looks very natural as the painting isn’t directed at a female audience. Allen Jones is a British pop artist who focuses on females in his work. His work has elements of controversy in the sense that he makes direct references to the objectification of women. His work differs from the paintings Berger used in his book even though the same arguments can be applied to them. This is because he accepts that women are being treated as mere objects and represents it very openly whereas the paintings Berger discusses do it almost unintentionally. Table, Hat Stand and Chair is an example of Jones’ work. It features three mannequins that wear fetish clothing which brings out the feminine aspects of their bodies such as their legs, waist and buttocks, turning them into sexualised objects. The fact that Jones made a reference to fetishism is very significant as it adds to the meaning of the work. Fetish is known as ‘the sexual arousal a person receives from a physical object’. The description clearly shows that the arousal is associated with an object, highlighting the idea of women being objectified as they are the cause of the arousal. We can suggest that the three mannequins are not simply a sight. They became objects for the use of men, which adds to Berger’s argument. The artworks Berger discussed in Ways of Seeing generally provide a satisfactory sight by supporting the arguments that women are presented as something to be looked at in paintings. Jones, on the other hand, takes this further by presenting women not only as something to be looked at but also objects to be used. The idea of the three women being objects was made very clear as the mannequins were turned into furniture. This suggests that the women represent the desires of men rather than making a reference to their sexuality, which clearly supports Berger’s argument of men being active and women passive. The women in Table, Hat Stand and Chair seem to exist only for men. There is nothing that gives us information about the women. The work simply shows how perhaps men would like women to appear. Berger discusses the idea of women being objectified only for the sake of men in relation to a 17th century painting by Lely titled Nell Gwynne. ‘The nakedness’ he argues ‘is not, […] an expression of her own feelings; it is a sign of her submission to the owner’s feelings and demands.’4 This clearly states that women’s sexuality isn’t included in the painting. Instead the painting focuses on men’s desires. Similarly, Table Hat Stand and Chair became about men only when Jones reduced the women to the status of an object by using mannequins to represent them. The fact that we can imagine using the three mannequins as the objects they were turned into adds to this by suggesting that they exist for the use of men. A distinctive element of Table, Hat Stand and Chair is the mannequins’ facial expressions which are emotionless. The mannequins seem to be giving us a blank stare. The facial expression of a woman is very significant as it defines her reaction to being objectified. Berger mentioned this in Ways of Seeing by using La Grande Odalisque by Ingres as an example: ‘It is the expression of a woman responding with calculated charm to the man whom she imagines looking at her – although she doesn’t know him. She is offering up her femininity as the surveyed.’5 Berger’s example shows us how women contribute to their objectification by approving such treatments. Their expressions suggest that men are allowed to treat them as a mere sight or even an object. On the other hand, Jones’ mannequins do not have the same expression that the woman in La Grande Odalisque has. Their expressionless blank stare takes the idea of women being objectified a stage further by removing any feelings a woman might have because of the situation she is in. Unlike the woman in La Grande Odalisque, who offers her femininity to her owner and, the mannequins in Table Hat Stand and Chair have no expressions or feelings and also have nothing the say about how they are being treated. They don’t seem alive and exist to be used only and therefore can be seen as the ultimate objectified nude. Despite presenting women in such ways, Jones does not try to hide the fact that the mannequins are fake plastic models. They are not real women or representations of real women. Jones was simply making a reference to popular culture by using exaggerated imagery. He argued ‘It seems to me a democratic idea that art should be accessible to everyone on some level, and eroticism is one such level.’6 This suggests that the nude has always related to popular culture and makes it clear that Jones saw the nude as something everyone is able to respond to no matter who they are or where they come from. Berger used many examples in Ways of Seeing which supports Jones’ claim. He used examples from different cultures and periods and as a result we can clearly see that all have some sort of response to the naked female form.
Three-in-One by Allen Jones is another example of the representation of women in Pop Art. It is a painting of a woman which is not quite complete as only the woman’s essential parts, or in other words, the parts that are associated with sexual imagery are depicted. This can be related to Allen Jones’ idea of eroticism being democratic in the sense that the woman is overly sexualised to make sure that there is a response from the audience. The woman’s identity is not represented, meaning the image focuses on the desires of men rather than women. Berger argues ‘…the principal protagonist is never painted. He is the spectator in front of the picture and he is presumed to be a man. Everything is addressed to him. Everything must appear as a result of him being there.’7 In Three-in-One, the woman takes her hypothetical viewer into account by presenting herself to the audience and as a result her appearance is different from what it would be like if she was on her own. For instance, her body is slightly turned towards the audience in a way that shows off her curvy body shape and she is wearing red lipstick which highlights her features. Judging by this, we can suggest that the woman’s clothing and pose represent the audience’s taste. The fact that her identity is not represented adds to this by making her a representation of women rather than a specific person. Also, if the woman had an identity, the image would reveal something about the women and would not be only about men. When the identity is removed, nothing about the woman’s presence makes a statement about her, and the image becomes about the audience only. The woman’s hair also contributes to this idea. How hair is associated with sexual passion is fairly important as Jones seems to have refrained from including the woman’s hair in the painting. ‘Hair’ Berger argues, ‘is associated with sexual power, with passion. The woman’s sexual passion needs to be minimised so that the spectator may feel that he has the monopoly of such passion.’8 This can be seen from the examples Berger used in Ways of Seeing. Susannah and the Elders by Tintoretto is one of the paintings he analysed in relation to his arguments. We can clearly see that the woman has very short hair which was tied up off her face and has no body hair. This supports Berger theory on hair increasing sexual passion. The painting depicts the scene in which the woman is being spied on and is therefore objectified. This means that her sexual passion needs to be minimised so that she can be displayed as an object. Jones also intended to minimise the women’s sexual passion by not including her hair in his painting. As hair increases the passion, it would contradict what Jones wanted to achieve. Just like making a reference to the woman’s identity, including her hair would make the painting less about the audience and more about the woman. Jones used symbols to make it clear that Three-in-One is about the representation of women as objects. One of these symbols is the price written right next to the women. It is the cost of the swimming suit the woman is wearing, however, the woman looks more desirable than the swimsuit. This is fairly important as it suggests that one would buy the swimsuit not because of how good it is but because of the woman. This lowers the status of the woman to a commodity, making her become an object that can be bought or sold like the swimming costume. Berger commented on the representation of women for the pleasure of men: ‘Women are there to feed an appetite, not to have any of their own.’9 What this means is that women create pleasure for the sake of men but don’t get to be a part of it. As the woman is treated as an object in Three-in-One, we can suggest that her sexual passion is minimised and she simply becomes a sight. This is to emphasize the power the audience exercises on the woman. Another important point that can be made is how the position of the woman affects her presence. She is displayed in a way that pleases the audience. According to Berger, the presence of a woman is crucial in the sense that it ‘defines what can and cannot be done to her.’10 The presence of a woman can include her clothing and how she is positioned. Wearing explicit clothing adds to the list of the things that can be done to the woman. Similarly, reference to sexuality gives men an idea of how the woman can be treated. Men will observe women before doing anything and therefore a woman’s presence determines how she will be treated. So, women always control how they appear as it is a part of their presence. Judging by this we can suggest that a woman’s presence demonstrates how she wants to be treated. In the case of Three-in-One, nothing about the woman’s body language suggests that she dislikes being observed by an audience. In fact she seems to accept being treated as an object since her body is turned towards us. This shows that her body language, which creates her presence, encourages men to observe her.
Wet Seal is a part of a series of oil paintings by Allen Jones. It depicts the lower half of a woman and is a recreation of an image Jones found on an advert. Jones said ‘all the titles [of these three-foot square canvases] are names of shoes that appeared in the Fredericks of Hollywood mail order catalogues of the time.’11 This is significant as by naming the depiction of a woman after shoes, Jones once again lowered women to the status of a commodity. Wet Seal can be considered similar to Table, Hat Stand and Chair in the sense that they both objectify women by making references to objects. The woman in Wet Seal seems to have the ideal body shape. Berger discusses the presentation of women in relation to women’s appearance. ‘The ideal spectator’ he argues, ‘is always assumed to be male and the image of the woman is designed to flatter him.’12 This clearly suggests that women who are being presented are chosen according to their appearances since they should look a certain way. If they don’t meet men’s expectations of ideal women then the image wouldn’t get the reaction the artists want and as expected Wet Seal depicts a woman who has the desirable body shape. The fact that such a woman is being picked emphasizes the importance of a woman’s presence, leading women to observe themselves. By doing that they play an active role and determine how they would appear to men, which allows them to change their appearance as well as personality from who they are to who they would like to be. Berger claims ‘A woman’s own sense of being in herself is supplanted by a sense of being appreciated as herself by another.’13 When we consider Wet Seal in relation to his argument, we can see that it is likely to be true. The woman who was depicted in the painting clearly wanted to highlight her features such as her long legs. They are emphasized by the heels which would have no use if she wasn’t presenting herself to an audience. This suggests that her appearance is the way it is for the sake of men, not herself. In conclusion, one can suggest that the depiction of women in pop art can be considered similar to how they have been depicted for centuries, however Jones’ work differs in the sense that he managed to exaggerate the objectification of women to leave a stronger impression and to get an immediate response.
Rather than using women as a subject matter to flatter men, Jones uses them to emphasize the fact that they are being treated as objects. In regards to Berger’s arguments, we can see that they cannot only be applied to the works of the past but also in relation to more recent depictions of women. This supports Jones’ idea of eroticism being accessible to everyone on some level as even though the nude is such an old genre, it can still be seen as one of the most popular subject matters in today’s world. In Jones’ work sexuality and women are presented rather differently in comparison to older paintings. They mainly differ in the sense that the works of the past do not objectify women on purpose whereas Jones focuses on this particular topic and is aware of the way he presents women. On the other hand both Jones’ works and works of the past are about the female body and nude which have always been considered a popular genre. This suggests that artists of the past also aimed to make a reference to popular
culture.