The folding screen as sexual metaphor in twentieth century Western art: An analysis of screens by Eileen Gray, Man Ray, and Bruce Conner.
Item
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Title
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The folding screen as sexual metaphor in twentieth century Western art: An analysis of screens by Eileen Gray, Man Ray, and Bruce Conner.
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Identifier
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AAI3047199
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identifier
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3047199
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Creator
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Butera, Virginia Fabbri.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Mona Hadler
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Date
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2002
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Art History
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Abstract
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The folding Screen is a unique and ancient object. Given its functionality, versatility, history, and self-referential meanings, the folding screen offers an unusual perspective for the presentation and questioning of sexuality and gender hierarchy in both Asian and Western examples.;In the twentieth century Western artists began to reconceptualize the screen's function, structure, and imagery sometimes aligning it with its acquired meanings as a dressing partition, a divider between one desiring person and another, and a locus of female imagery and erotic innuendo. By analyzing the Block Screen (1923) by Eileen Gray, Screen (1935) by Man Ray, and Partition (1961--64) by Bruce Conner, the screen may be understood as a vulvar (as opposed to phallic) object and a disruptive theatrical component in domestic interiors.;Gray's Block Screen questions the modernist enterprise through subtle functional, formal, and visual ambiguities. Because its rotating lacquer blocks and flexible structure allow one to see through it, Gray's Block Screen forces viewers to revise all notions of folding screens and acknowledge its subversive erotic message.;By contrast, Man Ray's Screen with its Surrealist fragmentation, erotic signifiers, and scopophilic intent destroy its pretentions as a traditional piece of bourgeois furniture. Although Man Ray's purpose was to signify control of his desired female object, the effect of this painted collage of rebuslike body parts surrounding the undressing woman was to amplify the artist's own castration anxiety, yet increase the woman's apparent strength.;Finally, Conner's statements critiquing the social role of women embellish yet contradict his assemblage screen Partition. Female erotic display is repetitively portrayed but tarnished and condemned on a screen that hides nothing. Discarded female accoutrements, especially stockings, are heaped in with images of religion and symbols of death to question female gender and sexual roles and the role of religion. The result is a folding screen that is a site of philosophical conflict for both the artist and the viewer.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
