Further Research: Hans Bellmer

 

Hans Bellmer (1936) Die Puppe (The Doll)

I am looking at Bellmer, who was a surrealist artist and photographer who is; 'best known for the life-sized pubescent female dolls he produced in the mid-1930s' (Tate 2002).  I am looking at this artist as his use of dolls and the female form will inform how I photograph my own dolls and the stages of woman. Bellmer focused on the pre-pubescent form and was interested in girl turning into woman.  Bellmer was often criticised for the exploitative photographs which may consist of a breast, buttocks or thighs of the doll which was often twisted into a strange form to emphasise the doll's sexuality. 'The inspiration for Bellmer's first doll was allegedly his unfulfilled sexual desire for his underage cousin Ursula Naguschewski who was then living with him and his wife. He created the doll from wood, glue, plaster and straw in his studio - obsessively driven to create what he called a "real object to be possessed."' (Hans Bellmer photographs 2022).  This idea of the handmade doll that was made to fufil Bellmer's desires reminds me of why I chose Barbie to represent the stages of woman.  Barbie is an ideal that has been foisted upon the female population since 1959 (1).  Although Barbie in recent years had tried to update Barbie with 'curvy' Barbie and Wheelchair Barbie, Barbie is still an almost impossible woman.

Self Portrait with Die Puppe (1934) Hans Bellmer

Bellmer's dolls often did not have eyes or the eyes faced away from the lens; 'Paul Éluard, French poet and another prominent member of the surrealist group, took note of this absence of gaze in the collection of prose poems he created for Bellmer’s second doll, writing: “It’s a girl! – Where are her eyes? – … It’s a girl, it is my desire!” alongside one photograph.' (Wetzel, 2021).  When photographing my own series of 'stages of woman' I am debating whether the dolls should look directly into the lens (challenging the viewer) or look away from the lens (could be submissive/passive).  It is important that the dolls celebrate woman and the idea is not to be just an object of reproduction or desire but a productive and useful member of society, that contributes to the economy, production, industry, education, and government and is as important as a man. 

Hans Bellmer, Untitled, ca. 1962, in The Doll, trans. Malcolm Green and Antony Melville (London: Atlas Press, 2005), 41.

Looking further at the images and poses of the dolls, the dolls all are damaged, broken, or deformed in some way, this vision of woman, as in the 'Self Portrait with Die Puppe' above shows woman as part human, part mechanical and the idea here of woman as the object is intensified, also the idea that she is unobtainable in the sense of a 'normal' woman and so this dichotomy of woman as a desirable object and available for man's needs and this construction of Bellmer where he makes her unobtainable and somehow inhuman as Eluard states; 'where are her eyes?' is interesting as a conceptual construction.  Bellmer has created in the image a strange, desirable, unobtainable object that reminds me of J G Ballard's 'Crash' (1973).  Ballard created a strange tale of a sexualised relationship with crashed motor vehicles and damaged woman. David Cronenberg's film captures the cold, sexual and sensual relationship of the participants obsessed with the car crash and damaged bodies.  Both are desired equally in this disturbing and sensual film. The British Library states;  ‘Crash is above all a cautionary tale, a warning against the brutal, erotic and overlit future that beckons us, ever more powerfully, from the margins of the technological landscape’. (British Library 2022)

In 1996 this was a warning, now we live in a technological future where people have more connection with their mobile phone screens than other people and it is a worrying sign of what will come next.  

Finally going back to the dolls, the use ofBrbie will work well in my photographs this plastic construction, like Bellmer's dolls will give an objectified air to the images but I will be trying to subvert this in the image creating an image of woman that is strong and through the use of text and image in a book form I think the message will be also be strengthened. 

(1) Barbie, in full Barbara Millicent Roberts, an 11-inch- (29-cm-) tall plastic doll with the figure of an adult woman that was introduced on March 9, 1959, by Mattel, Inc., a southern California toy company. Ruth Handler, who cofounded Mattel with her husband, Elliot, spearheaded the introduction of the doll. Barbie’s physical appearance was modeled on the German Bild Lilli doll, a risqué gag gift for men based upon a cartoon character featured in the West German newspaper Bild Zeitung. (Barbie 2022)

References

Tate (no date) Hans Bellmer 1902–1975, Tate. Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/hans-bellmer-736 (Accessed: November 16, 2022). 

Hans Bellmer photographs, Bio, ideas (2022) The Art Story. Available at: https://www.theartstory.org/artist/bellmer-hans/ (Accessed: November 16, 2022). 

Barbie (2022) Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Barbie (Accessed: November 16, 2022). 

http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1857/hans-bellmers-dolls-and-the-subversion-of-the-female-gaze

David Cronenberg, Crash (1996)British Library (2022) . Available at: https://www.bl.uk/works/crash#:~:text=Crash%20is%20a%20novel%20by,called%20the%20New%20Arts%20Laboratory. (Accessed: November 17, 2022). 

Software Testing: Photoshop

 Today we are testing Photoshop software and so we are going to mock up a portfolio page which is for major project this term.  

I created a new page by clicking on new in the top menu and then using the dialog box above I clicked on 'Print' in the top menu and then in the presets I clicked on A£ and I chose 'Portrait' a white

 background and 300 resolution.

I then had a blank white canvas to work on.  I then added my title 'Stages of Woman' this was 72pts Century font.  I used the move tool to put this in the right place in the right hand corner.

I then added the image which I got from unsplash.  The image I downloaded from unsplash and then I clicked on 'open' in the top menu and then chose the image. Once the image is in Photoshop I used the crop tool as I did not want the distracting edges to the image.  I then clicked on 'select' and then 'all' and then Edit and copy.

I clicked back into my main canvas and clicked paste and then used the transform controls to adjust the picture size and the move tool to place correctly.  I then used the text tool again and the Century font to write my concept section.

I made a logo on Tailorbrands and then I made a snip of this and saved it to my desktop.  I then uploaded this to Photoshop .  I then used 'select' in the top menu and 'all' and then Edit, copy.  I then clicked back to my mock up and clicked on paste.  I used the transform controls and the move tool to add this to the correct place. 

I created a landscape version earlier today as well

I quite liked these mock up ups they worked well as a design and did show what I wanted as a concept.  I may keep the logo but make a new one that I have spent more time on and on the final version I will use my on image. 

First Shoot: Stages of Woman - Pregnancy

 To organise my photographic shoots, I ordered a light box with LED lights and I started by ordering two barbies, one was a pregnant barbie and the other a barbie in her prime - flexible barbie.  I started with pregnant barbie for the first shott.  Pregnant barbie is not particularly flexible so the angle and positioning will be key here to getting the kind of shots I want to exemplify the stages of woman.  

I set this up and used a Canon 700D, I shot in black and white. My settings for this shoot were F4.5, ISO 200, Shutter Speed 1/80.

These are the contacts from the shoot...

I thought these shots worked well and the ones at the end at a slightly low angle I think worked the best as it makes the woman look almost regal, and as a creator of life so she should be!

This shot also had something and I liked the angle and so I may shoot again and consider how they will work together with the other stages of life I will create a storyboard and sketches to work out the framing and poses for each stage. 

Website: About Me Page

Zoe lives high above Leicester, looking down upon the ancient city.  Zoe spends her days reading about and creating obscure photographs. When she is not hiding behind her Polaroid, Zoe teaches Art, Design & Media.  She hopes one day that she will be able to move into academic obscurity by writing a PhD on the transformational image and invoking the spirit of Bataille in an act of sacred sacrifice. 

Zoe has a first degree in Media & English from DMU. She also has achieved an MA with Distinction in Creative Media Arts (Photography) from London South Bank University.  Zoe's film 'Let's Eat Hair' was shown at the Phoenix Cinema in Leicester. Zoe continues to make photographs and writes creatively. 

I will now add this bio to my website.  I went to the left hand menu and selected the About page and then I clicked on the text and right clicked to edit text.  I copied and pasted the text from my blog and then adjusted the colour and size of the text and changed the title to 'Meet the Artist'.  I then clicked on the image and selected change background and I then uploaded my own image.  

I think that this page looks good with the black and white and the black and white photo.  It does represent me and my work.  I may just make the writing larger as I think then it will have more impact.

I then checked my mobile view and here I had to adjust the sections as they were overlapping for this I just used the drag arrows on each section and I dragged the About title into the correct space.

This now works well and is easy to read , it has a 'back to top' arrow so it is easy to navigate.

Stages of Woman: Research & Development

 As I have started to plan my work, I now have a clear idea of the direction I would like to take on my project.  I will be creating the stages of women in photographs and I intend to do this through staging images using classical paintings for the setup and poses and using a Barbie doll as the woman throughout.  I have ordered the first dols that I want to use and a photographic light box to stage the images.

Looking at artists who have used thsi subject, I will begin with Gustav Klimt Three Ages of Woman  (1905). 'The painting shows a little girl in the protecting arms of a young woman, while beside them an old woman stands with bowed head. The aged crone is symbolic of the passage of time' (Gustav.Klimt.com 2011).  This painting is also borrowed from classical paintings, the old woman is borrowed from Auguste Rodin's The Old Courtesan (1901).  This painting wraps the subjects in the bright coloured patterns which is often seen in Klimt's work and the women are placed closely together to create a unified whole, a circle of life. 

Gustav Klimt Three Ages of Woman  (1905)

The second painting I wanted to consider was Edvard Munch's The Dance of Life (1899). 'This picture,  appears to be a more complex and personalized version of Woman in Three Stages, with an innocent woman in white on the left, a sensual woman dancing with the man, and an anguished woman in black on the right. All three resemble Tulla Larsen; the girls dancing in the background may also represent her. The man in the foreground appears to be Munch.' (The Dance of Life 1899 by Edvard Munch n.d.)

 Edvard Munch's The Dance of Life (1899)

The younger version in this image looks on as if seeing the future as she becomes a woman sensual and desirable and the older woman looks back as if remembering when she was young and vibrant.  It is interesting that in both images as a woman gets older they become unimportant, wizened, and no longer desirable in any way, invisible and fading.  In Klimt the older woman is a crone and in Munch's a sad figure who now is alone.  These images show that a woman is only really seen when she is young, pretty and at reproductive age, once we fade and no longer can produce children or are desirable society starts thinking we have nothing to offer.  In our jobs, we work harder to prove we are worthy and able as still as we hit menopause our judgment can be questioned.

In the third image, here is a Victorian portrait of a woman's stages in life.  In this image;   '11 chronological stages of virtuous womanhood (with the 30's evidently considered to be the peak years), each accompanied by a descriptive verse couplet.' (Kelloggs & Comstock 2006)

The Life & Age of Woman (1849 U.S. print illustrating) Kelloggs & Comstock, 11 chronological stages of virtuous womanhood

The couplets for the stages of woman here are as follows:

An approximate transcription of the verse couplets in the image (some of the words are quite hard to read):

1) Infant in cradle:

"A wailing infant, first she plays,

Unconscious of her future days."

2) Young girl with doll:

"Her girlish pastimes reveal for show

The cares which woman's life must know."

3) Late teen girl in grownup clothes:

"Her ripened beauty all confess

And wonder at her loveliness."

4) Bride in white dress and veil:

"A husband's arms, in hope and pride,

"Enclasp her now, a lovely bride."

5) Young mother holding baby:

"A mother's anxious love and care

With toilful heart is hers to share."

6) Dressed to go outdoors (i.e. now that she no longer has babies or toddlers in the house, she can now take an interest in matters outside the home — though in a strictly private and individual charitable capacity, of course):

"Now to the poor her hands dispense

the blessings of benevolence."

7) Middle-aged woman (first declining step):

"Absorbed in household duties now,

The weight of toil contracts her brow."

8) In black bonnet and holding handkerchief (suggesting the latter stages of mourning, perhaps her husband has died):

"She now resigns all earthbound care

And lifts her soul to heaven in prayer."

9) Old, wearing spectacles:

"At eighty years, her well-stored mind

"Imparts its blessings to her kind"

10) Bent over, using cane:

"The hoary head, us all should bless,

Who abound in ways of righteousness."

11) Sitting in chair, knitting:

"The body sinks and wastes away,

The spirit cannot know decay."

Vignette under arch: Funeral scene.

As can be seen here as soon as she becomes middle ages (i.e.in her 40s) this is described as the first declining step, she then waits for death as she, apparently after her husband dies, has no earthbound care.

Interesting to look at these images as it helps me to explore my ideas about how I will show these stages of a woman through these photographs, I want to use a classical pose but I would like to add a more contemporary and feminist take on the stages, perhaps a more optimistic one!

References

The Three Ages of Woman, 1905 by Gustav Klimt (2011) The three ages of woman, 1905 by Gustav Klimt. Available at: https://www.gustav-klimt.com/The-Three-Ages-Of-Woman.jsp (Accessed: November 9, 2022). 

The Dance of Life, 1899 by Edvard Munch (no date) The dance of life, 1899 by Edvard Munch. edvardmunch.org. Available at: https://www.edvardmunch.org/the-dance-of-life.jsp (Accessed: November 9, 2022). 

Kelloggs & Comstock (2006) File:11-stages-womanhood-1840s.jpg - wikimedia commons, Wikimedia Commons. Wikimedia. Available at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:11-stages-womanhood-1840s.jpg (Accessed: November 9, 2022). 

Further Live Research: Carolee Schneeman Exhibition

 As part of my research, I visited the Carolee Schneemann exhibition Body Politics, at the Barbican in London.  this exhibition was a retrospective of the life and work of Schneemann (1939-2019).

As the exhibition catalogue states Schneemann 'experimented with paint, found objects, her own body, text, performance, film and multimedia installations' (Carolee Schneemann, Body Politics)  I originally was drawn to her work through the performance, using her body and her feminist perspective.  As stated before many argue that a woman using her body is exhibitionist and worse, a pretty woman using her body in art is just a crowd pleaser.  However, this missed the point and the title of the exhibition body politics is exposing what is most important and that is that a woman's body is political.  Schneemann reclaimed her body and used it for art to expose 'the history of patriarchy and the abuse of power across global conflicts' (Carolee Schneemann, Body Politics)

Schneemann starts with the personal and then moves into the universal and in using her own and other bodies in 'kinetic theatre' Schneemann was using experimental techniques which 'explored desire, challenged the male gaze, and took her daily life and relationships as source material' (Carolee Schneemann, Body Politics)  The idea in Meat Joy of using meat and fish and moving together, men and women's bodies entwined in a carnal dance, in the resulting film of the performance, has a kind of beauty.  Below in Eye Body Schneemann used paint and her body to express herself as an 'active maker' not just a passive muse for male pleasure. 

the film 'Fuses' is most interesting as it was filmed over three years and recorded 30 seconds of footage at a time using a Bolex camera.  'The camera was positioned hanging from the ceiling, and atop the furniture, vantage points that share a consistent framing of the couple having sex.  Fuses is unapologetically erotic' (Carolee Schneemann, Body Politics). The film was then treated with acid, rain, lightning, baked, and exposed to the sun. The resulting footage is erotic, and moving and gives the viewer an insight into; 'a heterosexual woman invested in non-reproductive sex'  (Carolee Schneemann, Body Politics).  Again, there is a raw beauty to this footage that is sensory and moving, intimate and dynamic. This piece of work has always moved me and seeing it on the big screen allowed me to experience this in a deeper way as it could wash over me, and be inside me. 

Schneemann also created films from war zones, her own breast cancer, and her own life.  Schneemann is the work and as she stated to a friend 'I do not show my naked body!  I AM BEING MY BODY!' (Carolee Schneemann, Body Politics)

Website Research: Francesca Woodman & Carolee Schneemann

 As we are creating our own website, I will study two websites and compare and contrast these.  This website research will assist me in understanding how to create my own website so I will consider the overall design, colours, and typography, navigation, usability/user-friendliness, links and mobile view.

I will be looking at Francesca Woodman and Carolee Schneemann  as these are two artists I will be looking at in more depth as part of my further research so it will be interesting how their work is presented.  Both of these artists have passed away and so their websites are managed by a foundation so they are good to compare as we consider the photographic legacy of these artists.

I will begin by looking at Carolee Schneemann's website.  Below you can view the homepage 

I find the homepage quite busy there does not seem to be a menu however there are buttons you can click into to view the various pages on her site.  The layout and design are in a mosaic form and so parts of the artist's works cover the page.  The buttons that link to the pages cover the homepage.  The typography is a sans serif font and is white for the title of the artist and so this is clear over a busy background the font is rounded and very easy to read.  The buttons are white with black titles which again works well over a coloured background that changes with videos and artworks changing underneath. 

I then clicked into artworks to view the artists work please see this page and layout here;

As can be seen here the page has a black background and a menu on the left-hand side which uses white buttons consistent with the homepage for the menu to the artist's work, life, bibliography and newsletter and misson.  It is easy to click into the works which appear large when clicked into with a title, date, and introduction to the work which is well-written and informative. 

There is not an About page as such on this site but there is a mission for the legacy of Schneemann and her work and a chronology of her work throughout her lifetime.  This is useful and the viewer can get a clear understanding of the artist and her work. 

The last page I will look at here is the contact page, this page is clear and simple in design with a consistent sans serif font using black text on a white background.  This page does include email contact links and social media links however these could have been added as icons for increased and easy usability as many people would not necessarily click into this page and then copy and click these links.  The copyright is included on this page and has copyright details for the Schneemann foundation.

Lastly, I checked the mobile view of Schneemann's website on my mobile phone.  I believe this website works better and is laid out better for mobile as it has a menu button on the homepage with clear links to every page, The artworks are easy to click into and are clearly defined as you scroll through the work however there are still no social links appearing as icons and this really is missing a trick here as this would establish a clearer presence online of the artist.

I will now consider the website of Francesca Woodman - this actually is the Woodman Foundation and her work appear here as part of her family foundation site. 

The homepage of this site has a triptych of images that show three members of the family and when your hover over these images a navigation box appears to lead you directly to their works.  There is also a navigation menu in black sans serif text against the white background of the homepage that is on the left-hand side of the screen.  The title 'Our Mission is in light grey and this works well as a title for the information, which sits underneath the images so it is clear what the website is about. The user then clicks on the 'More about us button to read the whole mission.  The homepage works well, is clear, and is very easy to use.  The Woodman website has a logo that appears in the left-hand corner throughout and scrolling on the homepage leads you to the latest news and works by the Woodman family.  These are laid out in clear square image boxes that the user can click on and immediately read more information.  In the footer of all the pages is the copyright notice. 

I click next to Francesca Woodman's works.  This is easy to use and each image has a title and a year and the works expand upon clicking into them.  There are back and next buttons so it is easy to click through the works and explore this work fully.  The page gain is white with a light grey title for the name of the artists and the black menu and logo remain keeping the pages consistent and easy to use. 

I then check the biography page of Francesca Woodman as this will be most useful when considering my own about me page for my own site. The biography is clear and informative, easy to read and there is a fairly detailed overview of Francesca Woodmans' short life and her legacy.  There is a printable bio and a CV that lists her works and exhibitions.  This works really well for a biography page and there are a few images that give the page life and context.  

The contact page works well and is consistent with all other pages, the image is not overly inspiring but it does work and it is easy to use. There is one social media link to Instagram and after searching around the site I did think more social media links would be available as this would mean that their work was advertised and promoted on a wider scale globally.

The mobile view on the Woodman site is good and looks very similar to the website itself and remains consistent, again easy to use with no issues.

Comparing both sites The Schneemann site seems more mobile friendly and seems to work better on the mobile version, the website can seem a little busy on the homepage and you do end up clicking on the buttons not quite sure if it is what you want then going back to the homepage.  The Woodman site is very structured, consistent and organised and clearly denotes each woodman family member's work and life.  Social media on both sites needed massive improvement and this could be increased and promoted so that these artists really get their work out there.  For both artists, the information and work is there and on Woodman's it is easier to click and view but perhaps the site could be more exciting and perhaps there could be more of a feature made of some events.  Schneemann has an exhibition that I went to at the weekend in London, again this could have been promoted on the homepage and been more prominent.  Overall when making my own site looking at these makes me realise that I need something in-between the two, organised but exciting, features on the homepage of current news and events, and a selection of social media that really add and enhance content and connectivity to the audience.