Women and Art – A Visit to the St. Louis Art Museum

On Friday, September 13, 2013, my sister and I visited the St. Louis Art Museum. Before we even walked into the museum, we saw two female statues with their breasts showing. I was aggravated before even going in! My fears soon became a reality when I saw more and more paintings and sculptures of naked women or bare-chested women. I thought to myself, “Well, this doesn’t surprise me,” which I think is sad. While walking through the museum, we saw women being portrayed in typical feminist roles, such as mothering, teaching, knitting, and drawing. I remember seeing only one painting of women that depicted them as doing something more than typical feminine roles. The women were the center of attention in the middle of a group of men and they represented different “masculine” roles, such as a soldier and a mathematician. I was surprised when I saw this picture because I wasn’t expecting it, but I was also very happy that I saw women being portrayed as something more than mothers.

More so, all of the pictures and statues I saw of women had them wearing dresses and other typical, feminine clothing items. I don’t recall seeing a single woman who wore pants or anything else seen as “masculine.” In my eyes, the museum conveyed the exact feminine ideals that are prominent in our society. Women are typically seen as dainty, emotional, mothers, socially proper, and more, which is what I picked up from looking at all the statues and pictures at the museum. There were only a few pieces that I recall that portrayed women as strong, independent, intelligent, and determined individuals. In addition, there were only a select few paintings and sculptures that represented naked men. Most of the men I saw were either fully clothed or had their genitals covered.

Being that I was angry seeing all of the naked women in the museum, I asked my sister why exactly that was. My sister, who is very artistic and took many art classes in college, told me, from an artist’s viewpoint, female nudity can be interpreted in two ways, depending on the art piece. First, the females that are represented are seen as objects instead of people. Second, the female form is seen as art itself, so nudity is not meant to be sexual but is instead meant to be personal and admiring. Listening to my sister’s reasoning on female nudity made me question and change my mind some. I felt that it is not okay to view females as objects rather than people, so I was internally angered by her first reasoning. However, I appreciated and accepted her second reasoning. I appreciate that certain artists view the female body as art and want to show it off as admirable. Women are admirable people because of all the hard work they do, and they should be given more credit.