6 - REPRODUCTION AND SEXUALITY Human reproduction and sexuality are basic for the survival of the human race. Art has aided and pictured human fertility, reproduction and sexuality. THE PROMISE OF FERTILITY Fertility Goddesses and Gods Earliest fertility artifacts from the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods were small sculptures of females depicted as: fleshy with swollen bellies breasts, and thighs accentuated 6.2 Female Fertility Figure, found at Çatal Hüyük, Anatolia (modern Turkey), c. 6000 BCE. Terra-cotta, 7.9” high Goddesses dominated ancient rituals for thousands of years before gods came to prominence. This small, regal figure is enthroned and is attended by lions. She was found in a grain bin, suggesting her role in the success of her culture’s fecundity. THE PROMISE OF FERTILITY Art has functioned to ensure human reproduction likely with “sympathetic magic” invoked through the art object. 6.3 Venus of Willendorf, Austria, c. 25,000 20,000 BCE. The Venus of Willendorf dates from 25,000 BCE. Although sometimes labeled as a fertility goddess, this small sculpture was likely more a charm or a fetish. She may have been used: during childbirth to ward off death to wish for good health for good fortune. 6.3 Venus of Willendorf, Austria, c. 25,000–20,000 BCE. Stone, 4 3/8" high. The Venus of Willendorf does not realistically represent someone, it represents the physical essence of fertility. She was likely a talisman for good fortune. 6.4, left Idol from Amorgos, Cycladic Islands off mainland Greece, 2500–2300 BCE. Marble, 30" high. The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, UK. 6.3, right Venus of Willendorf, Austria, c. 25,000–20,000 BCE. Stone, 4 3/8" high. Compare The Idol from Amorgos with the Venus of Willendorf. Slender and delicate, this abstract nude seems to emphasize feminine youth These “plank” figures were found in burials, and they may have been meant to give new life to the dead. These figures are sometimes called “plank idols.” In the 19th C., male fertility pieces were produced by Oceanic cultures. The large penis, in comparison to the rest of the figure, emphasizes the virility of Te Rongo. 6.5, God Te Rongo and His Three Sons, Cook Islands, Polynesia, c. 1800–1900s. Wood, 27 3/8" high. The British Museum, London. Male sculptures were carved for religious rituals by Ta’unga, or “priest”, trained through an apprenticeship. The art object was: meant to endure, passed from one generation to the next a symbol of prestige and rank exclusive to those of power and rank a source of sacred information 6.6 Figure of a Deity: A’a Rurutu, Austral Islands, collected in 1820. Wood, 44" high. The British Museum, London. Specific ancestor deities known as Tangaroa figures represent a creator in the act of creating human beings. Lineage was important in Oceanic cultures, this god-creator may have been connected to a family ancestor. 6.6 Figure of a Deity: A’a Rurutu, Austral Islands, collected in 1820. Wood, 44" high. The British Museum, London. 6.7 Initiation Rites of Dionysos, Villa of Mysteries, Pompeii, Italy, c. CE 50. Fresco. Fertility and Rituals This fresco depicts a ritual of the mystery cult of Dionysos, associated with sexual intercourse and fertility. Nearly life-size figures, convincing volume, move in a shallow space, on a trompe l’oeil (“fools the eye”) ledge. This male love doll was used as “medicine” to control human behavior and health. Potawatomi Male Figure was used as a charm to cast a spell on someone whose attentions were desired. 7.8 Potawatomi Male Figure (love doll), Crandon, Wisconsin, 1800–1860. Wood and wool fabric, 9" high. Cranbrook Institute of Science. The Bamanian Female Figure made of wood and brass is associated with a female fertility cult. These figures were brought out in public to aid women who were having difficulties in conceiving and childbearing. 6.9 Standing Female Figure, Bamana, Mali, Africa, 1947. Wood and brass, 21" high. Paris. Akua’ba from the Ashanti in Ghana are fertility sculptures created: solely for women having difficulty in conceiving to ensure a healthy and beautiful baby. Beauty reduced to uncomplicated forms. 6.10 Ashanti Akua’ba Doll, Ghana, Africa, c. 20th century. Wood, 13" high. The British Museum, London. We see female beauty reduced to uncomplicated forms: head, neck, arms, torso – circular disk and a series of cylinders a round face with a small mouth a high forehead a long neck and torso linear facial features disk-like forms as necklaces breasts, navel - minimal forms ART DEPICTING PRIMORDIAL AND HUMAN COUPLES Human couples have been depicted throughout the ages as: the primordial or first couple the mother and father of humankind representing the marriage ritual within cultural contexts These depictions were rooted in creation myths. 6.11 Masaccio. The Expulsion from Paradise, Brancacci Chapel, Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence, Italy, 1427. Fresco. Primordial Couples Adam and Eve are found in the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim religions. Told to,“be fruitful and multiply,” they were then expelled from The Garden of Eden. In The Expulsion, we see: Eve’s anguished cry Adam’s pain their shame and agony. 6.11 Masaccio. The Expulsion from Paradise, Brancacci Chapel, Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence, Italy, 1427. Fresco. 6.11 Masaccio. The Expulsion from Paradise, Brancacci Chapel, Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence, Italy, 1427. Fresco. 6.12 Dogon Primordial Couple. Mali, Africa, c.19th–20th century. Wood, 29" high. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Lester Wunderman, 1977. Compare Adam and Eve with the Dogon Primordial Couple The Dogon Primordial Couple: are equally exalted represent their fertility the male unites the figures by embracing the female he symbolizes their sexual union by touching his penis by wearing jewelry they symbolize their sexual power their balanced design, is a symbol for an ordered human culture Human Couples The Wedding Portrait, or Giovanni Arnolfini and His Bride, is more than a double portrait, it is a wedding certificate, with obvious and hidden symbolism. 6.13 Jan van Eyck. Wedding Portrait, Flanders, Northern Europe, 1434. Oil on wood panel, 32" × 25". National Gallery Collection, London. Symbolism - the couple: shown in the bedroom rather than church, suggesting the hope for many children the woman holds her clothing as if pregnant have removed their shoes, they are on holy ground he raises his hand in a gesture of blessing Surrounding the couple: one candle burning in the chandelier represents divine presence the frame of the mirror has medallions that depict the passion of Christ on the chest and windowsill oranges, representing the conquest of death the dog symbolizes fidelity on the bedpost finial a statuette of St. Margaret, patron saint of childbirth van Eyck depicts witnesses, including himself in the mirror written above the mirror, “Jan van Eyck was here.” 6.13 Jan van Eyck. Wedding Portrait, Flanders, Northern Europe, 1434. Oil on wood panel, 32" × 25". National Gallery Collection, London. 6.14 Aztec Marriage Couple, from the Codex Mendoza, Mexico, 1434. Bodleian Library, University of Oxford. Compare Wedding Portrait on the left with Aztec Marriage Couple on the right. Aztec Marriage Couple, depicts a man and woman seated on a mat, the bride was powdered with yellow earth and adorned in red feathers. The formal vows took place in the groom’s home, the marriage performed by tying together their wedding garments---tying the knot. ART ABOUT LOVEMAKING Sexuality is a libidinal urge that is gratifying, positive, and energizing. The Lupanar Lamp from Pompeii, likely lighted a bedroom. It shows a couple in an intimate gaze while engaging in sexual intercourse. An inscription found in Pompeii on a wall from an ordinary house reads “Hic Habit Felicitas” or “here lies happiness”. 6.15, left Oil lamp with Love-making Scene. Pompeii, Italy, 1st century BCE. Ceramic. Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples. Moche pottery is matter of fact, the depictions of lovemaking---explicit and candid. Numerous sexual acts between a man and a woman appear. They may have been designed as visual aids for sex education, illustrating human reproduction and perhaps birth control as well. 6.16, Moche Pottery Depicting Sexual Intercourse, Peru, c. 1000–1250. Ceramic. Museo Arqueologico Rafael Larco Herrera, Lima, Peru. 6.17 Kitagawa Utamaro. A Pair of Lovers, frontispiece from Poem of the Pillow, Japan, 1788. Wood block relief print, 9 3/4" X 14 3/4". Victoria & Albert Museum, London. This work reflects the ukiyo or “floating world” theme. The “floating world,” refers to the Buddhist concept of the transience of life. Non-samurai classes translated that concept into prizing life’s fleeting moments of pleasure—in other words: eat, drink, and be merry. CONNECTION Komurasaki of the Tamaya Teahouse (Figure 12.32, is a ukiyo-e print depicting a courtesan. Shunga prints (spring pictures) centered on: female beauty the theater entertainment erotica 6.18 left,Kangra School. Radha and Krishna in the grove. 1780. Kangra, India. Gouache on paper, 4.8 X 6.75.” Victoria and Albert Museum, London, Great Britain. 6.19 right, Relief Carving from the Kandarya Mahadeva Temple, Khajuraho, India, c. 1000. Erotic images in India appear as sculptures on Hindu temples and in miniature paintings. Radha, a shepherdess, and Krishna, an incarnation of the god Vishnu, are depicted in a highly idealized scene of lovemaking. Pleasure, affection, sweetness, and erotic energy were meant to be like the physical and spiritual union humans could experience through lovemaking and by a union with God. 6.18 Kangra School. Radha and Krishna in the grove. 1780. Kangra, India. Gouache on paper, 4.8 X 6.75.” Victoria and Albert Museum, London, Great Britain. Radha and Krishna in the Grove were meant to be instructive, and the mythical sexual act was intended to be reincarnated regularly among living couples. 6.19 Relief Carving from the Kandarya Mahadeva Temple, Khajuraho, India, c. 1000. Many carvings on Hindu temples are erotic. This carving shows intertwined voluptuous bodies. The Hindu religion celebrates sexual love. Intercourse and self-pleasuring reflect the divine union with the Unbounded. Carnal bliss is a virtue and a path that leads to redemption. ART ABOUT SEXUALITY IN WESTERN CULTURE Sexuality is complicated in modern Western art because: of power relationships between men and women homosexuality and heterosexuality are also part of political debates sexuality is used to sell products abstract works on sexuality capture the energy, but leave other specifics undefined. 6.20 Jean-AugusteDominique Ingres. Grande Odalisque, France, 1814. Oil on canvas, 35" X 64". Louvre, Paris. The woman in this painting, by Ingres, is an odalisque, a member of a Turkish harem. 19th C. female nudes in Europe and the U.S. were made for 19th C. men. Men were the privileged audience for such pictures, as the viewer’s gaze completes the sexual exchange implied in the painting. It is significant that there is only a woman in this scene. Without a lover, the odalisque is sexually available for the viewer, who gazes upon her and “consumes”. The viewer took the place of the imagined Turkish sultan, who had many women at his disposal. 6.20 left, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. Grande Odalisque, France, 1814. Oil on canvas, 35" X 64". Louvre,Paris 7.21, below, Edward Manet. Olympia, France, 1863. Oil on canvas, 51 1/4" X 74 3/4". Musée d’Orsay, Paris. Compare the two paintings Manet’s Olympia scandalized the public because: her sexuality and nudity were contemporary and Western Olympia, was recognizable as a famous Paris courtesan it is similar to a famous Italian Renaissance painting of Venus her unromantic expression made clear that sex and money would be exchanged it shattered illusions it reveals the difference in social status according to race Manet’s defenders praised the work for its innovative paint quality: thick paint applied directly on the canvas flat, bright color light areas separate from the dark, few mid-tones gestural mark making flatness versus illusion of depth experiments in applying paint Sexuality, Politics, and Consumerism Sexuality is used to deliver a range of messages. In her computer-video installation Deep Contact, Lynn Hershman looks at ways mass media uses sexuality in Western culture to attract attention. The “guide” dressed in sexually seductive clothing, knocks at the touch screen and asks the viewer to touch her to begin the performance. 6.22,Lynn Hershman. Deep Contact, 1990. Interactive computer-video installation at the Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco. By touching different parts, the viewer can create interactive fictions. Not all of the content of Deep Contact is sexual, but everything has been eroticized, including ideas about technology, self-awareness, and intimacy. The viewer of Deep Contact cannot be passive; if you do nothing, nothing happens. The viewer is dislodged from the position of anonymous, distant voyeur. Sexuality is Politicized This image by Barbara Kruger, deals with the shifting attitudes and conflicts that surround women, sexuality, and reproduction in Western culture. Kruger uses relative pro- nouns that are gender neutral to imply that attitudes about sexuality and race are not fixed by nature. Kruger sees these categories as changing entities under social, political, and religious influence. 6.23 Barbara Kruger. Untitled (Your body is a battleground), 1989. Photographic silk screen on vinyl, 112" × 112". Eli Broad Family Foundation Collection, Los Angeles. This is a photograph of a crossdressing male, his attire and hair suggest both, “good girl” and sexual potential. Catherine Opie’s photographs of homosexuals, transsexuals, and dominatrixes reveal the complexities of gender and sexuality. 6.24, Catherine Opie. Justin Bond, USA, 1993. Chromogenic print, edition of eight, 20" X 16". Opie’s photograph complicates the idea of the privileged male viewer. Justin Bond meets the viewer’s gaze directly and with confidence, challenging any attempt by the viewer to see his behavior as pathological. Abstracted Sexual Imagery - alludes to the human body, but humans need not be represented. Georgia O’Keeffe’s Grey Line with Lavender and Yellow, is an enlarged flower image. The structure resembles female genitalia. Feminists have seen in her work positive, female-based imagery that glorifies and beautifies female sexuality. 6.25,Georgia O’Keeffe. Grey Line with Lavender and Yellow, USA, 1923. Oil on canvas, 48" X 30". The Metropolitan Museum of Art Torso of a Young Man, by Constantin Brancusi, is an abstracted form of male sexuality. The simplified torso becomes an obvious phallic symbol. Brancusi was influenced by: the philosophy of the 11th C. monk Milarepa Romanian folk art African tribal art He created works intended to capture the essence and universality of pure form. 6.26 Constantin Brancusi. Torso of a Young Man, Romania, 1924. Polished brass, 18" high. Hirshhorn Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Louise Bourgeois’s Blind Man’s Bluff, is clearly sexual. Its appearance and name invites touch. The sculpture is like a large phallus covered with round, organic forms. The piece suggests a fixation on sexual parts without attachment to an individual as a whole. 7.27,Louise Bourgeois. Blind Man’s Bluff, USA, 1984. Marble 36" X 35.5" X 25". Collection Cleveland Museum of Art. Courtesy Cheim & Read, New York. The combination of male and female sexual imagery blurs genders as discrete categories in this work. 6.28, Alice Neel. Pregnant Woman, USA, 1971. Oil on canvas, 40" X 60". IMAGES OF PREGNANCY, CHILDBIRTH, AND PROGENY - are seen in many cultures. This figure is a Western image by Alice Neel. Her painting, Pregnant Woman, shows us the physical effects of pregnancy on one woman’s body and emotions. Compare the 2 images. 6.28, left, Alice Neel. Pregnant Woman, USA, 1971. Oil on canvas, 40" X 60". 6.29 right, Kidder Figure, Mayan, Guatemala, 250 BCE–CE 100. Ceramic vessel, 10" X 7 1/2" X 6 3/4". The Kidder Figure is a pregnant seated female figure. She emphasizes her enlarged abdomen by resting her hands on it. Her face reflects contentment and joyous anticipation of the expected event. 6.29 Kidder Figure, Mayan, Guatemala, 250 BCE–CE 100. Ceramic vessel, 10" X 7 1/2" X 6 3/4". This Moche ceramic vessel depicts childbirth in a straightforward manner, just as their depiction of sexual intercourse. The scene seems to be clinically illustrating an event rather than a moment of emotion, anticipation or pain. This vessel shows the Moche birthing position and technique. 6.30, Moche Pot Depicting a Woman Giving Birth Assisted by Midwives, Peru, c. 1000–1250. Ceramic. Museo Arqueologico Rafael Larco Herrera, Lima, Peru. The mother and child image is a familiar Christian icon. Mary is enthroned in a delicately carved architectural space, crowned as the Queen of Heaven. She nurses the newborn redeemer, holding him tenderly. The gentle, loving gaze of Mary upon her baby, Jesus is calm, yet ominous because of Old Testament prophecies. 6.31, ROGIER VAN DER WEYDEN. Virgin and Child in a Niche, Flanders, Northern Europe, c. 1432-1433. Oil on panel, 7 ¼” X 4 ¾”. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria. Compare these two images 6.32 Mother and Nursing Child, Cahokia, Illinois, Mississippian Period, 1200–1400. Ceramic effigy vessel. St. Louis Science Center. 6.31, ROGIER VAN DER WEYDEN. Virgin and Child in a Niche, Flanders, Northern Europe, c. 1432-1433. Oil on panel, 7 ¼” X 4 ¾”. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria. The Mother and Nursing Child is a image of a woman and her baby. The simple, geometric form adds to the stability and calm of the figure. Representing a mother and her progeny in life, the effigy vessel may have ensured her potential to bear children in the afterlife. 
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