Social Change: Abstractions of the Female Nude

Social Change: Abstractions of the Female Nude
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Introduction
           Traditional representations of women in art follow the misrepresented norms of the patriarchal culture. Before the massive social revolutions of the feminist artist in the 1960s like Judy Chicago and Nancy Spero, women as the subject of art are often limited to the female nude and female stereotypes (Akdemir, 2017). Female stereotypes in the art are a depiction of women about their limited ability which are inferior to men in different institutions such as politics, businesses and art. Women are only expected to handle household chores like cleaning the house, cooking for diner, tend to their husbands and taking care of the children (Akdemir, 2017).
The female nude was regarded as the status symbol of gender dominance of a male-dominated social hierarchy (Nead, 1990). Traditional art treated women subjects as models for arousing aesthetic sexual pleasure that satisfies the "male gaze" (Eaton, 2008). In the male gaze, the aesthetic representation of an object focuses on the perspective of a man. Many famous collections in museums include traditional women subjects with intense realism of female nude installations that concur to the male gaze (Brockes, 2015).  
As traditional artists stick with the status quo of society, women are often painted with their social stereotypes that devalue women's contribution to human civilization. The different artists emphasized the need for social change and tell the story of women's gender oppression under the values of male authority. In the following artworks, including Nude Figure–Woman on the Beach (1963) by Willem de Kooning, Zambezia, Zambezia (1950) by Wifredo Lam, On the Beach (1937) by Pablo Picasso, The Break of Day (1937) by Paul Delvaux, and Scissors and Butterflies (1999) by Francesco Clemente, the artist used abstractions of the female nude to tell the story of the oppressive male gaze towards the female nude and the women’s liberation from the undervaluation of patriarchal values.
Nude Figure–Woman on the Beach (1963) by Willem de Kooning
           In the painting Nude Figure – Woman on the Beach (1963) by Willem de Kooning (see appendix, fig. 1), he presented an abstraction of the female nude where de Kooning removes the physical objectification of the subjects but still retain the sexual stimuli that accentuate the attributes of the female form. 
           Willem de Kooning (1904-1997) is a talented traditional painter of modern arts in the Netherlands. He then migrated to the US in 1926 where he began exploring the beauty of abstract art and expressionism (Reif, 2001). In the 1940s, he focused on the abstract imagery of women without their physical attributes and only use free-flowing colors and impulsive brushstrokes to capture and express the essence of femininity within his art without the solid object of a woman (Reif, 2001). This was the basis of his distinguished art style known as abstract e...