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Pollock, Griselda, “Modernity and the spaces of femininity” in her Vision and Difference. Femininity, Feminism and the Histories of Art, London: Routledge, 1988, pp. 50-90.

1.     Who is Griselda Pollock? What is the argument presented in her essay “Modernity and the spaces of femininity”?

2.     Griselda Pollock charges TJ Clark of having failed to consider the experience of women in his analysis of the painting of modern life because he says nothing about the female spectator of Manet’s Olympia and The Bar at the Folies Bergère.  She asks, “Could Berthe Morisot have gone to such a location to canvas the subject? Would it enter her head as a site of modernity as she experienced it? Could she as a woman experience modernity as Clark defines it at all?” How would you answer these questions?

3.     In your understanding, what are “the spaces of femininity”?

4.     What does Pollock suggest about “spatial order within paintings” when considering the works of Cassatt and Morisot?

5.     At the end of her essay Pollock says: “The spaces of femininity still regulate women's lives.”  Do you agree? If so, how and where might this be seen?

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How can ideas about space and the gaze be seen in depictions of women in these two paintings?

Mary Cassatt, The Tea, c. 1880, oil on canvas, 64.8 x 92 cm, Museum of Fine Arts Boston

Edouard Manet, The Café Concert, c. 1879, oil on canvas, 47.3 x 58.1 cm, Walters Art Museum, Baltimore

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In their Art Museum Activity Book, particularly their “Activity #5: Correcting Wall Labels” the Guerrilla Girls corrected a label on a work of art by Baron Francois-Pascal-Simon Gerard (French, 1770-1837) displayed at the MET.

In the same vein, you will be presented with an existing museum label (from a website). In small groups, identify where the label could be improved and rewrite it in a way that it restores/emphasises the women artists’ agency (both as artists and women).

In the comment box, explain briefly why the label is problematic and why it could be improved.

Type your new label in the comment box of the post assigned to your group.

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https://npg.si.edu/object/npg_NPG.84.34

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https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/207849

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https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/10409

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https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/435702