Celebrating Rape? by Arianna Simon

Bernini Gian Lorenzo, Rape of Proserpine, 1621-1622, Marble, 255 cm, Galleria Borghese.

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Katherine Gilje, Susanna and the Elders, Restored, 1998, Oil on linen and fifteen sheets of x-ray film mounted on plexiglass, 170 cm x 119 cm, The Addison Gallery of American Art.

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Nöel-Nicolas Coypel, The Rape of Europa, 1722, Oil on canvas, 90 cm x 102 cm, Virginia Museum of Fine Art.

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Pablo Picasso, Rape of the Sabine Women, 1963, Oil on canvas, 195.3 cm x 131.1 cm, Museum of Fine Art Boston.

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Key Learning Objectives of This Tour:

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As you you journey through this digital gallery, keep in mind this question:

Are these artistic depictions of rape celebrating and glorifying rape or are they calling attention to the need for change in the social understanding regarding rape, and what stylistic and compositional choices lead you to posit that they are either celebrating or condemning rape?

Art is a method of storytelling that must be examined closely in order to fully understand the different perspectives and beliefs that people possess.
Spending time examining artworks depicting images that are uncomfortable for the viewer can not only push a viewer outside of their comfort zone, but also help viewers examine their own understandings and biases in a safe space such as a museum.
The way that artists choose to depict specific themes and ideas is inherently connected to the social norms and expectations of a specific period in time, and can also impact these social norms either positively or negatively.

Feminist artist Katherine Gilje used pentimenti to reimagine Artemisia Gentileschi’s original work, which Gilje fully realized by creating an x-ray scan of her alterated underpainting. Gilje’s composition differs from other images of rape in its transformation of Susanna into an armed figure who is able to retroactively avenge the rape that both the character Susanna suffered and that Gentileschi the artist herself endured at the age of 19.

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Coypel’s use of a mythological story centered around rape is not unique, but it sets itself apartrom the other works in this exhibit in its depiction of the subject matter. The artist’s choice to depict rape in a playful and seemingly consensual manner reflects the contemporary French values which placed pleasure, aristocratic leisure, and symbolic imagery over accurate depictions of uncomfortable subjects of rape.

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An Introduction to this Virtual Tour:

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Images depicting rape have figured large in the canon of art history. From a mythological depiction of rape found on a bedroom wall in Pompeii to a performance art piece undertaken by a Columbia University student in protest of sexual violence in 2014, it is clear that depictions of rape are not uniform and have changed greatly over time. Beyond just great diversity in rape imagery, there is also a great variety in the motivations behind these pieces of art and the messages that they are attempting to convey. Understanding this diversity and variety, the five specific artworks that were chosen for this virtual tour cover nearly 500 years and present a variety of artistic images of rape and sexual assault. This tour was also curated in an effort to present the ways that art has both been impacted by social norms and expectations and impacts societal understandings and assumptions. Some depictions that you will explore today such as painting by Coypel depicts rape in an almost romantic light. While others such as Gilje’s artistic reimagination that is included in this virtual tour depict much more horrifying images of rape. After completing this tour, you not only better understand the way that artistic movements are impacted by contemporary thoughts and ideas, but also the ways that art can create substantial change in the world.

Paul Gauguin, The Rape of Europa, 1989-1899, Woodcut on chine collé, with a fragment of another print on back of mount, 24.1 cm x 22.6 cm, Collection UCLA Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts, Hammer Museum. The Fred Grunwald Collection.

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