she had used to create a doll’s house for her part in Womanhouse, in
the 1970s Schapiro began to make huge sewn collages, assembled from
fabrics, quilts, buttons, sequins, lace, and rickrack collected at antique
shows. She called these works femmagesto make the point that women
had been doing collages using these materials long before Pablo Picasso
(FIG. 35-16) introduced them to the art world.Anatomy of a Kimono
(FIG. 36-34) is one of a series of monumental femmages based on the
patterns of Japanese kimonos, fans, and robes. This vast composition
repeats the kimono shape in a sumptuous array of fabric fragments.
CINDY SHERMANEarly attempts at dealing with feminist is-
sues in art tended toward essentialism, emphasizing universal differ-
ences—either biological or experiential—between women and men.
More recent discussions have gravitated toward the notion of gender as
a socially constructed concept, and an extremely unstable one at that.
Identity is multifaceted and changeable, making the discussion of fem-
inist issues more challenging. Consideration of the many variables,
however, results in a more complex understanding of gender roles.
American artist Cindy Sherman(b. 1954) addresses in her work
the way much of Western art presents female beauty for the enjoyment
of the “male gaze,” a primary focus of contemporary feminist theory.
Since 1977, Sherman has produced a series of more than 80 black-and-
white photographs titled Untitled Film Stills.She got the idea for the
series after examining soft-core pornography magazines and noting
the stereotypical ways they depicted women. She decided to produce
her own series of photographs, designing, acting in, directing, and pho-
tographing the works. In so doing, she took control of her own image
and constructed her own identity, a primary feminist concern. In
works from the series, such as Untitled Film Still #35 (FIG. 36-35),
Sherman appears, often in costume and wig, in a photograph that
seems to be a film still. Most of the images in this series recall popular
film genres but are sufficiently generic that the viewer cannot relate
them to specific movies. Sherman often reveals the constructed nature
of these images with the shutter release cable she holds in her hand to
take the pictures. (The cord runs across the floor in #35.) Although the
artist is still the object of the viewer’s gaze in these images, the identity
is one she alone chose to assume.
36-34Miriam Schapiro,Anatomy of a Kimono (section), 1976. Fabric and acrylic on canvas, 6 8 high. Collection of Bruno Bishofberger,
Zurich.
Schapiro calls her huge sewn collages femmagesto make the point that women had been doing collages of fabric long before Picasso (FIG. 35-16).
This femmage incorporates patterns from Japanese kimonos.
36-35Cindy Sherman,Untitled Film Still #35,1979. Gelatin
silverprint, 10 8 . Private collection.
Sherman here assumed a role for one of a series of 80 photographs
resembling film stills in which she addressed the way women have
been presented in Western art for the enjoyment of the “male gaze.”Painting and Sculpture since 1970 9911 ft.1 in.