Cavetocanvas' Response

jordihall asked:

Did you hear about the “artist” Anna Utopia Giordano who photoshopped renaissance paintings of women, making them “fit in with the standards of today’s society”? I’m pretty repulsed. Thoughts?

cavetocanvas answered:

I’m going to answer this publicly instead of privately because I think it’s a fascinating debate. Click here to see the images jordihall is talking about.

You’re sort of selectively quoting here, don’t you think? The artist is making a statement about aesthetics. Various write ups mention this quote from Giordano: “What would have happened if the aesthetic standard of our society had belonged to the collective unconscious of the great artists of the past?” I think she deserves more credit than you’re giving her.

Classical nudes were all idealized and created in such a way to appeal to the male viewer - by photoshopping these classical artworks to fit a modern day definition of beauty, I think Giordano is attempting to help people realize that these classical artists were creating their own idealized form of the female figure which is no better or worse than today’s standards. If I recall correctly, none (or very few) of the artists that she featured worked from real nude models - their paintings were all just idealized beauty. Different from today’s standards, sure, but still meant to be seen as the standard of beauty for their time.

I think it was a brilliant way to make people see old art in a new way. Most of the comments I see on CtC reblogs of classical nudes are along the lines of “I wish this was still the standard of beauty!” or “This is what real women should look like!” Both of those notions are flawed for various reasons that I won’t go into, but this is my basic point: people need to recognize that most classical nudes equate to a very early form of pin ups - female bodies depicted solely in a way to appeal to the male viewer. I think Giordano cleverly used a modern technology to remind people about that.

Am I okay with the way photoshopping creates an unattainable standard of beauty in modern society? Of course not. Does it make me think about representations of feminine beauty and what is seen as the “most” beautiful or perfect body? Yes. Am I offended or repulsed at Giordano’s work? No. It makes me think. And that makes all the difference.