Art and Gender Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Art and Gender - Essay Example Women have become the cornerstone to cultural construction and one such edifice was Gertrude Bass Warner (1863- 1951). Warners works have been considered evolutionary and pioneering in the field of Asian studies. What has attracted this authors attention to Warners work was her valuable input on the females view of the world. In the following sections, the author shall study one of her photos, and enumerate on this view. Houseboat Illinois (see below) is one of Warners photographic works which the author has found among the Gertrude Bass Warner Lantern Slides, first bequest collection at the University of Oregon Museum of Natural and Cultural History (known as the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art). Warner had dedicated the collection in memory of her late husband Murray Warner. Houseboat Illinois, like most of Warners photographic work, is a work of art; a hand tinted photo taken during one of her voyages. The image depicts of Gertrude and Murray Warner sitting on their houseboat named Illinois with an Asian guide sitting at the bow of the boat. Both Gertrude and Murray are sitting on wicker chairs with a wooden table in the middle. On the table there is a cup, a smoking pipe and a note book. Gertrude is dressed in a long sleeved shirt and skirt with a hat covered with a pink scarf while her husband is dressed in a stripe pants and coat, and wearing a brown hat. The Asian guide, dressed in pants, long sleeved shirt, jacket and cap, is navigating the boat. At the outset the background comprises of blue river water, dark green trees, and some form of yellow and green vegetation that resemble a farm. Warners work is a representation of feminist view of the world. A feminist view, according to Perry (8) "studies, exposes and challenges womens cultural, political and social positions and disadvantages." But more importantly, a feminist approach is one which is