Linda Nochlin was an American art historian, university professor and writer. A prominent feminist art historian, she was best known as a proponent of the question "Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?", in an essay of the same name published in 1971.
Her critical attention has been drawn to investigating the ways in which gender affects the creation and apprehension of art, as evidenced by her 1994 essay "Issues of Gender in Cassatt and Eakins". Besides feminist art history, she was best known for her work on Realism, specifically on Gustave Courbet. Complementing her career as an academic, she served on the Art Advisory Council of the International Foundation for Art Research. In 2006, Nochlin received a Visionary Woman Award] from Moore College of Art & Design.
The Body in Pieces: The Fragment as a Metaphor of Modernity, Linda Nochlin By the end of the eighteenth century a sense of anxiety and crisis began to preoccupy European writers and artists in their relationship to the heroic past, from antiquity on. The grandness of that intellectual tradition could no longer fit into the framework of the present, and artists felt overwhelmed by the magnitude of past heroic accomplishment. Beginning with artists such as Fuseli, this was soon reflected in artistic representation. The partial image, the "crop," fragmentation, ruin and mutilation - all expressed nostalgia and grief for the loss of a vanished totality, a utopian wholeness. Often, such feelings were expressed in deliberate destructiveness and this became the new way of seeing: the notion of the modern. The "crop" constituted a distinctively modern view of the world, the essence of modernity itself. The French Revolution was not only an historical event that instituted and canonized deliberate fragmentation, but also in some cases the reverse: Jacques-Louis David and other Neo-classical artists tried, at least allegorically and metaphorically, to repair the broken link with the perceived wholeness of the past. In The Body in Pieces, Linda Nochlin traces these developments as they have been expressed in representations of the human figure - fragmented, mutilated and fetishistic - by looking at work produced by artists from Neo-classicism and Romanticism to the Impressionists, the Post-Impressionists, the Surrealists and beyond. 鬲丕乇蹖禺 賳禺爻鬲蹖賳 禺賵丕賳卮: 乇賵夭 賳賴賲 賲丕賴 噩賵賱丕蹖 爻丕賱 2008 賲蹖賱丕丿蹖 毓賳賵丕賳: 亘丿賳 鬲讴賴 鬲讴賴 卮丿賴 貨 賱蹖賳丿賱 賳丕讴賱蹖賳貨 賲鬲乇噩賲: 賲噩蹖丿 丕禺诏乇貨 鬲賴乇丕賳貙 丨乇賮賴 賴賳乇賲賳丿貙 1385貙 丿乇 80 氐貨 卮丕亘讴: 9649694315貨 賲賵囟賵毓: 讴丕賱亘丿 卮賳丕爻蹖 賴賳乇蹖貨 胤乇丕丨蹖 丕賳爻丕賳蹖貨 亘丿賳 丕賳爻丕賳 丿乇 賴賳乇貨 鬲噩丿丿诏乇丕蹖蹖 丕夭 賳賵蹖爻賳丿诏丕賳 丕賲乇蹖讴丕蹖蹖 - 爻丿賴 20 賲 亘丕 賳夭丿蹖讴 卮丿賳 亘賴 倬丕蹖丕賳 爻丿賴 蹖 賴蹖噩丿賴賲 賲蹖賱丕丿蹖貙 亘賴 丌賴爻鬲诏蹖 賳賵毓蹖 丨爻 丕囟胤乇丕亘 賵 亘丨乇丕賳貙 丿乇 乇丕亘胤賴 蹖 賳賵蹖爻賳丿诏丕賳貙 賵 賴賳乇賲賳丿丕賳 丕乇賵倬丕蹖蹖貙 亘丕 诏匕卮鬲賴 蹖 亘丕卮讴賵賴蹖 讴賴 丕夭 丿賵乇賴 蹖 亘丕爻鬲丕賳貙 鬲丕 丌賳 夭賲丕賳 鬲丿丕賵賲 蹖丕賮鬲賴 亘賵丿貙 倬丿蹖丿丕乇 卮丿. 賴賳乇賲賳丿丕賳 丿乇 亘乇丕亘乇 亘夭乇诏賵丕乇蹖 丿爻鬲丕賵乇丿賴丕蹖 亘丕 卮讴賵賴 丿賵乇丕賳 亘丕爻鬲丕賳貙 丕丨爻丕爻 賳丕鬲賵丕賳蹖 賲蹖讴乇丿賳丿貙 賵 丕蹖賳 丕丨爻丕爻 亘賴 夭賵丿蹖 丿乇 亘丕夭賳賲丕蹖蹖賴丕蹖 賴賳乇蹖 丌賳丕賳貙 丕賳毓讴丕爻 倬蹖丿丕 讴乇丿. 芦賱蹖賳丿丕 賳丕讴賱蹖賳禄 賲賳鬲賯丿 賵 賲賵乇禺 亘乇噩爻鬲賴 賴賳乇貙 倬蹖卮诏丕賲 丨賵夭賴 鬲丕乇蹖禺 賴賳乇 賮賲蹖賳蹖爻鬲蹖貙 賵 丕爻鬲丕丿 讴乇爻蹖 賱蹖賱丕 丕趩爻賵賳 賵丕賱丕爻 丿乇 賴賳乇 賲丿乇賳 丿乇 丕賳爻鬲蹖鬲賵蹖 賴賳乇賴丕蹖 夭蹖亘丕蹖 丿丕賳卮诏丕賴 賳蹖賵蹖賵乇讴 賴爻鬲賳丿. 丕. 卮乇亘蹖丕賳蹖
Fragmented ideas were bound together as a whole in a bookish format. Found it quite hard to follow her ways of thinking and personally do not agree with several ideas presented here. I do like the parts about Gericault and the French revolution
Art criticism fascinates me - what makes art 鈥楢rt鈥�? I did a module at university on this, 鈥榯he philosophy of art and literature鈥�. The lectures were at 17:00 on a Thursday and keeping myself going for it was the first time I drank coffee at the tender age of 19.
Caffeine association aside, I am lucky enough to know a gifted artist and her fashion design partner, who together form quite the art criticism duo. One believes the visual speaks for itself, whereas the other believes it is the description or the justification that makes the piece what it is. What I learned reading this was that both things are true but women are still drawing the short straw. Or perhaps we鈥檙e not. My home is full of artistic renderings of female body parts, perhaps I鈥檓 the fetishist, here?
I read this book straight after reading Realism and it was a nice accomplishment to that. This is a short book following a lecture, so I would recommend taking it out from a library, unless you鈥檙e in dire need of it. Not essential reading by any means, but if you wish to read more of Nochlin鈥檚 insightful thoughts on Manet, Degas, etc. it鈥檚 a good addition. Makes some visual links between earlier revolutionary art and the French realists which is nice, but not hugely insightful. Not essential but a good short blast of art history and analysis.
Very good study, just very short. Would have liked it to be a bit bulkier with more examples. Very good point of reference in a wider study though if you have an interest in this topic.
The Surrealist writer Georges Bataille, in an article entitled Sacrificial Mutilation and the Severed Ear of Vincent Van Gogh maintained that "art is born of a wound that does not heal."