Costume, Body Language, and the Feminine Portrait

“Is it a woman? A chimera? The figure of a unicorn rearing as on a heraldic coat of arms, or perhaps the work of some oriental decorative artist to whom the human form is forbidden and who, wishing to be reminded of woman, has drawn the delicious arabesque?”

—Judith Gautier, recounting viewers’ reactions to John Singer Sargent’s Madame X at the 1884 Salon in Paris

There exists no singular female experience or perspective; “femininity” simply describes the act of being a woman. Yet throughout history, cultures have continually sought to determine their versions of proper femininity. What happens when those definitions are expanded, or even ignored?
This exhibition contains five portraits of women, and one object, that refuse to fulfill their original viewers’ expectations of an accepted femininity. In each case, the subjects’ costuming, or lack thereof, exposes her to be non-compliant with her culture’s proposed femininity. In a few cases, the artists perhaps exchange womanhood for fantastical, strange, boyish, or even animal-like qualities. These pieces seek to enlarge the realm of visual content that can be described as “feminine.” 
This gathering of works also includes three exemplary portraits of culturally upheld femininity. Attributes like chastity, hospitality, elegance, and modesty claim their own visual vocabulary; within these works that language is most clearly expressed through costuming, symbolism, and body language.
In displaying the “renegade” female, or even the non-female, alongside depictions of the ideal woman, this exhibition seeks not to condemn cultural standards of femininity, but to describe female-hood as constantly shifting and growing within visual culture. These works prescribe no particular place for women within society. Rather, they explore the ways in which artists have created a dynamic set of visual cues that may be employed to describe a female.

“No, it is none of these things, but rather the precise image of a modern woman scrupulously drawn by a painter who is a master of his art.”

Rogier van der Weyden, Portrait of a Lady, 1455

Oil on oak panel, National Gallery of Art, 1937.1.44

Front-lighting enhances the already idealized features of this aristocratic subject. The shaven forehead, elongated neck, and full lips reflect desirable feminine traits, while a large headdress signifies aristocracy. Clasped hands and a lowered gaze communicate her virtue and meekness. The piece’s limited color palette further emphasizes her demure persona. der Weyden provides here a portrait of fulfilled standards in dress, in gaze, in posture, and in figure.

Édouard Manet, Mademoiselle V. . . in the Costume of an Espada, 1862

Oil on canvas, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 29.100.53

Manet portrays Victorine Meurent, one of his favorite models, in the role of a matador. The piece as a whole presents a hoax: neither her shoes nor her cape are appropriate garb for bullfighting; in the background a bull threatens her, but she gazes towards the viewer, unconcerned. Manet places a clearly female figure within a strictly male context and costume, and in turn questions which qualities betray her female-ness to the viewer. 

Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, Joséphine-Éléonore-Marie-Pauline de Galard de Brassac de Béarn, Princesse de Broglie, 1851–53

Oil on canvas, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1975.1.186

Known for her beauty, reserve, and demureness, the Princess de Broglie was member of the Second French Empire. Ingres’ creates the illusion of tangible materials within this portrait: an upholstered chair, satin and lace gown, and heavy jewelry. Her adornments and costuming, almost more central to the piece than her personhood, symbolize her refinement and feminine style. Her tranquil expression and gently closed mouth display her modesty and taciturnity. Princesse is an archetype for the sophisticated, well-bred, and gentle woman. 

Edouard Manet, Olympia, 1863

Oil on canvas, Musée d’Orsay, 644

Once again, Victorine Meurent models for Manet, most likely in the role of a courtesan. The subject’s accouterments—flowers, shoes, choker and bracelet— emphasize her nudity, but simultaneously the casual, desexualized quality of her pose. Olympia portrays a boyish version of the reclining female nude, while her fixation upon the viewer demands a kind of power that the painting’s precedents (including Titian’s Venus of Urbino and Giorgione’s Sleeping Venus) do not grant to their female subjects. Manet paints his subject in a flattened, linear manner, placing the focus on her pose rather than a sensuous modeling of her form. 

Alexandre Cabanel, Catharine Lorillard Wolfe, 1876

Oil on canvas, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 87.15.82

The American aristocrat and philanthropist poses here in a white satin and fur gown reflective of the highest Parisian fashion at the time. She stands erect, but with gracefully sloping shoulders and a just tilted head. Her hands gesture in what contemporary viewers described as “a hostess receiving guests . . . full of flexibility and pliant, willowy grace.” Her hand rests on a velvet-covered table, further suggesting her abilities as an entertainer. She embodies sophistication, the perfection of feminine hospitality and elegance. 

Alexander McQueen, Coat, Eshu, autumn/winter 2000–2001

 Black synthetic hair, Metropolitan Museum of Art, courtesy of Alexander McQueen

A comment on the use of furs and hides in high fashion, this overdone recreation of the winter coat mocks sophistication. In substituting fur for hair, McQueen directs the viewer’s attention to the raw, organic nature of the garment. This element suggests the piece is more suited to an animal than to a graceful woman. The material billows endlessly: a piece that would otherwise reflect a woman’s cultural refinement instead obscures every contour of the body, undermining the wearer’s ability to display feminine figure. 

John Singer Sargent, Madame X (Madame Pierre Gautreau), 1883–84

Oil on canvas, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 16.53

The renowned Mme. Pierre Gautreau held the attention of Parisian high society before Sargent exhibited this work. A. Hyatt Mayer comments on her beauty: “Her studied, indifferent, statuesque presence stopped parties, stopped traffic in the street.” Here, Sargent depicts the icon in a sensuous black gown (at its first exhibition, the right strap fell off the subject’s shoulder), with stark pallor and muscled arms. A twisted pose accentuates her bust and shoulders while an uplifted chin and profile communicate arrogance. To its first audience, Madame X presented an over-sexualization and haughty perversion of the woman it so esteemed. 

Yasumasa Morimura, Self Portrait (B/W) - After Audrey Hepburn (Edition of 10), 1996

Gelatin silver print, Luhring Augustine

Morimura assumes the role of the iconic film character Holly Golightly. Where an American viewer expects to see leading-lady Audrey Hepburn donned in the most chic black dress and pearls, one instead finds a Japanese man. The artist appropriates ultra-feminine content— jewelry, gown, the coiffure and cosmetics—and imposes it on what the viewer knows to be a masculine subject. Suddenly, the tropes which Hollywood has trained its audience to desire become bizarre and sexually deviant.