Gender, sexuality and visual representation

Introduction
Artist Mary Stevenson Cassatt, who shared the revolutionary ideas of artists such as Degas and Monet, was born on 22 May 1844 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Although women were not encouraged to pursue a career, Mary enrolled at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts at the age of sixteen. She quickly felt frustrated by the male faculty and students who were patronising and resentful of her attendance. Regardless of these obstacles and her father’s disapproval of her career choice, she continued to pursue art and painting.
Cassatt, an impressionist painter, did not conform to standard male images of women and therefore her paintings differ from the more general male representations, especially of women readers during the Victorian period. Cassatt expresses her world through women and therefore “…offers a new vision of the unconsidered facts of everyday bourgeois life…” (Yeh, 1976:359). Cassatt’s work is regarded by Yeh (1976:359) as women-centred art as she regards women as complete within themselves. In her work she represents women as independent, pursuing interests which are not necessarily directed toward the need of her family. Reading women, portraying the reader’s inner strength often occur as a theme in her paintings. Femininity in the Victorian era
In the latter Victorian period women artists and their work were considered inferior. In an attempt to overcome the stereotypical female image their work became increasingly more vocal and confident and promoted the emerging image of the educated, modern and free women.
Femininity in the Victorian era was generally thought to be connected with both maternal and wifely functions in a family. Women were expected to devote themselves to their husbands and to provide a comforting shelter to their families and children from the exterior world. These women’s existence was largely limited to the domestic sphere. Therefore, depicting women as readers, hinted at the changing role of the Victorian women. According to Casteras (1987:103) “A true lady was not supposed to work, especially for pay, and Victorian society obviously accorded respect to the inactivity and economic non-productivity of middle- and-upper class women”.
Mary Cassatt’s Reading women
Cassatt’s work is marked by middle-class women who in their special confinement create a world for themselves enabling them to use their mental and intellectual skills. As early as 1877 Cassatt painted Woman Reading (ADDENDUM A). The fact that she is reading does not take prominence, but rather her strong physical presence which is projected by the woman who is twisted slightly forward, leaning on her elbow. Through her later works, for example Reading Le Figaro (ADDENDUM B) a portrait of her mother and, Lydia Reading (ADDENDUM C) her change of emphasis on this theme is illustrated. Here the activity of reading by the women takes prominence, while the body is treated as secondary by omitting attractive physical details. Yeh (1976:360) describe both Reading Le Figaro and Lydia Reading as studies of “mental activity” in which the portrayal of the body becomes a visual metaphor for the mind. In Reading Le Figaro, Cassatt accomplishes this with a three-quarter pose in which her mother is depicted as self-contained and weighty, emphasizing her physique by placing her in an overstuffed armchair. Her mother is depicted as fluent enough in French to be reading a French newspaper. It can be seen from the painting that she is reading the first page which most likely contained the important news of the day, as opposed to fashion or simply social announcements. This painting of a woman reading shows three things: a strong woman whose body commands the painting; a well-educated woman, as well as a woman with an interest in the outside world. In contrast to the works in the same period that resemble a male-gaze of the reading woman, Cassatt offers a new image of the reading woman: someone who nurtures the mind as well as the body. The act of reading the square newspaper is mirrored in Mrs Cassatt’s squared-off figure. “ It is not until Mary Cassatt that we find a woman painter fascinated by the scene of women reading, critical of the ways it has been used in the past and ready to forge new directions for it” (Conlon, 2005:53).
This theme is carried through in Cassatt’s depiction of her sister Lydia, in Lydia Reading which is viewed from the rear, ”… limiting the outlining of her sister’s body to the large simple form of her shoulders which pushes forward into the viewer’s space.” (Yeh, 1976:360).

In Cassatt’s painting, Family Group Reading (ADDENDUM D), she situates the scene in a garden, a setting which is often used by male artists to announce the light-hearted nature of women’s text. In this painting the garden acts as a site of education where the three readers,- two women and a child - are seriously engaged in reading. In this scene Cassatt achieves the same depth and complexity with the image of reading women as her male counterparts (Conlon, 2005:54).
In contrast to male artists like Renoir’s representation of women as passive, semi-erotic and physically dependant, Cassatt’s unorthodox look at the maternal theme and assertive figures are a metaphor for the strength of all her female subjects.
In the review of Jack’s book The women reader (2012), mention is made of Leah Price’s important comment on The woman reader: “Reading is one of the things that women saw as for themselves in a life that otherwise involved taking care of others…” (Jack, 2012: 336).
Through Cassatt’s art her conception of women as concrete presences, portraying their actions in the world, challenges the stereotypic views of women which disembody them. Her belief that “women should be someone not something” , Yeh (1976:363), is clearly depicted in her portrayal of her subjects.

In the next section the focus will be on three other artists who had worked in the same period, but whose works resembled a male gaze of women readers.

Male Gaze Of Women Readers

George Elgar Hicks, Woman’s Mission: Companion to Manhood (1863) (ADDENDUM E)

In this painting, one of a series of three entitled “Woman’s mission”, the duty of a woman as a wife to comfort her husband is portrayed. As the title of this painting suggests the selflessness of the woman who devotes herself to comforting her husband who has received bad news, probably the sudden death of a family member is depicted. The elaborate interior of the room, as well as the couple’s elegant clothes, suggests that the man is a successful businessman as was expected of the ideal husband who was generally the breadwinner of the family. The clean and sophisticated room further depicts the woman’s outstanding ability as housekeeper and a good wife. The last of the trilogy, The Comfort Of Old Age, depicts the reading woman faithfully serving her father while awaiting his death.

Richard Redgrave, The poor teacher (1844) (ADDENDUM F)

During the Victorian era one of the most common occupations for women was to be a governess. A governess receiving a letter, possibly informing her of the death of either her father or an elder brother who would normally be responsible for supporting her financially is depicted in Redgrave’s The poor teacher. The pitiful governess, surrounded by books and holding a letter in her hand is portrayed as a pale, but nevertheless a beautiful and intelligent young woman. The contrast between her wretched circumstances and feminine beauty is reminiscent of a male gaze. Typically of the Victorian era, paintings like these reveal stereotypical gender values
Auguste Toulmouche, Sweet Doing Nothing (1829-1890) (ADDENDUM G)

Toulmouche, another impressionist, specialized in the depiction of charming domestic scenes of young women in various romantic dilemmas. He was mainly known for his portraits of Parisian women who were referred to as “Toulmouche’s delicious dolls”. In his painting Sweet Doing Nothing the young reading woman is another elegant female subject portrayed in her hours of leisure. She does not seem to be engaged with her reading and portrays the act of a woman waiting for a lover. In contrast to Cassatt’s portrayal of the reading woman as an intellectual engaged with text, Toulmouche’s painting reflects the male representation of the woman as a romanticized male companion.

All three artists under discussion resemble the male gaze on women readers in the Victorian period. In contrast to Cassatt’s depiction of the women reading in patriarchal culture any woman involved with text or reading posed to be threatening to men. Conlon (2005:40) explain that the book removes her of the traditional world of male dominance and positions her in a textual world where pleasure and wisdom are placed in her hands. Throughout history men have limited women’s access to text and perceived those who engaged in reading as restless and rebellious. Being presented with a reading woman, man was faced with something that threatened his cultural domination.

Male representations of women readers during the Victorian period follow the standard patterns for representing women which usually represented them as not having a desire of their own. In contrast to depictions of males reading as a sign of wisdom, women is represented as reading in leisurely settings engaging in feminine texts reading only for leisure.

As depicted in the work of Auguste Toulmouche, Richard Redgrave and George Elgar Hicks, women are distracted even wishing for something other than the text – seemingly for a meaningful male figure in her life. Often the readings that the women do seem to be actions to merely pass the time until something more important come along. They are depicted reading magazines while presumably waiting for a male, rather than reading text of serious nature she has chosen herself Conlon (2005:51). Conclusion Through her representation of women reading Cassatt creates a deliberate message; a message about modern women and the female sphere, a message that challenges the stereotypical depiction of women readers during the Victorian period. Her work forms a stark contrast to the more general portrayal of the reading women through the male gaze. REFERENCE LIST

Cateras, S.P. 1987. Images of Victorian Womanhood and English Art. Associates University Presses.

Casteras, S.P.2007. Reader, Beware: Images of Victorian Women and Books. Nineteenth-Century Gender Studies 3(1). Spring 2007.

Conlon, J. 2005. Men reading women reading. Interpreting images of women readers. Frontiers: a journal of women studies 26(2): 37_58

Jack, B. 2012. The woman reader. New Haven & London: Yale University Press

Louis, J. J. Mary Cassatt Quotes http://www. womenshistory.about.com/od/quotes/a/mary_cassatt.htm

Yeh, S. F. 1976. Mary Cassatt’s Images of Women. Art Journal 35(4)

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[Internet].2014.The Victorian Web. Available from: www.victorianweb.org/index.hdml [Accessed 22 Feb 2014].