ORAL

v
PRESENTATION
LINH NGUYEN &
MARIAN NASER
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
01 02
Introduction Work of the
artist
03 04
Critique Summarize
 01
Introduction
Artist’s name and
background
Hannah Wilke, born Arlene
Hannah Butter in 1940, in
New York.
She attended the Tyler
School of Art at Temple
University in Philadelphia
from 1956 to 1961,
graduating with a BFA and
a teaching certificate
She is most
known for
Wilke used the various mediums of photography,
performance, sculpture, and video to examine and challenge
prevailing notions of femininity, feminism, and sexuality.
During the late 1950s
through the early 1970s
Wilke worked on creating a type of
female iconography based on the body,
constructing abstract, organic forms
that closely resembled female genitalia.
Her chosen media were
ephemeral and playful,
including gum, erasers,
chocolate, play-doh, cookie
dough, and dryer lint.

She exhibited widely both

in the United States and
abroad during her lifetime.
Influences
Emerging in the 1960s, in the midst of
the women’s liberation movement in
the United States, the deeply personal
compositions Wilke generated across
her career aimed to question prevailing
cultural notions about women and
female sexuality.
‘Feminism in a larger sense is
intrinsically more important than art’
 02
Work of the artist
Work of the
artist

Gestures, 1974 Hello boys, 1975 Through the large glass,

1976
 So help me
Hannah, 1979

S.O.S. Starification Object Series (Back), 1974

Breastplate, 1980
Ponder-r-rosa 4, White Plains, Yellow
Rocks, 1975 (sculpture)

Venus Pareve, 1982 – 84, medium: Chocolate

(sculpture)
Painting in the B.C. Untitled works, 1979 –
Series, Sept. 25, 1990 1982 – 1984 (sculpture
(drawing) by gum)

Cow, 1970 (painting

made with collage)
 03

Critique
 VINCENT VAN GOGH
HANNAH WILKE

IMPRESSIONISM 1853-1890
 VINCENT VAN GOGH
HANNAH WILKE

advertisement for
exhibition at ronald
feldman fine art
1970

In order to promote her art and Feminist activities, Hannah Wilke

had posed for a photograph in her studio. It is seen how she was
in an unnatural pose in front of the camera, showing the behind of
her legs and buttocks.
As such, this image describes how women can be seen as a
worker, but also an object. From the view of the camera, it
demonstrates a part of “the gaze” from people that could
potentially consider her as evocative.

IMPRESSIONISM 1853-1890
 VINCENT VAN GOGH
HANNAH WILKE

Through the
large glass
1976
This is one of the recorded performance by Hannah Wilke, which is
considered to be the most impressive out of all. The performance
show Wilke dressed in both a suit and a fedora, indicating the tight
relationship that is formed between the male and female. Afterwards,
she started to strip off her clothes, revealing her nude body to the
camera while posing like a model.
The dominant trait that intrigues viewers’ attention is how she briefly
mentioned the female nude factor in art. As such, she suggested how
women are objectified, whether in high art or common art culture.

IMPRESSIONISM 1853-1890
 VINCENT VAN GOGH
HANNAH WILKE

So help me Hannah
1979

During the photo shoot, Hannad Wilke was naked the whole time
while carrying a gun. During this time, she also made speeches and
read out quotations from male activists – politicians, artists and
many other roles.
What impressive is how she portrays herself as one character who
was full of confidence. The series of photograph shows a woman
who is proud and self-confident of her body as a female, while
aiming to insert herself into history like all the men from before.
As a result, this raised a strong wave on women’s independence
and how great women can also be when treated equally with men.

IMPRESSIONISM
04
Summarize
 Summarize
She specifically focuses on women’s bodies, which is assessed

01 as one statement of females being control of their own bodies.

Her art, specifically filmed performances, evokes viewers’
thoughts of the settings and background of the protagonist.

Additionally, most of her works describe the male gaze and the
objectification of female. It brings viewers’ attention to outside
02 of the box when being emerged in the films she created,
showing the true nature of women’s role in those artistic
creations.
Resources:
https://www.artsy.net/artist/hannah-wilke

https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/artist/hannah-wilke

https://alisonjacques.com/artists/hannah-wilke

https://www.theartstory.org/artist/wilke-hannah/

http://www.hannahwilke.com/id17.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SU9aZuZSdA8
THANKS