Viray, Earl Lorenz July 4, 2023

2020-08339/ARTS 1/5:30-7:00 Clod Marlan Krister Yambao

Because Men…
Greatness defined the boundaries of our education, learning about the novelty of
Amorsolo’s lighting, citing da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man, benchmarking achievements like Beethoven
and Montera. We have been told of its positive narratives told for inspiration or notoriously,
degradation. What it fails to mention is the conditions needed to achieve this greatness, now,
particularly in a capitalist system. Linda Nochlin dared to question the notions of greatness in a
discipline riddled with Michelangelos and Pollocks through a sociological and historical
perspective reflective of feminist studies (Nochlin 7). For the various iterations of developing an
answer to the question, Nochlin employed a conversational tone by offering context upon the art
world’s involvement with politics and power (Ashby). The instinctual regard for responding to
such questions predicates upon the assumption that what had been a usual or listed fact is a
natural phenomena (Nochlin 2). What Nochlin tries to portray is a deliberate questioning and
breaking of the historical canon to supply a grounded response.
In support of this, the constant pull from what is natural necessitates upon learning social
and historical contexts for art (Morgan and Purje; Naselli). Put into perspective, Barbara
Kruger’s Untitled (No Radio) (1988) is a thought-provoking piece in of itself but upon further
exploration, we are pushed to the thought of the relation and representation of the two subjects.
We are relished by the elegance of the woman on the gurney inching towards her death (Tseng
222). Her genitalia and bodice are draped implying a redirection from dominating thought. And
standing on her right, the cause of her death, a bearded man, more often than not portrayed as
doctors on television, examines the heart he had just stolen from the woman. We now turn
towards the window where a jar is seen, a vessel of preservation. Historically, during this time,
cars in America were burgled for their car radio; and as a form of notice, car owners have
preemptively notified potential burglars of them having no radio (Kimmelman). The man had
vandalized the woman, who was represented by an object, as a form of representing the abject
theft of life the woman could have lived if not for the restrictions applied by the patriarchal
society. “You could have been great if…” is a testament to the institutional discrimination women
face. It is also a recognition of the aforementioned by the speaker.
The artwork makes us reevaluate our thinking regarding the male gaze, what does it
entail? We are introduced to the subject through the nudity of women in various artworks
throughout time. However, the need to define this starts with the question of what particular
forms produce erotic interpretations (Naselli). It is not just the nude that the man yearns for, it is
the thought of what he could have done to the woman whom he regards as submissive and
weak. The man depicted in the picture had already done this, he had already taken the essence
of the woman. But in Kruger’s depiction, we find comfort in the “banality of [the body],” as
worded by D’Souza (qtd. in Naselli) taken in not for eroticization but just through feeling the pain
the woman had endured through the process. But the woman is still inevitably boxed inside
patriarchal conditions for her heart or her identity is taken by the man such is the case with a
woman’s conceived duties in a marital relationship (Nochlin 17). The heart, a centerpiece of
Kruger’s works, is apparent in “Do I have to give up me to be loved by you?” that attempts to
represent the state of being heartbroken more often than not canonically associated with
women (Tseng 222-223). This designates women to be the one to adjust in relationships to fit
the mold set by society (and the other individual) necessitating a reorientation. Ultimately, we
ought to recognize that women face additional requirements to fit within society.
Viray, Earl Lorenz July 4, 2023
2020-08339/ARTS 1/5:30-7:00 Clod Marlan Krister Yambao
Works Cited
Kimmelman, Michael. "Review/Art; Image Manipulation." The New York Times, 13 Jan. 1989,

www.nytimes.com/1989/01/13/arts/review-art-image-manipulation.html.

Morgan, Tiernan, and Lauren Purje. "An Illustrated Guide to Linda Nochlin’s “Why Have There

Been No Great Women Artists?”." Hyperallergic, 26 July 2022,

hyperallergic.com/377975/an-illustrated-guide-to-linda-nochlins-why-have-there-been-n

o-great-women-artists/. Accessed 4 July 2023.

Naselli, Mara. "Beyond the Gaze: Reclaiming the Female Form After Nochlin." Los Angeles

Review of Books, 28 Jan. 2018,

lareviewofbooks.org/article/beyond-the-gaze-reclaiming-the-female-form-after-nochlin/#!

Nochlin, Linda. "Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?" CPCW: The Center for

Programs in Contemporary Writing, ARTnews, Jan. 1971,

www.writing.upenn.edu/library/Nochlin-Linda_Why-Have-There-Been-No-Great-Women

-Artists.pdf.

Tseng, Shao-Chien. "Scenes of Pain: Barbara Kruger's Depiction of the Social Body." The

Changing Body: Concepts and Images of the Body in Western Art, 2004, pp. 209-237,

www.academia.edu/19511098/Scenes_of_Pain_Barbara_Krugers_Depiction_of_the_So

cial_Body.