Love Scenes-Unfinished: A Critical Enquiry into Modes of Representation in Scenes of Love and Sexuality in Western Art Volume 7 - Issue 5

Dr phil Iris Julian*

• Margherita von Brentano Zentrum, Freie Universität Berlin (FU), Austria

Received:January 17, 2023;   Published: February 14, 2023

Corresponding author:Dr phil Iris Julian, Gutachterin: Margherita von Brentano Zentrum, Freie Universität Berlin (FU) Währinger Straße 156/16 1180 Wien Österreich, Austria

DOI: 10.32474/JAAS.2023.07.000272

 

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Abstract

Depictions of love and sexuality in Western cultures: as art historians have shown, the dominant mode of representation entails an asymmetry that emerged during the Renaissance era. Since then, ‘women’ have been depicted as corporeally present, while their ‘male’ partners have been incorporeal, therefore representing immaterial entities – for example, Jupiter disguised as rays of light, clouds or rain. In my ongoing research, I have found that the incorporeal man/corporeal woman structure remains the prevalent manner of representing male-female love scenes, both in the (self)representations of ‘female’ artists and in depictions of their ‘male’ colleagues. To discuss this asymmetry, I employ an interdisciplinary approach combining art history, dance studies and visual culture. I outline a twofold perspective: a diachronic perspective based on art history and a synchronic perspective of the contemporary dance field with its dance markets and institutions. My analysis is intended to provide a background for the search for alternative forms of representation in contemporary dance and performance.

Keywords:Modes of representation of love; sexuality scenes in contemporary dance; performance

Abstract| Introduction| Theoretical Implications of My Research| A Starting Point with Birgit Jürgenssen| Another Starting Point with Mette Ingvartsen| Along a 500-Year-Long Timeline| Expanding to Create a Synchronic View| Expanding the Field of Possibilities| References|