Masculinity involves attitudes and behaviours that signify and validate maleness.
4 types of masculinity:
Hegemonic – Men power over woman
Complicit – Not physically strong but shows traits of hegemonic masculinity
Marginalized – Racial identity other than white, or poor men.
Subordinate masculinities – Men who do not fit in with the hegemonic masculinity and therefore are treated as lower on the gender hierarchy
Different stereotypes of masculinity :
Self sufficiency – Men should figure out things by themselves without help of others
Acting Tough – Men should always defend their reputation and be willing to use physical aggression to do so
Physical Attractiveness – A man should be physically attractive but do it effortlessly
Men are stereotypically seen as big and strong, they are seen to protect their family and to make money to support their family. However not all men are like this, these days men can be perceived in lots of different ways.
Cindy Sherman is a prominent photographer when it comes to looking at gender and identity. She is based in New York, however grew up in New Jersey, Her work since the early 60’s has been relevant and as time has progressed her work has too, using the modern day improvements to develop her themes and work. Her frame started when she had worked on a project in the 70’s with other prominent photographers, however she studied art at collage until 1972 when her attention firmly turned to just photography. Throughout her career artistic aspects have peaked through with her designing sets, props and costumes to create a snapshot of seemly un created time when in fact everything was designed to look that way. Cindy has been the model in most of her photos, following and unusual style of dressing up for self portraits disguising herself, can they still be considered self portraits? This is where Sherman’s photography has become prolific in the modern world as she discusses themes based on characters she creates and story lines she makes in her work. As her work expanded her work grew to more grotesque themes, starting with one of her projects in 1992 ‘Sex pictures’ which included the photographer using prosthetics and mannequins to almost recreate men’s erotica at the time. As times progressed into the early 2000’s Sherman started to use digital adjustments along with her array of characters she has created within herself by using costume and makeup. Sherman has progressed with times and kept up with new technology developing her own individual style to keep up with times, keeping her work ever developing and relevant for reasons other than the idea of identity behind them.
I chose to analyse this photo in particular because it has given me an idea for a photoshoot I want to do while being a great representation Sherman’s style. It spoke to me as a photo for many reasons, technically it’s an interestingly but well composed photo however looking at the emotional response to it it’s a great photo. By being composed interestingly it makes the viewer think it was a snapshot someone else took of someone, probably close to them, working in the garden. The rule of thirds isn’t placed in the most common way instead the subject is in the the last third and there is a pallet board in the corner of the first third in the foreground. In the middle third there is nothing in the foreground instead there is a pile of bricks in the background. The branches in the top section of the photo are in the foreground and out of focus but the soft black and white stops them being too distracting away rom the model. Sherman is dressed in a white oversized shirt, hat, sunglasses and sandals. The bright white of the shirt contrasts the dark greys and light blacks in the rest of the tonal photo, which draws immediate attention to Sherman as the subject of the photo. The shot was taken by placing the subject, Sherman, as the only thing in the middle ground and the rest in the background or foreground, by also having the fence go diagonally doesn’t distract from Sherman and in fact leads the viewer towards her. On the more emotional side to the image, I think it is a great example of what a man expects a women to be like and what we look like in their perception, as what I saw when I actually looked at the photo was a women working in the garden in impractical clothing as white is not a great colour for working in a muddy garden, also it appears Sherman does not have any trousers on, she probably has shorts on as the lighting gives the impression that it is summer. The photo also appears that it was an unplanned photo taken by someone close to her like a husband or family member. Having looked into Sherman and some of the context behind her work it makes sense for the photo to appear to be taken by someone close to her as she her work is heavily influenced by how she grew up and heavily effected by her brothers suicide. “I will survive” “They are women who have gone through a lot and come out the other side,” she says. Sherman herself says that the photos are important to her and are made to look like the subject (herself) has been through a lot and survived. She feels she that she has never lost herself in her work but instead when she sometimes doesn’t recognise herself that she is amazed by what she sees.
Previously known as Lucy Schwob, Claude was a freedom fighter she defied the conventional ideals of beauty and femininity with her Masculine clothes and shaved head.
Her work blurs the gender and behaviours which serves to undermine the stereotypical ideas of gender bias. She lived through the Jersey occupation of WW2 and her work was very influential through those times.
Her work was meant to unsettle the audience’s understanding of photography as a documentation of reality. Her public image has become a commentary which challenges the publics notions of gender and beauty.
Artist analysation –
In this image, there is a clear representation of Claude’s feelings and thoughts for aesthetics. You can see that the models in this photo have quite masculine features showing that they were men but the makeup that is on their face proves Claude’s style of undermining the gender and identity stereotype at the time. The use of feminine men in her work showed how little she cared about the gender bias in the first place.
This photo clearly shows that the models have masks on which clearly states the theme of identity through the idea of covering up how you look. This also shows the theme and style of social identity bias, showing how you may not fit in to society’s norms and needing to change yourself to feel normal and comfortable to b e around others.
