I'm currently perusing A Woman’s Afterlife: Gender Transformation in Ancient Egypt. I was wondering if such elaborate funerary rituals were performed for all Egyptians, or just the elite classes?
Weretwahset/Bensuipet's coffin that you see in the exhibition would have been quite expensive and something that only wealthier people could afford. There were multiple types of coffins at different price points. Middle class people and above would have had some type of coffin.
So poor Egyptian women weren't "reborn" in the afterlife?
The poor would still be reborn, although they wouldn't necessarily have been able to afford the many accoutrements to assist in the process.
What are these?
This is a pair of silver stirrups from Argentina. Aren’t they beautiful?
Stirrups of course! That's why they don't 'stand' level. Yes, they are gorgeous.
In the 19th century, these would have been a symbol of status and wealth -- sort of like owning an expensive car today! You can imagine how the silver would catch the sunlight and really dazzle the viewer.
Did ancient Egyptians handle gender also in a binary way: male/female? Was the language always clear about the categorization of people as either or? I am wondering this because of the Amarna statue in the exhibition which represents both genders.
Yes the Ancient Egyptians did have rigid gender binaries and their language represented this.
During the Amarna period it is true that the Pharaoh and Queen were sometimes depicted as non-binary, but this only applies to them, King Akhenaten and Queen Nefertiti. As they were seen as near divine, they could appear both male and female. It helped emphasize their omnipotent power. Normal people were always binary.
Thanks. Even more impressive that they considered gender transformations possible.
Agreed! For the Ancient Egyptians language was very powerful! Saying the word for bread by a tomb effectively created bread for the deceased to eat, much the same that language could transform a woman into a man and back again.
Are these her real clothes?! How have they been preserved all these years?
Yes, they are her real clothes! She kept them in closets throughout her lifetime. They later became the property of the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum. Conservators recently worked to clean and refresh them for this exhibition. They're in wonderful condition, aren't they?
I'm confused by the Georgia O'Keeffe exhibit. I thought it was supposed to be feminist. The exhibit shows very few pieces of her art though and mostly focuses on her clothes. How does that make it a feminist?
I think the exhibition is feminist because it questions O'Keeffe's crafting of persona through her clothing. Her use of clothing was in many ways a response to the way men typecasted her.
She purposefully attempted to dress more masculine and androgynous to separate herself and her art from a sexist reading of her work as "purely woman."
But isn't a focus on dress what gets women trapped into this cycle of not being taken seriously, especially if they are using their clothes as a way to respond to men?
You are not wrong. In the case of Georgia O'Keeffe, she was in fact responding to society as a whole, not just men. You can see in the section called "Beginnings" her conscious rejection of the way that her all-female classmates dressed and looked.
The message of this exhibition is about the way that O'Keeffe crafted her image, a task in which her clothing played a major role. I admit, I was skeptical at first myself, but upon seeing her clothing, her work, and the way others responded to her all in context, I feel that this show tells a story of her life as a person.
Can you tell me more about these candlesticks?
Of course! These candlesticks are by Marie Zimmermann. She was one of the best-known metalsmiths of the American Arts and Crafts Movement. A Brooklyn native, Zimmermann studied at the Arts Students League and Pratt Institute. While her work showed a number of stylistic influences that were popular at the time, this example is clearly in the Art Nouveau style.
Is the the color blue significant in stained glass?
Yes! In this example, you can see that the color blue was reserved for the mantle of the Virgin. The cobalt used to color glass was imported and expensive, which is why it was used sparingly and only for the most significant figure. Similarly, in the nearby manuscripts, you can see how rare minerals and pigments were used symbolically to describe Mary’s celestial mantle, the blue skies of heaven, and the Holy Spirit’s divine aura.
Please tell me about this?
O'Keeffe made these paintings at a turning point in her artistic career. She decided to abandon all her academic training and try to create something purely from her imagination. This was an innovative approach in 1916, when many artists were still trying to represent the human figure, landscapes, and other recognizable subjects in a very detailed, polished style.
She was following the example of her teacher Arthur Wesley Dow, who encouraged young artists to think about "filling a space in a beautiful way" rather than telling a story or copying reality. She was also familiar with the work of European avant-garde artists like Vassily Kandinsky and Henri Matisse, who saw color and form as important in themselves, acting as powerful vehicles of emotion and meaning.
As you move through the exhibition (although maybe you have already made it through the whole show?), keep these simple, flowing shapes in mind. They may come up again! Also, think about the color blue, because you'll see it re-appear about halfway through the show.
Can you please tell me about this?
Regarding the sculpture: O’Keeffe made it the year she lost her mother. Its arching shape could be a figure in mourning—she suggested it was like a nun bowing her head. It also evokes the form of a growing plant pushing up through the earth, its leaves not yet unfurled.
This is the ambiguity of her early style, where her references are not fixed but continually shift from the human to the plant world. The way that Alfred Stieglitz installed the piece in the gallery, and photographed it, added the phallus as another possible reference.
I'm interested in Georgia O'Keeffe's influence on fashion. Is there any evidence that she influenced trends, either during her time period or after?
Great question! The curator of the show wondered about that, too! In fact...when you get to the last room of this show, you'll see some things she gathered to explore this issue.
They include magazine ads that were photographed at O'Keeffe's houses and fashion shoots with models dressed and posed to look like O'Keeffe! Her look was unusual for its time, especially in her earlier years -- but she has certainly had an influence.
