Sex and Death in Victorian Culture: The Pre-Raphaelites: Faith's Nov. entry

The Gender Blur of the Aesthetic Body

Before the late 19th century, male and female figures are portrayed with distinct gender features that correspond to their sex. However, with the rise of the Aestheticism movement, this boundary of gender distinction starts to blur. As J.B. Bullen discussed in his essay, the Aestheticism “questioned the distinction between male and female, between masculinity and femininity, and between sexual differences.” With Edward Burne-Jones as the most prominent figure, paintings like Days of Creation became an iconic style of the Aestheticism, where it followed Whistler’s theory of “art for art’s sake” that values sensual response over the traditional moral message.

This gender ambiguity aesthetic from the Aestheticism movement can still be found in the modern fashion industry today. Fashion photography portrays models in the gray area of gender representation, two examples of such hermaphroditism type models are: Andrej Pejic and Erika Linder. Andrej Pejic, a 22 year old male model, poses for women’s wear because of his neutral features, whilst similar neutral gender traits enable Erika Linder to pose for menswear. Both models, resembling the figures of Burne-Jones, do not display distinct gender features, therefore, portrays gender ambiguity as neither masculine nor feminine.

Griselda Pollock’s fragment theory assists in illustrating the fashion photography through emphasizing the idea that “this is not a female (male) figure, but a fragment, ‘corps morcele.’” In other words, only certain body parts of the model are highlighted in the photographs; in this case, their faces and backs. By doing so, a frame is drawn around them to create an image that draws attention to only certain parts of the body and isolates the rest. This type of rendering is also seen in Rossetti’s Bocca Bacciata, which Pollock discussed in her essay as an example of “where the part stands for the whole.”

With the gender ambiguity aesthetic view of the Aestheticism movement and the fragmentation framing, the fashion industry adopts a new type of portrayal in their presentation of fashion. There are many reasons behind the rise of such trend, but I think Henry James’ statement, addressed in Bullen’s essay might be a good conclusive reason–“…they [the figures] are sublimely sexless, and ready to assume whatever charm of manhood or maidenhood the imagination desires.”

Reference

J.B. Bullen, “Burnes-Jones and the Aesthetic Body,” The Pre-Raphaelite Body: Fear and Desire in Painting, Poetry and Criticism, 2005.

Griselda Pollock, “Woman as Sign: Pyschoanalytic Readings,” Vision and Difference: Femininity, Feminism and the History of Art, 1988.