Research Mentor(s)
Schwartz-DuPre, Rae Lynn
Description
This paper works to deconstruct the performance of gender created in Man Rays’ famous 1924 Photograph, Le Violon d’Ingres. Utilizing theories of performativity and surrealism, I explore how this image rhetorically constitutes ideals of femininity and normalized bodies. I analyze the semiotic codes of violins and amputation to conceptualize how audiences decode the model in the photograph to be female and the image to be surreal. By offering an intersectional reading of this text, I encourage audiences to consider how photographic images hail specific representations of identity. I conclude by emphasizing the importance of the material body and argue that Le Violon d’Ingres constitutes cultural expectations of gender.
Document Type
Event
Start Date
15-5-2015 10:00 AM
End Date
15-5-2015 2:00 PM
Department
Communication Studies
Genre/Form
student projects; posters
Subjects – Topical (LCSH)
Gender identity in art; Surrealism; Women--Identity; Photography of women; Feminism and art
Type
Image
Keywords
Perforamativity, Gender, Surrealism
Rights
Copying of this document in whole or in part is allowable only for scholarly purposes. It is understood, however, that any copying or publication of this documentation for commercial purposes, or for financial gain, shall not be allowed without the author's written permission.
Language
English
Format
application/pdf
Included in
The construction of gender through Man Ray's Le Violon d'Ingres
This paper works to deconstruct the performance of gender created in Man Rays’ famous 1924 Photograph, Le Violon d’Ingres. Utilizing theories of performativity and surrealism, I explore how this image rhetorically constitutes ideals of femininity and normalized bodies. I analyze the semiotic codes of violins and amputation to conceptualize how audiences decode the model in the photograph to be female and the image to be surreal. By offering an intersectional reading of this text, I encourage audiences to consider how photographic images hail specific representations of identity. I conclude by emphasizing the importance of the material body and argue that Le Violon d’Ingres constitutes cultural expectations of gender.