ISSUE NO 21

ISSUE NO 21

2021 2022
EXECUTIVE BOARD
Faculty Advisor Alicia Caticha
President Vitoria Faria ‘23
Journal Editor-In-Chief Quaid Childers ‘22
Journal Editor-In-Chief Eli Gordon ‘23
Treasurer Ellie Lyons ‘24
Online Editor-in-Chief Grace Wu ‘23
Director of Event Planning Lisa Vicini ‘23
Vice Director of Event Planning Juwon Park ‘25

Director of Social Media Rose Akcan ‘24

Director of Design Kelsey Carroll ‘24

1
 NORTHWESTERN ART REVIEW

LETTER FROM THE

PRESIDENT
This has been a pivotal year for NAR. We have reshaped our
structure and goals to align with our long standing position as the
official Art History student organization at Northwestern. In ad-
dition, the return to campus and the end of the “Zoom Era” have
enabled us to conduct more in-person events and expand our engagement within the Northwest-
ern community.
For the last 14 years, the NAR Undergraduate Journal of Art History has been a tradition-
al publication on which we work for the entire academic year. This year is an exceptional one; we
have received a record number of submissions from a number of different universities and fields
of study. Similarly, on campus, we have significantly expanded our cohort. We have 30 undergradu-
ate members studying a diverse array of subjects from Art History to Mathematics and from Jour-
nalism to Computer Science. It is so gratifying to see how NAR serves as a space where students
with diverse backgrounds and interests can get together to work on Art History-related projects
and talk about the art world.
This year, I divided NAR into four committees: editorial, design, event planning, and so-
cial media. Thanks to the commitment and collaboration of each single director and member of
NAR, we have truly excelled in our activities this year. The editorial committee has revamped the
structure of our traditional Journal and increased the number and quality of online articles. The
design committee has created a new website for NAR, featuring a platform intended to display
high resolution images and a clean aesthetic for articles’ display. They also crafted a new logo and
color palette for our organization. The event planning committee has tirelessly organized a diverse
array of events. Throughout the year, there have been several coffee chats with Art History faculty,
an exclusive visit to the Block Museum's Print Room, a career panel, and our annual student art
show. The social media committee has also done a terrific job revamping our Instagram page and
expanding our outreach by regularly producing interesting, original content.
With regards to the process of compiling the Journal, I feel extremely grateful to have been
a part of this year-long project. The peer-reviewed essays featured in this issue range from themes
of French Romanticism to 20th-century photojournalism, encompassing NAR’s mission of foster-
ing exploration of the Fine Arts through a diverse and multicultural lens.
I would like to express my gratitude to all NAR Members who collaborated on the making
of this Journal. In addition, I am extremely grateful for Professor Alicia Caticha, our faculty ad-
visor, who was a crucial guiding resource for our team as well as of Professor Jesús Escobar, the
Director of Undergraduate Studies in Art History, who has given NAR essential support when
organizing events on campus such as the Career Panel. I would also like to thank the Art History
and the Art, Theory and Practice departments for their financial support.

Sincerely,
Vitoria Monteiro de Carvalho Faria
President, Northwestern Art Review

2
 NORTHWESTERN ART REVIEW

LETTER FROM THE

EDITOR
In many ways, this year's edition of the
Northwestern Art Review (NAR) represents the manifestation of
a new normal for our organization. Having successfully survived
the pandemic, the Art Review has expanded its membership and
its focus, as well as its presence in the art historical life of the Uni-
versity both online and in person. As one of the longest-running
American undergraduate journals of art history, NAR has grown
from its beginning fourteen years ago to today encompass a variety
of topics and perspectives.
This year's journal does not revolve around a set theme
but instead prioritizes presenting a panoply of pieces that reflects
the multifacetedness of both our membership at Northwestern
and our network of contributors around the country. Our authors
present a variety of art-historical interventions on subjects includ-
ing but not limited to Soviet Futurism, Gericault's Romanticism,
and the roles of women in India during the British Raj. In addi-
tion to these art-historical analyses, articles such as "A Day in the
Life of the Block Museum's Curatorial Intern" (Madie Giaconia)
and "Highlighting the Frame: Scholarship on European Painting
Frames, Circa 1890 to Present" (Grace Wu) equip this issue with a
variety of conduits for readers to engage with art and its history.
The 2022 edition of the Northwestern Art Review would
not have been possible without the tireless work of the journal's
entire editorial team, namely Reyna Patel, Catarina Peixoto, Raya
Bryant Young, and NAR's online editor-in-chief, Grace Wu. Vi-
toria, Eli and I would be entirely lost without their continued
support in this process. I would also like to thank Professor Alicia
Caticha, the Northwestern Art Review's faculty advisor, for her
guidance throughout the production of this year's journal and her
continued support of NAR. Happy reading!

Sincerely,
Quaid Childers
Editor-in-Chief, Northwestern Art Review

3
ISSUE NO 21

LETTER FROM THE

EDITOR
My first Fall in Evanston, I remember
desperately searching for places outside of the
classroom in which to engage my passions. This search led me to
join and later drop half a dozen organizations.
One of the very few groups that made it past my fresh-
man panic was the Northwestern Art Review (NAR). The inclu-
sive, warm atmosphere of our Monday night meetings was an
oasis in the otherwise malaise landscape of impersonal, strictly
pre-professional spaces that surrounded me.
In NAR, I found a community of friends eager to discuss
and critically consider the visual arts, in both a contemporary
and historical context. I never felt like these discussions, or my
participation in them, were transactional. They came from an
intention to nurture passion and build community.
The opportunity to edit our journal alongside Quaid this
year has been a special chance to not just involve myself in our
mission but to drive it forward. It is a refreshing task to facilitate
the appreciation of beauty, to consider how we consider beauty,
and to examine how these considerations affect our culture and
ourselves. This is how I’ve seen my work in editing our journal.
It has been a joy to gather, review, and present our annual jour-
nal to the public. Collecting a range of scholarship on the arts
for this year's journal has also been a fruitful exercise in expand-
ing my own index of art-historical knowledge.
Friends unfamiliar with art historical discourses have
often expressed a paranoia around their misunderstanding of
the field. I have been confronted with the sentiment that the art
world, and academic interrogation of the arts, is an exclusive
vortex of insider thought. I have never encountered this exclu-
sivity in NAR, and I am proud to have been a part of creating
the uniquely welcoming environment that characterizes our
organization.
Go NAR!

Eli Gordon
Editor-in-Chief, Northwestern Art Review

4
ISSUE NO 21

LETTER FROM OUR

ADVISOR

Dear Reader,

It was my sincerest pleasure to work with the Northwestern Art

Review (NAR) in the capacity of their faculty advisor this aca-
demic year, 2021-2022. I arrived at Northwestern at the height
of the Covid-19 global pandemic. Classes were online and the
majority of all student organizations were inactive. Like the
majority of NAR’s members, I had never experienced North-
western “in-person.” How does one regroup as an organization,
when one never participated in it to begin with? That was the
issue students faced as they re-launched NAR as an active stu-
dent organization. It has been incredible to witness NAR mem-
bers re-build their organization from the ground out. In addition
to the publication of NAR’s twenty-first issue, NAR curated a
student art show, a career panel, and multiple coffee chats with
Art History faculty. One of the few student organizations based
in a department, NAR has become an integral means through
which Art History majors and minors create community in our
department—something so needed during the Covid-19 era. It
has been a pleasure to serve as the faculty of advisor, and I wish
to thank all the members of NAR for all their hard work and
commitment to our department, art history, and the arts more
broadly. Congratulations on all you have achieved!

Alicia Caticha
Assistant Professor
Art History Department

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 NORTHWESTERN ART REVIEW

TABLE OF CONTENTS
A Day in the Life as the Block Museum’s Curatorial Inter n ······· 7

Not a Proper Place For British Women: An Exploration of Lady

Im pey’s Role in Colonial India ······································ 9

Aligned in T hought, Opposed in Execution: Malevich and

Tatlin Redefining Of For m, Movement, and Surface ·············· 15

A Tor tured Ar tist’s Haunt: W. Eug ene Smith And T he Jazz Loft · 20

Immersions And T he Liquid Inter rog ation Of Traditional

Catholic Symbolism ·················································· 24

Nautch Women In and Out of Context: Multiple Mediums and

Im ag e Types to Per petuate the Female Cour tesan Visual
Categ or y ······························································ 29

Nicole Eisenman’s Pr ocession ········································· 38

Highlighting T he Frame: Scholarship on European Painting

Frames, Circa 1890s to the Present· ································ 42

Goya’s Romantic Comedy: T he Serious And T he Satirical in

Francisco Goya’s Friar Pedr o Shoots El Maragato As His Horse R uns
Of f, 1806 ······························································ 51

Head Of A Guillotined Man And Gericault’s Romanticism ······· 57

Ar t Museums and Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs): T he Innovative

Potential, L ong-Ter m Risks, and Financial Oppor tunities ········ 65

6
ISSUE NO 21
A DAY IN THE LIFE AS THE BLOCK
MUSEUM’S CURAT ORIAL INTERN
MADIE GIACONIA, NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY ‘24
T
HREE days a week, I leave class
and venture across campus to the
Block Museum. After the usual
trek up the flight of glass stairs, past a wall
of sculpture, and into the galleries, I reach
the Block offices, where I start my day
as the Block’s Undergraduate Curatorial
Intern.
I came to this internship through
a series of happy accidents. In January of
my freshman year, I sat down in Fisk Hall
for my first Intro to Modernism lecture. I
was a baffled pandemic freshman, and a
film major dubiously pursuing screenwrit-
ing. But I did know I loved making art, and
I loved history—ergo, art history!
Ten weeks later, I was babbling
to my friends about Impressionism, the
Bauhaus, and Constructivism. I imagine I
became incredibly irritating to be around.
But I didn’t want to shut up—I had, quite
accidentally, discovered a new life passion.
I declared an art history double
major in May, and around the same time,
I saw a posting for the 2021-22 curatorial
internship at the Block Museum. Espe-
cially the Block Cinema tied directly to
the museum, the Block seemed to be the
perfect place for me to explore my new-
found love for art history and learn about
museum work. I applied for the internship,
and to my immense surprise and elation, I
was selected for the position.
It’s hard to outline a single day
in my life at the Block. My projects and
meetings change weekly. Academic Curator
Corinne Granof is my guiding light, always
there to advise and facilitate new opportu-
7
 NORTHWESTERN ART REVIEW
nities for me. My consistent, long-running giving me valuable feedback on my writ-
project is researching the Block’s exten- ing and verbal presentation. I also get to
sive collection of photographs by prolific talk one-on-one with staff members in all
American photojournalist W. Eugene departments, learning about their journeys
Smith. In the mid-1900’s, Smith was a to museum work and what they do in a day
photographer at Life Magazine, so many at the Block.
of the Block’s holdings were from one of I cannot express how rewarding
Life’s photojournalism series. I scoured the this internship has been. I have gotten
magazine’s online archive to understand to witness the exhibition development
each series Smith worked on, and identify process up close, and learned about every
which of the Block’s photographs were department. The Block staff have made a
ones that made it to publication. I log all concentrated effort to involve in meaning-
of my findings (i.e. caption, publication ful, lasting ways at the museum–whether
date) in a massive spreadsheet, which is it’s asking for my opinion at staff meetings,
still ongoing. We are now working on allowing me to handle artwork, or entrust-
correcting historical errors in the Smith ing me with researching a new acquisition.
collection online, and potentially retitling I now know I thrive in research and the
some of the works. museum environment, and my career aspi-
Every week, I also do a session rations have shifted to art history.
helping the Collections staff inventory the Sometimes I still feel like the
collection ahead of the Block’s re-accredi- confused freshman who (quite literally) got
tation. Early in my internship, I was trained lost on her way to her first art history class
in both art handling and TMS (The Muse- at Fisk. But I now know what my passion
um System, one of the industry standards is, and I cannot wait to see where it takes
for collections databases) to assist with this me. Until the end of the year, though,
project. Working with Collections and Ex- that’s up the stairs and into the Block gal-
hibitions Coordinator Joe Scott, and Lead lery.
Preparator Mark Leonhart, we pull boxes
of artwork and carefully check each work.
We match it against its record in TMS and
make sure everything is a) correctly logged
and b) marked with its proper location in
the database. Doing inventory has allowed
me to get an up-close look at the collec-
tion, and learn from the experts (as well
as engaging in occasional discussions with
Mark and Joe about the modes of mar-
tyrdom, or the illustrious career of Justin
Bieber).
Outside of research and inventory
(my two long-running jobs), I am always
busy with additional projects and meet-
ings. Most recently, I wrote a justification
for a new acquisition under the mentorship
of the Associate Curator of Collections,
Essi Rönkkö. Essi was incredibly gener-
ous in analyzing the artwork with me, and

8
ISSUE NO 21

NOT A PROPER PLACE FOR BRITIS H

W OMEN: AN EXPLORATION OF LADY
IMPEY’S ROLE IN COLONIAL INDIA
ELLIE LYONS, NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY ‘24

T
O be a British woman in
colonial India was to be
an enigma. Though it was
common for British men to
make the journey abroad with the East
India Company in search of oppor-
tunity, it was much less common for
them to bring their wives. This lack of
British women in this new mixed soci-
ety created a vacuum in social norms.
Thus, in early colonial India, the role
of the British woman was unclear and
undefined. The women who did make
the journey had to form a new role for
themselves, balancing the management
of a distinctly Indian household with
newfound British hesitancy toward a
supposedly backward Indian society. Jo-
hann Zoffany’s group portrait The Impey
Family Listening to Strolling Musicians (fig.
1) illustrates this balance, particularly for
Lady Mary Impey, the wife of Sir Elijah
Impey, the first Chief Justice of the Su-
preme Court in India. Lady Impey’s role
and position within this portrait reflect
her attempt to reconcile the conflict of
interest that was being a British woman
in colonial India.
Zoffany’s group portrait features
a range of figures. On the right of the
composition, there are two seated Indi-
an women. One appears to be looking at
Sir Impey while the other holds one of
the Impey children. Behind them stand
a group of Indian performers making
music for the Impey family’s entertain-
1 Ghosh, Durba ‘Colonial companions,’ in Sex and the Family in Colonial India: The Making of
Empire Studies in Indian History and Society (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2006) 35 - 68.
2 Beth Fowkes Tobin, ‘Accommodating India: Domestic Arrangements in Anglo - Indian Family
Portraiture’ Picturing Imperial Power: Colonial Subjects in Eighteenth - Century British Painting (Duke
University Press, 1999) 82 - 110.
ment. As the viewer’s eye moves left, we
see Sir Elijah Impey clapping along to
the music and gazing lovingly upon his
daughter, who is also dancing to the mu-
sic dressed in a traditional costume for
an Indian dancing girl1. Finally, our eyes
rest upon Lady Mary Impey, who sits at
the far left of the group portrait. With
one of her children resting upon her
shoulder, she looks out upon the viewer.
Dressed in a distinctly British outfit, she
is removed from the scene around her,
and she is disengaged from the Indian
entertainers. Rather, she is engaged in
direct eye contact with the viewer. Her
gaze exits the realm of the painting
and into the viewer’s space as if she is
asking for our forgiveness for the rowdy
Indian scene surrounding her2. Unlike
her husband, she is not clapping along
with the music. In fact, she does not ac-
knowledge the commotion. Lady Mary
Impey’s presence is a stark reminder of
an unbridled cultural distance in how
the two communities relate, those cur-
rently existing in the same space. Lady
Impey acts as symbol of British civility.
Her demurred disengagement with the
Indian cultural scene around her ex-
presses an apologetic tone for the space
she currently resides, silently asking for
the viewer’s understanding. She is both
involved and uninvolved; she is a British
woman in an Indian household.
However, Lady Mary Impey was
hardly uninovlved in Indian life. Upon

9
 NORTHWESTERN ART REVIEW

Fig. 1, Johann Zoffany, The Impey Family Listening to Strolling Musicians, 1783-94, oil on
canvas, Private collection.
arriving in Calcutta, the Impeys found racy suggests that Lady Impey herself was
themselves in a townrich with opportuni- directly involved in the style and creation
ties for cultural and intellectual pursuits. of the drawings, reflecting her own interest
Lady Impey herself used this opportunity and involvement in the artistic and intellec-
to explore her own artistic and scientific tual pursuits of Calcutta, and more broad-
interests, specifically diving into a keen in- ly, colonial India. Therefore, Lady Mary
terest in natural history. In the gardens of Impey certainly was not completely dis-
the Impey estate, she kept various species engaged from her Indian scenery, further
of bird and other various wild animals . 3
complicating our understanding of her
Beyond this, Lady Impey commissioned role in colonial India.
a series of large drawings of the animals Beyond her artistic and scientific
in her collection from three local Indian endeavors, Lady Mary Impey was deeply
artists, Shaikh Zain al-Din, Bhavani Das, engaged in the management and mainte-
and Ram Das . These drawings, mostly of
3
nance of her household. The painting Lady
the birds in her collection, display these Impey with her servants in Calcutta, attributed
animals in their natural Indian landscapes3. to Shaikh Zain al-Din (fig. 2) illustrates
In their drawings, Shaikh Zain al-Din, her involvement with the Indian servants
Bhavani Das, and Ram Das use a Mughal of her household. In this painting, Lady
technique of “building up the bird feath- Impey sits upon a stool in the center of a
er by feather” while retaining scientific large room. She is surrounded by Indian
accuracy3. This mix of artistry and accu- staff who are either waiting upon her or

3 J. P. Losty. “Impey [née Reade], Mary, Lady Impey.” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford
University Press, 2004.

10
ISSUE NO 21
are engaged by their household work.4
Through an opening on the right, we
can get a glimpse of a bedroom, though
the main focus is on the large drawing
room. Indian homes often lacked the
privacy and separation granted by Brit-
ish estates, as illustrated in this paint-
ing4. Rather, due to a practical interest
in maintaining needed air circulation
throughout the house, colonial homes
often relinquished the defining of pri-
vate spaces by “secondary channels of
movement” commonly found in British
estates -- British residents shared their
space with their Indian counterparts.
In this scene, Lady Impey is not so
clearly British. Rather here, she fits into
a recognizably Indian scene. Unlike
Zoffany’s portrait, she does not act as
a tie back to England. Rather, she is
portrayed as the manager of an Indian
household, suggesting a sort of integra-
tion into Indian society.
Such integration was not al-
ways well received. As British women
in India were trying to figure out their
role in colonial society, so were their
counterparts back in England. For many
British citizens, the mixing of British
and Indian society was a mistake. One

Fig 2, possibly Shaikh Zain al-Din, Lady Impey with her servants in Calcutta, c.1775-1778,
Private collection.

Shaikh Zain al-Din’s painting captures reason for this hesitancy was a complete
this idea of interconnectedness while misrepresentation of the South Asia
maintaining a focus on Lady Impey. woman. The practices and traditions of
4 Chattopadhyay, Swati, ‘Blurring Boundaries: The Limits of "White Town" in Colonial Calcutta’
Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians Vol. 59, No. 2 (Jun., 2000) 154 - 179.

11
 NORTHWESTERN ART REVIEW
South Asia were completely foreign to
the British, so such customs were often
taken as ‘backward’ and looked down
upon. The practice of concubinage, for
example, became relatively common be-
tween British men and native women in
India. This practice left a disruptive im-
pression on the British population, both
for the men and the women. For Indian
women, the negative reputation of the
practice allowed it to serve as an exam-
ple of the supposedly lax moral codes
by which these women lived5. Back in
England, South Asian women associ-
ated with this practice they were often
stereotyped as obsessed with physical
pleasure and on a mission to “seduce
the most sensible of men”5. This per-
ception of the South Asian Woman led
to her stereotyping as the seductress
and the temptress.. British women who
did adopt the clothing and culture of
India were often shamed, regardless
of how they felt. For a British woman
trying to find her place in colonial India,
such as Lady Mary Impey, such preju-
dices would be difficult to navigate
While Indian women were
looked down upon for their sexuali-
ty, they were also seen as victims of
a backward, misogynistic society -- a
society in which British women should
not participate. As trade and explora-
tion grew in South Asia, British women
in England began to realize their role
and involvement in this new developing
world. One specific group to rise out of
this movement was the Bluestockings,
led by Elizabeth Montagu. This group
of British women came to “recognize
themselves as a transnational network”
as they championed women’s rights
and social progress both at home and
5 Nechtman, Tillman W. “Nabobinas: Luxury, Gender, and the Sexual Politics of British Imperialism
in India in the Late Eighteenth Century.” Journal of Women’s History 18, no. 4 (2006): 8–30.
6 Johns, Alessa. “Bluestocking Studies 2011-2017: The Transnational Turn.” Literature Compass. 14,
no. 11 (2017).
7 López, Nuria. “British Women versus Indian Women: the Victorian Myth of European Superiority.”
Essay. In Myths of Europe. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2007.
12
abroad6. This feminist group serves as
one example of a changing view toward
women and women’s rights in Europe,
a view that was often used to justify
imperialism abroad. In his History of
British India, James Mill argues that it is
the right and responsibility of European
nations to go and civilize their colonies
abroad -- an emphatically paternalistic
opinion7. Mill and others often turn to
the status of South Asian women as an
example of the supposed backwardness
of Indian society, citing cultural prac-
tices such as sati and child marriage as
examples of the lack of women’s rights
in South Asia7. If a society treats its
women as they do in South Asia, the
colonizers argued, it cannot be civilized.
Thus, the English people took it upon
themselves to “civilize” India7. These
shifting ideas toward the status of
women both at home and abroad only
added more pressure onto Lady Mary
Impey. If she chose to participate in
Indian society, she would be choosing to
participate in the subjugation of women
and align herself with the supposedly
backward South Asia.
Thus, it was clearly difficult for
Lady Mary Impey to define her own
role as a British woman in early colonial
India. Her personal interests conflicted
with ideas of what a woman should be,
so she had to be careful and intentional
with her actions. As an intellectual and
creative being, Lady Mary Impey acted
upon her interests, crafting her menag-
erie and commissioning illustrations
of her collections. In this way, she was
an academic and a patron of the arts.
As a wife, Lady Impey managed her
household and closely interacted with
her Indian servants, almost integrating
ISSUE NO 21
herself into Indian society. In this way,
she was the traditional British wife. As a
woman, though, Lady Impey had to be
careful about her choices to interact with
Indian society. Should she don Indian
clothing and participate in Indian tradi-
tions, she would be shamed for aligning
herself with the sexual temptresses of
India. Furthermore, she would be shamed
for participating in a backward society that
actively marginalized women (at least to
the imperialists of Europe). All of these
conflicting interests truly complicated Lady
Mary Impey’s quest to define her role as a
woman, a wife, and a mother in India. As
one of the few and one of the first British
women to move abroad, Lady Impey had
no basis of knowledge and no established
social standards to act upon -- she had to
craft her own identity and hope that the
way she acted was deemed proper. There-
fore, how she presented herself was of
utmost importance, particularly within the
portraits that would outwardly display her
status and role in colonial India, such as
Zoffany’s The Impey Family Listening to Stroll-
ing Musicians.
Lady Mary Impey’s role in Zoffa-
ny’s group portrait reveals a lot about her
chosen role as a British woman in colonial
India. In the portrait, she is both involved
and uninvolved with the scene around her.
Though she sits within the frame of the
painting, her gaze breaks out into the view-
er’s space. This dual existence within the
group portrait reflects Lady Impey’s dual
existence in colonial India. As she does in
the portrait, Lady Impey existed as both
an insider and outsider in colonial India.
Though she was British and therefore a
foreigner in India, she actively participat-
ed in Indian culture and took an interest
in the natural world within South Asia;
Lady Mary Impey toed the line between
British and Indian. That being said, Lady
Impey’s dress and disengagement within
the portrait mark her as a link back to
13
Britain. Rather than dressing in traditional
Indian attire and engaging with the Indian
musician as her daughter and husband do,
Lady Impey wears a European-style gown
and sits quietly. In this way, Lady Impey
acts as a distinctly British woman, as she
actively chooses not to participate in the
Indian scene around her. Finally, Lady
Mary Impey’s gaze out toward the viewer
acknowledges the scene she sits in-- she
knows that she cannot participate for fear
of risking her reputation in England. To
a British audience, such an apology would
be necessary, as Indian culture was seen
as lesser. In acknowledging the scene and
seemingly asking for our forgiveness, Lady
Mary Impey characterizes herself as a ‘civi-
lized’ British woman. Lady Impey presence
attempts to exist both within and outside
of India and Indian culture.
Thus, as Zoffany’s portrait im-
plies, Lady Mary Impey had a complicated
experience in India. As a British woman
abroad, she was forced to create a role for
herself, balancing the different interests
and opinions of what the ideal colonial
wife would be. For herself, Lady Impey
had to consider her personal artistic and
intellectual interests. For her family, Lady
Impey had to manage the home, closely
interacting with her Indian servants and
therefore somewhat integrating herself
into Indian society. For the people of
England, Lady Impey had to consider the
reputation of Indian women and Indian
society. If she integrated herself too much,
she risked association with a supposedly
backward society that devalues women;
integrate herself too little and she risked
failing and managing and maintaining her
household. Lady Mary Impey had to con-
sider and balance these varying conflicting
interests to define her role as a British
woman in colonial India. Johann Zoffany’s
group portrait The Impey Family Listening to
Strolling Musicians reflects this idea of inclu-
sion and exclusion.
 NORTHWESTERN ART REVIEW
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Beth Fowkes Tobin, ‘Accommodating India: Domestic Arrangements in Anglo - Indian
Family Portraiture’ Picturing Imperial Power: Colonial Subjects in Eighteenth -
Century British Painting (Duke University Press, 1999) 82 - 110.
Chattopadhyay, Swati, ‘Blurring Boundaries: The Limits of "White Town" in Colonial
Calcutta’ Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians Vol. 59, No. 2 (Jun.,
2000) 154 - 179.
Ghosh, Durba ‘Colonial companions,’ in Sex and the Family in Colonial India: The
Making of Empire Studies in Indian History and Society (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press 2006) 35 - 68.
Johns, Alessa. “Bluestocking Studies 2011-2017: The Transnational Turn.” Literature
Compass. 14, no. 11 (2017).
J. P. Losty. “Impey [née Reade], Mary, Lady Impey.” Oxford Dictionary of National
Biography. Oxford University Press, 2004.
López, Nuria. “British Women versus Indian Women: the Victorian Myth of European
Superiority.” Essay. In Myths of Europe. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2007.
Nechtman, Tillman W. “Nabobinas: Luxury, Gender, and the Sexual Politics of British
Imperialism in India in the Late Eighteenth Century.” Journal of Women’s History
18, no. 4 (2006): 8–30.

14
ISSUE NO 21

ALIGNED IN THOUGHT, OPPOSED IN

EXECUTION: MALEVICH AND
TATLIN REDEFINING OF FORM,
MOVEMENT, AND SURFACE
KELSEY CARROLL, NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY ‘24

A
T the 1915 Last
Futurist Exhibition
“0.10” in Petrograd,
Kazimir Malevich
and Vladimir Tatlin were in direct
opposition to one another, driven
to distinguish themselves. In Ma-
levich’s From Cubism and Futurism
to Suprematism: The New Realism
in Painting (1878-1935), select
passages from the text highlight
key differences between the two
artists’ ideologies in defining the
role of the artist and artwork.
Through an analysis of Malevich’s
Suprematist Painting (1915) and
Tatlin’s Selection of Materials (1914)
alongside this text, one can see
the artists’ shared departure from
Cubism and toward distinctly dif-
ferent paths in Suprematism and
the “new material creation” of
Constructivism, respectively.1 The
two are aligned in their dissatis-
faction with Cubist and Futurist
representations of the New Sovi-
et Reality, yet opposed in how Kazimir Malevich, Suprematist Painting (1915)
these forms should be replaced.
In opposition to what he summarizes his new Suprematist ap-
calls “collective art.”2 Malevich fixates proach to form by saying “The artist can
on the idea of the artist as “creator.” be a creator only when the forms in his
An idea comparable to Tatlin’s Con- picture have nothing in common with
structivist perspective on using material nature. For art is the ability to construct,
form to “create”a new reality, Malevich not on the interrelation of form…Forms
must be given life and the right to individu-
1 Christina Kiaer (April 20, 2021).
2 Harrison, Charles, Paul Wood, and Kasimir Malevich. “Kasimir Malevich (1878-1935) From Cubism
and Futurism to Suprematism: The New Realism in Painting.” Essay. In Art in Theory, 1900-2000: An Anthology
of Changing Ideas, 167. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub., 2007.

15
 NORTHWESTERN ART REVIEW
eliminating a recognizable subject
completely. To Malevich, previous
Cubist attempts to do the same
were “failed,” practicing only “the
art of skillful reproduction.”6 The
shapes in Suprematist Painting over-
lap each other to give the viewer
only the slight semblance of depth.
Eventually, Malevich will go even
further in his pursuits to decon-
struct traditional form, taking on a
method of “zero of form” in 1915
in Black Square (1915). This method
reduced form to the “basis of con-
vention,”7 untethered to any repre-
sentation to a current, recognizable
world and depicting only itself in a
detached space.
Just as Malevich attempts
to “give life” to his forms, Tatlin
aims to honor physical, material
objects in their raw forms, rather
than using these materials to create
something new. His approach dif-
fers from that of Malevich in that
“form” for Tatlin is metal, wood,
Vladimir Tatlin, Selection of Materials (1914) or any object used for construction,
rather than a painterly depiction of
al existence.”3 or Malevich, form is an
it. In Selection of Materials, Tatlin presents
object or depiction wholly disconnect-
the materials for what they are, giving
ed from any narrative, object or image
them their own “individual existence.”
in real life. This idea is present in his
Constructivists like Tatlin may
work Suprematist Painting through “color
have felt more at home with the ti-
blocks” that are ‘self-sufficient,’4 depict-
tle “worker” than “artist.” Malevich’s
ing color as pure sensation, attempting
argument aligning “art” with the “ability
to “escape specificity”5 of meaning
to construct” highlights the Construc-
through any colors rooted in popular
tivist debate between composition and
culture. Malevich focuses on destroy-
construction.8 While Tatlin’s eventual
ing the figure/ground dichotomy by
creation of an efficient wood-burning
3 Harrison, Charles, Paul Wood, and Kasimir Malevich, 168.
4 Kiaer, Christina. “Futurism and Suprematism.” Introduction to Modernism, Winter 2021. Lecture,
February 15, 2021
5 Christina Kiaer (February 15, 2021).
6 Harrison, Charles, Paul Wood, and Kasimir Malevich, 168.
7 Christina Kiaer (February 15, 2021).
8 Harrison, Charles, Paul Wood, Alexander Rodchenko, and Varvara Stepanova. “Alexander
Rodchenko (1891-1956) and Varvara Stepanova (1894-1958) 'Programme of the First Working Group of
Constructivists'.” Essay. In Art in Theory, 1900-2000: An Anthology of Changing Ideas, 317–18. Malden, MA:
Blackwell Pub., 2007.

16
ISSUE NO 21
stove and hygienic suits was seen as a
loss, each of his constructivist additions
to Soviet production during the NEP
period were built upon his original ideas
about “form,” as seen in his laboratory
works. Despite Suprematism and Con-
structivism moving in opposite direc-
Kazimir Malevich, Black Square (1915)
tions, Malevich and Tatlin’s works both
show the artists’ ability to “give life” to
opposing, self-determined “forms.”
In Malevich’s text, From Cubism
and Futurism to Suprematism: The New
Realism in Painting, the two artists find
common ground when defining “move-
ment”, despite implementing movement
in differing ways. While Malevich moves
toward a new, artist-led interplanetary
9 Christina Kiaer (April 20, 2021).
10 Harrison, Charles, Paul Wood, and Kasimir Malevich, 171.
17
space (idealism), Tatlin was in motion
toward the earthly realm (materialism).
9
According to From Cubism and Futur-
ism to Suprematism, “In order to depict
the movement of modern life, one
must operate with its forms.”10 By working
toward the furthest reductions of form
in his works, the directionality of the
shapes in Malevich’s Suprematist Painting
is ultimately what shows movement in
the piece. The objects in this piece are
not themselves located within a physical
“knowable” space, rather they “float”
aimlessly through the canvas. The large
black form seems to be moving for-
ward in space when skewed to look
like a distorted rectangle alongside the
 NORTHWESTERN ART REVIEW
smaller forms in the upper left-hand
corner, allowing the viewer to perceive
it as leaning outward toward the view-
er. Outside of the picture plane, true
movement for Malevich is to move
toward a “fourth dimension,” attainable
for artists and poets, detached from the
limiting language of art and literature,
and without reliance on recognizable
form. For Malevich, to reach this new
dimension, one must destroy the “laws
of logic and causality,” as well as the
language that “imprisons” society in its
war-torn state.11 His struggles against
the urge to use language as a sign sys-
tem in art connects directly to “Zaum,”
or “beyond reason,” and its rejection of
language to reach a more elevated form
of logic.12
Diverging from Malevich, Tatlin
finds forms in the physical construc-
tion of a new Soviet world. Tatlin is
interested in the social, economic, and
political movements pushing toward
an industrialized future where artists
are fully involved in the production of
goods. By bringing “construction into
production,”13 the Constructivists were
attempting to use material form to bring
about structural changes outside of
the traditional art sphere. In Selection of
Materials, Tatlin and his Constructivist
compatriots focused on recategorizing
artists not alongside poets or writers,
but in the same space as factory and
construction workers. Malevich’s text
From Cubism and Futurism to Suprema-
tism: The New Realism in Painting reveals
another layer of the two artists' varied
approaches to style, this time in refer-
ence to the “surface”. In his critique of
Futurist Painting, Malevich states “But
11 Kiaer, Christina. “Introduction to Malevich.” Art of the Russian Revolution, Spring 2021. Lecture, April
15, 2021.
12 Christina Kiaer (April 15, 2021).
13 Kiaer, Christina. “Construction into Production.” Art of the Russian Revolution, Spring 2021. Lecture,
April 29, 2021.
14 Harrison, Charles, Paul Wood, and Kasimir Malevich, 174.
18
a surface lives, it has been born. The
grave reminds us of a dead person, a
picture of a living one.”14 The surface
for Malevich is the picture plane, the
canvas itself as an object. Rather than
attempting to fool the viewer into think-
ing the object is something other than
paint on a surface, Malevich embraces
the picture plane as a “2D” object and
emphasizes the physical nature of the
canvas. His perception of “surface” is
prevalent in Suprematist Painting, where
the visual object lacks the traditional
perspective that one would expect in an
“academic” painting, where the viewer
almost forgets the painting is flat and
the scene does not actually recede into
the distance. Malevich embraces the
idea that the art does not need to be
about something other than itself, and
it instead revolves around the reduction
of form and color on the physical sur-
face. Malevich is attempting to find the
most reduced form that will qualify the
surface as a “painting”.
Contrastingly, the surface for
Tatlin is the various materials and tex-
tures of industrial production: sheets,
rods of metal and wood planks. By a
surface being “born,” Constructivists
might interpret this as laboratory work
finally being implemented into real
production, as the material surface will
be “living” out a purpose outside of
the walls of the gallery. This transition
between laboratory work and produc-
tion was extremely crucial to Tatlin and
the Constructivists as their goal was
to work alongside industrial/factory
workers and bring art into production to
serve the public. In Selection of Materials,
the piece emphasizes Tatlin’s “distrust
ISSUE NO 21
of the eye,” “placing all reason under the control of touch”15 in its use of tactile
materials that jut out into the viewer’s space. Placing all importance on touch em-
phasizes the need for the surface to act as a “subject” of the piece itself, rather than
attempting to mask the surface by turning the materials into something else.
Malevich and Tatlin agreed that to truly depict the new reality, the visual
languages of Cubism and Futurism hadn’t gone far enough in aiding the develop-
ment and representing the revolutionary reality of a Soviet world. In their respec-
tive Suprematist and Constructivist workspaces, the two determined their own
definitions of form, movement, and surface that supported their beliefs of how an
artist could best serve the socialist cause, whether in developing a new dimension,
or working to produce for the present one.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Harrison, Charles, Paul Wood, and Kasimir Malevich. “Kasimir Malevich (1878-
1935) From Cubism and Futurism to Suprematism: The New Realism in
Painting.” Essay. In Art in Theory, 1900-2000: An Anthology of Changing Ideas,
167. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub., 2007.
Harrison, Charles, Paul Wood, Alexander Rodchenko, and Varvara Stepanova.
“Alexander Rodchenko (1891-1956) and Varvara Stepanova (1894-1958)
'Programme of the First Working Group of Constructivists'.” Essay. In Art
in Theory, 1900-2000: An Anthology of Changing Ideas, 317–18. Malden, MA:
Blackwell Pub., 2007.
Kiaer, Christina. “Abstract Art in Revolution: Constructivism.” Art of the Russian
Revolution, Spring 2021. Lecture, April 27, 2021.
Kiaer, Christina. “Construction into Production.” Art of the Russian Revolution, Spring
2021. Lecture, April 29, 2021.
Kiaer, Christina. “Introduction to Malevich.” Art of the Russian Revolution, Spring
2021. Lecture, April 15, 2021.
Kiaer, Christina. “Futurism and Suprematism.” Introduction to Modernism, Winter
2021. Lecture, February 15, 2021

15 Kiaer, Christina. “Abstract Art in Revolution: Constructivism.” Art of the Russian Revolution, Spring
2021. Lecture, April 27, 2021.
19
 NORTHWESTERN ART REVIEW

A T ORTURED ARTIST’S HAUNT :

W. EUGENE SMITH AND THE JAZZ
LOFT MADIE GIACONIA, NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY ‘24

Smith at his loft window, 1957-65.

I
N 1957, legendary photojournal-
ist W. Eugene Smith abandoned
his suburban life and moved into
a dilapidated loft apartment at
821 Sixth Avenue, New York City. The
building, a hotspot for jazz jam sessions,
was alive with music and people at all
hours of the day—and Smith took it
upon himself to document every inch
of it.
Before his residency at 821 Sixth
Street, Eugene Smith had cultivated an
illustrious career as a photojournalist for
Life Magazine. Camera in hand, Smith
photographed everything from soldiers
on the front lines of World War II (ex-
emplified by his Okinawa series, 1942) to
a rural doctor in impoverished Colora-
do (the Country Doctor series, 1948).1
His work cemented him among the key
founders of the editorial photo essay,
and he became one of Life’s most presti-
gious photographers. However, Smith’s
relationship with the Life editors was
tumultuous—their visions for the layout
and selection of his photographs often
did not align with his. After a blowout
fight in 1955, Smith finally reached his
breaking point and resigned from the
magazine.
He was quickly hired by the
photo agency Magnum and contracted
to photograph a series depicting Pitts-
burgh, Pennsylvania. In typical Smith
fashion, he dragged the three-week
assignment out over four years, dissat-
isfied but determined to finish what he
deemed his magnum opus. By 1957,
however, money for the project ran out.
Smith abandoned Pittsburgh after shoot-
ing 17,000 photos, never to be complet-
ed.2

1 “W. Eugene Smith Papers: Guide Series Number Nine,” ed. Charles Lamb
and Amy Stark. (University of Arizona: Center for Creative Photography, 1983), 20.
2 Jeremy Lybarger, “Doomed to Pittsburgh: W. Eugene Smith in the City of

20
ISSUE NO 21
Thus, it was a Eugene Smith
in crisis that moved into the run-down
apartment building on Sixth Street— “a
dirty, begrimed, firetrap sort of a place,”
as Smith described it in a 1969 mono-
graph for Aperture.3 Smith, an oft-un-
stable obsessive, made it his mission to
document every corner of the loft. He
planted mics around the space; tape-re-
cording hours of music, conversation,
and even his own muttered narration.4
He turned his room into a photography
studio: aiming his camera out of his
broken window to capture the street
below, or venturing downstairs to pho-
tograph the musicians and tenets that
also haunted the building. Over his eight
years in the Jazz Loft, Smith snapped
Figure 2. Photograph by W. Eugene
Smith
over 40,000 photos: “ “[The apartment]
has claimed… more film than I have
ever given to any project,” he noted.5
Huddled by the window, Smith
often pointed his camera outwards to
encapsulate Manhattan through his eyes.
Captured unbeknownst to their subjects,
these photos often depicted people at
fleeting moments in their daily lives,
amidst the city’s constant movement.
One, shot from overhead, catches a man
at the door of a car, awaiting a compan-
ion who has partially exited the vehicle
(Figure 1). One cannot be sure whether
they are entering the car to depart, or
exiting it to stay. Faceless, and caught in
Figure 1. Photograph by W. Eugene a moment of ambiguous motion, the
Smith.
Steel,” Belt Magazine, March 2, 2015, https://beltmag.com/doomed-to-pitts-
burgh-w-eugene-smith-in-the-city-of-steel/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAjJOQBhCkARI-
sAEKMtO3w3-oakH2671Z_jAFsFJM5VItVTATP8juk0BP4JZ9mpaqEtAM-
rkO0aArGkEALw_wcB
3 Kirstein, Lincoln, and Peter C. Bunnell. “W. EUGENE SMITH: His Pho-
tographs and Notes.” Aperture 14, no. 3/4 [55/56] (1969), p. 101. http://www.jstor.
org/stable/24471440.
4 Sam Stephenson, The Jazz Loft Project: Photographs and Tapes of W. Eugene
Smith from 821 Sixth Avenue 1957-1965, (Durham, NC, Center for Documentary
Studies, Duke University, 2009), 3-17.
perture 14, no. 3/4 [55/56] (1969), p. 101.
21
 NORTHWESTERN ART REVIEW
two figures are merely two tiny cogs in
the constant bustle of the city.
Smith also experimented with
image framing, using a break in his
blacked-out window to capture frac-
tured images of the street below (Figure
2). The glass frames the world beyond
it in a jagged border, leaving only a strip
of the street and two faint figures on
the sidewalk visible. The dark, tattered
edges create an eerie effect, as though
gazing out from a haunted house. Like
the photograph of the car travelers, this
image’s birds-eye perspective places the
viewer in Smith’s spectator position—
Figure 3. Photograph by W. Eugene Smith
and the makeshift frame enhances this
sensation, as one could only achieve
this particular view if they peered out
Smith’s window.
But the New York City street
was not Smith’s only source of inspira-
tion during his Jazz Loft tenure. Eugene
Smith was a self-proclaimed musico-
phile: “With careful judgment I divide
my life into two parts, before music
6 W. Eugene Smith, “An Essay on Music,” in W. Eugene Smith Papers: Guide
Series Number Nine, 10-12.
22
and with music,” he wrote in an essay
around 1947/48. He credits music with
altering his photography, making it less
superficial; and soothing his troubled
mind: “Now it is an integral part of my
life, being a source of great beauty and
inspiration to me as well as the balm
that eases the pain from my mental, and
even my physical, wounds.”6 It was only
natural that Smith was drawn to the
music alive around him in the loft—and
with his documenter’s instincts, decided
to capture it not only on film but also
on tape.
During his time at the loft,
Smith generated 4,000 hours of tape re-
cordings. Sometimes the tapes captured
Smith’s favorite radio shows, other times
his conversations with neighbors—and
occasionally, they were intimate docu-
mentations of groundbreaking musi-
cians’ rehearsals. Since 1954, 821 Sixth
Avenue had been a haven for jazz jam
sessions, drawing names like Thelonious
Monk, Miles Davis, and Charles Min-
ISSUE NO 21
gus.7 Notably, it became the site of rehearsals for Monk’s famed 1959 live perfor-
mance series, arranged by composer Hall Overton and accompanied by a ten-piece
orchestra—a unique collaboration between jazz and classical music. Thanks to
Smith, the process was caught on tape, from the extensive rehearsals to private
conversations between Monk and Overton as they arranged Monk’s music. Cap-
turing even the creak of the floorboards under the artists’ feet, the recordings are a
complete soundscape of the moment giants from two seemingly opposing genres
united in their creativity. Smith, of course, could not help but snap several shots
of the rehearsal in action—such as one capturing Monk leaned back, eyes closed
passionately and hands lifting mid-dance across the piano (Figure 3).
In his quest to document the Jazz Loft recordings, W. Eugene Smith aficio-
nado Sam Stephenson scoured the country to interview anyone who lived in or vis-
ited the loft during Smith’s time there. “...I’ve met more than three hundred people
along the way,” Stephenson recalls. “Some are famous, but most are unrecorded in
the official annals of music, photography, or anything else.”8 This, perhaps above
all, is the greatest legacy of Smith’s work. The Jazz Loft was a place where re-
nowned musicians and artists rubbed shoulders with undiscovered performers and
normal families—and to Eugene Smith, all were worthy of documentation, wheth-
er by tape or camera. His work encapsulated the loft’s identity, bringing the building
to life and immortalizing all those who encountered it.

7 “People,” The Jazz Loft Project, http://www.jazzloftproject.org/index.

php?s=people.
8 Stephenson, The Jazz Loft Project, 250.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Fishko, Sarah, The Jazz Loft Radio Series. Podcast audio. 2009. https://www.wnyc.org/shows/jazz-loft
Kaplan Fred. “The View from His Window,” New York Magazine, December 18, 2009. https://nymag.com/arts/
books/features/62876/
Kenny, Glenn. “Review: The Jazz Loft According to W. Eugene Smith,” September 16, 2016. https://www.nytimes.
com/2016/09/23/movies/the-jazz-loft-according-to-w-eugene-smith-review.html
Kirstein, Lincoln, and Peter C. Bunnell. “W. EUGENE SMITH: His Photographs and Notes.” Aperture 14, no. 3/4
[55/56] (1969), http://www.jstor.org/stable/24471440.
Lybarger, Jeremy. “Doomed to Pittsburgh: W. Eugene Smith in the City of Steel,” Belt Magazine, March 2, 2015.
https://beltmag.com/doomed-to-pittsburgh-w-eugene-smith-in-the-city-of-steel/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAjJOQBhCk
ARIsAEKMtO3w3-oakH2671Z_jAFsFJM5VItVTATP8juk0BP4JZ9mpaqEtAMrkO0aArGkEALw_wcB
Morton, David L. Sound Recording: The Life Story of a Technology. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004.
Stephenson, Sam. The Jazz Loft Project: Photographs and Tapes of W. Eugene Smith from 821 Sixth Avenue 1957-
1965. Durham, NC: Center for Documentary Studies, Duke University, 2009.
“The Jazz Loft Project,” http://www.jazzloftproject.org/index.php?s=people.
Wilson, John S. “Thelonious Monk Plays his Own Works: Leads Quartet in Concert at Town Hall Devoted to his Jazz
Compositions.” New York Times, Mar 02, 1959. http://turing.library.northwestern.edu/loGin?url=https://
www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/thelonious-monk-plays-own-works/docview/114688154/se-2?ac
countid=12861.

23
 NORTHWESTERN ART REVIEW

IMMERSIONS AND THE LIQUID

INTERROGATION OF TRADITIONAL
CATHOLIC SYMBOLISM
ZADA TIIMOB, NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY ‘24

A
MERICAN photographer An- blood, and urine, and each substance may
dres Serrano boldly introduced carry a distinct significance in the context
his fascination with the poten- of the figure that it escorts. Overall, the
tial for bodily fluids to juxta- religious theme of Immersions capitalizes on
pose Catholic religion through his viral this capability in an attempt to encourage
piece Piss Christ. The irony of the submer- nonorthodox reconsideration of standard
sion of the Christian icon in urine stems Catholic figuration. Andres Serrano’s Im-
primarily from
the associa-
tion of Christ
with virtue
and immacula-
cy and that of
excretion with
the opposite.
This collo-
cation is a
means for Ser-
rano to assert
his frustration
with the at-
tenuation and
cheapening
that society Andres Serrano, Piss Christ, 1987
has imposed
upon Catholic divinity as a whole1. Specif- mersions series relies on crude bodily fluid
ically, urine generally embodies the social media to challenge the traditional attributes
excretion of Catholicism in Serrano’s and symbolism associated with various
work. Serrano’s Immersions series, which biblical figures.
features the submersion of Christian The immersion of the Virgin Mary
iconography in liquid, expounds on the in urine contrasts with the purity, respect-
capacity for raw bodily fluids to assign an ability, and devotion of her biblical image.
alternative meaning to holy figures as in Serrano’s Madonna of the Rocks is a repro-
the case of Piss Christ. The primary bodily duction in both name and design of the
fluids featured in this series are water, milk, content of the 1496 work by Da Vinci2. In
1 "Andres Serrano Artworks & Famous Photography." The Art Story. Accessed October 27, 2020. https://
www.theartstory.org/artist/serrano-andres/artworks/.

2 Linnell, Andrew. (2015). “The Mystery of Leonardo's Virgin of the Rocks Revealed”.

24
ISSUE NO 21
contrast to the original
work in which John is
relegated to a position on
the ground alongside the
angel Uriel, Serrano’s ren-
dition depicts Mary with
an infantile Christ and
John the Baptist in either
arm. Serrano’s decision to
portray Christ and John
as equals in his work
consummates the image
of Mary as impartial and
benevolent in her favor.
But if Mary is a para-
digm of acceptance, then
urine, which is a symbol
of desecration and rejec-
tion, ridicules that open-
ness. Likewise, if Mary
illustrates purity, then
the comparative filth of
urine sullies her essence.
The more commonly
circulated title for Da
Vinci’s painting is Virgin
of the Rocks rather than
[Madonna], with the sole
difference in terminology
being the level of respect
assigned to Mary. Madon- Andres Serrano, Madonna of the Rocks, 1987
na, the Italian translation
for the phrase “our lady”, The interplay of blood, milk,
recognizes Mary as more than simply a and water in the series demonstrates the
worthy vessel for immaculate conception thematic inflections to Christ and the pope
due to her virginity and implies that her that non-traditional Catholic artwork can
respectability is instead the result of more introduce. Perhaps the most standard pre-
substantial qualities. Whereas “virgin” cen- sentation of Catholicism in the Immersions
tralizes Mary’s physical purity as her most series as a whole is White Christ; the photo
outstanding trait as a woman, “lady” car- shows a young Jesus Christ submerged in
ries a more feministic tone which implies a combination of water and milk3 which
that the beauty of her being extends to her accentuates the whiteness and thereby
demeanor as well. This polite character- purity of the Christian icon. The inclusion
ization of Mary is incongruous with the of Christ in his infantile form rather than
vulgarity that accompanies excretion. his adult form further supports the narra-
3 Hobbs, Robert. “Andres Serrano: The Body Politic.” In Andres Serrano: Works 1983-1993. Philadelphia:
Institute Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, 1994; pp. 17-43

25
 NORTHWESTERN ART REVIEW
tive of the association of morality with
innocence; though Christ is yet another
biblical figure who symbolizes virtue,
there is nonetheless a more intrinsical-
ly impure element to adulthood than
there is to childhood. The crosses on
Christ’s body have a decorative quality
which dilutes the intensity of their true
symbolism to suit the delicacy of his
Andres Serrano, White Christ, 1989
adolescence. White Pope shares a con-
ceptual overlap with White Christ in that
vestiges of the general associations of
Christianity with moral immaculacy are
present through the similarly bold white
coloration of the pope; however, White
Pope poses a more potentially radical
theme and interpretation through the
presence of blood in the immersion.
If the snow-like appearance of White
Christ is presumably an emblem for the
absolute purity of Christ in his youth,
then the interruption of an otherwise
unadulterated scene by blood in White
26
Pope adds a layer of dubious morality to
Catholicism. White Pope may be a rec-
ognition of sin as an inextricable com-
ponent of adulthood; therefore, while a
pope may theoretically symbolize all that
is just and holy, there exists a possible
disconnect between that persona and
the person himself. Additionally, the
Eucharist exploits the blood of Christ
Andres Serrano, White Pope, 1990
for the same purpose that his crucifix-
ion served: the prosperity of human life.
Assumption that the blood in White Pope
belongs to Christ would alter the photo
to demonstrate the use of Christ’s body
for a noble cause and absolve the work
of any immoral interpretation. On the
contrary, the peripheral and almost tri-
fling position of what could be Christ’s
blood in the photo might further com-
ment on the trivialization of his sacri-
fice, especially when in conjunction with
the crucifix in the pope’s hands. While
the Church capitalizes on the body of
ISSUE NO 21
Christ in the name of religion, the respect sacrificial figure of Christianity. The slack-
that he receives from society pales in com- ness of Jesus’s posture in Black Jesus along
parison to the greatness of these sacrifices. with the leisure of the bubbles around him
The blackening and aquatic sub- carry a mellow aura that humanizes Jesus
mersion of Christ and Mary in the final in a way that the Bible fails to do. The
leg of Immersions attests to the ability of submersion of Jesus in water, which is by
unorthodox art to invert and redefine the far the most neutral and nondescript of
symbolism of Catholic figures. Serrano the liquids in Serrano’s repertoire, almost
produced all of the blackened photos in finalize Jesus’s supposed conversion from
the series by spray painting the icons with- the realm of the divine to the realm of
in them and then submerging those figures normalcy. A more unlikely interpretation
in water; according to the artist, the bub- of Black Mary and Black Jesus is the literal
bling that appears in photos such as Black in which Mary and Jesus appear in an Af-
Mary and Black Jesus is unintentional but ricanized form. Serrano has experimented
contributes to a fantastical, aesthetic quali- with this progressive and provocative re-
ty in each work3. Through the introduction definition in works such as African Madonna
of the color black to the subject matter, from his Holy Works (2011) series5. The
both photos seem to be direct inversions understanding of Jesus as an ethnic being
of the previously mentioned themes of has gained increasing traction and histori-
innocence and purity within Catholicism. cal supplementation throughout the years.
In a Catholic context, black mainly rep- Therefore, Black Jesus and Black Mary may
resents death4, and thus Black Jesus could serve as rejections of the Anglo-centric
further extend Serrano’s argument on
the symbolic “demise” of Jesus within
society. That same suggestion of figu-
rative death may uphold for Black Mary
with regards to her physical and mor-
al chastity in the photo. Interestingly,
Black Jesus is the only work in Immersions
in which Serrano refers to the Savior
by his first name; in doing so, Serrano
effectively disconnects Jesus from his
Christian roots and allows for focus on
the figure as an individual as opposed
to a martyr. After taking this detail into
consideration, the flight of the bubbles
surrounding Jesus in the photo could
symbolize a departure of the stress that
accompanies Jesus’s status as the central
4 Bratcher, Dennis. "The Meaning of
Church Colors." The Meaning of Church Colors.
2019. Accessed October 27, 2020. http://www.
crivoice.org/symbols/colorsmeaning.html.

5 "Holy Works." Andres Serrano - Series -

Holy Works - African Madonna. Accessed October
Andres Serrano, Black Jesus, 1990
28, 2020. http://andresserrano.org/series/holy-
works.

27
 NORTHWESTERN ART REVIEW

and incorrect racial profile within the Bible

that establishes a hierarchy where white-
ness reigns supreme.
Immersions successfully perverts
the biblical presentations of Mary, Christ,
and the pope through its skillful incorpo-
ration of blood, urine, water, and milk to
each landscape. The series achieves this
interpretational inflection through manip-
ulations of the connotation that each of
these liquids in a broader sense as well as
in the context of each figure. Immersions
predominantly contrasts the themes of pu-
rity and impurity, morality and immorality,
and piety and disrespect via the introduc-
tion of these liquids. Despite these more
obvious dichotomies, there is certainly
still potential for alternate interpretation,
as evidenced through the seemingly racial
scope of Black Mary. Overall, Immersions
effectively agitates the standard interpre-
tive and emblematic range of Catholicism Andres Serrano, Black Mary, 1990
within present society.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
"Andres Serrano Artworks & Famous Photography." The Art Story. Accessed October 27, 2020.
https://www.theartstory.org/artist/serrano-andres/art works/.
Bratcher, Dennis. “The Meaning of Church Colors.” The Meaning of Church Colors. 2019.
Accessed October 27, 2020. http://www.crivoice.org/symbols/colorsmeaning.html.
Hobbs, Robert. “Andres Serrano: The Body Politic.” In Andres Serrano: Works 1983-1993.
Philadelphia: Institute Contemporary Art, University ofPennsylvania, 1994; pp. 17-43
"Holy Works." Andres Serrano - Series - Holy Works - African Madonna. Accessed
October 28, 2020. http://andresserrano.org/series/holy-works.
Linnell, Andrew. (2015). “The Mystery of Leonardo’s Virgin of the Rocks Revealed”

28
ISSUE NO 21

NAUTCH W OMEN IN AND OUT OF

CONTEXT : MULTIPLE MEDIUMS AND
IMA GE TYPES T O PERPETUATE THE
FEMALE COURTESAN VISUAL
CATEGORY ROSE AKCAN, NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY ‘24

T
HE Indian nautch girl em- tion of nautch girls proposes that context
bodies the allure that men affects their widespread perception and
sought to witness and women categorizes these cultural performances in
desired to embody. Based a gendered space.
on the Hindi word nach or nac, meaning Distinguishing between nautch and
dance, the term nautch is a British distor- tawa’if performers establishes the contin-
tion.1 From their beginning, nautch girls gency of the identities of Indian female
were constructed along colonial lines. performers based on their reputations.
The nautch girl’s cultural persistence as a Examining the connotations of differ-
visual category throughout Indian histo- ent courtesan performers in the Awadh
ry orients the individual woman within a region of India, for example, reveals the
larger collective, thus creating two lenses outward influences that shaped the wide-
for these performers to be examined. Fe- spread identities of these women.2 Tawa’ifs
male representation in the realm of nautch were highly skilled and respectable female
portraiture across different art styles and performers who were associated with
mediums correlates with a shifting public the Nawab’s court, a high rank of Indian
view of nautch performance. Overwhelm- royalty.3 Their duties ranged from prosti-
ingly, group portraits featuring nautch tution, dancing, singing, and preserving
women exist in a greater amount than pleasant relations with patrons, yet they
individual portraits. The artist’s approach maintained a well-regarded position in so-
to visualizing the nautch girl speaks to their ciety as sophisticates who interacted with
codependent cultural role
which deemed their autono-
mous selves secondary. This
strategic visual representa-
1 Walker, Margaret. “The
‘Nautch’ Reclaimed: Women’s
Performance Practice in Nineteenth-
Century North India,” no. South
Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies
(September 4, 2014): 551–67.
2 "FROM PARI KHANAS
TO LAL BAZAARS AND FURTHER
AWAY: FEMALE PERFORMERS
IN NINETEENTH CENTURY
AWADH." Pakistan Journal of Women's
Studies = Alam-e-Niswan = Alam-i Nisvan Figure 1 Samuel Bourne, Native Nautch at Delhi, 1864,
28, no. 1 (2021): 1-20
‘India - Groups. 1874,’ photograph.
3 Ibid., 3.

29
 NORTHWESTERN ART REVIEW

Figure 2 Phillip Francis Stephanoff (artist) and Louis Haghe (lithographer), A Nautch in
the palace of the Ameer of Sind, 1838, Lithograph colored image, 26 x 35.7 cm.

India’s elite.4 Tawa’ifs in the royal courts of
north India were decidedly distinct from
nautch dancers in nineteenth-century Ben-
gal.5 One major trait distinguishing them
from nautch women was their tendency to
be highly-educated and positioned atop
the female social hierarchy.6 Since tawa’ifs
relied on patronage to continue perform-
ing, when large-scale support eventually
declined, courtesan performers would en-
tertain men privately in their own homes.
This environmental switch consequent-
ly deinstitutionalized their performing
practice.7 Although tawa’ifs and nautch girls
remain distinct, they both belong to an
occasionally blurred category of courtly
entertainers.
Comparatively, nautch girls op-
erated in often more publicized venues
than tawa’ifs and were susceptible to
objectifying colonial accounts that would
sexualize their movements.8 While the
tawa’if was thought of as “a dispenser
of the aesthetic graces of the courtly
culture,” nautch women were regarded as
“mere performer[s],” despite their similar

4 Ibid., 4.
5 Chakravorty, Pallabi. “Dancing into Modernity: Multiple Narratives of India’s Kathak Dance.” Dance
Research Journal 38, no. 1/2 (2006): 115–36.
6 Ibid., 7.
7 Singh, Prakash Vijay. “From Tawaif to Nautch Girl: The Transition of the Lucknow Courtesan.” In South
Asian Review, 177-194, 2017.
8 Ibid., 181.

30
ISSUE NO 21
technical roles.9 The colonially charged
origin of nautch as it differs from nac/
nach in Hindi indicates an oversimplifi-
cation of these women as belonging to
a collective rather than existing inde-
pendently of their profession. Cour-
tesan women would fall victim to the
imaginations of British onlookers, a
consequence of embodying an extrav-
agant performer. However, societal
perception dictated the main differ-
ences between tawa’if and nautch girls.
formers based on their education level
and perceived promiscuity. With this
distinction in mind, thinking through
different mediums communicates
diverse messages about context within
the nautch visual category.
Group paintings, visualizations
of the nautch performance in the com-
pany of onlookers, represent the place-
ment of performers in relation to other
members of society. When viewing the
nautch girl as a component of a larger

Figure 3 Charles Shepherd, Nautch - girl, 1862, Albumen silver print, 8 3/4 × 11 in., J.
Paul Getty Museum.
Nautch girls existed “where a mixture experience, an interplay across social
of fascination and repulsion worked classes and gender emerges. Samuel
together to form an elusive imagery of Bourne (1834-1912) and Charles Shep-
the exotic native woman,” so their role herd (1858-1878) were British pho-
elicited a complex arena of meaning.10 tographers renowned for their work
Colonial Indian society separated in India between 1863-1870.11 Bourne
these two categories of courtly per- projected a Victorian perspective onto
9 Ibid., 179.
10 Ibid., 182.
11 Sampson, Gary David. "Samuel Bourne and 19th-Century British Landscape Photography in India."

31
 NORTHWESTERN ART REVIEW

nautch performance is a
category that visualizes
the intersection between
English artists and an
Indian cultural spectacle.
Francis Phillip Steph-
anoff ’s (1790-1860) A
Nautch in the Palace of the
Ameer of Sind illustrates a
reception room with the
ruler, an Ameer, seated
slightly off center wear-
ing a large yellow turban
and robe (fig 2). A yellow
Figure 4 Gobindram and Oodeyram, Dancing girl, Opaque hue recurs throughout
watercolor on albumen print, early 1900s, 20.2 × 26.7 cm. the composition and
helps to guide the view-
the subtleties of Indian daily life during er’s eye in the direction
the rise of the British Raj.12 Originally a of each figure and where they reside in
landscape photographer, Bourne’s atten- this particular social fabric. The focal
tion to each person’s body language in point is the nautch performer at the center,
his composition of a nautch performance barefoot and clothed in a diaphanous
is not surprising (fig. 1). Their differing gold-trimmed body veil overlaying a blue
positions urge the viewer to focus on dress. She faces the ruler, suggesting that
their movements as components of a he is the receiver of her dance, although
nautch dance scene in Delhi (fig. 1).13 In he is occupied in conversation with one
the center, Bourne shows four nautch girls of his attendants. Ironically, the scene’s
directing their choreography towards a most powerful individual is not paying
crowd gathered around to watch. The attention, whereas the spectators on the
performers appear blurry, which imparts opposite side appear to be more attentive.
a sense of motion throughout the entire The ruler’s dismissive attitude towards
spectacle. Behind the performers is a the nautch girl complicates her importance
semicircular formation of male musicians. within the depiction. An open, ornate
As one’s eye moves outward, Bourne im- archway highlights her form as the light
parts a strategy of capturing each person’s shines through and creates a spotlight
proximity to the central performance in a effect. The artist lightens her complexion,
way that reflects their social importance. which downplays her connection to Indi-
Three arches frame the entire scene and an beauty standards and aligns her more
in the shadows stand additional specta- closely with an Anglicized appearance. A
tors. Bourne seeks to encapsulate a typical white veil delicately outlines her angelic
scene of people gathering for a nautch figure, which suggests that her presence
performance and in doing so, demon- fills the space with a divine quality. Based
strates an example of nautch girls in their on the painted medium, Stephanoff
original context. captures the entire display rather than
The group painting of Indian only the nautch woman, which accentu-
Order No. 9204617, University of California, Santa Barbara, 1991.
12 Ibid., 10.
13 Kelly Wise Special to,The Globe. "Samuel Bourne's India and a Study of Work and Workers." Boston Globe
(1960-), Jul 02, 1985.
32
ISSUE NO 21
ates her identity as a performer. With
an overwhelmingly male audience who
comprise musicians and likely associates
of the ruler, this work represents an En-
glishman’s perspective of a nautch courtly
performance.
Photographs of candid courtesan
performance comprise the archetypal
presentation of a nautch dance scene.
Considering the climate wherein pho-
tographers captured glimpses of nautch
girls, between the late 19th and early 20th
century, artists were unable to drastically
alter the subject matter of their images.
Photographs offer a more raw depiction
of a person compared to a painting,
which lends the artist a larger amount of
discretion in assigning representational
exactitude. Shepherd captures a nautch
girl in the center of a scene framed by
one musician on either side (fig. 3). With
her left arm bent over her head and the
other folded at her waist, her cascading
dress draping gracefully over her form,
she poses in a typical nautch stance.14 The
men hold traditional Indian instruments,
all the while maintaining close attention
to her movements. Shepherd catches a
raw moment within a larger dance perfor-
mance, which would explain the absence
of direct eye contact on the part of the
nautch. Rather than capturing a stationery
pose, this image seems to be candid and
in motion, as if the photographer has
caught a brief glimpse in time. This im-
age’s symmetry allows for a clearer focus
on the nautch girl, taking special care to
notice her ornate attire along with the po-
sition of her arms and pointed toe. The
archways in the background frame her
figure, and each musician's gaze draws in
the viewer’s attention. Shepherd’s pho-
14 Ibid., 556.
15 Singh, Prakash Vijay. “From Tawaif to Nautch Girl: The Transition of the Lucknow Courtesan.” In South
Asian Review, 177-194, 2017.
16 Ibid., 183.
17 Ibid., 182.
18 Ibid., 185.
33
tograph envisions the nautch figure in a
typical setting, without overt stylization.
Bourne and Shepherd’s work
poses the question of which demographic
nautch performers were most accessible to
and who their intended audiences were.
Originally, nautch performance was intend-
ed for the eyes of Indian citizens, men and
women alike, although “it was exclusively
for the eyes of men that they used their
seductive charms.”15 Women were permit-
ted to view nautch performances, but it was
established that the beautiful and entranc-
ing characterization of the female per-
former were products of the male gaze.16
A quote from an Englishwoman about
the nautch girl states, “it is their languish-
ing glances, wanton smiles, and attitudes
not quite consistent with decency, which
are so much admired," articulating their
universally captivating ability.17 Outward
validation naturally dictates the success of
performers, and in the case of courtesan
dance, this approval thrived off of male
satisfaction. Their status relied heavily on
the desires of men, rendering their worth
and personal lives less important than
their standing as objects of infatuation.
Until the British also became enamored
with the exotic Indian dancer, tawa’ifs and
nautches were both popular in the Indian
entertainment world.18Across genders and
cultural boundaries onlookers became
intrigued by the female courtesan image.
Images of the nautch girl in context func-
tion as examples of the male colonial gaze
at work in these highly charged cultural
environments.
Photography as a mode of
documentation humanizes the nautch
woman compared to painting. Dancing
Girl by artists Gobindram and Ood-
 NORTHWESTERN ART REVIEW
eyram comes from an album of forty
hand-colored prints and provides a rare
glimpse of the nautch girl in a reclined
position, still dressed in traditional per-
formance wear, staring directly at the
viewer (fig. 4).19 These artists’ reasoning
for using this medium, painting over
a photograph to add color, magnifies
the side of an otherwise enigmatic
female performer grounded in reality.
They compose an unobstructed view
of the woman removed from her usual
context, despite her being dressed in
full nautch attire. Perhaps this piece was
taken before or after a performance.
Her pose communicates a confident
aura and she appears to be comfortable,
placing one hand under her head while
the other rests gently on her leg.
This photograph stands out
from contemporaneous others because
the woman’s defiant body language Figure 5 Unknown artist, A nautch dancing
challenges the standard of the nautch girl, Wellcome Collection (UK), Gouache
visual category. Under a feminist read- drawing
ing of this work, Englishwomen have
articulated a belief stating that the nautch ing space within the Indian social world
girl had more freedoms and excitement with its colonial influences that raises
through their abilities to dance for men questions surrounding their femininity
than the domestic housewife.20 An article and whether a feminist reading is warrant-
discussing a woman’s qualms with the ed.
confines of domestic life argues that a Similar to the transformation an
white woman secluded in “her Anglo-In- actor may undertake for a new role, nautch
dian bungalow” would live a less liberated girls would forgo their identity and adopt
life compared to the “anomalous Indian an alternative persona. Margaret Walker,
woman.”21 The nautch girl’s ability to dance a scholar specializing in the North Indian
and embrace a traditionally feminine kathak dance, discusses the required char-
aspect of themselves, luxuries that other acteristics of these performance styles and
women of the time were refused, support stresses the importance of female body
the possibility of a feminist reading.22 language.23 In one of the listed twenty gats
Nautch girls inhabited a thought-provok- (a form of choreography) the dancer is to

19 Concrete information about Gobindram and Oodeyram’s first names and life spans are unknown.
20 Jagpal, Charn. "“Going Nautch Girl” in the Fin de Siècle: The White Woman Burdened by Colonial
Domesticity." English Literature in Transition, 1880-1920 52, no. 3 (2009): 252-272.
21 Ibid., 254.
Jagpal, Charn. "“Going Nautch Girl” in the Fin de Siècle: The White Woman Burdened by Colonial Domesticity."
English Literature in Transition, 1880-1920 52, no. 3 (2009): 252-272.
22 Ibid., 253.
23 Walker, Margaret. “Courtesans and Choreographers: The (Re)Placement of Women in the History of
Kathak Dance.” In Dance Matters: Performing India on Local and Global Stages, 279–300, 2021.

34
ISSUE NO 21
“go around the entire gathering, locking
eyes with the audience members” and
perform using “subtle body movements”
to create an entrancing viewing experi-
ence.24 Nautch performers take a method-
ical approach to choreography in order
to produce a performance that captivates
their audience’s attention. Strategic move-
ments such as the batting of eyelashes and
pulling of shawls over bodies in a sensual
manner communicate an air of desire that
Indian and British audience members ex-
pected.25 Gats would use adjectives such as
“amorous” and “flirting” to communicate
the mesmerizing effect of the nautch girl.26
Each performer worked towards achieving
this mysticism and fully embodying the
charm of the nautch ideal. Thus nautch girls
sacrificed their individuality for the sake
of producing a pleasurable visual experi-
ence.
Paintings of nautch girls—as op-
posed to photographs—tended to rein-
force the presumption that nautch girls had
less relevant individual existences com-
pared to their identity as adored enter-
tainers. As a reflection of this sentiment,
art depicting nautch girls would stray from
being individual portraits and frequently
omitted the woman’s name within the
title or description of the work. These
contextual choices compound to alter the
way in which viewers receive these images.
Paying less attention to a female dancer’s
unique character and centering on her role
as a form of pleasure for the male and
colonial consumer reduces their agency.
Male, western painters who had traveled
to India for a portion of their career most
commonly took it upon themselves to il-
24 Ibid., 284.
25 Ibid., 282.
26 Ibid., 284.
27 Archer, Mildred. "BRITISH PAINTERS OF THE INDIAN SCENE." Journal of the Royal Society for the
Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce 115, no. 5135 (Oct 01, 1967): 863.27 Ibid., 864.
28 Ibid., 864.
29 Ibid., 864.
35
lustrate nautch girls and other glimpses into
life in India.27 While courtesan women
made a living out of providing enjoyment
and pleasure for mainly men, performanc-
es were accessible to all members of soci-
ety.28 These foreign artistic endeavors were
most commonly fuelled by an interest in
the exotic woman of India, which for so
long was thought of as “a kind of fairy-
tale land known only through commercial
contacts” and out of a desire to globalize
one’s career.29 Analyzing the existing me-
diums of nautches illuminates the emphasis
or silencing of individuality among female
performers, who altogether fell into a
classification of commercialized enter-
tainment.
An illustration of a nautch girl
causes the performer to lose her individ-
ual identity for the sake of perpetuating a
fantasy. A gouache drawing in London’s
Wellcome Collection by an unknown artist
presents an interpretation of the nautch
woman as a character (fig 5). Similar to
Gobindram and Oodeyram’s break from
tradition, this subject gazes intently at the
viewer and occupies most of the com-
position. The setting is also comparable
between the two, considering that both
works feature a lone woman in authen-
tic nautch attire situated in a plain indoor
environment. She carries herself in tra-
ditional nautch fashion, with her arms
folded towards her face, and the rest of
her body clearly posed. This artist’s use
of line brings texture to the fabric of her
skirt and adds depth to her shawl. Her
skirt splays outward to create a semicircu-
lar hem, and she is adorned with ornate
jewelry and arm bangles. Here, the atten-
 NORTHWESTERN ART REVIEW
tion to costume and color overshadow nautch girl alone, without the company
an interest in her physical form. Qualities of a musical troupe or an audience, a
that would provide the viewer with con- photograph can communicate a wildly
text or features to distinguish her identity, different message from a drawing. Due
including a name or naturalistic features, to the transformative effect of the per-
are absent from this drawing. Comparing sistent nautch visual category, the truth of
photographs of nautch girls with paintings a nautch girl's identity depended on the
like this one and other stylized interpreta- imposed view of outsiders and the artist
tions emphasizes the divide between the alike. The surrounding context of a nautch
stereotypes of nautch performers and their girl operates similarly to the way in which
realities. Again, we see how the West views circumstances affect the meaning of an
a woman’s status as a nautch girl as more object. Evaluating the nautch girl within the
important than her personhood. artistic domain addresses a fissure between
Returning to Shepherd’s photo- concerns about whether their individuality
graph, which exemplifies a nautch woman and humanity, separate from an intention
within her context, the gouache illustra- to enchant its viewers, ever belonged in an
tion also captures a nautch girl in isolation. image. An albumen silver print envision-
She is the singular subject matter, laying in ing a single nautch woman, directly looking
front of a largely bland background and at the viewer, for example, serves a differ-
an ornately decorated carpet. By strip- ent purpose compared to a colorful group
ping her of the typical nautch environs, portrait. Depending on the medium, the
where she would usually be surrounded prevalence of Indian nautch women in art
by accompanying musicians, this portrayal as components of group performance
challenges the visual standard. Viewing suggests that their individual identities
a nautch girl out of her usual context have lesser importance.
of performance, surrounded by other
individuals, offers a stark contrast to the
aforementioned artists’ isolated rendering
of this woman. The viewer cannot relate
her to an accompanying musician or pay
less attention to her independent exis-
tence in the way they can when viewing
group portraits. While individual portraits
of nautch girls remain scarce, those in
existence offer remarkable insight into the
oft-neglected humanity of these perform-
ers.
The implications of an artist’s
depiction of nautch girls, either within their
common context or individually, speaks
to their multifaceted role. The hierarchy
of Indian courtesan performers relied on
how others—primarily colonial men—
perceived them. Photographic evidence
of nautch performances align with reality
more closely than interpretative mediums
such as the gouache painting technique.
Even though two works may feature a

36
ISSUE NO 21
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Archer, Mildred. "BRITISH PAINTERS OF THE INDIAN SCENE." Journal of the
Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce 115, no. 5135
(Oct
01, 1967): 863.
http://turing.library.northwestern.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/
scholarly-jour nals/british-painters-indian-scene/docview/1307299768/se-2?ac-
countid=12861.
Bautze, Joachim K. “Uncredited Photographs by Gobindram & Oodeyram.” Artibus
Asiae 63, no. 2 (2003): 223–46. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3249685.
Chakravorty, Pallabi. “Dancing into Modernity: Multiple Narratives of India’s Kathak
Dance.” Dance Research Journal 38, no. 1/2 (2006): 115–36.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/20444667.
"FROM PARI KHANAS TO LAL BAZAARS AND FURTHER AWAY: FEMALE
PERFORMERS IN NINETEENTH CENTURY AWADH." Pakistan Journal of
Women's Studies = Alam-e-Niswan = Alam-i Nisvan 28, no. 1 (2021): 1-20.
doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.46521/pjws.028.01.0085.
http://turing.library.northwestern.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.
com/scholarly-jour nals/pari-khanas-lal-bazaars-further-away-female/
docview/2559496217/se-2?accountid= 12861.
Jagpal, Charn. "“Going Nautch Girl” in the Fin de Siècle: The White Woman Bur-
dened by Colonial Domesticity." English Literature in Transition, 1880-1920
52, no. 3 (2009): 252-272. muse.jhu.edu/article/271155.
Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library. "A Nautch in
the palace of the Ameer of Sind." New York Public Library Digital
Collections. Accessed December 7, 2021. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/
items/f04db6f0-2989-0133 cd38-58d385a7bbd0.
Kelly Wise Special to,The Globe. "Samuel Bourne's India and a Study of Work and
Workers." Boston Globe (1960-), Jul 02, 1985.
http://turing.library.northwestern.edu/login?url=https://www.pro
quest.com/historical-newspapers/samuel-bournes-india-study-work-workers/
docview/1821436116/se-2?accountid =12861.
Sampson, Gary David. "Samuel Bourne and 19th-Century British Landscape P
hotography in India." Order No. 9204617, University of California, Santa
Barbara, 1991. Singh, Prakash Vijay. “From Tawaif to Nautch Girl: The
Transition of the Lucknow Courtesan.”In South Asian Review, 177-194, 2017.
https://doi.org/10.1080/02759527.2014.11932977.
Walker, Margaret. “Courtesans and Choreographers: The (Re)Placement of Women
in the History of Kathak Dance.” In Dance Matters: Performing India on Local
and Global Stages, 279–300, 2021.
https://www.artsrn.ualberta.ca/fwa_mediawiki/images/e/e0/Walker_Reading.
pdf.
Walker, Margaret. “The ‘Nautch’ Reclaimed: Women’s Performance Practice
in Nineteenth-Century North India,” no. South Asia: Journal of South
Asian Studies (September 4, 2014): 551–67.

37
 NORTHWESTERN ART REVIEW
NICOLE EISENMAN’S PROCESSION
HANNAH BORUCHOV, NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY ‘23
N
ICOLE Eisenman is well
known for her figurative,
narrative paintings. She has
recently been exploring
sculpture while maintaining similar themes
to her painting practice. The forms she
sculpts have cartoonish hands, feet, and
noses, similarly distorted to the people she
paints. Eisenman also continues to create
dispirited figures marching together to-
wards an unknown end. This is seen in Pro-
cession, a parade of encumbered, hideous,
textured bodies facing the same direction.
The sculpture takes a raw, anti-heroic twist
on a procession, which is usually defined
as an orderly parade. The forms of Pro-
cession work together and individually to
express an absurdist human condition.
Absurdism is a conflict between the hu-
man desire to find meaning and humanity’s
inability to discover it in a chaotic world
(Miessler), one of the central ideas in
Eisenman’s recent sculptural works. I saw
Procession at the Whitney Biennial and was
drawn to its ridiculousness; it was a collec-
tion of hideous monsters that I couldn’t
stop looking at. Occupying a terrace facing
the New York skyline, it stood out as a
notable spectacle after walking through
a gallery of abstract, abstruse paintings.
It was foul and seemingly nonsensical,
sparking passionate conversations. Visitors
had visible reactions while observing the
outlandish details of the installation.
Procession is a story about the absurdity
of the human condition, and humani-
ty’s anti-heroic search for meaning in an
irrational universe; This sculpture em-
braces the absurdity of that journey. Each
individual in the clan trudges through,
stuck in cement or in a wad of gum,
boorishly marching forward towards the
same unknown goal. It is the antithesis of
Washington Crossing the Delaware, a painting
in which the American flag is held up high
by valiant soldiers. One figure in Procession
attempts to carry a flag and thus uphold
nationalist ideals, but the flag is just a pile
of goop with a deflated eagle at its end.
This image is the opposite of a coura-
geous, proud American; it is the reality.
The unfortunate truth of our existence is
its hardship. It is challenging to accept the
human condition of struggle and melan-
choly as it is, but Eisenman puts this idea
right in front of us. These sculptures aren’t
meticulously shaped to be an exact replica
of a perfect human. They’re bent over,
distorted, moving through life in a haze of
absurdity; it is a striking image of human
existence.
Looking at Procession, you can’t help but
wonder what the structures are walking
towards. In the context of absurdism, they
must be walking towards a nonexistent
end just as Sisyphus is pushing a boulder
to the top of a hill. The word “proces-
sion” implies a ceremonial and valorous
parade. However, this sculpture contains
the effortful movement of a parade with-
out the heroism. The group is trudging
through life, but they seem to be stuck. At
the front of the group there is a towering
man casted in bronze, holding a stick that
slowly moves. He is hindered by a wad of
gum stuck to his foot and tuna cans on a
stick perched on his shoulder. The charac-
ters are ostensibly in motion, but remain
stuck in place, speaking to the limitations
of sculpture and heavy, solid materials
as a medium. One figure is on a cart that
cannot move because of its square wheels.
The square wheels act as a burden, just as
Sisyphus is burdened by his endless task
(Camus). In the context of the myth of Si-
syphus, the folks in this piece could be an
38
ISSUE NO 21
allegory about humanity’s pointless search
for purpose in an absurd, chaotic world.
The figures in Procession are on the path
to realization, one after the other, locked
in an existential conundrum. Their exis-
tence depends on each other because they
compose the same system: the meaningless
universe we share.
Nicole Eisenman, Procession, 2019-2020, Photo Courtesy of artnews.ccom
There’s an undeniable theatrical connec-
tion of bodies in Procession. It recallsSamuel
Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, a play about
two men waiting for a man who never
arrives (Beckett). This play is about people
attempting to live in a world that doesn’t
make sense. The audience wonders why
they’re waiting, just as the audience of
Eisenman’s work might wonder what the
people are marching towards. The sense of
being physically stuck in a single moment
in Waiting for Godot directly connects to the
implication of movement contradicting
the limitations of sculpture as a medium
in Procession. Both works also emanate the
feeling of being frozen in existential crisis
and hopelessness.
Eisenman illustrates the struggle of ev-
39
eryday life for the average person. This
shared endeavor of life is depicted through
the heavy materiality common among the
different sculptures. The three huge busts
sit on top of solid blocks of wood and
logs with a strap tightly secured around
the base, pulled by nothing. These busts
are made of bronze or plaster with rough
textured surfaces, revealing Eisenman’s
physical movements in the obscured physi-
ognomies. The two polished, burly, bronze
bodies stand captured in effortful move-
ments, each lugging a pole on their shoul-
der. There’s a physicality to the members
of Procession which is immediately impact-
ful to the audience. When looking at a
painting, there’s a two-dimensional screen
of canvas between the viewer and the idea,
whereas sculpture is right there in front of
us. Just like the characters, we experience
the world in three dimensions. The audi-
ence can feel the struggle simply by being
there, and might even see themselves in
the faceless members.
Most of Eisenman’s work involves deject-
ed people walking in the same direction,
 NORTHWESTERN ART REVIEW
be associated together as
part of the same installa-
tion. Their disconnection
highlights their connec-
tion of coexistence and
common experience of
the impossible quest for
purpose in a pointless
world.
Similarly to many of
Eisenman’s paintings,
Procession tells the fan-
tastical narrative of the
juxtaposition of dark-
ness and humor. The
cartoonish figures are in-
dividually comical and as
a random, seemingly un-
related group. The most
ludicrous part of the
installation, titled “Mu-
seum Piece Con Gas,” is
the central component
kneeling on the square-
wheeled cart that lets out
a gas machine fart every
few minutes (Cotter).
It’s a humiliated tar and
feathered person bent
over in a cat cow posi-
tion, dripping in mustard
Nicole Eisenman, Procession, 2019-2020, Photo Courtesy of
yellow goop. This element
Matrons & Mistresses
of Procession is reminiscent
which is evident in Procession. Although of an ancient Greek satyr
they are marching towards a common goal, play, typically performed between trage-
the sculptures are all independent. They’re dies. Just like a satyr, the flatulent figure
all placed in the same direction even has shaggy legs and attached phalluses,
though they’re strangers to each other, strategically placed between tragic heroes,
reminiscent of a snapshot of a sidewalk in which are the surrounding downtrodden
New York. Humans have a duality as com- forms. The satyr is a complex being. He is
munal beings who simultaneously have more insightful than man, yet has “inex-
strong senses of individualism. Everyone haustible animal appetites for wine, dance,
is on their own independent journey, but and sex” (Shaw 4). The procession looks
they’re together in a community, heading like a parade of drunk, airheaded people.
towards the same goal, lumbering along. For the purpose of this analysis, we as-
The characters are made with different ma- sume that these people are sentient beings
terials and posed in different movements, capable of complex thought and existential
which implies that they are unique people contemplation. Eisenman invites the over-
despite the clear intention that they should lap between humor and the complexity of

40
ISSUE NO 21
man. She uses humor as an honest tool for communication. The world is a strange, de-
graded place where you can also find some comedy and satire. Similar to the sculptures,
we’re all on a search for meaning, whether we’re protesting to reform society or writing
existential plays. It is what we fundamentally have in common as humans, even if we
do things to distract ourselves from that existential deliberation, such as getting drunk.
None of those distractions allow us to completely escape. The search for meaning still
pulls us down. The figures in Procession are stuck in plight both physically and metaphor-
ically, experiencing hopelessness beneath the external asininity. The flatulent figure on
the cart is ditzy, but also grotesque and falling apart, much like the surrounding masses.
Eisenman’s sculptural humor makes light of human pretentious ideals of heroism and
excellence. It adds a lighthearted nature to what the sculpture really is: An honest allego-
ry of the human condition.
Nicole Eisenman’s Procession reminds us of our humanity and the anti-heroism of our
lives. Her work reminds us to realize the shared absurdist experience as humans, even
if we all appear wildly different on the outside. Placing the figures in the same direction
encourages us to think about what the sculptures have in common: a mutual interest in
a search for meaning, but that’s quite the difficult and often anti-heroic quest when you
live in a meaningless world.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Beckett, Samuel. Waiting for Godot: Tragicomedy in 2 Acts. , 1954. Print.
Camus, Albert. The Myth of Sisyphus. Translated by Justin O'Brien, Penguin Classics,
2000.
Cotter, Holland. “The Whitney Biennial: Young Art Cross-Stitched With
Politics (Published 2019).” The New York Times, 16 May 2019, https://www.ny
times.com/2019/05/16/arts/design/whitney-biennial-review.html.
Miessler, Daniel. “General Absurdism, and How It Applies in Everyday Life.” Daniel
Miessler, 17 December 2019, https://danielmiessler.com/blog/how-
absurdism-applies-in-everyday-life/.
Shaw, Carl. Satyric Play: The Evolution of Greek Comedy and Satyr Drama. Oxford University
Press, 2014.

41
 NORTHWESTERN ART REVIEW

HIGHLIGHTING THE FRAME:

SCHOLARS HIP ON EUROPEAN
PAINTING FRAMES , CIRCA 1890S T O
THE PRESENT GRACE WU, NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY, ‘23

F
OR centuries, art historians have begun to recognize frames as art objects
vastly ignored the objects that rather than mere ornamentation. Due to
cradle the very paintings they the vast collections of museums, scholars
obsess over. The director general working in the museum world often have
of the Rijksmuseum, Henk van Os, credits easier access to study frames. Thus, frame
this lack of art historical investigation of scholarship assumed the form of collabo-
frames to a larger emphasis on cultural rative exhibitions, catalogs, books, articles,
arguments and aesthetic and iconographic and even a frequently updated blog. The
interpretations as opposed to the his- work to date is significant in understanding
torical context of art.1 Paul Mitchell and frames as objects in their own right and
Lynn Roberts, authors of the widely cited not purely complementary decor as the
frame entry in the 1996 Dictionary of Art, young field continues to expand and grow.4
attribute this lack of scholarship to the In the late 19th century, Wilhelm
uncertainty surrounding the authenticity von Bode authored one of the first ded-
of frames and to the unique position they icated analyses of frames. Published in
occupy between the fine and decorative Berlin-based German arts magazine Pan,
arts. However, frame scholars such as
2
“Bilderrahmen in alter und neuer Zeit”
Henry Heydenryk call attention to the sig- (“Picture Frames in Old and New Times”)
nificance of the “indispensable” frame as includes the “finer taste” of frames in the
a complement and addition to the artwork 19th century as well as Gothic and Italian
that it holds. Starting with Wilhelm von
3
Renaissance framing practices. Von Bode
Bode’s Pan article in 1899, members of does not call attention to the lack of prior
the art historical community have slowly investigation into frames; rather, he dives
1 Van Os held this position when Prijst de Lijst (translated as “Acclaim the Frame”) was on view in the spring
of 1984. The Rijksmuseum exhibit, which showcased 17th-century Dutch frames, was one of the first of its kind.
P. J. J. van Thiel and C. J. de. Bruyn Kops, Framing in the Golden Age: Picture and Frame in 17th-Century Holland, Zwolle:
Waanders, 1995, 7.
2 Paul Mitchell and Lynn Roberts, Frameworks: Form, Function & Ornament in European Portrait Frames, London:
P. Mitchell in association with Merrell Holberton, 1996, 12.
3 Henry Heydenryk, The Art and History of Frames; an Inquiry into the Enhancement of Paintings, New York: J.
Heineman, 1963, 4.
4 I would like to acknowledge that the historiography discussed in this paper only includes materials
that were available to me physically, digitally, and linguistically. I have been able to locate the most-referenced and
foundational works in frame studies through NU Libraries and online sources, and other sources discussed are simply
ones I had access to. The 14 works of scholarship I discuss in this paper are just a miniscule fraction of the knowledge
in the field. In a 2014 article, Janet M. Brooke notes, “The 165 bibliographic references painstakingly assembled by my
student in 1992 would easily triple today.”
Throughout this essay, I use the terms “frame studies” and “frame scholarship” to refer to academic investigations
into European framing practices and attitudes. I acknowledge that there is also a rich history of frames outside of
this canonized geographic scope, but for the sake of clarity and cohesiveness, this historiography focuses on Western
European frames because they are more comparable in their material, construction, and presentation. This essay also
includes an American artist active in Europe and Australian framers, and I felt that their inclusion is necessary due to
their social proximity and relevance to the discussed European frame literature.

42
ISSUE NO 21
directly into his analysis. He firmly
establishes the scope of his article
by only analyzing wooden frames
of panel paintings, the earliest of
which were medieval European
altarpieces. This starting point in
his analysis shaped how future
scholars, such as Henry Heyden-
ryk, considered the parameters of
frame studies. Von Bode also drew
on his own experience as a curator
in discussing the two 19th-century
attitudes towards frames: some
people sought to use genuine
frames from centuries past to
elevate the value of their artwork
while others thought that refram-
ing their old paintings in “modern
[and] beautiful frames” was “an
honor.”5 By acknowledging that
frame-painting pairings are subject [Fig. 1 ] (left) Plate 24 of Serge Roche’s 1931
to the whims of their owners, von Cadres français et étrangers du XVe au XVIIIe siècle.
Bode points future scholars to The text below the plate reads: “FRANCE. Début
consider economic practices and du XVIIIe siècle. Cadre en bois sculpté doré. 137
social attitudes in frame studies. x 105,5, vue.” On The Frame Blog, Lynn Roberts
The earliest frame ex- directly compares this plate with a detail (right) of
hibition occurred in 1931 with a French giltwood Régence frame in the Musée du
Parisian designer Serge Roche’s Louvre that currently holds Ludovico Carracci’s La
L’exposition internationale du cadre du Vierge et l’Enfant.
XVe au XXe siècle at the Galerie
Georges Petit. In this historical preface, Roche emphasizes that frames
moment, frames were still considered a must be worthy accompaniments of
part of the decorative arts, so such an ex- paintings, which he considers “the highest
hibition likely followed in the steps of the work of art.”6 Although the idea of frames
1925 International Exhibition of Modern as a noble — but nevertheless, decora-
Decorative and Industrial Arts. Roche’s tive — complement is a consistent theme
folio Cadres français et étrangers du XVe au throughout the preface, Roche’s detailed
XVIIIe siècle, which contains photographs photographs advances frame studies by
of frames from Germany, England, Spain, serving as a visual survey collection of Eu-
France, Italy, and the Netherlands, accom- ropean frames. The majority of the folio
7

panied the Georges Petit exhibit. In the contains 152 plates, each featuring a “clear
5 Wilhelm von Bode, “Bilderrahmen in alter und neuer Zeit,” Pan, no. 1 (1899): 245.
These rough translations were made possible through a word-by-word referencing of a German-English dictionary.
The original text reads, “Denn fast jeder neue Besitzer suchte eine Ehre darin, diese aufs beste herausputzen und vor
allem mit einem schönen Rahmen d.h. mit einem derzeit modernen Rahmen zu versehen.”
6 Serge Roche, “Préface,” Cadres français et étrangers du XVe au XVIIIe siècle: Allemagne, Angleterre, Espagne,
France, Italie, Pays-Bas, Paris: Etienne Biniou, 1931.
The original text reads, “Il faut donc qu’un cadre puisse atteindre la plus belle qualité pour s’unir à la plus haute œuvre
d’art et que d’autre part, sa verve soit tempérée par de la modestie.”
7 As Roche mentions, groups of people involved in the frame-making process include: sculptors, designers,
repairers, gilders, and goldsmiths. Individuals named in the preface include “the grand ornamentalists” Jean Bérain,

43
 NORTHWESTERN ART REVIEW
and detailed” photograph of a standalone val Europe to the 19th century in countries
frame, spanning from medieval altarpieces such as Italy, Spain, England, Germany,
to Régence [Fig. 1] and Rococo frames.8 By the Netherlands, and the United States.
allocating each frame its own page, Roche In the introduction, Heydenryk justifies
apparently contradicts his assertion that his exclusion of other eras by noting that
frames are purely complementary decor frames existed in ancient Egypt, Greece,
with the bold display of frames as objects and Rome, though “the craft of frame
that can be analyzed without their paint- making declined during the early centuries
ings. of the Christian era and what concerns us
Thirty years later, Henry Heyd- here is the development of the frame from
enryk published the first anthology of the Middle Ages onward.”9 His decision to
frames, The Art and History of Frames. Hey- organize frame development into tem-
denryk’s historical survey encompasses the poral and geographic categories can be
post-medieval Western canon: from medie- attributed to conventional art historical
understandings of artistic styles
based on the time and place of
their maker and intended view-
er. In treating frames similarly
to paintings, Heydenryk high-
lights the visuality of frames
in his book; on every spread,
there is at least one reproduc-
tion of a framed painting or
of a standalone frame, and the
reader can visually examine the
visual evolution of such objects
through time.
In 1983, Macmillan
commissioned widely known
frame historians and consul-
tants Paul Mitchell and Lynn
Roberts to author an article
on European frames in The
Grove Dictionary of Art. They
Detail of the frame of La Vierge et l’Enfant is courtesy expanded their research into
of The Frame Blog. two independently published
books: Frameworks and A His-
tory of European Picture Frames.10
Daniel Marot, Robert de Cotte, and Charles Le Brun, as well as Abraham Bosse, Jean Le Pautre, Richard de Lalonde,
Jean-Charles Delafosse, Jean-Siméon Rousseau de la Rotière, Johann Lutma, Grinling Gibbons, and Thomas
Chippendale.
8 Lynn Roberts and Andrew Levi, “Serge Roche: Cadres français et étrangers du XVe siècle au XVIIIe
siècle – Part 1,” The Frame Blog, 22 Sept. 2020. https://theframeblog.com/2020/09/22/serge-roche-cadres-
franc%CC%A7ais-et-etrangers-du-xve-siecle-au-xviiie-siecle/.
9 It is possible that if early frame scholars, such as Heydenryk, had chosen to widen the scope of their work,
then our consideration of which frames are worthy of studying would have been shaped differently.
Henry Heydenryk, The Art and History of Frames; an Inquiry into the Enhancement of Paintings, New York: J. Heineman,
1963, 4.

10 In the “Authors’ Preface in Frameworks, Mitchell and Robert write that Macmillan recognized “the
considerable extent of new research within this study deserved general accessibility” beyond the “thirty-four-volume

44
ISSUE NO 21
the frame maker and
dealer — also played
a role in frame devel-
opment and produc-
tion. In A History of
European Picture Frames,
Mitchell and Roberts
utilize photo galleries
of frames to assert a
visual argument. The
photographic survey
accompanies con-
structed diagrams to
further investigate how
frames were handled
by their contempo-
raries. This analysis
allows the audience to
understand that frames
were bought and sold
with or separate from
their paintings, which
means a frame could
be coupled with a
painting from an en-
tirely different era and
country. Due to the
painting owner’s wish-
[Fig. 2 a] Pages 124 and 125 of John W. Payne’s Framing the nine- es of presentation,
teenth century: picture frames 1837-1935. This page discusses an early every viewing experi-
20th century frame by Australian frame maker S. A. Parker. The ence of the pairing is
catalog-style book is among the first of its kind in frame studies unique and becomes
and boldly declares frames as objects worthy of being studied as more complex with
their painted counterparts. each new owner.
While curating
Frameworks revolutionized how scholars the first British exhibi-
considered the materiality and economics tion on portrait frames, National Portrait
of frames. By considering the transactions Gallery curator of 18th-century art Jacob
of frames from raw materials to display, Simon sought to answer the question: “[H]
Mitchell and Roberts deepened the lev- ow were decisions on framing made by the
el of understanding of how individuals artist, architect, patron or framemaker?”11
beyond the artist and patron — namely Simon and his team chose to focus on
colossus.” Thanks to the work of other scholars, which are mentioned in the introduction, frames have found
themselves important enough to the art history discourse to be included in the extensive encyclopedia. This
understanding allowed the authors to extensively expand on their anthology entry, of which is considered a pioneering
work within frame studies.

11 The Art of the Picture Frame was on view from November 8, 1996, to February 9, 1997, at the National
Portrait Gallery in London. It was originally intended to be a small-scale educational exhibit, but when the curators
realized its significance and potential impact, they expanded it to a large-scale public exhibition.

45
 NORTHWESTERN ART REVIEW
frames of portraits; por-
traiture is significant as
the dichotomy of frame
and sitter signals the
patron’s/sitter’s motiva-
tions of their portrayal to
the viewer. Simon opens
the book by considering
the social history of the
frames with the chapter
“Attitudes to Picture
Framing in Britain.” This
chapter focuses on the
evolving tastes for frames,
from the 16th-centu-
ry curtain frame to the
embracement of the
“fitting adornment”
of a gilt frame, which
leads to mass reframing
of non-gilded-framed
paintings to match the
desired visual aesthetic.12
Simon also acknowledges
the demand and curiosity
for the history of frames
of prints, drawings, and and Frame in 17th-Century Holland.14 In the
photographs, though he acknowledges “it introduction, van Thiel and de Bruyn
is too early in the short history of frame Kops say there was not enough time to do
studies to do that.”13 The end of the book traditional archival research in the process
includes a glossary of frame sections, of writing their book. The authors also
including cross-sectional and frontal views critique previous methods of studying
of their structure, which later scholars frames as isolated objects rather than part
adopt and expand upon. of a historical tradition. Van Thiel and de
Dutch art historians P. J. J. van Bruyn Kops harnessed guild archives and
Thiel and C. J. de Bruyn Kops expanded the understanding of guild functionings
upon the information presented in the of a “traditional mentality” to establish
pioneering Rijksmuseum exhibit in their eight basic models of 17th-century Dutch
book, Framing in the Golden Age: Picture frames.15 Also through their archival
Jacob Simon, The Art of the Picture Frame: Artists, Patrons and the Framing of Portraits in Britain, London: National Portrait
Gallery, 1996, 7.
12 Ibid., 17. Simon references Percy Fitzgerald’s 1886 article “Picture Frames” in the Art Journal on the
universal taste of mankind for gold. I was unable to locate this article through the NU Libraries database; its addition
would have been notable as it precedes Wilhelm von Bode’s “Picture frames in old and new times.”
13 Ibid., 7.
14 In the spring of 1984, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam opened its pioneering frame exhibit, Prijst de Lijst
(“Acclaim the Frame”), which exhibited 17th-century Dutch frames.

15 P. J. J. van Thiel and C. J. de. Bruyn Kops, Framing in the Golden Age: Picture and Frame in 17th-Century Holland,
Zwolle: Waanders, 1995, 12.

46
ISSUE NO 21
research, van Thiel and de Bruyn Kops
were able to, en masse for the first time
in frame studies, identify the identities of
those who would have created and devel-
oped the frames: the frame maker, ebony
worker, and woodcarver (with the fin-
ishing touches by the painter and gilder).
By investigating the individuals and their
roles, their book further shines light on the
collaborative nature of frame production.
Van Thiel and de Bruyn Kops’ research on
the execution of the framework, such as
joint construction, also reveal how frames
would have been displayed (e.g. suspended
from loops of cord/string) and alternate
functions for frames (e.g. a canvas stretch-
er).
Starting in the late 1980s, scholars
investigated how artists themselves, who
were previously removed from the frame
making process due to specialization, took
agency of how their paintings were pre-
sented in frames. Isabelle Cahn, the chief
curator of paintings at the Musée d’Orsay,
expands the depth of frame studies in
“Degas’s Frames,” published in The Burl-
ington Magazine. Edgar Degas served as the
perfect case study due to the existence of
his sketches of frames and personal letters,
which demonstrate “maniac care … to the
presentation of his paintings.”16 In addi-
tion to referencing these primary docu-
ments, Cahn crafts her argument by noting
the influential attitudes of Degas’ Impres-
sionist colleagues regarding color theory
and other artists motivated in designing
their own frames such as James McNeill
Whistler and Camille Pissaro, the former
of whom Degas exchanged letters with.
The publication of this article was likely
influenced by the then-upcoming exhibit at
the Musée d’Orsay, “Gold and colour: the
16 Isabelle Cahn, “Degas’s Frames,” The Burlington Magazine 131, no. 1033 (1989): 289. http://www.jstor.org/
stable/883839.
17 The exhibition was on view in summer 1989, and the short notice appeared in The Burlington Magazine’s
April 1989 edition.
Ibid., 292.
18 Elizabeth Easton and Jared Bark, “‘Pictures Properly Framed’: Degas and Innovation in Impressionist
Frames,” The Burlington Magazine 150, no. 1266 (2008): 603. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40479868.
47
frame in the second half of the nineteenth
century,” where Degas’ white and colored
frames served as “the only extant rem-
nants of the impressionists’ revolutionary
framing systems.”17 Thus, through the
examination of an individual artist’s frame
designs, contemporary scholars are able to
study the framing preferences of an entire
artistic movement.
Another foray of an individual art-
ist and frame designer is Ira M. Horowitz’s
“Whistler’s Frames.” Published in the Art
Journal, the 1989 article utilizes compara-
tive analysis between the designs of James
McNeill Whistler, Pre-Raphaelite Dante
Gabriel Rossetti, and Degas to trace how
the ideas of his contemporaries influenced
the American painter’s attitudes regarding
the frames of his paintings. In her article,
Horowitz also acknowledges the social
history of imported Asiatic art and Orien-
talism during the late 19th century, drawing
connections between the Oriental motifs
on the frames, porcelain and metalware
from China, and woodblock prints from
Japan. Horowitz attributes the difficulty
of research into Whistler to the lack of his
detailed sketches of frame designs and no
execution of his earlier designs. However,
her comparative analysis method serves as
a tool for future frame scholars to follow
when this information is unavailable.
Almost two full decades after
Cahn’s Degas article, Elizabeth Easton
and Jared Bark immersed themselves in
Degas, “the most inventive and energet-
ic frame designer” of the Impressionist
artists, and the execution and reception
of his frames.18 In prior anthologies of
frame development, the shift from the
opulent and gilded ancien régime frames to
plain monochrome Impressionist frames is
 NORTHWESTERN ART REVIEW
always noted but discussed in broader pat- and formal pattern of frames. To describe
terns. Easton and Bark’s article, “‘Pictures how purchasers paid for frames sepa-
Properly Framed’: Degas and Innovation rately than the paintings, Victoria Doran
in Impressionist Frames,” directly points references letters between Frith and his
to the influence of Degas as the individ- patron, Thomas Miller. Doran also uses
ual pioneering this comparative
shift in attitudes and analysis of the
aesthetic tastes. They frame decor and
analyze his method construction to
and logic behind see which frames
creating designs, would have been
citing sketches of the originals that
frame profiles indic- Frith intended for
ative of the artist’s display, shining
thinking of the light on reframing
frame as a three-di- attitudes and prac-
mensional object. tices. On the last
They also attribute page of the chap-
Degas’ Impressionist ter, Doran out-
understanding of [Fig. 2b ] The catalog-style of the book lines the steps of
color theory and the allows the reader to visually compare the creating a compo-
effect of light on the different types of frames and the evolution sitional ornament,
eye as instrumental of the work of an individual frame maker which frame mak-
in his frame designs. and his workshop. The logo of S. A. Park- ers would have
Notably, Easton and er’s workshop on the verso of two frames bought from spe-
Bark identify De- dated to 1922-27 and (right) the logo of cialist manufac-
gas’ primary fram- the same workshop on the verso of a white turers and glued
er, Pierre Cluzel. frame dated to 1930. onto the frame.
Although his biogra- In mentioning the
phy is brief, Cluzel’s compo-making
inclusion affirms his process, where
presence in frame the frame maker
scholarship along- molds ornamen-
side a key figure in tation onto the
frame development. frame instead of
The art historians hand carving the
also analyzed the wood, Doran calls
verso of frames in attention to the
learning about their construction, which trade structure in England, which echoes
contrasts sharply with how prior scholars van Thiel and de Bruyn Kops’ focus on
mostly focused on the frontal appearance the guild structure in the Netherlands.
and cross section. Throughout the chapter, Doran discuss-
Investigations into frame prac- es three frame makers associated with
tices also existed within the biographies Frith: Mr. Haynes, John Vokins, and James
of artists, such as the last chapter of Bourlet; Australian curator John W. Payne
William Powell Frith: Painting the Victorian further studies the two latter individuals in
Age, “Frith’s Frames and the Business of a book published a year later.
Frame-Making.” In this brief chapter, Senior conservator of painting at
Victoria Doran discusses the economics the National Gallery of Victoria in Mel-
48
ISSUE NO 21
bourne, Australia, John W. Payne sought had been done in frame studies up to 2009
to elevate the individual frames, craftsmen, for there to be standardized terms on the
and companies and challenge the notion methodology and creation of these ob-
that 19th-century frames are poor imita- jects. The book also includes terms of dif-
tions from frames of prior centuries. His ferent frame types from schools and guilds
catalog-style book, Framing the nineteenth in Italy, France, England, and the Nether-
century: picture frames 1837-1935, features lands. This categorization brings frames
the fifty-five frame makers in the National and paintings on a closer level as scholars
Gallery of Victoria, most of whom are continue to analyze frames as art rather
from the United Kingdom and Australia. than complementary wooden materials to
Through the process of colonization, Aus- paintings.
tralia has a unique status as being consid- The most recent contribution to
ered part of and not part of the West, and frame studies is Lynn Roberts’ The Frame
Payne’s book sought to elevate Australian Blog, a “specialist online magazine devoted
frame makers and insert them into canon- to the study of antique picture frames.”19
ical art historical discourse. The layout of The blog consolidates eras from Ancient
the book [Fig. 2a] invokes Serge Roche’s Rome to the 21st century and regions all
work from seven decades ago; each entry over the world from canonized Western
in the catalog includes details one would countries to Scandinavia, Eastern Eu-
expect about a painting, such as artist rope, and Japan. Other categories of the
(frame maker), address, date, dimensions, blog include supplementary information
materials and composition, condition, and relevant in the frame world: event pro-
frame maker’s workshop logo [Fig. 2b]. motions, book and exhibition reviews,
Payne provides a detail of each frame with and recent sales of antique frames. Each
an imposed graphic conveying its cross blog entry assumes the form of an article,
section and structural form, emulating how interview, or extensive gallery of pictures
one would peer into different layers of a of frames; and the breadth of the blog is
painting. In providing these details, Payne likely attributed to the additive and editable
places the focus on the frame itself — per- nature of a website. As someone who has
haps a symbolic gesture against tradition been immersed in frame studies for several
of gazing at the painting without much decades, Roberts strives to push the field’s
consideration of its frame. The formal boundaries by discussing lesser-known
execution of the book, most notably in its individuals and communities involved in
catalog-style format, boldly declares frames framing.20 Other scholars can post com-
as objects deserving of the attention com- ments on blog entries, literally demon-
manded by paintings. strating art historians in dialogue with one
Getty assistant conservator of another. Although the term ‘blog’ may
frames Gene Karraker’s Looking at Eu- sound informal, the accessible medium
ropean Frames: a Guide to Terms, Styles, and of the website adds to its strength; frame
Techniques serves as a consolidated resource scholars, art historians, and members of
of terms of frame materials, methods of the general public are able to access this
creation, formal elements, and types of consolidated online resource and continue
frames. The creation and existence of this shaping frame studies.
guide demonstrates that sufficient work Since frame studies is a compar-
19 Lynn Roberts, ed., “About,” The Frame Blog, WordPress, https://theframeblog.com/about/.
20 For example: two exhibitions in the 2000s at the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg that displayed
18th to 20th century Russian frames. The blog contains an interview with exhibition curator and catalog author
Oksana Lysenko, who later contributed to the blog by reviewing a 2014 exhibition at the State Tretyakov Gallery
in Moscow. The catalog of the 2004/2005 exhibitions is no longer available for purchase, so without Roberts’
documentation, I would not have understood that contemporary scholars in Russia are also actively engaging with
frame studies. 49
 NORTHWESTERN ART REVIEW
atively new field within art history, we
observe the development of professional
identity in these academics. In the late
19th century, no art historian would have
labeled themselves a ‘frame scholar.’ How-
ever, about a century later, individuals such
as Paul Mitchell and Lynn Roberts proudly
refer to themselves as “frame historians.”21
This development of individual profes-
sional identity further points to how frame
research is on a trajectory of achieving
instrumental significance within the field
of art history. The surveyed scholarship in
this essay demonstrates how frame stud-
ies has followed a predictable journey of
initial specific inquiries (von Bode, Roche)
to anthology (Heydenryk, Mitchell and
Roberts) to country/era specificity (Simon,
van Thiel and de Bruyn Kops) to investi-
gations into individuals (Cahn, Horowitz,
21 Paul Mitchell and Lynn Roberts, A History of European Picture Frames, London: P. Mitchell Limited, 1996,
front jacket cover.
22 See Footnote 4 regarding geographic scope.
Easton and Bark) to categorization and
standardization (Karraker). Most of the
specialized frame studies to date concen-
trate around the gilded ancien régime frames
and simple Impressionist frames; future
research would be more complete with the
inclusion of 20th and 21st century framing
methods, economics, and reception be-
yond canonized Europe.22 As frame studies
continues to grow, the wealth of research
possibilities offers scholars exciting op-
portunities to learn more about the social
history and collaborative production of
these objects. With each new investiga-
tion, frames achieve another step in being
regarded as objects in their own right —
alongside the paintings that art historians
have long adored.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Brooks, Janet M. “The Historiography of the Frame: Knowledge and Practice.” Journal of Canadian Art History 35, no. 2 (2014): 24–41.
Cahn, Isabelle. “Degas’s Frames.” The Burlington Magazine 131, no. 1033 (1989): 289–93.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/883839.
Doran, Victoria. “Frith’s frames and the business of frame-making.” In William Powell Frith:
Painting the Victorian Age, edited by Mark Bills and Vivien Knight. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006.
Easton, Elizabeth, and Jared Bark. “‘Pictures Properly Framed’: Degas and Innovation in
Impressionist Frames.” The Burlington Magazine 150, no. 1266 (2008): 603–11. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40479868.
Heydenryk, Henry. The Art and History of Frames; an Inquiry into the Enhancement of Paintings. New York: J. Heineman, 1963.
Horowitz, Ira M. “Whistler’s Frames.” Art Journal 39, no. 2 (1979): 124–131. https://doi.org/10.2307/776398.
Karraker, D. Gene. Looking at European Frames: a Guide to Terms, Styles, and Techniques. Los
Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2009.
Mitchell, Paul, and Lynn Roberts. Frameworks: Form, Function & Ornament in European
Portrait Frames. London: P. Mitchell in association with Merrell Holberton, 1996.
Mitchell, Paul., and Lynn Roberts. A History of European Picture Frames. London: P.
Mitchell Limited, 1996.
Payne, John W. Framing the nineteenth century: picture frames 1837-1935. Victoria, Australia: Images Publishing Group, 2007.
Roberts, Lynn, ed., The Frame Blog, WordPress, https://theframeblog.com/.
Roberts, Lynn, and Andrew Levi. “Serge Roche: Cadres français et étrangers du XVe siècle au XVIIIe siècle – Part 1.” The Frame Blog. 22
Sept. 2020. https://theframeblog.com/2020/09/22/serge-roche-cadres-franc%CC%A7ais-et-etrangers-du-xve-siecle-au-xviiie-siecle/.
Roche, Serge. Cadres français et étrangers du XVe au XVIIIe siècle: Allemagne, Angleterre,
Espagne, France, Italie, Pays-Bas. Paris: Etienne Biniou, 1931.
Simon, Jacob. The Art of the Picture Frame: Artists, Patrons and the Framing of Portraits in
Britain. London: National Portrait Gallery, 1996.
Van Thiel, P. J. J., and C. J. de Bruyn Kops. Framing in the Golden Age: Picture and Frame in
17th-Century Holland. Zwolle: Waanders, 1995.
Von Bode, Wilhelm. “Bilderrahmen in alter und neuer Zeit.” Pan, no. 1 (1899): 243-256. http://libserv14.princeton.edu/bluemt
n/?a=d&d=bmtnabe189904-01.2.19&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-------.

50
ISSUE NO 21

GOYA’S ROMANTIC COMEDY: THE

SERIOUS AND THE SATIRICAL IN
FRANCISCO GOYA’S FRIAR PEDRO
S HOOTS EL MARA GAT O AS HIS
HORSE RUNS OFF, 1806
LISA VICINI, NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY ‘23

T
HE culmination of the eigh- audiences: Goya.
teenth century and the political By the time Francisco de Goya y
turbulence that came with it Lucientes (1746 - 1828) was working as a
sparked a shift in European successful court artist in Madrid, major so-
artists' subject matter. For instance, the cial changes had ensued in Spain, in which
French Revolution of 1789 politically lower classes had begun to enter aristocrat-
engaged renowned artist Jacques-Louis ic circles.3 Goya’s visual language expressed
David (1748 - 1825) in expressing his revo- interest in understanding interactions
lutionary ideologies through his paintings’ between emerging and established groups,
narratives. David began depicting contem- and the implications of these interactions
porary subject matter in place of classical on Spain’s people.4 Goya ultimately investi-
antiquity, which had been the dominant gates these themes through his production
mode of history painting until then. This of history paintings depicting contempo-
shift from classical themes to contem- rary events. Friar Pedro Shoots el Maragato
porary ones was reflected with a similar as His Horse Runs Off (Figure 1) exhibits
change of how artists began depicting Goya’s ability to morph traditional modes
their subject matter. Theodore Gericault of history painting and expand them to
(1791 - 1824) shocked the French public visual narratives of the human experience
with his infamous painting, The Raft of The through Romanticism and humor. By
Medusa1as he portrays a widely recognized conflating these two almost conflicting ele-
contemporary event while subverting tra- ments, Goya establishes his perpetual con-
ditional modes of history painting through versation with popular culture that extends
a Romantic perspective2. However, some- beyond the nineteenth century and Spain.
where in between these two influential As seen in Friar Pedro Shoots el Maragato as
figures and outside of France, another His Horse Runs Off, and the entire series
critical artist was able to challenge tradi- of el Maragato’s capturing, Goya estab-
tional history paintings through channel- lishes his artistic vision by evoking Ro-
ing Romantic themes and captivating his mantic themes of heroism and damnation
1 Théodore Géricault, The Raft of the Medusa, 1819, Oil on canvas, 16′ 1″ x 23′ 6″ in (490 x 716 cm),
Louvre Museum. Paris, France.
2 Alicia Caticha, “The Pop Culture of History Painting Part II: Romanticism, The Revolution of 1830”
(presentation, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, November 1, 2021).
3 Jutta Held, “Between Bourgeois Enlightenment and Popular Culture: Goya's Festivals, Old Women,
Monsters and Blind Men,” History Workshop Journal 23, no. 1 (1987): pp. 39-58, https://doi.org/10.1093/hwj/23.1.39,
40.
4 Jutta Held, “Between Bourgeois Enlightenment and Popular Culture: Goya's Festivals, Old Women,
Monsters and Blind Men,” History Workshop Journal 23, no. 1 (1987): pp. 39-58, https://doi.org/10.1093/hwj/23.1.39,
41.

51
 NORTHWESTERN ART REVIEW
through a comedic lens, ultimately allowing
for the depiction of human nature as an
experience of spectacle .
The capturing of el Maragato
quickly developed into a cause célèbre in
Spain. Several weeks after the bandit was
caught, a printed pamphlet entitled, The
news of exactly everything that happened to Pedro
Piñero, alias el Maragato, from when he escaped
as well.7 Upon examining these images,
historians believe that Goya must have
consulted them when constructing his own
representation of the incident.8 Goya’s
representation of the event was broken
up into six small and lively paintings, each
illustrating the progression of Zaldivia and
El Maragato’s confrontation, from their
first meeting to El Maragato’s defeat. The

Figure 1. Francisco de Goya y Lucientes, Friar Pedro Shoots El Maragato as His Horse Runs
Off c. 1806, Oil on panel, 11’6” x 15’7” (29.2 x 38.5 cm), The Art Institute of Chicago,
Chicago, Illinois.

the presidio5 until he was captured and injured by fifth painting, capturing the exact moment
Friar Pedro de Zaldivia, the religious laybrother Friar Pedro shot El Maragato, conjures the
from the order of San Pedro de Alcantara was most action and emotion proving to be
published6 Apart from the brochure, a se- the climax of the entire series. Making this
ries of aleluyas (chronological depictions of painting the focal point, Goya strategically
the event) presented el Maragato’s capture invokes his subjects’ experiences, his view-
5 Enclosed base established by the Spanish government.
6 Ruth Pike, “Popular Art Forms as Sources for Goya's Series on the Bandit El Maragato,” The Journal of
Popular Culture21, no. 1 (1987): pp. 19-26, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0022-3840.1987.00019.x, 1.
7 Ruth Pike, “Popular Art Forms as Sources for Goya's Series on the Bandit El Maragato,” The Journal of
Popular Culture21, no. 1 (1987): pp. 19-26, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0022-3840.1987.00019.x, 1.
8 Elanor S. Font, “Goya’s Source for the Maragato Series,” Gazette des Beaux Artes, 52, July-December 1951,
Pp 289 - 305.

52
ISSUE NO 21
ers' emotions, and his own artistic imagina-
tion. Unlike the Aleluyas who simply picto-
rially described the confrontation, Goya’s
use of romantic and comedic elements
best capture the humor and sorrow of the
scene and bring Madridian gossip to life.
Both subjects, Friar Pedro and el
Maragato, flank the painting, with the friar
situated on the left and el Maragato on
the right. The subjects stand in an exteri-
or setting, as seen by the gray sky and the
grassed hills in the background. Zaldivia’s
friarhood is made clear through his brown
robes, hood, and the beaded rosary that
hangs from his waist. The friar stands with
his feet apart, as he faces el Maragato,
and intently shoots him. The bright spark
produced from the gun’s firing directs the
viewer's focus to Maragato, and specif-
ically, the degree to which his presence
contrasts the friar’s. Maragato stands with
his backside facing the viewer, and his
head tilted towards the friar. His tarnished
clothes, ripped boots, and unruly hair
highlight his role as the marauder and the
villain of the story. Behind the men, Goya
depicts El Maragato's horse fleeing the
violence at the sound of .
Goya’s strategic rejection of neo-
classical elements and his ability to render
a contemporary event as grandiose and
allegorical in Friar Pedro Shoots el Maragato
as His Horse Runs Off, demonstrates his
knowledge of history painting. The term
‘history painting’ was born in the sev-
enteenth century and used to describe
paintings that drew their subject matter
from classical antiquity, mythology, and the
bible.9 Over the course of the eighteenth
century, the definition of history painting
expanded to more recent historical events,
and even contemporary ones in the nine-
teenth century. Traditional history painting
rendered its subject matter under the scope
of the Academy.
9 Tate , “History Painting,” Tate, accessed May 15, 2022, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/h/history-
painting.
10 López-Rey, José, and Francisco Goya. Goya's Caprichos: Beauty, Reason & Caricature. Westport, CT:
53
Although he pays little attention
to line and uses free brushstrokes, Goya’s
exploring of didactic themes, careful de-
piction of action, and ability to transform
Spanish gossip into high Art, constitute
Friar Pedro Shoots El Maragato as a history
painting. As the bandit—infamous for his
crimes—finally gets defeated by a Friar—a
representative of God on Earth—the
painting espouses a strong sense of divine
intervention and justice. The audience is
forced to confront these themes and view
the painting not only as a depiction of
contemporary news but also as an alle-
gorical altercation of chaos and justice.
The projected bullet and its fiery path, as
well as the running horse, bring the scene
to life. Goya does not rely on realism and
tight brush strokes to depict action. In-
stead, he purposefully relies on the paint-
brush’s presence to convey movement.
Goya’s ability to depict a historical event
as an allegorical scene of action define
his series of the friar and El Maragato’s
confrontation as an unorthodox history
painting.
Goya’s ability to synthesize Ro-
mantic and comedic elements epitomizes
Friar Pedro Shoots El Maragto in showcasing
the human experience. Through merging
these themes, Goya encapsulates “the
multitude of follies and blunders com-
mon in every civil society.”10 From the
painting’s color palette alone, viewers are
introduced to the notions of Romanticism
that Goya grapples with. Muted shades
of browns, grays, greens, and reds frame
the painting as tenebrous and suggestive
of dark themes. Friar Pedro stands out
as the most heavily romanticized figure;
specifically, Goya’s treatment of the friar’s
face becomes one of the most alluring, yet
enigmatic parts of the painting. The friar’s
face, unlike what would be expected from
a man shooting a musket—determined and
 NORTHWESTERN ART REVIEW
alert—is presented disillusioned, diffident, of humor and make his Romantic history
and even reluctant. By depicting him this painting a visual pasquinade —or a satire
way, Goya makes eminent the suggestive delivered in a public setting. Goyas’ Los
irony of the scene: a friar devout to God Caprichos, 1797-98, established him as an
having to commit a violent act that he oth- artist not daunted by satirical commentary
erwise would not. Evidently, Goya makes and invocations of humor. Although he
the friar’s conflicted soul palpable through contested against his plates being vehicles
illustrating his face and presents the sheer of satire, Madrid society could not help in
act of heroism that the friar engages in at experiencing a delectation in deciphering
the cost of possible damnation. his visual narratives and extracting their
Additionally, Goya’s use of shad- comedic elements.13 Perhaps because of
ows, especially cast from the friar, are con- their satirical content, only twenty-seven
sistent with other Romantic themes that sets of Los Caprichos were sold before it
the painting manifests. The friar’s shadow was discontinued.14 Nonetheless, Goya’s
seemingly encroaches his opponent’s feet comedic and satirical subject matter carried
and thus alludes to both El Maragato’s on through his art as demonstrated by
sins as well as his future death via a public Friar Pedro Shoots El Maragato as His Horse
hanging .11 The shadow also seems to trap Runs Off.
El Maragato from moving; his feet become The clearest comedic element in
cemented to the ground, allowing him to Goya’s painting comes from the violent act
be a perfect target for the Friar’s bullet. Fi- of the gun-firing; although this moment
nally, Goya uses the depiction of animals, should elicit fear rather than humor, the
in this case a horse, to portray the inner bullet’s destination proves to serve a sort
nature of man as well as behaviors he con- of comic-relief for the entire debacle.
sidered to be psychologically antisocial.12 As seen from the direction of the sparks
El Maragato’s horse reveals the uncivilized produced by the gun, the bullet penetrates
nature of its owner; the fleeing horse El Maragato’s left buttock. Moreover, the
mirrors his owner in creating destruction gunshot and distinct fiery path of the
and not enduring the ramifications of his bullet point towards El Maragato’s fully
(El Maragato’s) actions . However, struck fronted rear end. The way in which Goya
by the friar’s presence, shadow, and bullet, bends El Maragato’s legs and slightly tilts
El Maragato plummets into the balances his body makes his derriere a bulls-eye
of justice. for the bullet. This becomes the center of
Goya’s works before Friar Pedro the painting's satirical commentary: a friar
Shoots El Maragato as His Horse Runs Off shooting a bandit in the ass. El Maraga-
demonstrated a clear engagement with sa- to’s tush, however, is not the only one
tirical analysis. Therefore, it is no surprise present in the composition. The viewer
that when depicting this widely famous is also clearly presented with El Maraga-
scene, he would invoke similar notions to’s horse’s behind. The horse, fleeing
Greenwood Press, 1970.
11 Francisco de Goya, “El ‘Maragato’ Amenaza Con Un Fusil a Fray Pedro De Zaldivia,” Fundación Goya en
Aragón, January 1, 1970, https://fundaciongoyaenaragon.es/obra/el-maragato-amenaza-con-un-fusil-a-fray-pedro-de-
zaldivia/168#bibliografia.
12 Jutta Held, “Between Bourgeois Enlightenment and Popular Culture: Goya's Festivals, Old Women,
Monsters and Blind Men,” History Workshop Journal 23, no. 1 (1987): pp. 39-58, https://doi.org/10.1093/hwj/23.1.39,
42.
13 Hugh Stokes, Francisco Goya: A Study of the Work and Personality of the Eighteenth Century Spanish Painter and
Satirist (London: Herbert Jenkins, 1914).
14 Charles Harrison, Paul Wood, and Jason Gaiger, Art in Theory, 1648-1815 an Anthology of Changing Ideas
(Oxford: Blackwell, 2012).

54
ISSUE NO 21
from the scene and displaying his tail, is contemporary events disseminates through
unable to “save his owner’s ass.” More- subsequent generations of artists. From
over, when positioned with the paintings Daumier, in his role in commentary and
that complete the series, the sequence of visual culture during the July Monarchy,
El Maragato’s capture resembles a mod- to the Chapman brothers, contemporary
ern-day comic strip that works to not only artists inspired by Goya’s exploration of
demonstrate action and emotion, but also themes like violence and sadism,17 Goya's
elements of parody and ridicule. imprint on popular culture is unequivocal.
This combination of Romantic
themes and humorous ones in Goya’s Friar
Pedro Shoots El Maragato as His Horse Runs
Off unveils the artist’s ability to engage
with the paradoxical nature of the human
experience, an experience subject to “fol-
lies and blunders.”15 Only through this lens
of human experience was Goya able to en-
ter Spain's realm of popular culture. Late
eighteenth century social shifts resulting in
the reorganization of classes and the rise
of the Bourgeois reconstructed popular
engagement with visual culture.16 Goya’s
distinct mode of imaginative storytelling
makes Friar Pedro Shoots El Maragato as His
Horse Runs Off a perfect symbol for Spain’s
cultural moment.
Goya’s series of paintings of El
Maragato were never displayed publicly,
for his patrons agreeing with a critics’
disapproval of “insipid subjects” like
El Maragato’s capturing and death, en-
couraged Goya to keep the paintings for
himself. However, the painting still em-
beds itself in Goya’s artistic cannon and
thus Spain’s popular culture as the silence
from its non-existing viewership falls
short compared to the influence Goya’s
unique style had on future artists and
movements. Goya’s imaginative synthesis
of Romanticism and humor in depicting
15 Quote by Goya when commenting on Los Caprichos found on Charles Harrison, Paul Wood, and Jason
Gaiger, Art in Theory, 1648-1815 an Anthology of Changing Ideas (Oxford: Blackwell, 2012).
16 Jutta Held, “Between Bourgeois Enlightenment and Popular Culture: Goya's Festivals, Old Women,
Monsters and Blind Men,” History Workshop Journal 23, no. 1 (1987): pp. 39-58, https://doi.org/10.1093/hwj/23.1.39,
42.
17 Ellen, Gamerman. “Goya's Pop-Culture Movement; The Spanish Painter Laid Bare Anxiety, Lust, Violence
and Ambivalence-Themes That Resonate Powerfully Today.” Wall Street Journal. September 25, 2014.

55
 NORTHWESTERN ART REVIEW

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Caticha, Alicia. “The Pop Culture of History Painting Part II: Romanticism, The
Revolution of 1830”. Class lecture at Northwestern University, Evanston, IL,
November 2021.
De Goya y Lucientes, Francisco. Friar Pedro Shoots El Maragato as His Horse Runs Off. c.
1806. Oil on panel. 11’6” x 15’7” (29.2 x 38.5 cm). The Art Institute of Chicago.
Chicago, Illinois.
Ellen, Gamerman. “Goya's Pop-Culture Movement; The Spanish Painter Laid Bare Anx-
iety, Lust, Violence and Ambivalence-Themes That Resonate Powerfully Today.”
Wall Street Journal. September 25, 2014.
Font, Elanor S. “Goya’s Source for the Maragato Series.” Gazette des Beaux Artes, 52.
July-December 1951. Pp 289 - 305.
Géricault, Théodore. The Raft of the Medusa. 1819. Oil on canvas. 16′ 1″ x 23′ 6″ in
(490 x 716 cm). Louvre Museum. Paris, France.
Goya, Francisco de. “El ‘Maragato’ Amenaza Con Un Fusil a Fray Pedro De Zaldivia.”
Fundación Goya en Aragón, January 1, 1970. https://fundaciongoyaenaragon.
es/obra/el-maragato-amenaza-con-un-fusil-a-fray-pedro-de-zaldivia/168#bibli-
ografia.
Harrison, Charles, Paul Wood, and Jason Gaiger. Art in Theory, 1648-1815 an Anthology of
Changing Ideas. Oxford: Blackwell, 2012.
Held, Jutta. “Between Bourgeois Enlightenment and Popular Culture: Goya's Festivals,
Old Women, Monsters and Blind Men.” History Workshop Journal 23, no. 1 (1987):
39–58. https://doi.org/10.1093/hwj/23.1.39.
López-Rey, José, y Francisco Goya. Goya's Caprichos: Beauty, Reason & Caricature. Westport,
CT: Greenwood Press, 1970.
Pike, Ruth. “Popular Art Forms as Sources for Goya's Series on the Bandit El Mar-
agato.” The Journal of Popular Culture21, no. 1 (1987): 19–26. https://doi.
org/10.1111/j.0022-3840.1987.00019.x.
Stokes, Hugh. Francisco Goya: A Study of the Work and Personality of the Eighteenth Century
Spanish Painter and Satirist. London: Herbert Jenkins, 1914.
Tate . “History Painting.” Tate. Accessed May 15, 2022. https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-
terms/h/history-painting.
Tomlinson, Janis A. “A Monarchy at Twilight: 1804–1807.” Goya: A Portrait of the Artist,
205–10. Princeton University Press, 2020. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ct
vz938wp.30.

56
ISSUE NO 21

HEAD OF A GUILLOTINED MAN AND

GERICAULT’S ROMANTICISM
ELIZABETH DUDLEY, NORTHWESTERN ‘24

T
HÉODORE Géricault (1791- Théodore Géricault’s attention to
1824)’s Head of a Guillotined Man anatomical detail immediately stands out
does not immediately make it- in Head of a Guillotined Man while a lack of
self approachable – the specter aesthetic idealization underscores the com-
of violence looms over dismembered flesh, position’s quiet horror. As the head rests
a potentially repulsive sight easier to turn upon the table, the last blush of life quickly
away from than fully engage with. However, fades to decay; brushstrokes in pink and
a quick turn away
from the bloody
sight abandons a
painting far more
complex than its
first impression.
Held between
the last breaths
of life and death,
a simultaneous
anatomical study
and unique work
of art, a portrait
and a still life,
Head of a Guil-
lotined Man sits
at the intersec-
tion of layered
dichotomies.
These aspects
coalesce to form
a harmonious
emphasis on
horror, empathy,
and humanity,
subverting artis-
tic conventions Théodore Géricault, Head of a Guillotined Man, oil on panel, 1819, Art
in pursuit of new Institute of Chicago
forms of mean-
ing. Head of a Guillotined Man thus embodies peach tones give way to dull grays, browns,
the defining elements of Théodore Géri- and greens as thick daubs of crimson paint
cault’s art – pursuit of the naturalistic body, bleed out of the man’s neck. Although the
defiance of the Neoclassical, and emotional visible strokes highlight the image’s true
engagement that carries beyond the canvas nature as a painting, Géricault’s brushwork
and into the political sphere. builds an unnervingly recognizable human

57
 NORTHWESTERN ART REVIEW
extensive study of hu-
man corpses.1 The art-
ist regularly obtained
body parts from a local
morgue, studying from
dead flesh until the
rot became physically
unbearable.2 His care-
ful study of anatomy
and detailed rendering
instantly sets the tone
of horror and empathy
that extends through-
out the painting.
Géricault’s
commitment to study-
ing the flesh in its
natural form stands in
stark contrast to pop-
ular Neoclassical ideas
of anatomical pedago-
gy. In the Neoclassical
studio, artists’ training
in anatomy progressed
from copying two-di-
mensional drawings to
studying plaster casts
and marble sculptures.
Théodore Géricault, Officier de chasseurs à cheval de la garde impériale Artists were only
chargeant, oil on canvas, 1812, Museé de Louvre permitted to study the
live form once they had
head. This head rests on its side, angled to fully mastered the Neo-
show a foreshortened vacant expression classical standard of the idealized body.3
and drooping flesh. Here, resemblance of The Neoclassical understanding regarded
humanity is created through the ear and the human body as a canvas for the projec-
soft tissue draping around the skull, rather tion of ideals through aesthetic improve-
than capturing an individual’s likeness in ment. Géricault defied this perspective not
high fidelity. Light and shadow carve out only in his selection of decaying flesh as his
the underlying bone structure, revealing model, but in formative experiences in his
Géricault’s deep understanding of human early training. Studying in Rome was often
anatomy. This painting, as with Géricault’s the pinnacle of an artist’s training– sur-
other studies of the dismembered body, rounding oneself with the greatest works
owes its mimetic fidelity to the artist’s
1 Lorenz Eitner, “Gericault, [Géricault] (Jean-Louis-André-)Théodore” (Oxford University Press, 2003),
https://doi.org/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.T031509. Géricault’s study of cadavers not only provided
anatomical models, but maintained his focus on the horror and emotional depth of his subjects.
2 Nina Athanassoglou-Kallmyer, “Géricault’s Severed Heads and Limbs: The Politics and Aesthetics of the
Scaffold,” The Art Bulletin 74, no. 4 (1992): 599-618, https://doi.org/10.2307/3045912. 603.
3 Alicia Caticha, “The 18th Century Art World, the Academy, Hierarchy of Genres, and the Role of Rome,”
Art History 350-1: Late 18th Century-1848 (class lecture, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, September 27, 2021)

58
ISSUE NO 21

Théodore Géricault, Raft of the Medusa, oil on canvas, 1818-1819, Museé de Louvre
of classical antiquity to fully absorb their the moment. Therefore, Géricault’s treat-
aesthetic power.4 However, when Géricault ment of anatomy in Head of a Guillotined
studied in Rome, he completely abandoned Man exemplifies his technical fidelity to the
this model of pedagogy. The young artist naturalistic body.
turned his attention not only to the great Whereas Géricault paid careful
artists of the Renaissance – Michelangelo, attention to the natural world’s conventions
Caravaggio, Titian– but also towards scenes in his technique, he challenged Neoclas-
of life happening around him. One notable sical social conventions of artistic genres.
sketch depicts a public execution, captured Head of A Guillotined Man continues the
as it occurred.5 This rendition, captured at subversion of the hierarchy of genre found
a formative moment in his artistic training, within Géricault’s work, overlapping as-
underscores how his technical approach to pects of genres adding conceptual and
art is grounded in the wholly naturalistic thematic richness. An understanding of the
experience, considering violence and terror hierarchy of genre is essential to see how
as immutable. Thus, the artist’s sketch and exactly Géricault subverts it. The hierar-
choice of model for Head of a Guillotined chy of genre emerged from the French
Man highlight the conscious rejection of Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture
Neoclassical visions of art. Both instances to organize the pedagogy and production
distinctly defy the established hierarchical of art.6 The classical world was not only
processes of rendering human anatomy as the pinnacle of artistic training, but also
a regimented method of stylistic emulation, the highest subject an artist could depict.
instead embracing the messy visual truth of History paintings not only engaged with the
4 Alicia Caticha, “The 18th Century Art World, the Academy, Hierarchy of Genres, and the Role of Rome,”
Art History 350-1: Late 18th Century-1848 (class lecture, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, September 27, 2021)
5 Eitner, “Gericault, [Géricault] (Jean-Louis-André-) Théodore.”
6 Alicia Caticha, “The 18th Century Art World, the Academy, Hierarchy of Genres, and the Role of Rome,” Art
History 350-1: Late 18th Century-1848 (class lecture, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, September 27, 2021)

59
 NORTHWESTERN ART REVIEW
ideas and morals of antiquity, but also pre- strates the young artist’s disregard for the
sented the nude body as a site of dialogue hierarchy of genre. Although entered as a
with the classical tradition.7 Genres below portrait, the painting represents the French
history painting had less opportunities to spirit ready to battle with Russia.10 This
engage with purportedly universal classical painting engages individualistic representa-
ideas, and consequently were perceived tions of power and glory commonly found
with less respect. and Portraiture captured in portraiture, while the militaristic valor
the likenesses of middle and upper-class and relatively simple composition follow
individuals to display status and power, yet aspects of genre painting. Positioning the
its inherently individual focus distanced it figure not as an individual, but as the nation
from overarching classical themes. How- of France provides a propagandistic sig-
ever, portraiture maintained a high status
relative to still life painting, which rested at
the bottom of the hierarchy with a purely
mimetic focus and comparative accessibility
to women.8 The hierarchy of genre thus
functioned not only to order and rank the
aesthetic appearance of art, but also to seg-
ment and control the underlying meanings
each genre carried. Classical ideals were
doubly venerated in technique and theme
through the hierarchy of genre.
Training within the Academy
system firmly entrenched this hierarchy in
many young artists; however, Théodore
Géricault was not among them. Although
he briefly studied in two different artists’
studios, much of his education came from
self-guided studies of Renaissance and
Baroque masterpieces in the Louvre.9 This
Théodore Géricault, Portrait of a Klepto-
education not only occurred beyond the
maniac, oil on canvas, 1820, Museum voor
strictly hierarchical progression of technical
Schone Kunsten Gent
study in the Neoclassical studio, but also
beyond the Neoclassical perspectives on nificance that further incorporates themes
art imparted such as the segmentation of often seen in history painting. These inter-
meanings imposed through the hierarchy woven interpretations of genre thus add
of genre. His first foray into the Salon, the richness to the themes of national valor
1812 painting Officier de chasseurs à cheval de la and military conquest Géricault positions
garde impériale chargeant, immediately demon- here.
7 Alicia Caticha, “The 18th Century Art World, the Academy, Hierarchy of Genres, and the Role of Rome,”
Art History 350-1: Late 18th Century-1848 (class lecture, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, September 27, 2021).
Whereas clothing indicates temporal specificity, the nude form removes these distinctions and thus elevates them beyond
a singular moment.
8 Alicia Caticha, “The 18th Century Art World, the Academy, Hierarchy of Genres, and the Role of Rome,”
Art History 350-1: Late 18th Century-1848 (class lecture, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, September 27, 2021).
Not only did still life paintings depict material objects with less of a moralizing message or personal representation than
other genres, but the reduced need for studying the human form, particularly the nude male model, meant women faced
less barriers to studying and working in the genre.
9 Eitner, “Gericault, [Géricault] (Jean-Louis-André-) Théodore.”
10 Eitner, “Gericault, [Géricault] (Jean-Louis-André-) Théodore.”

60
ISSUE NO 21
The subversion of single-genre
paintings established in Géricault’s training
and early work continues within Head of a
Guillotined Man. While Officier de chasseurs à
cheval de la garde impériale chargeant smoothly
incorporates aspects of portraiture, genre,
and history painting to promote a rich
sense of militaristic pride and glory, Head
of a Guillotined Man creates thematic en-
richment by allowing genres to conflict. By
placing aspects of portraiture, still life, and
history painting in contradiction to each
other, Géricault enriches themes of horror
and haunting. Shifting visions of the head
as a post-mortem portrait and a still life
of disembodied flesh expose the dichot-
omy between emotions of empathy for
the deceased human being and revulsion
towards the decaying flesh. The invisible
presence of the guillotine casts a shadow
over the painting, with the associated politi-
cal significance of history painting infusing
significance of Géricault’s liberal political
beliefs. As Head of a Guillotined Man breaks
apart genres and brings them together, it
reconfigures the limitations of Neoclassical
genre into the heart of a deeply emotional,
individualized, and wholly Romantic art
form.
Head of a Guillotined Man depicts
a human face and is therefore inseparable
from themes of portraiture and human
identity. Human faces cannot be separated
from the context of recognition and unique
personhood. Variation in facial charac-
teristics is often among the most visible
distinctions – noses of differing lengths
will impact the appearance of two other-
wise similar faces, whereas arms of differ-
ing lengths do not have the same impact.
Thus, every face creates a unique ground
for recognition or curiosity. The subject of
Head of a Guillotined Man is no different –
his protruding cheekbones, rounded ear,
and single visible tooth all indicate a distinct
individual. Although tilted away from the
11 Darcy Grigsby, “Cannibalism. Senegal. Géricault’s Raft of the Medusa, 1819,” in Extremities: Painting Empire in
Post-Revolutionary France, 2002, 207.
12 Linda Nochlin, The Body In Pieces: The Fragment as a Metaphor of Modernity (Thames & Hudson, 1995). 21-22.
61
viewer, a profile view of this man emerges
as recognizably human. Even in fragments
of the body, there is a distanced recogni-
tion of the self.11 Seeing a part of the body
invites viewers to map their own physical
sensations on to the disembodied object,
despite a gap in realities between the two-
and three-dimensional. The mere presence
of some aspect of the human body inspires
association with one’s own body, searching
for a semblance of identity to attach.
Despite the potential for viewers’
self-recognition, the humanity of the sub-
ject of Head of a Guillotined Man is not guar-
anteed. Head of a Guillotined Man can also be
understood as a still life painting, framing
the severed head as a butchered piece of
meat to emphasize the sensation of horror.
While the central aspect of the composi-
tion is the man’s head, the setting also plays
a crucial role. The head rests upon a white
drop cloth on a simple wooden table, the
folds of the cloth draping around the con-
tours of the head. Blood stains on the low-
er left side spill in a clean diagonal line that
alludes to the head being wrapped in cloth,
carried back to the artist’s studio like a cut
of meat. This allusion to butchery contin-
ues through the overall composition, where
the simple drop cloth on a table resembles
numerous other still life paintings of food.
As the face of the Guillotined Man angles
away from the viewer in a partial profile,
the man’s facial features lie perpendicular to
the viewer’s own face. Dark shadows define
not only the eyes, nose, and lips, but also
the planes of the face, carving out valleys
and ridges of bone structure. Perspective
and lighting harmonize to visually distort
the face, challenging the head’s status as a
human. Even the alignment within planes
of space distances the head from its hu-
manity – lying on the horizontal plane, the
head is distanced from the vertical plane of
beauty, positioned as a mere object.12 While
understanding Head of a Guillotined Man
 NORTHWESTERN ART REVIEW
as a portrait allows viewers to bring their
identities in dialogue with the perceived
individual, seeing the painting as a still life
twists that interaction into an interrogation
of humanity and inhumanity.
Portraiture and still life thus create a
terrifying tug-of-war, revealing the subject’s
humanity one moment and concealing it
the next. Invisible, and yet omnipresent, the
specter of the guillotine illuminates Géri-
cault’s message in bringing these two genres
into conflict. As the head flutters between a
human head, to be pitied and mourned, and
a slab of meat, to be dissected and revulsed
by, the artist challenges the dehumanizing
power of the guillotine. Addressing political
topics from a liberal perspective was a fre-
quent theme for Géricault in his work, with
pieces supporting the abolition of slavery,
the rights of the poor, and other Repub-
lican topics, likely including the abolition
of the death penalty.13 Although Head of
a Guillotined Man does not make an overt
political statement, the friction between
portraiture and still life inspires empathy in
the viewer as they place their own head in
the man’s position, revealing a more per-
sonal focus on the horror and lasting trau-
ma of the guillotine. The viewer is power-
less to reverse this man’s dismemberment,
yet without fully surpassing the vision of
his head as a bloody piece of meat, is also
complicit in his dehumanization. Within
this stasis, a space for reflection emerges –
a call to recognize shared humanity and put
an end to the cruelty that yields the suffer-
ing laid bare here. The simultaneous har-
mony and friction between portraiture and
still life creates a more direct engagement
with the viewer, not imposing a set mes-
sage of power or wealth but rather sharing
a haunting image, both in terms of fear
and emotional impact, to inspire further
thought.
Even without a direct political mes-
sage, the reflection that Head of a Guillotined
13 Athanassoglou-Kallmyer, “Géricault’s Severed Heads and Limbs.” 604.
14 Athanassoglou-Kallmyer, “Géricault’s Severed Heads and Limbs.” 603.
15 Athanassoglou-Kallmyer, “Géricault’s Severed Heads and Limbs.” 609.
62
Man inspires goes against the Neoclassi-
cal treatment of political subjects in art.
Géricault’s delicate yet deliberate approach
to depicting horrific and violent subjects
reimagines how history painting contributes
to political discourse, as embodied not only
in Head of a Guillotined Man but also the Raft
of the Medusa. Whereas Head of a Guillotined
Man focuses on the horrors of the guillo-
tine, Raft of the Medusa recounts a desperate
fight for survival by any means - even can-
nibalism. Despite the gravity of both nar-
ratives, the defining moments of violence
are not central to in either painting. Brief
allusions come in the form of the bleeding
wound on the man’s neck - an intentional
yet anachronistic detail - and a single axe
aboard the raft respectively.14 Instead, view-
ers’ existing knowledge contextualizes the
horrific circumstances, freeing the artist to
explore emotional effects of the events in
greater detail.15 History painting thus shifts
from a fixed pedestalization of military and
ideological triumph to a dynamic interro-
gation of consequence and site of critique
through these works. As the initial terror
confronted in these paintings enmeshes
with other emotions – grief, empathy, pity
– they interlock in complex and unique
ways that go beyond strict moral lessons or
catharsis. Discomfort, distress, and disgust
are all possible experiences for viewers,
challenging the resolutely propagandistic
narratives of Neoclassical history paintings.
Viewers are not only invited to reflect upon
the humanity they share with the suffering
subjects, but also to consider the political
and historical circumstances that brought
these events into being. By emphasizing the
human consequences, Géricault’s approach
to history painting creates a new kind of
message in dialogue with viewers rather
than proclaiming.
While Géricault’s reimagining of
history painting shifted the dynamics of
surrounding discourse and experience, his
ISSUE NO 21
reworking of portraiture found in Head of
a Guillotined Man and later works challenges
the genre’s foundational methods of con-
veying and lauding identity. Although the
specific identity of the man is unknown, he
was likely a criminal – in another painting
of a severed head, Géricault is noted to
have used the body of a guillotined thief
from a nearby prison.16 The guillotined man
is not identifiable by appearance, name,
title, or material possessions. Instead, the
means of his suffering and death act as the
only manner of recognition. This painting
does not celebrate a virtuous character, nor
cement a legacy, nor preserve a handsome
appearance – in fact, the composition-
al arrangement of the head specifically
removes it from the realm of beauty – thus
thoroughly disrupting the Neoclassical
concept of the portrait.17 Whereas social
power would normally be reinforced and
clearly tied to an individual’s identity, in this
painting, political critique of the guillotine
undermines the balance of power while the
clear lack of identity makes individual rec-
ognition impossible. Instead of following
existing social dynamics, Head of a Guillo-
tined Man raises new questions about what it
means to channel power through a portrait.
Géricault further reworks the
genre of portraiture through his choice of
socially stigmatized individuals as models,
questioning how portraits can carry iden-
tity and the effects of recognition through
portraiture in both Head of a Guillotined Man
and Portrait of a Kleptomaniac. The portraits
depict a likely criminal and a man deemed
insane, going beyond the aristocratic and
bourgeois individuals routinely depicted
in portraits. Both portraits remain coolly
objective in technique, faithfully render-
ing the subjects as they are. The men are
defined by their stigmatized identities, with
little to no visual information about who
16 Athanassoglou-Kallmyer, “Géricault’s Severed Heads and Limbs.” 603.
17 Nochlin, The Body In Pieces: The Fragment as a Metaphor of Modernity. 21.
18 Athanassoglou-Kallmyer, “Géricault’s Severed Heads and Limbs.” 602; Eitner, “Gericault, [Géricault] (Jean-
Louis-André-) Théodore.”
63
they are otherwise. Instead of identity
stemming from names, material posses-
sions, or setting, these men are fully defined
by the labels applied to them. However,
while the severed head is fully disconnected
from personal visual identity, the subject
of Portrait of a Kleptomaniac remains visu-
ally recognizable. The difference between
portraits thus demonstrates Géricault’s
deeper exploration of how to represent
domineering aspects of identity, as the art-
ist balances the possibility for unique visual
recognition with the broadly erasing label
of insanity applied only through context in
the later work. Nevertheless, the dedication
to naturalistic representation provides a rare
glimmer of respect for both individuals,
depicting them without condemnation or
shame. Even though the intended function
of Head of a Guillotined Man is academically
debated and Géricault’s series of portraits
of the insane is unknown 18, both paintings
create a new possibility for portraiture not
only as a genre that reinforces power of the
elite, but also as a genre that emphasizes a
shared humanity. Head of a Guillotined Man
and Portrait of a Kleptomaniac demonstrate
how Géricault’s approach to portraiture
goes beyond Neoclassical portraiture’s
treatment of the individual, exploring how
portraiture can reflect individual experienc-
es outside of bourgeois norms and subse-
quently redirect the power of portraiture to
restoring dignity to society’s outcasts.
Head of a Guillotined Man abandons
Neoclassicism in technique, treatment of
genre, and understandings of art – pursu-
ing terror and tensions to create a vividly
emotional experience. Whereas Neoclas-
sicism imposed the classical past in fixed
terms and hierarchies, Géricault pursues
the living present in its truest form, un-
flinchingly confronting horrific emotions,
traumatic subjects, and challenging dichot-
 NORTHWESTERN ART REVIEW

omies. The themes and ideas informing Romanticism: embracing the complexity of
this painting reflect those of Géricault’s nature, the full range of human emotion,
artistic development, from his early training and working towards a world fulfilling the
and forays into the Salon to defining works ideals of liberty and liberal social change
such as Raft of the Medusa, even laying the rather than the Neoclassical aesthetic.
groundwork for later themes of depicting
stigmatized individuals in portraiture. Head
of a Guillotined Man thus marks a defining
moment in Théodore Géricault’s vision of

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Athanassoglou-Kallmyer, Nina. “Géricault’s Severed Heads and Limbs: The Politics
and Aesthetics of the Scaffold.” The Art Bulletin 74, no. 4 (1992): 599–618.
https://doi.org/10.2307/3045912.
Caticha, Alicia. “The 18th Century Art World, the Academy, Hierarchy of Genres, and the
Role of Rome.” Art History 350-1: Late 18th Century-1848. Class lecture at
Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, September 27, 2021.
Eitner, Lorenz. “Gericault, [Géricault] (Jean-Louis-André-)Théodore.” Oxford University
Press, 2003. https://doi.org/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.T031509.
Grigsby, Darcy. “Cannibalism. Senegal. Géricault’s Raft of the Medusa, 1819.” In
Extremities: Painting Empire in Post-Revolutionary France, 165–235, 2002.
Nochlin, Linda. The Body In Pieces: The Fragment as a Metaphor of Modernity. Thames &
Hudson, 1995.

64
ISSUE NO 21

ART MUSEUMS AND NON-FUNGIBLE

T OKENS (NFTs): THE INNOVATIVE
POTENTIAL, LONG-TERM RISKS , AND
FINANCIAL OPPORTUNITIES
HANNAH CHEW, HARVARD UNIVERSITY ‘23

T
Introduction
HE sale of digital artist Bee-
ple’s EVERYDAYS: THE
FIRST 5000 DAYS for over
$69 million in March 2021 cata-
pulted NFTs into the mainstream spotlight
(Fig. 1). A purely digital artwork paired with
an accompanying Non-Fungible Token
(NFT), EVERYDAYS: THE FIRST 5000
DAYS crowned Christie’s the first major
auction house to offer such a work for sale,
as well as the first to accept Ether, a rap-
idly growing cryptocurrency, as payment.i
From March 2021 onwards, institutions,
individuals, and businesses have all begun
minting and selling NFTs of digital assets
Figure 1 Beeple’s EVERYDAYS: THE FIRST
with varying degrees of financial successii.
5000 DAYS, 2021
However, the cultural institution sector has
been seemingly hesitant to participate in Defining NFTs, Blockchain, Cryptocurren-
the growing but infant market, while NFT cy, and Web3 Trends
and blockchain advocates have touted its fi- The emergence and adoption of
nancial potential to monetize art museums’ NFTs began far before the March 2021
holdings. In response to major art museums Christie’s sale. Non- Fungible Tokens
participating in the NFT art marketplace, (NFTs) will be defined in this paper as
this paper will highlight the potential risks, “a cryptographically unique, indivisible,
ethical considerations, and need for in- irreplaceable and verifiable token that
creased critical scholarship and discussion represents a given asset, be it digital, or
around the interaction between art muse- physical, on a blockchain” (Valeonti, F. et
ums and NFTs. Alongside a brief historical al, 2021).iii Most commonly traded on the
overview, current modes of interaction, and Ethereum blockchain, NFTs are not exclu-
exhibition techniques to establish founda- sively connected to self-referential artworks,
tional context, this paper will also demon- but this paper will focus only on digital and
strate the need for long-term sustainabil- physical artwork-based tokens.
ity and financial planning and discourse Although artist Kevin McCoy
regarding major art museums monetizing claims to have minted the first art-based
their collections with NFTs. NFT on the Namecoin blockchain1 in
2014 with his artwork Quantum, the most
1 A blockchain, in its current form, is defined as “a distributed, immutable ledger that is maintained and verified
among a network of peers” (Valeonti, F. et al, 2021)
65
 NORTHWESTERN ART REVIEW
Figure 2 Kevin McCoy’s Quantum, 2014.
commonly defined NFT is an Ethereum
smart-contract backed token that emerged
in 2017 (Fig. 2).iv Ethereum as a blockchain
differs from popular blockchain and cryp-
tocurrency giant Bitcoin2 in its utilization
of smart contracts, which Ethereum found-
er Vitalik Buterin defines as “systems which
automatically move digital assets according
to arbitrary pre-specified rules.”v Dieter
Shirley, an Ethereum source code contrib-
utor, created and implemented the original
NFT with smart-contract technology, pro-
viding the gaming community of Cryp-
toKitties (also founded by Shirley) with a
new way to identify and trade unique digital
assets. vi This emphasis and utilization of
unique digital assets differed from the other
fungible tokens circulating on the Ethere-
um blockchain at the time, and appealed
to digital creators and traders alike. NFTs
by nature also created scarcity in the digital
landscape, a difficult endeavor when digital
images and assets are easily replicated and
disseminated. Their financial value, and
often their sentimental value as collectibles,
hinge on this scarcity principle.
With artwork-based NFTs, one of the most
common definitional concerns derives from
intellectual property rights and copyright
claims. As of 2021, various countries and
2 The Bitcoin blockchain, intended for cash and financial transactions, is considered to be a product of Satoshi
Nakamoto, an unknown online entity whose true identity is fiercely debated.
66
blockchain platforms do not have a sin-
gle, widely adopted legal precedent for the
connection of digital assets, NFTs, and
intellectual property claims. However, it is
widely accepted that the sale of a digital or
physical artwork NFT is similar to the sale
of a purely physical artwork in this sense,
wherein buyers and sellers transfer owner-
ship of the asset, but the original creator
retains the copyright and commercial rights.
vii In certain circumstances, the creator
may choose to also transfer the intellectual
property rights to the seller, but must do so
with a separate agreement, a practice that
proves fairly uncommon in the emerging
market. The emphasis on transaction track-
ing on the blockchain and smart contracts
of NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain ap-
peals to many creators concerned with the
authenticity and protection of their work in
the next generation of the digital realm.
In recent years, blockchain ad-
vocates have suggested that the lack of
hierarchy built into blockchain technology
and assets would, in theory, render plat-
form-based technology companies obso-
lete, ushering in an era freed from “tech
giants” that advocates and researchers have
deemed Web 3.0, Web3, or Internet 3.0.viii
Excitement over the potential for block-
chain to revolutionize nearly every technol-
ogy-based practice from the diamond sup-
ply chain to sampling in the music industry
has increased over the last decade, and
NFTs have been hailed as the breakthrough
of the art world and potential “Second
Renaissance” by enthusiasts advocating for
their adoption. ix Facebook’s rebranding
campaign in 2021 launched discussions of
the Metaverse, a world integrated with de-
centralized blockchain technology heralded
as the future by the tech world, into main-
stream dialogue. NFTs
presented opportunities for scarcity
and artistic innovation in the digital world,
and ushered in new creations in the digi-
tal art world. Greater participation in the
ISSUE NO 21
space by institutions and large corporations challenge for exhibition designers and cura-
indicates NFTs and their digital artwork tors. The COVID-19 pandemic and result-
accompaniments may occupy positions of ing lockdowns pushed forward virtual exhi-
significance in coming years. bition design innovations originating from
decades prior, honing new technologies
Risk, Reward, and Revenue: Art Muse- like GoogleMaps Street View and Oculus
ums Engaging with NFTs VR to engage visitors.xi Displaying digital
For art museums to engage with NFTs, art, art that exists only in the digital realm
there are a number of scalable approaches rather than digital reprodu tions of phys-
and opportunities to explore. The most ical artworks, evolved from click-through
vital distinction between art museum slideshow formats to digitally rendered
interactions with NFTs is the question of models of 3-dimensional galleries complete
displaying digital and physical artwork at- with perspective sightlines and wall labels.
tached to NFTs and the actual creation and xii The question of exhibiting NFTs adds
sale of NFTs connected to an art museum’s another layer of complexity to the question
collection. Displaying digital artwork is not – models for displaying digital art pieces
a new practice for museums, but how to already exist, so what changes with NFTs?
display associated NFTs, which in many Since NFTs are the actual tokens on
ways act as receipts and ledger books, poses the blockchain that represent a physical or
a new challenge. However, the most notable digital asset, it is simply not enough to only
engagement between major art museums display the asset they represent and deem it
and NFTs has been the creation and sale an NFT exhibit. However, the listed record
of NFTs linked to the museum’s collection, of every transaction included in an NFT
which raises a new host of logistical and is likely not of particular interest to the
ethical dilemmas. average art museum visitor, nor is a literal
breakdown of source code and blockchain
Exhibition of NFTs information. Thus far, galleries and mu-
When the Russian State Hermitage seums experimenting with the exhibition
Museum launched Ethereal Aether, its first of NFTs, which already mystify much of
fully-virtual exhibition of digital NFT art the public, have chosen to emphasize the
(Fig. 3), Director of Contemporary Art physical and digital artworks the token rep-
Dmitri Ozerkov stated “we want to see resents. The Seattle NFT Museum, founded
what’s left of the NFT if you take away by two tech executives with limited expe-
the money aspect.”x As the conversation rience in the art world, makes the mistake
around NFTs and their potential dominate of glossing over the technical genius of
contemporary art spaces, it is unsurprising NFTs in favor of a familiar, and market-
that they’ve caught the attention of major able, art world experience. xiii The Seattle
art institutions. Apart from their growing NFT Museum replicates a standard white-
value as tradable assets, NFT and digital cube gallery experience, and its only unique
artworks comprise a substantial portion of divergence is that the rotating collection of
contemporary art, and museums that hold digital artworks will only be displayed on
these works in collections need to find an screens. This display method brings digital
engaging, sustainable way to exhibit them. art to the physical museum experience rath-
NFTs especially pose a challenge, and Oz- er than NFTs and their associated technol-
erkov is right in questioning how to exhibit ogies, containing little new innovation. xiv
and analyze their value while disregarding Furthermore, the Seattle NFT Museum will
their identity as a complicated ledger and not have a permanent collection, displaying
record of asset transactions. artworks for visitors to purchase, rendering
Exhibiting digital art is not a new it a gallery or marketplace and not a muse-
67
 NORTHWESTERN ART REVIEW
um. Given the inseparable relationship be- and curation, NFTs provide a provenance
tween discussions of NFT art and discus- history unrivaled by traditional records, and
sions of NFT value, displaying these works provide a new dimension of engagement
in a true museum environment will require with contemporary artwork.
innovation beyond traditional methodology.
Further experimentation with Financial Incentives for Museums to Create
online exhibitions may prove valuable. and Sell NFTs
Multiple online platforms have embraced Since their inception, NFTs have
the built-in provenance tracking of NFTs, been inextricably linked to financial gain
which provides vital information normal- and asset valuation. Despite the Russian
ly synthesized into a wall label. Museums State Hermitage Museum’s best efforts
and galleries around the world have already to isolate the essence of these digital art
begun incorporating QR codes in physical forms, the heavy reliance on top-level
galleries that link to online resources and technology and value- based assessments
records. For suggests NFTs
galleries look- have received
ing to exhibit attention due to
artworks for their potential as
sale, an NFT financial assets
may replace and technolog-
traditional ical inventions.
record-keep- While purchas-
ing and ing physical
encourage artworks also
transparency. constitutes the
While the Figure 3 Ethereal Aether Exhibition, image courtesy practice of in-
early exhibi- of the Russian State Hermitage Museum vestment, the art
tion of NFTs historical schol-
happened arship around
under primarily commercial and marketing physical artworks often separates a physical
circumstances, considering these gallery artwork’s identity as art and its identity as
examples may provide insight into display an asset. Art museums work to provide
opportunities. The Feral File exhibition a physical, personal experience with art
platform, which operates on the Bitmark objects, and generate responses and obser-
blockchain, launched their Social Codes ex- vations that digital or other representations
hibition with “Collect This Work” buttons cannot. However, NFTs do not provide
that listed all trades and purchases accom- this real-world experience and reaction, and
panying each artwork to draw out unseen have yet to receive the same treatment and
narratives and interactions in the collection. attention from art historians as traditional
xv Although Feral File is a purely digital ex- physical artworks. Their identity as objects
hibition platform, access to blockchain-en- (even in the online world) thus far has been
abled ledgers of artwork ownership could defined by their meteoric rise in financial
combine with creative visual mapping to value, and with greater saturation of the
help art museums create educational and market after 2021, the majority of NFTs
xvi
informative tools. The precedent for dis- are simply unremarkable pieces of digital
playing digital artwork is decades old, and art. xvii The innovation behind NFTs has
perhaps NFTs are the next step moving largely been considered technological, with
museums towards education and trans- the artistic potential the field may hold
parency. In the field of exhibition design relegated to the background. Accordingly,
68
ISSUE NO 21
NFTs exist in a liminal space between tradi-
tional artwork and valued assets, complicat-
ing their position in the museum world.
Museums have the potential to
utilize the notability and prestige of their
artworks to profit. Since the onset of the
COVID-19 pandemic, admission numbers
have declined drastically, and museums of
all sizes have struggled to maintain steady
budgets and fund exhibitions.xviii Mint-
ing and selling NFTs of their collections,
especially pieces that are easily recognizable
by the general public, would potentially
provide a source of cash flow. The large
infusion of money provided by a success-
ful NFT can provide funding for crucial
services, and private art-owning individuals
like the Czech Republic’s Lobkowicz family
have used massive NFT auctions to finance
the restoration of the physical artworks the
NFTs represent.xix At the start of 2022,
major museums across the world began
minting and selling NFTs of their collec-
tion, including the British Museum’s Hoku-
sai prints and JMW Turner paintings, the
Uffizi Gallery’s Michelangelo paintings, and
the Academy Museum with their “Future
of Cinema” collection. xx Participating mu-
seums have cited multiple applications for
the revenue generated by NFT sales, includ-
ing social projects, restoration, and greater
accessibility. Although the financial gain
may be immediate, the upcoming auction
of the British Museum’s Turner NFTs seem
to indicate museums anticipate a lasting in-
crease in value for NFTs, with the Museum
holding onto multiple editions of the NFTs
they intend to mint and auction.xxi With
the increase of major museum participation
in the NFT market, the field may benefit
from the art sector prestige and legitimacy
lent by these collaborations, encouraging
future investment and a potential increase
in value for museum backed NFTs. Even
regardless of the future, NFTs current-
ly present an opportunity for short-term
funding during a period of widespread
financial difficulty for museums impacted
by the COVID-19 pandemic.
69
Associated Risks and Damages
Despite the observed monetary
gains seen by art museums and institutions
participating in the NFT market, there are
a number of risks and concerns associat-
ed with NFTs and blockchain technology
that should keep both museum individuals
and institutions hesitant. Blockchain tech-
nology, especially in its current iteration, is
extremely young and unexplored. Although
the technology boasts impenetrable security
and an unexploitable decentralized mod-
el, attempted attacks on the Bitcoin and
Ethereum blockchains occur, and errors in
smart contracts, the 51% rule, and future
technological innovations have already
impacted many blockchains in the last year.
xxii NFTs also present many unknown
variables, and the volatile nature of cryp-
tocurrency and blockchain assets can be
alarming for museums seeking reliable cash
infusions. With limited scholarship and
collected data on the financial and techno-
logical long-term patterns and models for
NFTs, they are a gamble for long-standing,
stable institutions to take on.
Alongside these limitations is a lack
of substantial government regulation and
legal precedent. xxiii Blockchain tech-
nologies may seek to elude government
control and regulation, but they struggle
to overcome the inconsistent regulations
and concerns posed by governing bodies
around the world. With many museums
reliant on government funding and subject
to hyper-scrutiny over collections manage-
ment, NFTs pose significant risks. A muse-
um-minted NFT that bears the name and
credibility of the institution can be used as
an asset or exchange in illicit activity or be
used to circumvent nation-specific regu-
lations and embargos. With the freedom
granted by the blockchain, museums and
governments have significantly less control
over NFTs of their artworks than they do
the physical copy. From a legal standpoint,
precedent for usage and trade of NFTs is
sparse, opening the museum world up to
potentially costly and unfavorable litigation.
 NORTHWESTERN ART REVIEW
Ethical Considerations
Environmental Impact
As blockchain technology spreads,
environmental activists raise concerns over
the extreme amounts of energy siphoned
by Bitcoin and Ethereum. In order to
verify transactions and stay decentralized,
computers or increasingly complicated rigs
expend incredible amounts of energy to
mine cryptocurrency. Ethereum, where the
majority of NFT activity has taken place,
required around 30 kilowatt-hours for a
single transaction at the close of 2021, with
the energy cost per transaction and subse-
quent verification increasing steadily.xxiv
The majority of energy consumption does
not originate from individual transactions,
but rather the immense computing pow-
er required to secure the network. NFTs
and their meteoric rise have been integral
to increased activity on the Ethereum
blockchain, and therefore increased energy
consumption. Although there are energy
efficient blockchain alternatives, including
growing Tezos, much of the market still
operates on Ethereum and seems unlikely
to migrate.xxv With many museums and
their associated governments pledging to
decrease their carbon footprint, engaging
with the NFT market, with its current reli-
ance on Ethereum, is contradictory at best.
Held In Public Trust
Since the conversion of the Louvre
to a public art museum at the end of
the 18th century, governments, the pub-
lic, and scholars have placed greater and
greater emphasis on major art museums’
responsibility to hold priceless artworks
in public trust.xxvi This museum-public
dynamic also deepens as museums build
relationships with local communities,
turning certain collections into symbols of entities like the Association of Art Museum
regional pride. While museum profession-
als make conservation, storage, and loan
decisions regarding their collections daily,
the public, scholars, and museum ethics
boards expect efforts to be guided by the
best interests of the collection. Although
70
deaccessioning for the sale of collections
is not uncommon, major sales of recogniz-
able works often generate protest.xxvii For
museums to engage with the art market,
they must navigate the difficult responsi-
bility of upholding community and donor
trust.
As previously discussed, the fu-
ture relevance and importance of NFTs
is unknown, and dependent on the wide-
spread adoption of blockchain technology.
The gamble museums take by creating and
selling NFTs of collections closely asso-
ciated with their identity as cultural insti-
tutions is substantial. Museums bear the
responsibility of care and conservation for
their collections, and while NFT sales may
generate funds used for this mission, the
NFTs associated with the museum have the
potential to end up in unfavorable circum-
stances. Once sold, NFTs may be re-sold
continuously, potentially ending up in illegal
dealings or corruption scandals, forever at-
tached to the museum’s name (and profits).
The future value and significance of NFTs
is difficult to predict without extensive
research and further study, highlighting the
need for museums to proceed with extreme
caution for the good of their collections
and in accordance with public trust.
NFTs and Deaccessioning: Solution or
Shortcut?
There has always existed financial
self-interest for museums to sell their art-
works, especially when the majority of col-
lections sit sequestered from public view in
storage facilities. For the last century, prec-
edent and vicious opposition from donors
and academics discouraged major museums
from considering deaccession, even after
clearing extremely strict regulation from
Directors.xxviii Yet the temptation of a se-
cure budget and greater economic freedom
persists, and museums have recently begun
rooting their deaccessioning proposals in
claims of moral obligation. The Baltimore
Museum of Art, led by Christopher Bed-
ISSUE NO 21
ford in 2018, promised that the sale of
their Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg,
and other twentieth-century works would
fund the acquisition of contemporary art
from women and people of color in an
effort to diversify the museum’s holdings.
xxix Although the sale of artworks deemed
low quality or unworthy for public view is
common, the sale of well-known artworks
adored by the local community stirred
massive protest. The eventual cancellation
of the sale, in a rather dramatic hours-be-
fore-auction intervention, suggested eth-
ical protests, precedent, and the public’s
attachment to its famous art objects would
limit the economic ambitions of major art
institutions.xxx
However, for all the protests
invoked by talks of deaccessioning, the
art world and its critics have been relative-
ly quiet as art museums and institutions
around the world begin minting and selling
NFTs of digital images of equally famous
artworks in their collection. Although
NFTs are not typically connected to spe-
cific physical objects they represent, often
pieces of purely digital art in the form
of an image or video, their relationship
to existing (and well-known) physical art
objects owned both physically and legally
by museums implies NFTs are linked to or
even part of collections. Given the histori-
cal opposition surrounding the sale, move-
ment, or manipulation of museums’ most
notable artworks, their sale should perhaps
warrant great protest, but participating
institutions ranging from the Russian State
Hermitage Museum to the British Museum
have proceeded with little resistance. The
general director of the Hermitage cited
moral reasoning similar to the Baltimore
Museum’s deaccessioning arguments, saying
in a statement that the Hermitage’s sale of
NFTs proved “an important stage in the
development of the relationship between
person and money, person and thing,” and
that NFTs “create democracy, make luxury
more accessible.” xxxi Contrary to the ef-
71
forts of the Baltimore Museum’s attempted
sale of notable pieces from the collection,
the Hermitage proceeded with little protest
and massive monetary success. The relative
silence from critics suggests a few things.
First, NFTs and their accompany-
ing Web3 chatter are not nearly as main-
stream and marketable as the technology
and art markets assume, and a general lack
of accessible understanding persists. The
first NFT art allegedly surfaced in 2014,
but the market skyrocketed in March 2021
with Christie’s $69 million sale of Beeple’s
EVERYDAYS: THE FIRST 5000 DAYS.
xxxii Mass entrance of NFTs in the art
market is a recent development, and unlike
traditional art history, the leading scholars
and innovators are those with deep com-
puter science and blockchain knowledge.
The general public has yet to adopt much
of the Web3 craze (apart from occasional
mentions of cryptocurrency), and very few
have the opportunity to interact with or
understand the NFT market. xxxiii Some
museum professionals and art historians
have begun to participate and study NFT
trends, but many consider the craze tempo-
rary and the technology inaccessible. Thus,
major museums are reliant on third-party
firms, like LaCollection or Artory, to mint
and sell NFTs of their collections, with
many museum donors, visitors, and even
staff possessing a limited understanding of
the underlying technology. xxxiv The inac-
cessibility of the general technology behind
the NFT market perhaps results in the little
resistance and lack of discussion around
future implications.
Secondly, despite manifestos and
discourse from the technology commu-
nity, physical art objects and museum
experiences will not be rendered archaic
by blockchain technology and digital art
immersion. Encountering and studying art
objects in person and in a gallery is wholly
different from viewing images in a digital
or virtual context, and the art historical
and museum discipline is built on these
 NORTHWESTERN ART REVIEW
experiences. Phenomenology, object study,
and spatial engagement have informed
art history, museum ethos, and exhibition
design for centuries, and present a difficult,
if not impossible, epistemological base to
overturn. The extensive discourse around
digital reproduction of art and digital art
generally comes to a consensus regarding
the irreplaceable experience of actual art
objects, relegating NFTs to a categorization
apart from art objects held by museums.
The touted “Second Renaissance” of NFT
art appears bleak when its offerings fail to
consistently achieve the label of art itself.
In occupying this previously out-
lined liminal space between ownership and
actual art object, NFTs present an oppor-
tunity for museums to engage in large-scale
economic activity without the same moral
opposition traditional deaccessioning pres-
ents. Alongside a general lack of under-
standing, the minting and subsequent sale
of NFTs connected to museum collections
do not threaten the all-important physical
collection, rendering their sale less concern-
ing to traditional critics. Furthermore, many
museum professionals and scholars still
consider NFT art as a temporary fixture in
the art world, which reduces the perceived
long-term risk to the collections of major
museums while increasing pressure to par-
ticipate while still lucrative. However para-
doxical and potentially false this conception
of the NFT art market, it will likely enable
greater and greater participation by major
art institutions, lending this young market
new credibility.
This increase in museum partic-
ipation in the NFT market may generate
excitement across multiple industries, but
it also appears short-sighted. If museum
administration, donors, and professionals
conflate the unknown future importance of
NFTs with an assumption that NFT sales
are a low-risk source of money, museums
may become dependent on NFT revenue
to fund every new project. In longer-term
stakes, this may move museums away from
72
relying on donors and government assis-
tance, and place institutional emphasis on
generating revenue rather than public good.
Furthermore, a rapid rush to monetize col-
lections while the NFT market is popular
may oversaturate the market and fail to gen-
erate desired returns. With an abundance of
unknown variables and an uncertain future,
it is vital museums consider and research
the future implications of participating
in the NFT market and create long- term
sustainable plans that prioritize the care and
conservation of their collections.
Conclusion
This new technology is both an
opportunity and a gamble, rife with poten-
tial monetary reward and ethical questions.
Although NFTs and the NFT market have
hardly breached mainstream usage, muse-
ums are increasingly faced with the dilem-
ma of participating as art auction houses
and small galleries embrace the new tech-
nology. With the NFT engagement of the
Uffizi Gallery, Russian Hermitage Muse-
um, and British Museum, the art museum
ecosystem seems to be moving towards
tentative participation and early success in
the market. Less than a year into the new-
found popularity, it is difficult to predict if
NFTs are the next step for the art world
as technology gurus and startups claim, or
simply a temporary trend. However, the
long-term innovative and financial poten-
tial of NFTs should be explored for the
purpose of museum participation. Without
further research, museums have an ethical
duty to work in the best interests of their
collections and proceed with caution.
This project was made possible by the support of
Elie Glyn, Harvard Art Museums Assistant Di-
rector for Exhibitions, and The Office of Career
Services’ January Arts and Museums Winterses-
sion Program.
Originally published in the Harvard Journal of
Art Criticism
ISSUE NO 21
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 NORTHWESTERN ART REVIEW

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FRONT AND BACK COVER ART: Jean-Antoine Watteau, The Embarkation for Cythera,
1717, oil on canvas, Musée du Louvre, Paris.

74