Feminism in Western Painting --Taking Judith Beheading Holofernes as an Example
Abstract
In western painting, the subject of beheading is very common, and the creations with the theme of Judith are not a minority. Among them, Artemisia’s Judith Beheading Holofer-nes is one of the typical works of creation around this theme. In the combing of existing documents, a single research subject is one of the biggest issues, mostly embracing the impact of Artemisia’s life story on the creation of Judith. Therefore, in this article, violent aesthetics will be used as a hitting point to study the image of Judith in Artemisia’s work, then settled on the theme of feminism, and through image analysis with the history of art and society, explain the distinctions of Artemisia’s Judith and feminism in her works. Based on the above analysis, the painting of Artemisia reflects the softening of violence and expresses the resistance to the patriarchal society, defending the dignity of herself and other women, which is a prototype of feminism.
References
- The content of Book of Judith, see: Holy Bible (New Revised Standard Version)， published by China Christian Council, 2004.
- The life story of Artemisia Gentileschi: Jonathan Jones. Artemisia Gentileschi , published by Laurence King, 2020.
- The development and characteristics of Medieval education, see: Fan Limin ，Christianity and Medieval education， published by Journal of Tianjin Foreign Studies University , 1995, P47-49; Relationships in Christian ethics are under attack, see: Sunyan ，The position of women in marriage and family in Renaissance Florence， published by NO.5 Journal of Pzhzhihua University , 2006, P47.
- Judith from a male perspective: Tan Yanmin， The image analysis of "Judith and Holofernes" from different cultural perspectives， published by Art Education, 2018, P123.
- The positive movement of women under the social progress of the Renaissance, see: Sunyan， The position of women in marriage and family in Renaissance Florence, published by NO.5 Journal of Pzhzhihua University， 2006, P49-50; Tan Yanmin， he image analysis of "Judith and Holofernes" from different cultural perspectives， published by Art Education， 2018, P122.
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- The beautification and rationalization of female’s violence in Quentin’s movies, see: Liu Xiaotong, Zhang wenyi, published by Art Panorama, 2020, P120; Female’s self-construction, see: [USA]. Rosemarie Putnam Tong: Feminist thought: a more comprehensive introduction, ranslated by Ai Xiaoming, etc, published by Central China Normal University, 2002, P304.
- Jin Yingcun, On the new interpretation of Artemisia Gentileschi in feminist art history, published by Art & Design Research, 2015, P96.
- Griselda Pollock, Book Review: Artemisia Gentileschi: The Image of the Female Hero in Italian Baroque Art by Mary D. Garrard , published by The Art Bulletin, ,1990, P499- 505.