Loose Her — Let Her Go

As Stettheimer and Brooks represented
their own independent feminine gaze,

their subjects reveal themselves as full
women, with compelling senses of self.

Sculpture remained public and didactic —
embodying moral spirit and male values.

Post-Civil War Americans funded and
commissioned grandiose monuments –

designated historical moments, official
statues of political and military figures,

cast and sculpted by men. Few women
sculptors were presumed capable then

of producing such monumental works.
Truth: women artists were not allowed

to view male nudes as models to sculpt.
The limitations placed on artistic vision

supply contexts for understanding why
women tended to sculpt women models.

Male artists continued to use naked men
— and female models — for their works.

Such indecorous blindfolds placed over
woman’s eyes — and her feminine gaze.

. . . . .

Poet: Susan Powers Bourne
Source: The Feminine Gaze, 1984
Process: Pick, mix, and add