HERMAPHRODITISM 雌雄同體
http://www.wretch.cc/blog/kuramaamrauk&article_id=11456616
INTRODUCTION
At the beginning, I would like to analyze both pictures individually. After
that, I will discuss the differences and similarities between them.
Frida Kahlo, Self-Portrait with Cropped Hair (1940)
“Self-Portrait with Cropped Hair’” is a painting which is very different
from Frida’s other portraits. First, we hardly ever see Frida so tired and
fatigued that we can even observe the dark circles. And she is not staring at
us, but looks down weakly. We all know that her exhausted appearance is
because of the divorce from her husband, Diego Rivera. Therefore, we can see
how Frida expresses her sadness in this piece of work. First, she has cut off
her long hair. It seems that she’s trying to get rid of the things that
Diego liked: the long hair, the Tehuana costume, and the femininity.
Furthermore, she wears a dark suit that seems too big for her and appears to
be his ex-husband’s. On one hand, we may interpret this action as abandoning
the femininity, because the baggy men's suit is like wearing a hair shirt or
a nun's habit. Besides, Frida looks like one of those mutilated Saints dear
to the Mexican Catholicism in this picture. The only hint of her femaleness
is the pendent earrings. On the other hand, could it be possible that Frida
simply cannot completely forget about her husband? Therefore, she wears his
clothes to express her condolence to their relationship. In my opinion, the
clothes show how important Diego means to Frida as clothes are very intimate
with the person who wears it. Through wearing somebody’s clothes, indirect
body contact is being made. That is why lovers like to smell the scent of
their partner from their clothes.
Surrounded by the evidence of her violence, she sits alone in a vast expanse
of the uninhabited earth that suggests the reach of her despair. Strands of
hair that look frighteningly alive are spread all over the ground. Isn't it
like a scene in a horror movie? The way the hair crawls and occupies the
ground looks just like wriggling reptiles. In Frida's left hand is a lock of
her shorn hair that symbolizes her sacrifice. In her right hand, she holds a
pair of scissors with which she martyred her sorrow. However, her sorrow
doesn't disappear after the cutting. Frida is surrounded by it and cannot
escape from the tangle.
It is typical of Frida's sardonic humor to add a line that turns her
self-portrait into a song which says "Look if I love you, it was for your
hair. Now that you're bald, I don't like you anymore." She shows the same
attitude by writing "Unos cuantos piquetitos!" in the picture which means "A
few little slashes with a dagger."
Man Ray
Marcel Duchamp as Rrose Selavy (1920-21)
A good piece of art work is often achieved through a lot of experimentations.
I found several different versions of this photo. I think we can understand
the photo more through the process of creating this work.
The first photo is probably Duchamp and Man Ray's first attempt in making a
photographic portrait of "Rrose Selavy".
In (a), we can see that Duchamp puts on a hat which I think represents the
femininity for the detailed pattern. And the fur coat also displays the
traditional female character of sensitivity, sentiment and passiveness.
Meanwhile, the fingers also show a beautiful pose to emphasize that, general
speaking, women have a better sense of beauty than men. In fact, the
beautiful hands which even women may admire are not Duchamp's, but belonged
to Germaine Everling, the second wife of Francis Picabia. How sophisticated
is this design! In (b), here the hair added over the left ear, a refinement
of the left hand with ring, and perhaps a lighting of the left cheekbone are
visible on the print.
In (c), we can see that Duchamp experiments with a slightly different view of
Rrose Selavy; the retouching of the left ear to extend the hairline and the
shadow of a ring on the left hand also appears, and he also added sleeves at
the wrists. I think this urges the viewer to focus on her eyes.
There are two other different prints also made in 1921, Paris.
Besides, I like Duchamp's eyesight very much. It's very ambiguous, passive
and plaintive. You cannot be sure of what "she" is thinking about for all the
emotions were mixed together. I think the reason is that it's a "man" who
created this piece of work.
METAPHOR
From the former analysis, we can easily realize how important the object is
when you want to disguise one’s real identity. It is the man's suit, short
hair and the shoes that make Frida look like a man. Meanwhile, Duchamp tried
to use the hat, true woman's hands and the ring, etc. to cover the male
image. Maybe we can say that Duchamp is more successful than Frida. However,
due to the artists original motivation, I think it's not fair to make this
judgment. Frida drew this painting just to release her emotions. She wanted
to cure herself by painting out her sorrow. Therefore, I think it's just a
way to express her feelings; she never meant to confuse the audience.
However, Rrose Selavy was the role in the movie "Anemic Cinema" directed by
Duchamp. Without saying, to make people feel indistinct was Duchamp's
original intention. He wanted to express his alter ego through Rrose Selavy.
In fact, a lot of my classmates easily saw through Duchamp's trick!
What I think more important for us is to understand that it is actually very
easy to hide your gender and fool other people, so one should never believe
what you see too easily, because the implication is always behind the
appearance. Metaphor is always the artist's favorite.
HERMAPHRODITISM
Both of the pictures represent the image of hermaphroditism. I believe that a
lot of people may have discussed this issue in the past. I didn't read their
work at all, so I can only express my immature opinion. Duchamp named his
alter ego "Rrose Selavy" which means the sexual desire in life. Is this just
his joke? Or, he believed that everybody has an alter ego and one could get
the most enjoyment from sexual desire only when one accepts their bisexual
self. In other words, only after one can get rid of the traditional
definition of gender, can he follow his desire and enjoy it. I think
narcissism is probably related to the bisexual ego in a certain way. For
example, a man's feminine ego thinks his masculine body is very sexy. That's
why hermaphroditism has such peculiar attraction for its divergence. I
remember that Madonna once said that she envies Leslie Cheung in the movie
<Farewell My Concubine>. Maybe because of hermaphroditism, we can reach the
perfect model closer.
POSTSCRIPT
I think Frida’s works should not be classified as surrealism art. What
surrealists paint is the world they imagine and dream, however Frida paints
what she feels. The tears, happiness, sorrow and sacrifice in her works are
all completely real to her.
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