Reclamation of the Master Copy: A False Gaze

Common practice in art education requires students to do something called a ”master copy”: recreating the work of “masters” with the intention of making students better artists. While there can be value in learning skill and technique through copying, in a way copying the “masters” teaches students to stray away from their own style and adopt that of a romanticized white male. Major art movements such as Romanticism, Impressionism, Pop Art, etc. focus on a very narrow view of the art world- one that is both Eurocentric and Patriarchal. The paintings of romanticism and neoclassicism return to the painting styles of the past, focusing on stories and narratives from ancient Greece and Rome to create an image of an ideal world.  

How were these images of naked women and goddesses an ideal way to look towards the future? 

These images of naked women were made by men for men- they were a way to look at women in the nude under the pretense that it was art and therefore not shameful or wrong. If women had done the same for men, it would not have been acceptable or praised in the same way. By putting censored images on a gallery wall, I am interrupting the male gaze and no longer allowing the figure to be ogled or gazed at. The translation of the image from the original, to the master copy, to the censored version, disrupts the power dynamic supported by the male gaze.