Voluptuous Mors
It is a matter of prominent curves running through a black veil that flows beneath them. A game between the lights and the angles. Seven models position themselves to form a skull as the artist stands on the side with an alarmed gaze. Salvador Dali, a Spanish painter, partners with photographer Philippe Halsman to create a surrealist human skull (1951). The image depicts Dali standing next to the models with an "enfreaked gaze” as Ann Millett would write. He is looking at the possible third spectator, implying that there is something in the image that should be looked at awareness, if not caution. This is the case of: “Voluptuous Death”. A photograph created to raise awareness of the spreading venereal diseases by depicting a duality between the beauty of the models and mortality of humanity. The symbolic differentiation of the gender roles depicted in this photograph together with the historical context set a scenery for female sexualization.
Salvador Dali lived in an era of upheaval; the 20th century was filled with the destruction and construction of hierarchical structures, which brought to the fair questions about power and social roles for individuals. World War I had chaotic effects on most European cities and the lives of their inhabitants. As the people of this era worried about the future, there was a constant battle between the arising fascist ideologies that spread through the air, and the intent to reconstruct what had been destroyed. There was a parallel between the dismemberment of families and power hierarchical structures during the beginning of the war, the men who left their homes to fight in war, had a sea of 'temptations' when they travelled from city to city. The constant seeking of leisure to distract the men from the war lead to a rapid spread of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) among the troops. Preoccupied with the situation, the governments of different countries started creating propaganda against the spread of the diseases through the sexualization of the female body, this is the case of Voluptuous Mors. Used as part of these campaigns, Voluptuous Mors has a male oriented perspective that undermines the value of females and furthermore, cripples their social roles development. If the previews context is paralleled to Voluptuous Mors there a line could be drawn connecting the patriarchal structures that define the position of the male over the female and the association made by the artist suggesting female sexuality is dangerous indeed-- especially when associated with STDs.
As a parallel with the fear of the disease spreading a moral questioning arises, in the generations, that lived through and survived World War I. They developed a constant urge to reflect upon the situations that surrounded them and be critical to what they meant. This lead to an artistic movement with which Dali was associated. This new movement was called surrealism, and it originated in the early 1920’s as a response to a new kind of psychoanalysis that proposed an automatic writing or automatism. This technique sought the development of the imagination through the artist subconscious. It was officially consecrated in Paris in 1924 and had great influence by upon the likes of Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx, and Louis Aragon, among others. In 1929, Salvador Dali moved from Spain to Paris and created his first surrealist paintings, which render him a major figure in the movement. The organized surrealist movement dissolved, however after World War II, Dali decided to move to New York City where he would later work with Halsman.
Although Voluptuous Mors was created years after the first sprout of surrealism, there are clear surrealistic elements, perhaps characteristic to the artist, that thread throughout the image. This is because Dali discovered the paranoiac-critic method in Freud’s books when they were first published in Spanish in 1922. The methods consisted of critically analyzing one’s dreams to unlock the deeper connections of one's behaviors with the elements of the dreams. Dali became obsessed with self-reflection; when interviewed, years later after the creation of his paintings, he stated that auto-reflection became a vice that was not only linked with dreams but also with the reality that surrounded him. This suggests that the society at the time perhaps sought answers to the behavioral patterns that were already recurrent and problematic to the subconscious eye.
The paranoiac-critic method was used not only to create Voluptuous Mors by the materializing his imagination, but it also serves as a reminder of one of the real problems that not only affected the 1950’s but that still affect us today. The female sexualization is depicted through the paranoiac-critic method in the form of a skull. This provides insight into the imagery that is present, of juxtaposing the incarnated female body with the the notion of death and interwinding them to create a skull out of seven naked models. This surrealist concept of death as a mask is further materialized with use of light to exalt certain features of the skin. For example, the light is directed in such way that there is separation between Dali and the seven models, but also, in the definition of the jaw lines and curves. The prominently delineated jawline alludes to the concept of a removable mask, that moreover, suggest a greater connection with the idea that everything is an act.
The way the woman are positioned in the image suggests a dehumanizing gesture which plays a paradox when stating that death (as a surrealist element) as the most humanizing event. The way that the woman are positioned and the stiffness of their muscles resemble those of a freak show in a carnival fair where everything is based on appearances. The masks are prominent delineated by a game of lights that highlights the face of Dali and the top model. This creates a division between the main body of the subject and the facial portion, creating the effect of a mask.
The masquerade tradition dates back to the 15th century in the European Renaissance, where the elite society would attend balls with strict dress-codes as part of the thematic of hiding one's identity. The use of the mask can be further analyzed when it comes to gender roles as demonstrated by William Shakespeare's’ The Merchant of Venice. In the play, Portia acts in defiance of the female idealization and dresses up as a lawyer to fool her lover-- convincing him to betray his lover, Portia. In his play, Shakespeare flips the role of men a women defying the social constraints that are assigned to each gender. Just like Halsman uses the stiffness of the bodies and their delicate natural beauty to create a parallel to this carnivalistic element of the mask that are gender roles. The lack of faces in six of the seven females on display alludes again to the notion of gender roles (as masks) that can be seen not only when analyzing women in the 1950’s but the post-modern society as well. Where certain attributes such as: pretty, delicate, submissive, quiet, are immediately associated with the female gender. As if society were to put a doll mask on every person who identifies as a female.
Gazing is materialized when combining the female role, her sexualization, and the enfreakment of her body, resulting in a surrealist photograph in which the gazer (notably the artist, Salvador Dali) is being gazed at. In Ann Millett’s text The Disabled Body in Contemporary Art, the author writes that the the gaze influences the social structures; in particular, she uses as an example of the way that the photographer Diane Arbus used to create her images. As a contemporary of Dali, Arbus uses her skills to capture which that is not normally seen, from images of giants to midgets to twins. Arbus intends to create a certain type of reaction that, despite the personality or characteristics of the onlooker, there will always be a gaze.
This starts a dialogue that can be either reciprocated or refused by the counterparts. If reciprocated then there is an understatement, to a certain extent, that what is being portrayed is captivating for its alienated characteristics. On the other hand if it is refused this suggest that there is an inner force that rejects what is being looked at. This can go both ways in the image, from the one being photographed and the purpose of the artist, to the onlooker. In this manner a deeper sociological analysis should be proposed in asking: is there a rejection because there is a shared inner struggle? As an onlooker, when gazing at Voluptuous Mors, there is rejection toward the representation of the skull with the body of women. Perhaps, if this were to be analyzed as deeper sociological problem, there could be a different reading towards the intention of the artist, that just like Arbus intends to create a message: female sexuality is dangerous, even deadly. If the Through her work, Millett further counters arguments that Arbus "enfreakes" the bodies of her models "to the entertain of the gazer but rather as a critique to the gaze itself even if the body was originally "enfreaked purposely.”
The male-oriented perspective, further explained by Mulvey, could describe Voluptuous Mors and its sexualization of women as dangerous and possibly mortal. Reiterating the purpose of the campaign designed by Dali women have a certain roles in society that allow them to develop themselves in between pre-established boundaries of sexual expression. For the woman in the 1950’s that meant a typical housewife who lived to serve her husband and used veil socks to attempt an incitation of sexual desire (exclusively for her husband of course). Female sexuality has been repressed for most of human history, after all.
The women portrayed in the photograph resemble the ideal woman (since they are all professional models) but still give a humanistic perspective of the female body. Even though, there was a use of an idealized figure, perhaps the use of models had a more stylistic purpose; a modern audience could interpret the picture as raw and in favor of showing the female body as it is, when lacking context. This is because although the picture does show the models raw, the truth it is not like modern magazine covers because there was no photoshop back then. This reveals not only how more idealized society has become but also the deep desire to sexualize the female frame as Mulvey demonstrates.
The reflections that Dali uses suggest that the elements in the photograph are symbols for a hyper sexualized female role, that although hidden under the housewife mask, it further developed through the decades, to incarnate the modern “sex-sells” ideology in publicity. The typical role of the female character in the 1950’s could be better exemplified with t.v. character Lucy from "Hello, Lucy”. A hardworking home-keeper wife that does assigned her chores all day waiting for her husband to get home so that she can jump into his arms and he could laugh at her for being “dumb”. Of course the audience present at the filming of the show were asked to laugh at certain moments, so when the showed was aired, the laughter of the audience would appear in the background. It was almost as if the show business dictated that the female character was deemed to forever live by the shadow of her own limitations. Just like in the image the first thing that is seen its the shadows of the women contrasting to the softly dims of light that delineate their body, the roles a woman can partake in society, are limited to the social conventions that are dictated over the repetition of the same roles.
Halsman creates the image of a human skull based of a previous drawing that Dali had sketched before the shooting. The seven models posed for three hours to get the shape correctly positioned; yet it is used in the second plane while Dali stand in the middle plane. The first plane is the plane that focuses on the models. This could signify that the main focus wanted to be centered in the way the artist wanted to portray himself or even his own creative narcissism. But there is a big difference between the two elements: the lighting. The deep white light is focused on the seven woman instead of in the artist, as if they were to be an spectacle and Dali would be casually standing next to it. This claim can be supported by the fact that the suit that Salvador Dali is using is indeed formal, yet it has the almost carnival-like element of the flowers instead of a bow tie.
The position in which the models are portrayed suggests weakness, subjugation and most importantly a sexualization of the body. Two of the woman stand on their knees looking at the black veil exposing the curve of their backs. The position has a clear connotation to oral sex but at the same time they hold up the main model who stand between them. Two woman stand on each side with their faces covered by the different hands that merge to create the eyes of the skull and the highlighted elements are once again the legs and the ass. In the lower bottom there is a woman crawled up in fetal position creating the mouth of the structure. This one suggesting subjugation and even perhaps abuse. The model on top faceless one again lie son the platform with her legs together in a sensualized manner with her sex covered by the only faced woman. She stands in the middle of the scene conforming the nose and central part of the forehead of the skull. She is the only woman whose legs are not showed, her breast are both exposed and her facial expression suggest a sexual connotation. The interest subject matter is that all of the models used for the image are white, american, thin women, who perfectly fit stereotypical characteristics of The Norm yet they are all being utilized as dolls to pertain the oppression on gender roles from the photographers' perspective.
On the other hand Dali stands there serving different purposes. Once again, if the text where to be read from a carnivalistic perspective, he seems to be enfreaking the “attraction” yet not driving people to attend. He looks at the horizon with a delusional air. He seems to try not to look at the picture as if he were to be repulsed or even ashamed by the meanings it conveys. It is perhaps as Millett writes, “intentional,” a matter of expression from part of the artist that are trying not to enfreak a gender but rather to expose the “freakish” elements that it conveys by portraying its stereotypical sexuality.
References
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Kubrik, S. (2014). Tipos de planos cinematográficos: Plano americano. Solosequenosenada.com. Retrieved 18 December 2014, from http://www.solosequenosenada.com/misc/tipos-de-planos-cine/105_plano_americano.php
Metmuseum.org,. (2014). Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. Retrieved 18 December 2014, from http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/surr/hd_surr.htm
Millett-Gallant, A. (2010). The disabled body in contemporary art. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Pierce, S. (2014). The History of Masquerade Balls. Avasflowers.net. Retrieved 18 December 2014, from http://www.avasflowers.net/the-history-of-masquerade-balls
Shakespeare, W., & Phelps, W. (1923). The merchant of Venice. New Haven: Yale University Press.
The Huffington Post,. (2014). Go Behind The Scenes Of Dali's Most Scandalous Photo Shoot. Retrieved 18 December 2014, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/03/dali-in-voluptas-mors_n_4373479.html
