Bodies of evidence: an analysis of the bared female breast in Western art from prehistory to the end of the 19th century

Abstract

This research paper has its origin in personal experience. Firstly, as a woman; secondly as a mother, and thirdly as an author of two publications on the subject of art, and lastly, maturity has uniquely placed me in a position to evaluate such a topic. My principle aim therefore, is to provide an analysis of the position the Bared Female Breast has assumed throughout the history of Western Art from these various standpoints. In dealing with the broader aspect of the subject, questions arise on has breastfeeding been in and out of fashion? Why, in antiquity, did early artisans give two interpretations of "the woman"—the exaggerated and the sleek"? Why did Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) paint rotund, fleshy figures of the female form in the seventeenth century? Did his paintings reflect the preferred body shape of the woman of the day, or was he endeavouring to express the symbol of sexuality as more potently desirable? Has the shape of the Bared Female Breast followed fashions dictates? The Amazons of Greek legend burnt off their right breasts in order to have more flexibility to deliver their arrows in war. Did this act introduce the Greek dress called the chiton for that reason? Or was it already the dress of the Helene women? Iconography of the Bared Female Breast is vast. It has been used as allegory for power. Eugene Delacroix (1798-1863) painted his Liberty leading the People of the French Revolution as a bare-breasted woman. The symbol of France is Marianna, and is epitomized on numerous statues as the total woman. Not only is she depicted rallying the troops but also as a perpetually lactating female feeding the hungry masses. The giant statue on an island in the harbour of New York City by Frederic Bartholdi (1834-1904) depicts a woman representing liberty. The Statue of Liberty addresses itself to immigrating arrivals who seek freedom.