In the Cut: The Male Body in Feminist Art

Sexuality as a central theme in art was, until the 1970s, dominated primarily by the male view of the female body. Feminist artists also concentrated on their own bodies, and even today the (hetero-) erotic view of men is still an exception. When feminist artists cast their desiring gaze at the male body they break various taboos, asserting a claim to sexual self-determination and artistic authority. These artists call classical gender roles into question, filling in the cavernous blanks left in the canon by too narrow criteria of how and by whom beauty and desire can be represented.

In the Cut includes work by artists such as Louise Bourgeois, Sophie Calle, Anke Doberauer, Tracey Emin, Alicia Framis, Kathleen Gilje, Eunice Golden, Anna Jermolaewa, Herlinde Koelbl, Mwangi Hutter, ORLAN, Aude du Pasquier Grall, Julika Rudelius, Carolee Schneemann, Joan Semmel, Susan Silas, Jana Sterbak, Betty Tompkin and Paula Winkler.