Mechthild Fend's Study on Androgyny in Neoclassical Art
In 2003, Mechthild Fend published a study in German, now available in French, that explores the concept of androgyny within French art and theory from 1750 to 1830. Conducted at the University of Hamburg, her research engages with queer and transgender theories, questioning rigid identities. Fend links neoclassical aesthetics to the writings of art historians such as Winckelmann and philosophers from the Encyclopédie, including Diderot and d'Alembert. She analyzes significant artworks like David's "Brutus" and "The Death of Bara," along with Girodet's "The Sleep of Endymion." Distancing herself from Badinter and Kristeva, she aligns with Laqueur's interpretation of androgyny as a transitional state, arguing that neoclassical painting mirrors evolving bourgeois sexual norms through ambiguous, hybrid figures.
Key facts
- Study originally published in Germany in 2003
- French edition published by La Découverte, INHA, and German Center for Art History
- Research conducted at University of Hamburg in the 1990s
- Covers French art and theory from 1750 to 1830
- Examines androgyny in context of transgender and queer theory
- Starts with Rousseau's quote from Émile
- Analyzes works by David, Girodet, Broc, Blondel, Granger, and others
- Concludes with Balzac's Sarrasine
- Fend distances from Badinter and Kristeva, aligns with Laqueur
- Argues androgyny is an intermediate state within a paradigm shift
- Positions images within a field of tension between sexes
- Integrates gender studies, medical history, feminism, political philosophy, art theory
- Neoclassical painting shifts bourgeois sexual norms through androgynous figures
- Adolescent embodies ideal beauty and virility with uncertain sexual identity
- Line and contour are key to transforming representations
- French Revolution changed perception of bodily limits
Entities
Artists
- Mechthild Fend
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau
- Johann Joachim Winckelmann
- Denis Diderot
- Jean le Rond d'Alembert
- Jacques-Louis David
- Anne-Louis Girodet
- Jean Broc
- Merry-Joseph Blondel
- Jean-Pierre Granger
- Claude Marie Dubufe
- Jean-Baptiste Mayer
- Jean-Joseph Taillasson
- François-Joseph Bosio
- Aubry Lecomte
- François-Joseph Navez
- Adrien Delorme
- Honoré de Balzac
- Elisabeth Badinter
- Julia Kristeva
- Thomas Laqueur
- Thomas Crow
Institutions
- La Découverte
- Institut national d'histoire de l'art (INHA)
- Centre allemand d'histoire de l'art
- University of Hamburg
Locations
- France
- Germany
- Hamburg
Sources
- artpress —