UK: Manet masterpiece given 'Misogyny' alert over 'male gaze'

Submitted by Mastodon on Sat, 2022-04-16 07:01

Article here. Excerpt:

'The Courtauld Gallery has been criticised for introducing a 'woke' new label on a Manet masterpiece to warn viewers of the 'unsettling' presence of a man.

The London gallery, which holds the UK's most prestigious collection of Impressionist paintings, reviewed its labelling as part of a £57million refurbishment.

Édouard Manet's 1882 work A Bar at the Folies-Bergère is one of the paintings that has received a new label.

The work depicts a barmaid at the famous Parisian cabaret club staring at the viewer and a male customer who can be seen in a mirrored image behind her.

The new information panel both in the gallery and online states that the female subject's 'enigmatic expression is unsettling, especially as she appears to be interacting with a male customer'.

Speaking to The Telegraph, art historian Ruth Millington branded the interpretation a 'woke attempt to call out misogyny' which 'unwittingly centres the male gaze' by shifting the viewer's attention to the man.'

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