A Little Taste Outside Of Love Analysis

Words: 2302
Pages: 10

Art is often regarded as something that can be reflective of the artist’s emotions, personal experience, or even events taking place in the society it was made. However, it is debated whether art can or cannot be reflective of society’s attitude toward a certain subject. It is very clear in art history that the image of the black female has been reflective of the society’s attitude toward her, yet as times changed not only did society’s views transform but black people were also able to have a control over how they are portrayed in art, thereby breaking the mold. As seen in works by contemporary artists like Mickalene Thomas, the image of the nude black woman in particular can now be used to express empowerment rather than degradation shown in art from older eras. Therefore, by comparing “A Little Taste Outside of Love” (2007) by Mickalene Thomas (1971-Present) …show more content…
For example, Thomas’s piece shows a woman fully exposed laying on a couch where it can be insinuated that she is fully aware and comfortable in her positioning, yet in the French painter’s work the woman is covering herself in shame with her arms crossing her chest as if she was reluctant to be exposed and had very little choice in how she was presented. One may argue that whether or not the woman in the French painter’s work is covering herself, she still had a choice in how she was represented in the painting. However, in “The Black Female Body” by Deborah Willis and Carla Williams from Temple University, this is refuted with their claim, “…sometimes the women posed willingly, either for pay or not. While we do not suggest that these women should be castigated for posing, we, as historians, must resist the impulse to see only what we want to see.” Although black women were objectified in art they often ended up posing for portraits to earn money since blacks were financially inept due to the repercussions of slavery as well as other various reasons. The fact of the matter is