Is This Pornography?

Is this pornography or a beautiful portrayal of femininity?

What about this?

And this?

These pictures were all found by googling images.  The first one came from a search for Picasso, the second from a search for twentieth century art, and the third from a search for feminism.  I will not at this point provide my answer to the question.  However, I will take this moment to mention that the key word in that previous sentence is my.  The experience of art is and always will be subjective.

"We are in the hands of greedy businessmen and weak politicians.  Such people will see to it poverty grows every day.  Unless, that is, we, the emerging generation, take action.  But I'm no political agitator, Ono.  My concern is with art.  And with artists like you."

This quote is taken from the book An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro and can be found on page 172.  A character named Matsuda is speaking to the main character Masuji Ono.  The prime implication being that he should use his primary skill set, art, to improve the state of living in post-Word War II Japan.  It is admirable that Ono takes this to heart.  He has just been shown some slums by Matsuda and is deeply troubled.

He continues to convey his concern in his interaction with his teacher.  "My conscience, Sensei, tells me I cannot remain forever an artist of the floating world." (p. 180)  For those who have not read the novel, the floating world is defined as the world of pleasure that exists at night and disappears during the daytime.  Ono is not content with the illusion of pleasure that is presented to him, especially when there are very real people suffering.  Again, he shows that he desires to do something about the situation, even at the risk of becoming an outcast in the eyes of his peers and his teacher.

It is interesting that Ono is portrayed as making a stark transition from creating art for art's sake in his early years to creating it as a way of engaging in politics.  Not that this is a bad thing, but Ishiguro does not seem to offer the suggestion that there can be middle ground.  I find this hard to believe.  This past Thursday in class we were shown pictures of what could be conceived as art meant for propaganda, and a classmate asked what the art would mean if there were no words in it to guide the thought process.

Art left to interpretation is just that.  It is what people interpret it to be, making it subjective.  Even the definition of pornography is subjective.  According to WordNet, it is "creative activity (writing or pictures or film, etc.) of no literary or artistic value other than to stimulate sexual desire."  This begs the question.  Who determines the lack of value?

The painting by Picasso expresses certain qualities regarding women.  It suggest innocence, through the choice of colors.  Even the red hues are pale, so as to blend and not contrast with the rest of the painting.  The facial expressions and the angle of the head seem to convey an attitude of curiosity.  In this way, I believe that women are equated with cats, in the way that they seem to chase after facts that I would deem trivial but are not trivial to them.

I do not know the artist of the second painting.  However, I will argue that the colors used in the painting symbolize both the beauty of women and the way in which there exist many colors of their personalities.

The third and final picture caught my attention due to the color scheme.  I was drawn to the fact that the woman is the same color as the earth.  I believe that this is to portray a connection that women have with the earth.  Their ability to birth children gives them not only a maternal nature but also a deeper connection with life, which I believe is one that I am not privy to, given my gender.

With that, I would say that any woman who views this blog may take offense that I as a man try to convey an understanding of them.  I believe that a generalized reaction would be that I am an outsider looking in and I cannot possess a true understanding because I am not an insider.  However, I would take that reaction and impose it on this work by Ishiguro.  We are all outsiders looking in at the fictional character of Masuji Ono and can only possess a limited view of his thoughts.