Readers and writers have often been used as the subjects of various pieces of art. Looking at depictions of women in these two pastimes at the Tate Britain Gallery, I noticed that the positioning of their bodies change between the two activities. As a woman who is both an avid reader and writer, I asked myself if these different body positions were reflective of how I personally and women in general physically engage in reading and writing. In addition, I wondered if these different body positions reflected differing aspects between the acts of reading and writing. While writing and reading are inherently connected, are their processes so different that one's physicality drastically changes between them?
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| [title not known], Charles Martin Source: http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/ martin-title-not-known-t10373 |
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| "The Reading Girl," Theodore Roussel, 1886-7 Source: http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/ roussel-the-reading-girl-n04361 |
A perusal of the pieces at the Tate Britain that depict someone reading show that the female form reading is a popular subject, with a far greater number of female subjects appearing reading than male subjects. Charles Martin draw a number of ink drawings that depicted women often laying on a sofa in unexpected positions (in the drawing on display, the woman lays with her feet up over the back of the sofa and her head nearly hanging over the side), their noses buried deep in a book. While the choice to use female subjects may have simply reflected the fact that reading was a habitual and favorite pastime of many women during the 19th century, the act of reading presents women in a state of vulnerability, giving viewers a brief 'snapshot' (to use a modern term) into a woman's private life. In the Martin sketch, the woman has her hand up to her chest in a movement of emotion or surprise, representing the physical effect of the story on her through her body since her facial expression is not visible. This invites an examination of her body, laid out on the sofa in a position that would not be considered 'proper'. Thus, the viewer is the voyeur in this private, intimate scene in which it seems that the subject is not aware she is being watched. In the act of reading, she forgets the 'proper' placement of her body and the 'proper' expression of emotion, allowing the viewer a glimpse of her physicality that would often be hidden. Such physicality can be extended even farther, as Theodore Roussel shows in his painting of a nude woman reading. The woman sits relaxed in a chair, her legs extended in front of her and crossed at the ankles, her shoulders slouched so that her chin rests on her bare chest and a slight fold in the skin on her abdomen is visible. This is a woman in complete vulnerability as she reads, presenting her naked body in a diagonal line across the canvas. Again, there is no acknowledgement of the viewer as the woman's gaze remains fixed on her book, making the viewer into the voyeur again. Thus, reading becomes associated with vulnerability and the female form in such images, suggesting that the act of reading causes an abandonment of consciously arranged physicality that allows for the examination of natural female physicality.
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| "Dear Mum," Zsuzsi Roboz, 1975 Source: http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/ roboz-dear-mum-p06686 |
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| "Kathleen Raine," Gertrude Hermes, 1954 Source: http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/ hermes-kathleen-raine-t00233 |
Viewing artwork that depicts women writing, the lithe, extended female form that often appears in depictions of women reading is replaced by a compressed, hunched female form. In a print by Zsuzsi Roboz, a naked woman sits at a bar writing a letter to her mother, based on the title of the piece, "Dear Mum." She sits with her back turned three quarters of the way away from the viewer, hunched over the bar with her legs crossed. Her left hand blends into her thigh, and her abdomen visibly rolls in on itself so that she occupies less physical space. The extension of her right elbow increases the space she occupies horizontally, but there are no extended lines on her body to be seen. She is compacted in the act of writing, making this action appear more protected than the act of reading. The viewer is not given the same access to the female writer as the female reader, as she is hidden under deep shading compared to the simple, clear lines of Martin's print and the strong colors of Roussel's painting. Switching to the medium of sculpture, the bronze of the poet Kathleen Raine by Gertrude Hermes appears as a half bust, with only her sternum up and her arms sculpted. The piece is supported by her arms, with her right arm down on the base in the act of writing and her left hand supporting her chin. In this position, Raine is also hunched over, with her head bent over the 'page' before her and her eyes trained there as well. Again, the viewer is not given the same sort of access to the female writer, with the rough appearance of the bronze making her even less accessible or approachable. But this depiction of the female writer also reduces her body so that the most prominent part of her is her arms, the body parts necessary for her to complete her craft. Female physicality is reduced in the act of writing, making writing more isolated and protected.
It is strange to think of reading and writing as something that you physically engage in, when the process feels entirely cerebral. However, these artistic depictions of women reading and writing show that the acts are highly physical in different ways. I think these different physical stances allude to the difference in the mental processes involved in reading and writing. In reading, you open yourself up to the ideas and words of others, so that an obvious physical representation of this would be to show someone sitting or laying in an open stance. Reading is also often done as a pastime, so the open physical stance reflects the relaxation and comfort of such a pastime. When I am reading a book for recreation, I certainly contort myself into any number of positions, so I can agree with this open physical stance for reading. Writing, on the other hand, is a process of creating something from yourself, which makes it into something that needs to be protected and guarded. Thus, the female writers appear hunched over their work. But the act of writing on paper also requires such a position, as one must lean over the paper. The ability to write on computers now may change the physicality of writing. Being able to bring your laptop to you instead of having to move to your paper, you can be more open and comfortable in your stance when you are writing. But even as I am writing this on a laptop, I find myself hunched over my work, so perhaps the instinct to guard and protect one's words supersedes the option of physical comfort.
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