Final Project Proposal
I have chosen the Timeline option as my Final Project for this course. Being that I love all things design-graphics, interiors,and fashion design, I suppose this would be a great opportunity to play around with my creativity and organize it in a chronological fashion. I would like to focus on femininity for this project-specially the progression in the role of women in Asian and European countries from around the 1850’s through the early 1930’s. Through this project, I hope to trace not only their progression, but the different uses and connotations associated with a women’s body. I thought about introducing my timeline with “Tartuffe,” which I feel exemplifies quintisential historic views on women- valued for their beauty and sexuality rather than their intellect and intelligence.
While starting with “Tartuffe,” I’d like to focus this project on laters works. Works such as: “The Goblin Market,” Baudelair’s “Carcass,” “Punishment” by Tagore, “Medicine” by Lu Xun, and culminating with Woolf’s “A Room of One’s Own”-a work epitimizing feminism ideals. Included in this timeline, I’d like to show the progression of women’s fashion during this time period-from tight fitting bustiers and form-fitting fashions highlighting the body of a woman, and moving towards more modest fashions-one’s tending not to focus on the physicality of women. Additionally, I’d like to include some other feminist works at the time. More research on these works will most definitely be conducted but one text I immediately think of is John Stuart Mill’s “Subjegation of Women.” I hope to include other literary works as well. From an art viewpoint, I would like to include events such as the birth of impressionism (highlighting Degas’s work on Ballerinas-where he focuses on the body and form of a woman) as well as Manet and his obsession with the nude model. I want to also include Cassat, an artist who accentuates the independence of a woman, thus showing her advancing role in society. I am still unsure as to what Asian artworks to include, and I plan on researching further on that area. Of course, historically I will include events of the Women’s Rights Movement in the United States and its influence on European and Asian societies. I will include dates such as when men gained universal sufferage, pushing women to fight for their rights even more, as well as the Great Depression which brought women out of the home and into the workforce.
Of course much more research must be conducted and I look forward to working on this final project. I think that I will devote this week and next to research, and honing my argument a bit more. I plan on finishing most of project by Thanksgiving, having that vacation to go over my work and tweek it. I am quite nervous about the project being too broad, not narrowing in on specific events enough, and including a bit too much American history. I worry about finding other works during this time to fit into the project, as a myriad of Great Works were published during this time period.
3 responses so far
Hi!
I think your idea for the timeline is really interesting being that you take the idea of femininity and the feminist movement and add a few cool touches. I especially would like to see the progression of fashion in relation to literature, being that that gives a different visual perspective. What I think may be interesting is the incorporation of of how women were portrayed in the cover work or any sort of illustrations in the stories you choose. The original cover works , for the most part, had to have been approved by the author so it can maybe shed light on how the author meant to portray the female characters. Best of luck!
I’m not sure starting with Tartuffe makes sense, sep. given the time frame you’re planning to cover. Tartuffe is an outlier time wise, and not so directly focused on women’s bodies, so it runs e risk of seeming disconnected. I’m also having trouble seeing how Medicine would work well with your focus. Your interest in tracing developments in fashion alongside representations of women’s bodies is interesting. You might find some of the 20th c texts coming up interesting, which may make you think about expanding or shifting your period. I love bayan’s suggestion above about looking at cover art and illustrations in the texts, as we did in class with Rossetti. Comparing The visual and textual representations of women holds a lot of potential. Push toward a narrower focus than progression in the role of women as you work on this.
I looooooooooooooove where you’re going with this. For the most part, we’re only seeing the progressions in history through the texts we’re reading, and with little or no visual representation of the people we’re supposed to visualize in the stories. By putting up images of the “regulated” fashions worn by women during those periods where the texts you’re choosing, you’re shedding light on yet another important aspect of how authors (and thereby society) view and treat women.
I can understand why you might be worried about focusing too much on just American history, but what if you limited your paintings and images of women’s fashion to only the region/time in which the story was written or takes place? Sure it would be wonderful to compare what’s in vogue on a global scale for the entire timeline, but that just sounds exhausting.
Regardless, I can’t wait to see what you come up with!!