Standing Female Nude

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Through his painting, he takes her from the real world and “possesses” her on the canvas. It is clear in the next lines that the speaker does not have the same positive, almost worshipful, view of the artist as the rest of the world does. She calls him a “Little man” and regains some of her self-possession by thinking that he does not have, Roberta J. M. Olson in The Armory Show at 100: Modernism and Revolution. Ed. Marilyn Satin Kushner and Kimberly Orcutt. Exh. cat., New-York Historical Society Museum & Library. New York and London, 2013, p. 308, fig. 144 (color). Philadelphia. Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. "Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings by Representative Modern Masters," April 17–May 9, 1920, no. 196 (one of the sevent untitled Matisse drawings lent by Stieglitz, either no. 153, 154, 155, 158, or 159).

Ronald Johnson. The Early Sculpture of Picasso, 1901–1914. PhD diss., University of California, Berkeley. New York, 1976, p. 219, fig. 219. Helen M. Shannon in Sarah Greenough. Modern Art and America: Alfred Stieglitz and His New York Galleries. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art. Washington, D. C., 2000, p. 176, fig. 41. New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Fifty Centuries," November 14, 1970–June 1, 1971, no. 399 (as "Nude Woman"; removed on November 24,1970 for Exh. Los Angeles and tour 1970–71). Sarah Greenough, ed. My Faraway One: Selected Letters of Georgia O'Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz. Vol. 1, 1915–1933. New Haven, Conn., 2011, pp. 94, 727. The relationship between the model and the artist is a complex one, often fraught with tension and power dynamics. In Carol Ann Duffy’s poem “Standing Female Nude,” the model is portrayed as both vulnerable and powerful, as she stands naked before the artist’s gaze. The artist, meanwhile, is depicted as both exploitative and appreciative, as he seeks to capture the beauty of the model’s body on canvas. This dynamic raises important questions about the ethics of artistic representation, and the ways in which artists can both celebrate and objectify the human form. Ultimately, Duffy’s poem invites us to consider the complex relationship between art and the human body, and the ways in which this relationship can both empower and exploit those who participate in it. The Model’s Relationship with the ViewerThierry de Duve in Mondrian. Ed. Brigitte Léal. Exh. cat., Centre Georges Pompidou. Paris, 2010, p. 46, fig. 2 (color).

J. Nilson Laurvik. "The Coming Cubists Explain Their Picture Puzzles." Boston Evening Transcript (April 12, 1913), part 3, p. 2, ill. Lisa Mintz Messinger in Stieglitz and His Artists: Matisse to O'Keeffe. The Alfred Stieglitz Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ed. Lisa Mintz Messinger. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2011, pp. 50, 56, 86, 106, 249, no. 27, ill. (color). Jean Jouvet, ed. Pablo Picasso, der Zeichner: Dreihundert Zeichnungen und Graphiken, 1893–1972. Zurich, 1989, p. 8, ill.

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Kristina Wilson. The Modern Eye: Stieglitz, MoMA, and the Art of the Exhibition, 1925–1934. New Haven and London, 2009, p. 26, fig. 6 (installation photo of Exh. New York 1937). Impressionist and Modern Paintings, Drawings, and Sculptures, part 1. November 7, 1995, p. 34, fig. 2 (upside down). Sarah Greenough in Sarah Greenough. Modern Art and America: Alfred Stieglitz and His New York Galleries. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art. Washington, D. C., 2000, pp. 36–37, 382.

Carol Ann Duffy was born in Scotland (in 1955) but moved with her family to Stafford in the English Midlands when still a child. She knew from the age of 14 that she wanted to be a poet but she was 30 before she really “arrived” with her first major collection, “Standing Female Nude”. Since then her lively commentaries on modern life have won her a huge audience with the double result of her poems being regularly featured on school English syllabuses and the award (in 2009) of the Poet Laureateship, which she held until 2019. Duffy’s themes include language and the representation of reality; the construction of the self; gender issues; contemporary culture; and many different forms of alienation, oppression and social inequality. She writes in everyday, conversational language, making her poems appear deceptively simple. With this demotic style she creates contemporary versions of traditional poetic forms - she makes frequent use of the dramatic monologue in her exploration of different voices and different identities, and she also uses the sonnet form. Duffy is both serious and humorous, often writing in a mischievous, playful style - in particular, she plays with words as she explores the way in which meaning and reality are constructed through language. In this, her work has been linked to postmodernism and poststructuralism, but this is a thematic influence rather than a stylistic one: consequently, there is an interesting contrast between the postmodern content and the conservative forms. In Carol Ann Duffy’s poem “Standing Female Nude,” the model’s relationship with the viewer is complex and multifaceted. On one hand, the model is objectified and reduced to a mere physical form for the viewer’s gaze. She is stripped of her agency and autonomy, forced to contort her body and hold still for hours on end. However, on the other hand, the model also holds a certain power over the viewer. She is the one who allows herself to be seen, who offers up her body for scrutiny and admiration. In this way, the model becomes a symbol of both vulnerability and strength, a reminder of the complicated dynamics at play in the act of looking. The Model’s Agency and Objectification New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Stieglitz and His Artists: Matisse to O'Keeffe," October 13, 2011–January 2, 2012, no. 27.The critical reception of Carol Ann Duffy’s “Standing Female Nude” has been largely positive, with many critics praising the poem’s exploration of the female body and the artist’s gaze. Some have noted the poem’s feminist themes and its critique of the objectification of women in art. However, others have criticized the poem for its graphic descriptions and its use of the female body as a metaphor for artistic creation. Despite these criticisms, “Standing Female Nude” remains a powerful and thought-provoking work that continues to resonate with readers and critics alike. The Poem’s Contribution to Feminist Discourse Born in Glasgow in 1955, Carol Ann Duffy was brought up in Staffordshire and studied philosophy at the University of Liverpool, where she was active in the city’s underground poetry scene in the 1970s. Her first full-length collection Standing Female Nude in 1985 was a landmark, forging an anti-establishment voice with colloquial lyricism. Duffy reached a wider audience with The World’s Wife (1999), a series of witty dramatic monologues spoken by women from fairy tales and myths, and the women usually air-brushed from history, such as Mrs Midas and Mrs Darwin. Her output has also included a large body of writing for children. The model’s focus on money brings up the relationship between art and money. We might think that the artist has more money than the model. After all, artists can make a lot of money selling their work. Yet this artist doesn't appear to have a lot of money. The model says: "Both poor, we make our living how we can."