In 1906, one of the worst crimes against art was perpetuated by Mary Richardson, also known as “Slasher Mary.” She entered London’s National Gallery and destroyed one of the most important paintings of Spanish art, Diego Velázquez’ Rokeby Venus. What were the reasons behind this act? Richardson had two main motives. On the one hand, she was a Suffragette who wanted to make a notorious act to protest against the arrest of one of her partners. The other reason was that she was sickened by the way men looked at the painting with lustful eyes. This raises one important question: at what point art becomes porn or, the other way around, is it possible to consider porn as an art form?
La Maja Vestida (1800-1808) – Francisco de Goya
The first thing to do is understand what porn and art represent and how we perceive them. Pornography in simple terms is the depiction of literal sex and its sole aim is to incite arousal and excitement. It is quite two dimensional and the material doesn’t hold an underlining meaning, its sole intention is to incite sexual arousal. Pornography also embodies outdated gender roles, the women, most of the time, are shown as passive and submissive. These outdated representations add to the negative connotations pornography has, and therefore, further distances it from what we consider to be artistic. Art is always placed on a pedestal and comes to represent our most elevated emotions and thoughts, yet we turn up our noses at pornography precisely becomes it feeds our most basic instincts. But what art and pornography do have in common may be the focus on the male gaze. Women have been the subject in these two arenas, and some of the masterpieces are a testament to this.
Something people tend to forget is that art itself is a reflection of the society and culture of its time. If we think about it, sexuality, and how it is perceived, has always been a determinant part of our nature. In a way, as we have evolved, we have put more emphasis to the representations of sex. Even nowadays, the boundaries dividing explicit sexual depictions and what we could call eroticism are fading away. Thus every day we become more and more inclusive regarding these representations, and sex is being more accepted in our daily life. We’ve become a more sexualized society. So, why is porn still a taboo subject?
Two Girls on a Fringed Blanket (1911) – Egon Schiele
Sex and its different manifestations and representations are provocative and with the passing of time this natural act has become incredibly controversial, and art is not exempt from this censure. Think about Courbet’s l’Origin du Monde or all those other paintings banned for their “offensive and repulsive” way of depicting the human body. So, isn’t explicit art, like Courbet’s, being judged the same way we see porn? Perhaps porn isn’t the problem itself, but the way we address it. In his book Who Says Pornography Can’t Be Art? Hand Maes makes a very interesting point in the defense of pornography. Sex is one of the most powerful, sensorial, and potent activities through which we get to experience life. Porn, then, is the only media that depicts it in a more explicit way. Furthermore, art is supposed to be the ultimate representation of the human experience, or at least we’ve interpreted in that way. If that’s the case, why can’t porn be considered another kind of art? Who or what determines what’s art and what isn’t?
The first clue has got to be the intention of the work, right? We could say that pornography is the explicit representation of the sexual act with the sole purpose of visually pleasing the audience. In that way, the intention is to satisfy and arouse. Now, what’s the intention of art? One could say that it’s to depict the human experience (as we have mentioned), to move the spectator and appeal to their sensitivity, and many other purposes revolving around that idea. I do believe that, indeed, there’s an aesthetic value essential to art, capable of talking to us in a wide variety of levels. But I also think that both, (pornography and art), especially nowadays, are related to an industry that has more to do with merchandising that anything else.
Dance (1898) – Alphonse Mucha
Besides taking into account the experience and trajectory of the creator, one of the most important things, at least in my opinion, is the medium where a work is exhibited. We have this conception of museums and galleries as the ultimate residence of art, so it doesn’t really matter the intention or who creates a piece, if it’s inside these premises, we automatically attach them the status of art. If an illustration or a video is seen in secrecy, we often think of it as pornographic, whereas art is flaunted for all to see.
At the end of the day, it’s all a matter of perspective. Mary Richardson saw Velázquez’ painting as offensive and indecent, almost in the same way many see pornography in today’s age. In the same way, many have exhibited explicit photographs in galleries because they’re considered art. So where is the limit, and more importantly, who determines the boundaries?
Rousse (1889) – Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
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Just as art, pornography mirrors our realities and concerns. Check what Pornhub has to say about our society. Also, take a look at these paintings that depict female pleasure and were probably seen as controversial and immoral.
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Sources:
Tate
The Guardian
BBC
