International Journal of Art and Art History

A Dialogue with Abraham Uyovbisere's Semi-Nude Figures
Kenechi Uzoamaka ANASO

Abstract
Abraham Uyovbisere has been labelled a feminist for making numerous naturalistic images of females (Akintunde-Johnson 1989, Njoagwu, 1993). A good number of his paintings are semi nude representations of the female and are therefore covered from the waist downwards leaving the upper body completely bare. This raises questions about why an artist who has been publicly regarded as a feminist makes such images. Furthermore, it is necessary to ascertain whether the paintings in question validate or reinforce feministic ideals. Given that Freud established that the natural human is prone to distortions and censorship of original intentions (Richards, 1973), Shank and Tilley's (1987) proposed method of "decent ring" the artist from the analysis of his work was used in the critical and contextual analyses of randomly selected semi nude paintings. Feminist positions on female imagery formed the interpretive context. The results of the analyses revealed that Abraham Uyovbisere employs the wrap to serve euphemistic purposes in his semi-nude female representations. It was also observed that when viewed from the feministic standpoint, the semi-nude paintings are objectified images of the female gender and are therefore an affront to feminism.

Full Text: PDF       DOI: 10.15640/ijaah.v4n1a5