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Monuments and Maidens: The Allegory of the Female Form
Marina Warner explores the tradition of personifying liberty, justice, wisdom, charity, and other ideals and desiderata in the female form, and examines the tension between women's historic and symbolic roles. Drawing on the evidence of public art, especially sculpture, and painting, poetry, and classical mythology, she ranges over the allegorical presence of the woman in the Western tradition with a sharply observant eye and a piquant and engaging style.
440 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1985
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About the author
Marina Warner
173 books345 followersMarina Sarah Warner is a British novelist, short story writer, historian and mythographer. She is known for her many non-fiction books relating to feminism and myth.
She is a professor in the Department of Literature, Film and Theatre at the University of Essex, and gave the Reith Lectures on the BBC in 1994 on the theme of 'Managing Monsters: Six Myths of Our Time.'
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 14, 2012
If you watched the Olympics, you know who Gabby Douglas is. This young lady (she's 16) won both an individual gold and a team gold in gymnastics. She became the first Afro-American woman to do so, her family is supportive and middle/lower class, her father served in both the Afghan and Iraq actions. Her mother believed iin her daughter so much she allowed Gabby to move to Iowa to train. The young lady is talented, and so what did people talk about once she won? Her talent? Her family's lack of bling? Her family's dedication? Her dedication?
No. People talked about her hair. I'm not sure why. Her hair looked like hair. It was in a ponytail. What were people thinking? That a gymnast should have Beyonce hair?
And it wasn't just Douglas that gained the comments. Accordng to an Austrilian paper, at least one of the women swimmers looks like she is retarded. According to other sources, none of the female swimmers is good looking. Perhaps because they didn't have Ryan Lockte's grill? Is anyone really shocked at the focus on women's rears during the beach volleyball (a tough sport, really, because of the sand. But it's the look that gets the attention, not the skill). There is the syrncoized swimming and rhymntic gymnastics that are women only (despite the fact that there are men who do the sport) and feature women in not much clothing. Oh, and now, women have to prove they are women.
And that's not mentioning NBC Bodies in Motion spot. Did you see that?
Michael Phelps doesn't have to worry about any of that. He could even say he pees in the pool during the race and no one blinks. But his female teammates apparently should be wearing make-up and flinging thier hair around.
Warner's book is about the female form in art, and what various depictions can mean. She ties it to the ancient legends as well as saint tales. She makes an intersting connection between Eve and Lady Godiva. It is hard to disagree with her observations, such as a women in monument form is a symbol of something; a man can be himself even if he symbolizes something.
Her comments on sexuality and chasity, seem aptly linked to the view of women Olympic atheletes, who no matter what their skill seem to have be both sexual and non-sexual.
Which means, despite the books publication date, it is still rather current today. Replace Warner's discussion of Thatcher with say Hilary Clinton. Look at how we view nakeness today in art and Warner's comments are still, depressingly, timely.
No. People talked about her hair. I'm not sure why. Her hair looked like hair. It was in a ponytail. What were people thinking? That a gymnast should have Beyonce hair?
And it wasn't just Douglas that gained the comments. Accordng to an Austrilian paper, at least one of the women swimmers looks like she is retarded. According to other sources, none of the female swimmers is good looking. Perhaps because they didn't have Ryan Lockte's grill? Is anyone really shocked at the focus on women's rears during the beach volleyball (a tough sport, really, because of the sand. But it's the look that gets the attention, not the skill). There is the syrncoized swimming and rhymntic gymnastics that are women only (despite the fact that there are men who do the sport) and feature women in not much clothing. Oh, and now, women have to prove they are women.
And that's not mentioning NBC Bodies in Motion spot. Did you see that?
Michael Phelps doesn't have to worry about any of that. He could even say he pees in the pool during the race and no one blinks. But his female teammates apparently should be wearing make-up and flinging thier hair around.
Warner's book is about the female form in art, and what various depictions can mean. She ties it to the ancient legends as well as saint tales. She makes an intersting connection between Eve and Lady Godiva. It is hard to disagree with her observations, such as a women in monument form is a symbol of something; a man can be himself even if he symbolizes something.
Her comments on sexuality and chasity, seem aptly linked to the view of women Olympic atheletes, who no matter what their skill seem to have be both sexual and non-sexual.
Which means, despite the books publication date, it is still rather current today. Replace Warner's discussion of Thatcher with say Hilary Clinton. Look at how we view nakeness today in art and Warner's comments are still, depressingly, timely.
January 26, 2022
MONUMENTS AND MAIDENS is an impressive piece of scholarly work, both erudite and engaging.
In this text, Warner reflects on a general paradox about the representation of the female in art: figures of women are conventionally chosen to personify an ideal, while most women are (and have been) excluded from pursuing that ideal practically. She muses about the statues that adorn many western cities (London, Paris, among others) which embody abstract principles (principles such as Freedom, Justice, Truth, Nature, Victory, etc) and finds that they are always represented by women. In English, and in many other languages, abstract virtues are usually gendered femenine. Why is this? Not because women have been more free, or just or truthful. Her answer to this question yields some interesting surprises.
Her substantial research provides plenty of evidence of how the use of female iconography has proved detrimental to female rights. Moreover, the accumulation of sound scholarly evidence allows her to introduce many powerful elements of cultural critique.
It is a dense, ambitious and informative book, ideal for readers interested in feminism and art.
In this text, Warner reflects on a general paradox about the representation of the female in art: figures of women are conventionally chosen to personify an ideal, while most women are (and have been) excluded from pursuing that ideal practically. She muses about the statues that adorn many western cities (London, Paris, among others) which embody abstract principles (principles such as Freedom, Justice, Truth, Nature, Victory, etc) and finds that they are always represented by women. In English, and in many other languages, abstract virtues are usually gendered femenine. Why is this? Not because women have been more free, or just or truthful. Her answer to this question yields some interesting surprises.
Her substantial research provides plenty of evidence of how the use of female iconography has proved detrimental to female rights. Moreover, the accumulation of sound scholarly evidence allows her to introduce many powerful elements of cultural critique.
It is a dense, ambitious and informative book, ideal for readers interested in feminism and art.
April 1, 2024
Hmm this was quite the letdown.
The first few chapters on the Statue of Liberty and Parisian sculptures were good but then we descended into a full on look at Margaret Thatcher as some sort of maiden of influence (eugh just no!!). Then we got into the weeds!! The rest of the book was pretty much a Greek myth textbook, not my bag at all. We had maidens mentioned from pretty much every Greek tale and some biblical references thrown in too (yay! ☹️🫥🙄😏). I found myself speed reading then skimming large swathes of text before giving in to drudgery and abandoning altogether.
Not for me.
And one last thing, my eyesight is generally good but oh my fucking corneas, I felt like I needed a magnifying glass to see the minuscule writing! Have a word with yourselves publishers! No need!
The first few chapters on the Statue of Liberty and Parisian sculptures were good but then we descended into a full on look at Margaret Thatcher as some sort of maiden of influence (eugh just no!!). Then we got into the weeds!! The rest of the book was pretty much a Greek myth textbook, not my bag at all. We had maidens mentioned from pretty much every Greek tale and some biblical references thrown in too (yay! ☹️🫥🙄😏). I found myself speed reading then skimming large swathes of text before giving in to drudgery and abandoning altogether.
Not for me.
And one last thing, my eyesight is generally good but oh my fucking corneas, I felt like I needed a magnifying glass to see the minuscule writing! Have a word with yourselves publishers! No need!
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June 12, 2023Defining the Female Form (My title?)
July 9, 2013
Amazing and very interesting as usual. Marina is a Wonder Woman of literature, culture and ideas themselves- a richly researched and deeply informative and eye-opening book. For lovers of Art (and Art History), Feminism and Gender.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews