Female Sexuality and the Male Gaze II: John Berger and the Art of the Nude

Following the amazing success of our original tour of the National Gallery, FEMALE SEXUALITY AND THE MALE GAZE 1, join London Drawing Group as we delve even deeper into this endlessly fascinating, problematic and eye-opening theme. With this new class set in the marble halls of the Tate Britain, follow us on a journey through dissecting a totally different collection of artworks, throwing up new questions and new surprises along the way.

In honour of the late John Berger, for this class we are unpack the TATE collection through discussion and drawing, aiming to question the role of female sexuality in painting through history. Through this session, we will explore the nuance of the naked and the nude, the concept of the 'male gaze', notions of wealth, gender politics and bias in the historical artistic community, as well as some eyebrow-raising representations of women through visual history. With reference to the original episode from the 1970’s documentary, “ways of seeing”, we will raise questions of how women have been viewed throughout the history of art, and through our collective social consciousness, running from the Seventeenth century through to contemporary female artists, with Berger as our guide.

Through this class we will tackle such diverse themes as female rulers, women's roles in the home and kitchen, the concept of the muse, the historical odds of being a female artist, as well as biblical stories of rape, subjugation and triumphs.

The morning will be made up of a guided tour of the gallery with the afternoon devoted to a curated series of drawing exercises that aim to help you understand and engage with these paintings and stories in new and creative ways.