The idea of the male gaze arose in the 1970s. It refers to the idea that traditionally, Art was created with the straight male in mild. Nudes and women generally in art were often depicted as available to a viewer assumed unconsciously to be male. This is part of the challenge that manet’s olympla threm at us. She may be available (she has to pay the rent!) but it’s not all about you. She was her own person. She was humanized, rather than objectified. Kruger looks at these ideas, with her text on the image.
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