Long Essay: Female Artists 

Lying with the wolf by Kiki Smith was made in 2001 c.e and it is ink and pencil on paper. Kiki Smith painted with a point of view that females have a lot of strength and that they could overpower anything and she also painted showing women’s close and intimate relationship with nature and animals, primarily wolves. In the drawing it shows a nude woman holding a wolf close to her and the wolf is nuzzling against her. Usually wolves are seen as a malevolent symbol but that isn’t present here.

The wolf seems content to be close to her and the scene is very intimate and close.This in itself shows the strong relationship that a female has with nature and its creatures.This displays Smith showing womens close relationship with animals and their power over them. This ink and pencil is said to be modeled after Sainte Genevieve because she had a deep connection with animals and the gift to placate and domesticate wolves and Smith was known for putting Sainte Genevieve in many of her artworks in this time period.

This artwork shows an affectionate scene in which the wolf and naked woman are nurturing one another. With the way that the woman is rubbing the wolf’s fur behind its ear and on its stomach brings a calming and tranquil aura to the drawing. In the drawing it also shows a femine sense of strength. In the drawing it shows the nude woman holding her arms over the wolf and the nude woman had the capacity and power to domesticate the normally feral wolf.

Get quality help now

KarrieWrites

Verified

Proficient in: Wolves

5 (339)

“ KarrieWrites did such a phenomenal job on this assignment! He completed it prior to its deadline and was thorough and informative. ”

+84 relevant experts are online

Hire writer

That shows the strength of the female to over power the normally strong and evil animal and that in itself is a trait normally seen attributed with men. In the picture by showing the woman’s arms wrapped the wolf instead of the wolf being on top of the woman it shows a twisted perspective of predator and prey. It is displaying the woman as the predator in this scenario and shows her overpowering the wolf.There is a female protagonist in this artwork that was as stated before, based off of Sainte Genevieve and Little Red Riding Hood.

At the end of the story Little Red Riding Hood eEd and her Grandmother end up getting out of the wolf’s stomach and they fill the wolf’s stomach up with stones so he stays there and dies. Even then at the end of the story Red ends up over powering the wolf and proving that she was stronger and smarter. This is shown in this drawing because the nude woman is shown overpowering the wolf and comforting him. In this drawing instead of the woman being depicted as submissive and a good wife she is shown strong and independent. Lying with the wolf has many similarities with No crying in the barber shop by Pepon Osorio. Both of the artworks have themes of stereotypes in them, specifically defying those said stereotypes.

In lying with the wolf it defies the stereotype that men are primarily strong and that they are associated with animals and hunting. The nude woman shows a grand display of strength in the way that she is overpowering the wolf which is something that is labeled as evil and terrifying. The woman is a predator and the wolf has now become the prey in that reversal of roles.In No crying in the barber shop it shows the defying of the stereotype that all men have to be masculine hence the reference in the title of crying. The installation is placed within a barber shop which is a masculine place where men are not supposed to cry There are images of a male baby being circumcised, men crying and also men playing. These are all acts that are considered unmanly because apparently men shouldn’t cry or play and they should just be a strong and formidable form. The circumcision of the baby is something that is expected of males and circumcision in itself is considered manly and is a norm that a man should be circumcised.