The Naked Woman

Created in spring 2023 for ARTS 368 (Print II, but treated as an independent study class)

Media: Linocut print, pen, and collaging on paper

Artist Statement:

“Male fantasies, male fantasies, is everything run by male fantasies? Up on a pedestal or down on your knees, it’s all a male fantasy: that you’re strong enough to take what they dish out, or else too weak to do anything about it. Even pretending you aren’t catering to male fantasies is a male fantasy: pretending you’re unseen, pretending you have a life of your own, that you can wash your feet and comb your hair unconscious of the ever-present watcher peering through the keyhole, peering through the keyhole in your own head, if nowhere else. You are a woman with a man inside watching a woman. You are your own voyeur.” – Margaret Atwood

In John Berger’s 1972 BBC series “Ways of Seeing,” he differentiated “the nude” and “the naked.” He stated that “the nude” was to be on display for others, whereas “the naked” was to simply be oneself. Therefore, any piece of art depicting “the female nude” was intrinsically created for the pleasure of the viewer, who is presumably a man.

Three years later, filmmaker Laura Mulvey coined the term “male gaze,” which is defined as the presentation of women as sexual objects for the pleasure of men. Within the constructs of the male gaze, no matter a woman’s intent or reality, she is valued for her beauty and physique—rather than her mind or heart—thus condemning her to be passive, simplistic, and dehumanized.

As a nod to Berger’s philosophy, I titled this project “The Naked Woman” to defy the stereotypical “female nude.” My goal was to subvert the male gaze, as well as reclaim female bodily autonomy and challenge traditional ideas of femininity. I depicted the female body as both sexual and nonsexual to convey that it is something inherently part of, but still only a part of, a woman. Furthermore, that—despite centuries of objectification in art and life—women can embrace their sexuality, and by extension, their bodies, for their own pleasure, purpose, and identity.

Interested in buying a print? Email me at gmrh60@gmail.com

  • Naked Woman Print Collection (student, 2023) http://www.giulihoffmann.com/other-skills/art/printmaking/naked-woman/
  • Naked Woman Print Collection – Skin Tone Collages
  • Naked Woman Print – Skin Tone Collage
  • Naked Woman Print – Body Parts Collage
  • Naked Woman Print Collection – Bodies w/ Text
  • Naked Woman Print – Twisted Body w/ Text
  • Naked Woman Print – Curvy Body w/ Text
  • Naked Woman Print – Butt w/ Text
  • Naked Woman Print Collection – Boobs 1
  • Naked Woman Print Collection – Boobs 2
  • Naked Woman Print Collection – Boobs 3
  • Naked Woman Print Collection – Censors
  • Naked Woman Print – Body Censored
  • Naked Woman Print Collection – Curvy Bodies
  • Naked Woman Print Collection – Backsides
  • Naked Woman Print Collection – Bared Bodies
  • Naked Woman Print Collection – Butts
  • Naked Woman Print Collection – Butts w/ Vaginas
  • Naked Woman Print – Butt w/ Vaginas
  • Naked Woman Print Collection – Bodies w/ Vaginas
  • Naked Woman Print – Bared Body w/ Vaginas
  • Naked Woman Print Collection – Vaginas
  • Naked Woman Print – Vaginas
  • Naked Woman Print Collection – Duplicates
  • Naked Woman Print – Twisted Body Duplicate