Gender, Cultural, And Religious Context - 1672 Words

â€Å"Art is a product of its time. It is a result of the social, political, and religious context in which it was made† (Cruz). For the aforementioned reason, it is imperative to take into consideration the culture, time period, and the gender of the artist because those individualities have a major influence on the depiction of the women in art. For example, gender is a cultural classification, hence, various artists might have portrayed the identity of the female in a different way. Moreover, gender roles are a set of stringent behaviors and expectations set by the society based on the biological sex of a person. The art works were predominantly created by male artists, thus women were represented based on what the society considered to be†¦show more content†¦For example, Figure 1 depicts a sculpture entitled: Bhudevi. It was created during the Chola Period in Southern India, specifically in Tamil Nadu in the late 11th-early 12th centuries Bronze. In India, Bhudev i is considered to be the Goddess of Mother Earth and one of the wives of the Hindu god Vishnu. One conspicuous attribute is her body figure, which seems to be the epitome of female image in India during that time period. She has a small nose and chin, fat deposition in the cheek area (round face), fuller hips and large breasts, which are considered to be signs of fertility. As a matter of fact, she is the â€Å"Fertility-form in which she is the Mother Earth† (â€Å"About Bhudevi†). She has a ring on the pointer finger of her left hand, which can be symbolized as the Earth that is rotating. Her graceful gestures, such as having one of her hands faced down, depict the feminine nature of women, while having the other one pointed diagonally to lead to her husband, Vishnu. This gesture implies that Vishnu is her husband and that he holds a position of power. The way she is posed portrays her femininity because she is positioned in a way so that her curves are enhanced. Sh e is also depicted naked, which according to some Hindus, the erotic nature portrays Kama-one of their goals in human life. Furthermore, Bhudevi