Geschlechterkampf


The exhibition Battle of the Sexes – Franz von Stuck to Frida Kahlo
was held from
24 November 2016 to 19 March 2017 at the Städel-Museum in Frankfurt
am Main. 140 paintings, films and sculptures reflected the change in gender
roles and the perception of these roles.
As logo of the exhibition two paintings have been used: Salome by Jean Benner
and Elle by Gustav-Adolf Mossa, the depiction of a
femme fatale with the blood of her male victims smeared on her thighs,
sitting on a mountain of their corpses. Her genitalia are hidden by a cat. An
inscription reads: hoc volo, sic iubeo; sit pro ratione voluntas.

Tuning in

The walls of the reception area are inscribed with relevant hashtags and
quotes from newspaper articles. These tags and quotes are not commented and not
mentioned again in the exhibition or the catalogue.

Hashtags

The quotes are taken from these articles:
Parallel to the exhibition the social media campaign #LetsTalkAboutSexes took place.
A selection of the created articles are collected in the Städel blog as
"Kunst der Moderne #LetsTalkAboutSexes – die Beiträge zur Social-Media-Aktion"
.

Exhibited works

On display were drawings, photographs, films, sculptures and paintings.

Films

Films shown in the exhibition were mostly from the Pre-Code-era.

Sculptures

There were other versions or castings of these sculptures present:
Marcello's sculpture Pythia is a representation of the priest of the oracle of Delphi,
who made her prophecies under the influence of hallucinogenic gas. They were then interpreted by
male priests. Well known is the prediction to the people of Athens to use wooden walls as a means to
defeat the Persians. This was taken as advice to build triremes. The Persian fleet was defeated in the
Battle of Salamis. On display is one of many castings of this main work of Marcello.
The male pseudonym was used by the countess Adélaïde Nathalie Marie Hedwige Philippine d’Affry,
who could not benefit from an education at the PAFA where Eakins
allowed women to study the nude. Therefore, she used castings of her own body in creating
the sculpture.
The tennis player was able to engage in this sport as rules on female clothing had
by the time been relaxed.

Paintings

modeled herself as Eve. Adam is a portrait of her muse, her twenty
years younger lover. Both grab together for the forbidden fruit. Lilith was Adam's
first wife and had to be replaced by Eve, when she showed her open hair in
public and also fell otherwise out of the female role model.
Clytemnestra is holding the sword she used to kill her husband, after he was
willing to sacrifice their daughter Iphigenia to Artemis.
Franz von Stuck, Edvard Munch, Otto Dix and Frida Kahlo are
all represented by a number of paintings.
Meret Oppenheim's My Nurse is part of the exhibition.

Stereo Night

The Stereo Night was an Städelnächte event. A music program, parts of
the permanent Städel exhibition and the complete Geschlechterkampf could
be visited. During the night there were Art Battles: The speakers of
the audio guides Constanze Becker and Felix Rech played a married
couple from the last century, that discussed the change of gender roles.
They mentioned Dr. Haustein, who helped them to have only seven children and not
fourteen. Also a new treatment for hysteria - the Jolly Molly - was talked about.

Perception

Art used the exhibition as a cover story with the headlines "Leider geil!",
"Lustmord-Bilder sind der Höhepunkt des Frauenhasses" and "Der groteske US-Wahlkampf
war der totale Geschlechterkampf".
Kunstzeitung speaks of a parade full of facets, spanning a hundred
years.
Handelsblatt sees a contrast between first rate works and sultry perfumed paintings from the
second tier.
Schwäbische Zeitung describes the fighting scenes as a traditional costume parade at a town
festival.
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung comments on the timing of the exhibition at
the inauguration of Donald Trump.

Literature