Beyoncé and her photographers appear to present her as the Virgin Mary, using recognizable compositions, such as her veiled face and the flower mandorla enveloping her, in both Erizku’s and Poole’s images. The Atlantic’s Spencer Kornhaber wrote, “Beyoncé is continuing in her long dialogue with the high-art world,” noting such varied influences as the Virgin Mary, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Renaissance Madonnas, Dutch flower paintings, and Kehinde Wiley. Part of the power in such imagery, he argues, is that “it’s recent and yet classical.”
Both photos nod to the ways in which women in positions of power have been represented throughout history. Historian Linda B. Hall has analyzed “images of women and power,” exploring how artists have used the image of the Virgin Mary to emphasize power, suffering, dedication, and endurance while also instilling a sense of maternal wonder. [...]
Hall analyzes the continued relevance and far-reaching reverence for images of the Virgin Mary throughout Spain, Latin America, and the United States. She notes, “In the case of the Virgin Mary, as time passes, the reverence that began centuries ago is constantly renewed and changed by religious leaders, by artists, and through popular reverence.” Historically speaking, Beyoncé’s imagery seems to borrow elements most heavily from those of Our Lady of Guadalupe, whose image first appeared on the cloak, or tilma, of Juan Diego in 1531, after the Virgin Mary’s fourth visit to him. About a century after her image was emblazoned on his cloak, artistic renderings of Our Lady of Guadalupe, complete with the flower mandorla and blue robe of stars, began appearing in print.
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