Sylvia
Body of Art. . . .
Inspired by the Women’s Art Movement, which
sought to highlight and counteract stereotypical
representations of women in art, Sleigh (1916–
- painted a series of works that reversed accepted
traditions by featuring nude men in poses
that were more commonly associated with female
models.The Turkish Bath is a gender-reversed
version of Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres’s
Le Bain Turc (1862). Instead of almost identical
and voluptuous harem nudes, Sleigh depicted
a group of naked men, each with different body
shapes, hair, ages and ethnicities. These variances
ensured that in sharp contrast to Ingres, no one
body type was fetishized. Indeed, all Sleigh’s
characters were recognizable as friends and
colleagues in the New York art world of the time.
The artist was concerned that turning male nudes
into art subjects should not simply duplicate the
kind of objectification that women experienced
throughout art history. She spoke of ‘portraying
both sexes with dignity and humanism’ and chose
their poses carefully to avoid humiliation or overt
sexual invitation. Indeed, in contrast to Ingres’s
reclining, day-dreaming bathers, Sleigh’s models
are alert and look directly at the viewer, challenging
us to look at them.