Order and Chaos: A Study on the Female Figure and Metaphor in Nymph of the Luo River in the Context of Iconology and Spatial Study
Year: 2023
Type: article
Abstract: This study aims to explore the multifaceted aesthetic, social and cultural metaphors, and implications behind the portrayal of the goddess in Gu Kaizhi’s (顾恺之, 344–406CE) handscroll painting entitled Nymph of the Luo River (Luo Shen Fu Tu 洛神赋图) in the field of iconographic and spatial studies. The paper argues that the artist’s portrayal of the female figure in a revolutionary style, along with his adventurous emphasis on the close relationship between characters and nature, is more visually appealing compared to the established pictorial paradigm and symbolic significance assigned to the female figure by painters of the Han Dynasty (202BCE–9CE, 25–220CE). However, despite the artistic breakthroughs mentioned above, Gu neither fully challenges the hegemony of the metaphorical social order in paintings nor the long-standing oppressed status of women from previous dynasties. Thus, although the goddess of Luo appears to have achieved gender and physical liberation within the confined “heterotopia” space, the tense pictorial relationships create an iconological paradox, which confirms the order of patriarchal norms and the visualised framework of masculine cultures.
Source: Critical Arts
Institutions: Beijing Language and Culture University, Nantong University
Language: English
Subfield: Visual Arts and Performing Arts
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Funder: Chinese Government Scholarship
Award: G6364708196
OpenAlex ID: W4391108212