The Depiction of Ejaculation in Art History
# Deborah Kass: Reimagining Art History Through a Feminist Lens
Deborah Kass’s *Art History Paintings* (1989–1992) is an urgent response to the exclusion of women artists, feminist critique, and queer identity in the traditional art canon. By borrowing and subverting the visual language of male-dominated art movements, Kass turns art history on its head, questioning and dismantling its most sacred idols. Her current retrospective at Salon 94 brings together these powerful and witty works, offering both critique and homage while confronting long-standing narratives of exclusion.
## **The Power of Erasure and Subversion**
Kass’s work is steeped in both admiration and frustration. She deeply values the formal advancements of Modernism and postmodernist painting, yet she challenges its exclusionary practices. By incorporating icons from popular culture—such as Lucy from *Peanuts*, Disney’s *Dumbo*, and Supergirl—she disrupts the solemnity of her art historical predecessors.
For instance, in *Puff Piece* (1991), she juxtaposes a Jackson Pollock-like drip painting with an image of Supergirl expelling a gust of air at the paint splatter. The splash of paint, often mythologized as an act of masculine bravura, is here transformed into something delicate, almost incidental. This particular painting satirizes the macho rhetoric around Abstract Expressionism, exposing it as a kind of gendered performance rather than the pure creative act it has often been heralded as.
By stripping away recognizability in pieces like the headless Lucy Van Pelt series, Kass forces the viewer to confront the way certain images hold power. The once-familiar—made ghostly and anonymous—becomes unrecognizable, reflecting how women, queer artists, and other marginalized voices remain invisible in major art institutions.
## **Interrogating Male Artistic Legacies**
The *Art History Paintings* use parody and stylistic mimicry to engage directly with artists like Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Jasper Johns, and Pablo Picasso. However, Kass’s use of their styles is not about mere imitation—it’s about exposure. She lays bare the structures that elevate these artists while relegating others to the margins.
One of the most haunting works in the series, *Untitled (First World, Third World)* (1990), visually interrogates the Western art canon’s appropriative habits. Picasso, often credited with “discovering” Cubism through his consumption of African masks, is confronted with an African landscape. In doing so, Kass critiques both Modernism’s erasure of its inspirations and the irony of how such influences are welcomed in museums while actual African artists remain overlooked.
Similarly, her piece *How Do I Look?* (1991) juxtaposes celebrated queer-coded imagery—Gertrude Stein’s portrait by Picasso and *The Critic Sees* (1961) by Jasper Johns—with swirling, abstract expressionist strokes. By raising the question of visibility and erasure in museum spaces, Kass encourages viewers to analyze whether LGBTQ+ identities are truly recognized within art history or simply tolerated as aesthetic flourishes.
## **Feminist and Queer Identity in Kass’s Work**
Kass’s work brims with feminist critique, especially in its engagement with systemic marginalization. She places lesbian and queer imagery at the forefront of her reimagination of Modernism, directly challenging an art world that tends to overlook these perspectives.
Her 1989–90 work *Subject Matters* takes this confrontation further by incorporating an illuminated manuscript-style “I” as its centerpiece—signifying self-declaration, authorship, and presence. Surrounding this letter are fragmented cartoon figures and Johns’s signature bespectacled critic motif, creating a tension between who is allowed to claim artistic authorship and who remains scrutinized under an often-exclusionary critical lens.
At the heart of this dialogue is the question: *Who gets to speak in art?* Kass’s feminist intervention is about more than just inclusion—it’s a demand for agency. By inserting herself into these painterly traditions, she is doing what museums and institutions failed to do for women painters of her time: making their presence undeniable.
## **The Continuing Relevance of Kass’s Message**
Even though the *Art History Paintings* were created over three decades ago, they remain strikingly relevant in today’s conversations about gender, representation, and the canonization of artists. Kass’s light-hearted yet razor-sharp critique echoes contemporary movements that continue to challenge the art world’s long-standing hierarchies.
Moreover, her work poses pressing questions for both creators and audiences:
– Who is allowed to be part of art history?
– How do systems of power dictate visibility in art?
– Can we admire movements like Abstract Expressionism while also acknowledging their gendered narratives?
By blending humor, formal excellence