A critical approach to intimacy in art

Abstract

This thesis examines intimacy in art, historically and in today’s networked world. It looks at the personal and revealing nature of intimacy, using psychological theory to support the thesis’ contention. This is that the internet has both changed and extended the phenomenon of intimacy in art, transforming both images and artworks. Historically, the female body, especially the nude, was used as both a means and an end to create a feeling of intimacy. The contemporary artworks examined both reveal and disrupt these historical gendered connotations of intimacy in art. Two key works analysed, Amalia Ulman’s The Annals of Private History (2015) and Frances Stark’s My Best Thing (2011), are particularly revealing in this respect. Intimacy and what it means is explored using the psychodynamic theory of Gerald Cupchik and his staircase arrangement of emotions (2016). This theory shows how intimacy can manifest implicitly as an affect, as well as explicitly at the emotional cognitive level. These explorations are supported by an analysis of several works by relevant artists, including Tracey Emin, Kate Newby and Amalia Ulman. The various ways intimacy has been depicted and evoked throughout art history, including the significance of domestic scenes and the issue of voyeurism, are also examined. Comparisons are made between the ‘intimist’ paintings of Pierre Bonnard, Edgar Degas and Mary Cassatt. Photography is then examined as a turning point in the evolution of intimacy: it made voyeurism and exhibitionism easy, and intimate images infinitely more reproducible. This development is exemplified in the works of Nan Goldin, which are reviewed. Adrian Piper and Cindy Sherman, whose works are then examined, went one step further, critically addressing the phenomenon of intimacy by turning the camera on themselves, so disrupting the ease with which intimate images, particularly those of the female body, are often consumed.