Badende vrouw in een vijver 1850

Joseph Félon created this print, “Bathing Woman in a Pond,” using etching and aquatint. During Félon’s time, artistic and social norms often placed women into categories of either madonnas or whores, frequently depicting them in ways that served male desires and fantasies. Here, Félon evokes a classical theme but complicates it. The woman is nude, a common representation in art history, yet she is also partially veiled by the cloth she holds overhead. The ducks surrounding her in the pond add an element of the everyday, contrasting with the almost mythological representation of the female nude. Does she embody purity, or is there a sense of vulnerability and exposure in her nakedness? I invite you to reflect on the ways women have been portrayed throughout history, and to consider the power dynamics at play in such depictions. How does this image perpetuate or challenge those representations? What does it mean to see oneself through the eyes of others?