Subtitle/Alternate Title
Intersectionality, Spectacle, and Colonization
First Advisor
Robin Hextrum
College
Regis College
Degree Name
BA
Document Type
Thesis - Open Access
Number of Pages
34 pages
Abstract
This essay examines how Primitivist artwork of the late 1800s and early 1900s by Matisse, Gauguin, and Picasso oversexualized colonized women. White European male artists viewed colonized women as the ‘other’ through a biased racialized and gendered lens. Fatimah Tobing Roby’s theory of Ethnographic Spectacle and Kimberlé Crenshaw’s theory of intersectionality are evident in these Primitivist works. Through a deeply rooted colonial mindset, European male artists exploited the image of colonized women because they are considered outside of history and unevolved. Colonized women experienced this unfair treatment due to their unique intersectional position of gender and race, as well as the European fascination with the ‘other.’ Primitivist artworks depict colonized women as a projection of sexual fantasies because their position deemed outside of history places them outside of moral consequence by European male artists.
Date of Award
Spring 2021
Location (Creation)
Colorado (state); Denver (county); Denver (inhabited place)
Copyright
© Morgan Maureen Fleetwood
Rights Statement
All content in this Collection is owned by and subject to the exclusive control of Regis University and the authors of the materials. It is available only for research purposes and may not be used in violation of copyright laws or for unlawful purposes. The materials may not be downloaded in whole or in part without permission of the copyright holder or as otherwise authorized in the “fair use” standards of the U.S. copyright laws and regulations.
Recommended Citation
Fleetwood, Morgan Maureen, "Oversexualization in Primitivism" (2021). Regis University Student Publications (comprehensive collection). 1001.
https://epublications.regis.edu/theses/1001