Born This Way(After Michelangelo)
Item
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Title
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Born This Way(After Michelangelo)
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Description
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Born This Way (After Michelangelo)" is a 2020 gouache-on-paper artwork by Brooklyn-based artist Tirtzah Bassel. As part of her Canon in Drag series, the piece reimagines Michelangelo’s work by highlighting intersex, queer, and feminist narratives, exploring the platonic myth that the first human was intersex
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Date
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2020
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Identifier
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0004.SLAG
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Material
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Gouache on paper
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Measurements
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107 cm × 81.3 cm (42 inches x 32 inches)
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Analysis
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A reclamation of bodily authenticity against the sculpted ideals of classical male-centered art history:
The Female Gaze) In Born This Way(After Michelangelo), Bassel reinterprets Michelangelo’s style to question the idealized, male-created standards of the human body. Instead of aiming for anatomical perfection, the work focuses on real, lived identity. By referencing a well-known male artist, Bassel points out how art history has often favored masculine ideas of beauty and proportion. The piece also shows how these ideals create restrictive expectations for bodies, especially for women. In the end, it puts the focus back on genuine bodily experience rather than on imposed ideals.
