The Body Which is Truly Ours. A Brief Three-Stage Approach to Mass Society Through Photography

This article aims to analyse the role of women as the objects and subjects of desire in Western culture through self-portraits. To do so, we have selected three case studies which coincided with the development of mass society and the evolution of photography. A three-stage analysis of photographic images not only allows us to take a closer look at the selected artists’ work but also enables us to understand the current situation of women in the art system. We will initially approach the first years of photography through the Countess of Castiglione. Then, we will focus on the figure of Vivian Maier, whose work was only recently discovered. Thirdly, the work of Linder Sterling has been chosen as an example of British counterculture during the 1970s.