Renegade Humor, February 3, 2012 - July 8, 2012, New Wing, Second Floor, Central Skylight and South Metro A Galleries, San José Museum of Art.

Visual Politics: The Art of Engagement, November 20, 2005 - March 5, 2006, New Wing, First Floor, Gibson Family Gallery and Plaza Gallery, San José Museum of Art. Circulated to: Katzen Art Center at American University, Washington, DC, April 9-July 29, 2006, Washington, DC, April 9-July 29, 2006.

Renegade Humor (2012)

Judgment of Paris (2005) is M. Louise Stanley’s reinterpretation of the classical Greek myth the Judgment of Paris in which Paris, the son of Priam, king of Troy, was asked to decide which of the three goddesses Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite was the most beautiful. Aphrodite promised Paris that if he chose her, she would provide him with the most beautiful woman in the world. After Aphrodite was chosen, she stole Helen from the king of Sparta and delivered her to Paris—the act that led to the Trojan War.

Stanley’s comic riff on the myth addresses a question that has plagued her throughout her career: “How do you get ahead in the art world as a woman artist?” In Judgment of Paris, three female artists hold up their paintings for an art critic to review. The woman on the right (a self-portrait) wears a coquettish expression and holds her canvas higher than the others in order to expose her naked body—a feminist’s lighthearted commentary on the sexist attitudes that still endure in the art world.


Visual Politics: The Art of Engagement (2005-2006)

Feminist M. Louise Stanley uses humor to poke fun at life’s injustices. In Judgment of Paris (2005), Stanley comically re-interprets the classical Greek myth to answer a question that has plagued her throughout her career: “How do you get ahead in the art world as a woman artist?” In Stanley’s Judgment of Paris (2005), three female artists hold up their paintings for an art critic to view. The woman on the right (a mock self-portrait) smiles coquettishly while holding her canvas a bit higher than the others to win the contest—a feminist’s lighthearted commentary on the sexist attitudes that still influence the art world.

This object was included in the following exhibitions:

• Visual Politics: The Art of Engagement , 11/20/2005 - 7/29/2006

• Image Dimensions: 72 x 96 in. (182.88 x 243.84 cm)

This object is a member of the following portfolios: