Online exhibition compares constructs of masculinity and femininity in 18th and 19th century art

A new immersive digital art exhibition compares depictions of men and women with animals to explore entrenched binaries of gender.

The Lion’s Share has been curated by a group of six MA students from the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies at the University of Leeds.

Charlie Spencer, Yan Leung, Xu Zhang, Wenyu Zhu, Hikaru Nakase and Eleanor Bareham came together to curate the exhibition as part of an Interpretations module, delivered for MA Art Gallery and Museum Studies and MA Art Gallery and Heritage Studies.

With backgrounds across the globe and across academic disciplines, the group set out to plan and create an online exhibition in just 11 weeks.

Under the supervision and support of Dr Jade French, Lecturer in Inclusive Arts Practice & Museum Studies, the group were assigned the full online collection of the Yale Center for British Art.

Within this extensive collection of 'more than 2,000 paintings, 250 sculptures, 20,000 drawings and watercolours, 40,000 prints, and 35,000 rare books and manuscripts', the group identified distinct differences between the ways in which men are depicted with animals, and how women are depicted with animals.

Commenting on one of the artworks, MA student Hikaru Nakase observed:

“The girl seems to treat the dog with affection rather than domination, which reflects the fact that women are often portrayed in relation to animals as symbols of motherhood and tenderness”.

Further investigation revealed this disparity to be consistent across various contexts, while also raising questions around the extent to which the gender roles identified in late Georgian and early Victorian paintings continue to be upheld in the modern world.

Sir Edwin Henry Landseer, 1802–1873, British, Portrait of Mr. Van Amburgh, As He Appeared with His Animals at the London Theatres, Summer 1846 to March 1847. Oil on canvas. Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection. CC0. 1.0 Universal license.

MA student Eleanor Bareham said:

“Most members of the group had very limited curatorial experience, and had not met before, so initially the scope of the project was overwhelming. Due to the broad backgrounds and personal interests of each member of the group, there was a huge breadth in proposed approaches at the start of the project.

“Once the idea to compare human and animal relationships arose, however, the exhibition began to take shape as our group realised its potential to explore complex and nuanced ideas.”

The exhibition has been carefully curated online, using immersive three-dimensional software to broaden its reach beyond the student body on campus.

Inspired by personal feelings of detachment induced by digital substitutes for cultural experiences during the pandemic, the group became passionate about engaging the viewer in a physical space. The construction of this exhibition therefore aims to balance improved accessibility with a meaningful and memorable experience.

More information

You are invited to immerse yourself in The Lion’s Share exhibition, to compare depictions of male and female relationships with animals in this period, and consider their continuation in the modern world.

The exhibition runs from 14 December 2023 to 11 March 2024. More information and a link to the exhibition can be found here.

Feature image

Francis Wheatley, 1747–1801, British, Portrait of a Sportsman with His Son, 1779 (detail). Oil on canvas. Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection. CC0. 1.0 Universal license.

George Rowney, 1792–1870, British, The Pet Rabbits (detail). Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection. CC0. 1.0 Universal license.