Famous Rapes #1: Old Master Paintings

The Rumpus is now featuring Famous Rapes #1: Old Master Paintings, the first in a series of retrospective collage art by Andrea Baker. The series will focus “on myth, stories, historic events, and cultural attitudes about rape as seen through different time periods.”

The orginal master paintings, Baker comments, show that “rape is the work of heroes, and women swoon before heroes. These women have been fated to suffer the liability of their female form. There is no way out—the only answer is not to be a woman all. Be turned into a tree. Take your own life. Or, if a woman does decide to fight, the only way she can win is by being protected by another man. These paintings document the attitudes of their time, and challenge us to consider how much progress we’ve made.”

This series is excerpted from Baker’s manuscript Famous Rapes.