To Fight Sexism, This Woman Recreated Art Masterpieces—with Barbies

Image via Catherine Thery Facebook embed

Barbies: one of the world’s most cherished (and beautifully mock-able) toys. While Barbies of the 1980’s might have accomplished such heroic feats as “getting a haircut” or “sitting in a chair,” French artist Catherine Thery had a slightly different plan for them in 2015. In a recent exhibit at the French gallery Teodora Galerie, Thery reimagined some of the world’s greatest artistic masterpieces—this time using Barbies.

While women have obviously been important subjects in painting throughout Western art history, their role has often been passive. “Masterpieces” feature masterful subjects, who are almost always—it’s easy to finish this sentence—men. Thery wanted to encourage viewers to reexamine their perception of what it takes for a painting to be considered “masterful.” When some of the world’s most esteemed painters consider men as heroes and women as really hot objects, where does that leave the viewer?

There’s been so many brilliant satires of Barbie lately, but this one has to be one of the brightest and absolute strangest. But what makes Thery’s art great isn’t just that she’s lampooning one of the nation’s most lampooned toys. She’s challenging centuries of gender oppression—all with hilarious mashups. Check out her work below or on her site here.

(Via: Elite Daily)