Over two hundred licensed creations - plastinated human and animal bodies and specimens - are currently on view in each of seven, independently themed exhibits belonging to Gunther von Hagen’s Body Worlds. While academic readers typically exclude these bodies from conversations of art history, in position, one body, Reclining Pregnant Woman, assumes a particularly referential pose from art historical and archetypal Venuses. She is the only female plastinate frozen, cut and flayed in mid-labor, (with child). Yet, when read in comparison with the seminal works of postmodern feminist theory, certain resonances show that formal and contextual applications of visual discourse upon this body become helpful – not only to resuscitate iconographic value, but also to challenge it.
","abstract_html":"<p>Over two hundred licensed creations - plastinated human and animal bodies and specimens - are currently on view in each of seven, independently themed exhibits belonging to <em>Gunther von Hagen’s</em> <em>Body Worlds</em>. While academic readers typically exclude these bodies from conversations of art history, in position, one body, <em>Reclining Pregnant Woman</em>, assumes a particularly referential pose from art historical and archetypal Venuses. She is the only female plastinate frozen, cut and flayed in mid-labor, (with child). Yet, when read in comparison with the seminal works of postmodern feminist theory, certain resonances show that formal and contextual applications of visual discourse upon this body become helpful – not only to resuscitate iconographic value, but also to challenge it.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["garlick, valerie"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts","degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":"Art History","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Barry Rosenberg; Sylvia Schafer","Alexis L. Boylan"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2012,"date_issued":"2012-05-05T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2012-05-05T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T06:31:50Z","subjects":["bodies","feminism","iconography","art","art history","media","technology","motherhood","maternal","visual culture","visual representation","spectacle","koerperwelten","korperwelten","von hagens","body worlds","plastination","plastinate","reclining pregnant woman"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://digitalcommons.lib.uconn.edu/gs_theses/272","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Barry Rosenberg; Sylvia Schafer","Alexis L. Boylan"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["garlick, valerie"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2012-05-08T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Art History"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["bodies","feminism","iconography","art","art history","media","technology","motherhood","maternal","visual culture","visual representation","spectacle","koerperwelten","korperwelten","von hagens","body worlds","plastination","plastinate","reclining pregnant woman"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://digitalcommons.lib.uconn.edu/gs_theses/272"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Over two hundred licensed creations - plastinated human and animal bodies and specimens - are currently on view in each of seven, independently themed exhibits belonging to Gunther von Hagen’s Body Worlds. While academic readers typically exclude these bodies from conversations of art history, in position, one body, Reclining Pregnant Woman, assumes a particularly referential pose from art historical and archetypal Venuses. She is the only female plastinate frozen, cut and flayed in mid-labor, (with child). Yet, when read in comparison with the seminal works of postmodern feminist theory, certain resonances show that formal and contextual applications of visual discourse upon this body become helpful – not only to resuscitate iconographic value, but also to challenge it.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Cutting Edge: Re-reading Iconography in Body Worlds"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Barry Rosenberg; Sylvia Schafer","Alexis L. Boylan"],"dc:creator":["garlick, valerie"],"dc:date.available":["2012-05-08T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Over two hundred licensed creations - plastinated human and animal bodies and specimens - are currently on view in each of seven, independently themed exhibits belonging to Gunther von Hagen’s Body Worlds. While academic readers typically exclude these bodies from conversations of art history, in position, one body, Reclining Pregnant Woman, assumes a particularly referential pose from art historical and archetypal Venuses. She is the only female plastinate frozen, cut and flayed in mid-labor, (with child). Yet, when read in comparison with the seminal works of postmodern feminist theory, certain resonances show that formal and contextual applications of visual discourse upon this body become helpful – not only to resuscitate iconographic value, but also to challenge it.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://digitalcommons.lib.uconn.edu/gs_theses/272"],"dc:subject":["bodies","feminism","iconography","art","art history","media","technology","motherhood","maternal","visual culture","visual representation","spectacle","koerperwelten","korperwelten","von hagens","body worlds","plastination","plastinate","reclining pregnant woman"],"dc:title":["Cutting Edge: Re-reading Iconography in Body Worlds"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Art History"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T06:31:50Z"}