artreflectiveblog

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Impressionist Style Painting

Painting by Eve Blunsden 

ART IN THE CITY: Paris   Prostitution’s Influence on Impressionism

The rise of Impressionism in Paris in the late 19th Century corresponded with the massive social and economic shift taking place in the city at the time. The chosen subject of artists evolved from natural landscapes of French countryside to become synonymous with the new urban world - particularly a fascination with depicting the life of prostitutes. For the Impressionists, the sale of sex as part of human condition in society became rudimentary in the influence the city of lights had on their works.

Prostitution became an alluring subject for Artists of the Impressionist movement in Paris due to its growing social notoriety. Prostitution was fundamentally a city based problem, caused by the economic strain of Industrialisation and the swelling of population surrounding it, the effects touching every demographic of city life. The uncomfortable reality of the classes intersecting spilled out from behind closed doors, contemplated by the artists and Le Flaneurs of the Parisian streets . Artists as famed as Tissot reflected this anxiety in works such as The Shop Girl. Within the painting, the point of predatory uncertainty is hidden, only seen when looking past the lively Sales Assistant holding open the door to the haberdashery shop. A gentleman wearing a top hat peers intrusively through the window, not at the coloured fabrics and silk ribbons on the counter, but instead towards the women inside. Perhaps Tissot rendered this scene of Parisian life as a commentary on the unlivable city wages women were subject to- earning nearly 50% less than men in the same professions. Therefore, causing thousands of ordinary women to turn towards prostitution to supplement their income, it is conceivable therefore that the shop assistant in the painting would accept the stranger’s offer.

 Disease and illness spread rapidly throughout cities including Paris at this time. Syphilis particularly plagued the crowded streets, despite the enforced regulations, this was  a poignant reminder to the health issues concerned with prostitution. Prostitution was not classified as a crime, but rather a “necessary evil” to satisfy “mens brutal passions”, Problematic for the upper classes to acknowledge as part of their identity, however the fear of disease being transferred into the marital bed ran deep into the bourgeoisie, whose men commodified prostitution while simultaneously condemning the women who partook. However above all was the threat to public morality- the most feared and rampant disease was the perceived lapse into sexual deviance society took.

Prostitution had many faces in city life, carefully rendered to fit the chosen narrative of the Impressionist artist-   the woman as victim of society, the glamourous femme fatales of the bourgeoisie or a look towards ordinary woman trying to make a living. The haussmannization by Napoleon III of central Paris allowed the bourgeoisie to settle in the heart of modern urban life. The persona of the ultra feminine, intimate and anonymous courtesans was born, high-class prostitutes paid in expensive gifts rather than cash where treated as celebrity figures, portrayed by artists as the ultimate object of the male gaze. The harsh reality of the unlovely and abject lives of the majority of women is often softened by the romanticized works such as Renoir’s The Umbrella- we easily forget the sexual undertones among the lively composition, the beautiful women ambiguously shaded by a parade of umbrella’s above their heads on a crowded street in Paris. While there is uncertainty in this daytime scene, by night the definitive paintings show these working women illuminated by gas lamp lined boulevards, cafes and cabarets, showing the proliferation of  rampant legal and illegal prostitution. For example, in paintings such as  Louis Antuetin Woman at the Champs-Elysees By Night. An extravagantly dressed woman walks alone down a crowded boulevard, light is shed upon her face revealing an allusive smile, an image capturing the exciting and fast moving pace of modern Parisian life. The city has direct influence as the backdrop for the “ladies of the night” in their fantastical dress, spotlighting their rhythmic existence.

Ultimately, it is clear the perceived sexual corruption in the city of Paris through prostitution in the late 19th century allowed the new wave of artistic expression to  accumulate. Women of the night were akin to artists, perhaps their drawing out of human condition parallels the truth to emotion impressionists aimed to capture. Intertwining further the city, artist and prostitute as one living organism.  

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Angelica Kauffman’s Life and Works

Angelica Kauffman was a highly regarded Neoclassical artist, her talent recognised both during her lifetime and influential in the present day. Kauffman is sensationalised as the romantic female “heroine”, the quintessence of ‘female art’, who was immersed within a masculine profession to embody the ideals surrounding sensibility in the late eighteenth century. Perhaps her success does not make her the most obvious candidate to examine when studying those excluded from the canon of art history, one may even argue she is already within the canon, but it could also be contended that Kauffman is never quite allowed to sit at the table of those most eminent male artists, she instead exists only as the token female chronicled within lineage of the Greats. In this essay I will argue that Kauffman should be studied in future modules, as her importance as an artist succeeds the century in which she lived and has became crucial to feminist art history.  What makes Kauffman exemplary is not the brilliance exhibited in her work itself, but that she is able to achieve anything close to her male counterpart despite being a woman. There is a general consensus that her feminine temperament is the main reason for her artistry, for her intellect or individuality are secondary, excluding her from ever being truly great.

Summarised by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the renowned ‘Father of Romanticism’, who moved in the same social circle of intelligentsia as Kauffman and even sat for her in Rome (See Figure 1) in 1786 : “It is very pleasant to look at pictures with Angelica … she is very sensitive to all that is beautiful, true and delicate and yet incredibly modest… she has an incredible and -for a woman- huge talent”. The period abounds with discourse about the distinction between beauty and sublimity. One way in which the difference was commonly imagined was through the genders; where the female sex was associated with beauty and the male sex represented sublimity. Following this, it was supposed that just as women were beautiful, so too their capacity for emotion was limited to the scope occasioned by beauty. Therefore women artists would be unable to inspire any great depth of emotion in their work. Despite her esteem as a portrait, history and landscape artist with Eurpope at her feet, Kauffman is overlooked as a passing nominal mention in the conventional surveys of art history as her work is not “established as crucial, of the utmost importance or exemplary” as it is limited to the female perspective.

Kauffman's early life bears much significance when examining her success in relation to canon of art history. Born in 1741, Chur, Switzerland, her father Johann Joseph Kauffman was a portrait and fresco artist, this male artistic influence is common for any notable female painter throughout history. For a young woman in the eighteenth century, Kauffman was provided with an outstanding education by her father in Como and Milan and was considered to be an artistic child prodigy. Perhaps this education contributed to her triumph as an artist later in her life, and serves as an example of how, given the chance, the talent that can manifest itself through women in art. She was fluent in four foreign languages; French, German, English and Italian and was adored for her talent in music and singing, a motif throughout her oeuvre. When she was only thirteen, Angelica travelled with her father to Milan, Rome, Bologna and Venice. During this time she painted Self Portrait aged Thirteen, (See figure 2) in which she exhibits her gifts in painting and music. 

At first glance the painting is perhaps slightly awkward, her face remains infantile, while she is dressed in the flamboyish and extravagant garments fashionable among women at the time. But at only thirteen this painting is quite extraordinary, showing her blossoming talent, consciously choosing a colour way of icy blues and pinks in pastel tones. This palette is reminiscent of Rococo paintings within the eighteenth century, parallelling works such as The Swing by Jean-Honore Fragonard (1767), (See figure 3) a great master of this period. Perhaps Kauffman took influence from artworks such as these on her early tour of Europe. As within many of her paintings, she explores within this self portrait the double message of self-discovery and investigation.   An idea usually reserved only for the male-centric world of creatives, but shown here as so competently understood by a girl of only thirteen. This study of development in techniques and practices of an artist are of chief importance when examining key artists in history, and therefore Kauffman would be a prime example in future modules.

Interestingly, this motif was revisited at the age of fifty in a painting recalling an episode in which she asked a priest for career guidance. Exhibited in her Self Portrait Torn Between Music and Painting (1792), (See figure 4) a dramatic rendition of her choice between her profession as a painter, a traditionally male dominated field, and her career within Music, a more traditionally feminine and accepted occupation. Within the painting, she gazes towards Music incarnate, gently grasping her hand in what seems to be a surrender to the easier employment. Music is represented as serene, flowers braided into her hair, an open songbook on her lap. Kauffman’s other hand is open in gestation towards the personification of Painting, as if reasoning with Music for choosing the less travelled path for a woman- art. The figure of Painting has an expressive look on her face, pointing to the far away temple on the mountain in the background, symbolising the difficult journey Kauffman has taken to achieve her prosperity as a woman in an eighteenth century man's world. Kauffman, through this self portrait has successfully uncovered a central leitmotif of twentieth century art - the exploration of being psychologically torn by choice, and the inner workings of the human psyche. While self portraiture beckons back as an insight into the eye of the artist, the psychological state remains a very modern and relevant subject today, even more so in the complexities of a woman's mind interlinking femininity and career. Therefore, Kauffman’s art stands as pertinent today, fundamental in the surveying of art history, as these concepts expand the knowledge applicable to our own lives almost one hundred and fifty years later.

Perhaps Kauffman’s femininity was her most notable quality among early historians, which seems to transcended her personal aura outwards onto her canvas - promoting virtuous learning and wanting to embody it. Perhaps Kauffman was so well versed in what it was to be a symbol of sensibility- an acute capacity to feel slight change in emotion and to be a harbinger of good taste- that she was shrewd enough to use this to be able to navigate the male centric art markets of the eighteenth century with her soft and gentle artifices. Maybe one could go as far as to say she played this role to build a career, to overstep the limits of the artistic genre of women at the time- restricted to still life and landscape. The German philosopher Johann Gottfried Herder described her as ‘A heavenly creature … perhaps the most cultivated woman in the whole of Europe.’ Using this quality to avoid the drudgery of a life painting fruits and flowers, Kauffman aimed for an exciting and lucrative career in history painting and portraiture. It is conceivable therefore that she became almost a tourist attraction to travellers while settled in Rome in 1762, she picked up an extensive clientele of English men on their Grand Tours wishing to be painted by the romantic ‘heavenly creature’, Kauffman, as a fashionable memento for their stop off. A fellow contemporary, the Danish Ambassador, even stated in 1781 ‘the whole world is Angelicamad’.

As to not to be in competition to her male counterparts, whose climate she did not have the chance of success, Kauffman’s art work almost became a kind of subgenre to the male dominated Hierarchy of Genres, using her feminine ways to paint in a new, sensible and introspective way. The importance of studying such an emblem of womanhood and femininity within the narrative of art history is apparent in the concept of sensibility, which changed the discourses surrounding art and literature greatly. Kauffman is so influential in the story of art that she was announced by the prestigious Weimar circles, who described her as a schone Seele (beautiful soul), she was, to them, the epitome of sensibility. This kind of notability is an example of the expectations she broke as a female painter, helping her to achieve a celebrity like status by fully engaging with the established taste of her era. To study Kauffman is to study the crucial idea of sensibility and the influence it had on Neoclassical artworks of the eighteenth century, she stands arguably as one the most influential artists of that time and is therefore should not be forgotten from future modules.

Kauffman made history in 1768 when she was featured among twenty-two men, as one of the only two female founding members of The Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture. Whilst it was most lucrative to paint her very successful portraits, by nature they used very little imagination, therefore as the only female history painter in the academy she had a chance to paint more daring scenes making Kauffman rudimentary in understanding the gender relations between artists at this time. The hierarchy of genres was a long held tradition, placing history painting of important events, mythological and biblical scenes at the top, and therefore only ever preserved for men. History painting was believed to hold the most prestige, due the knowledge and competency needed to both paint and, as a viewer, understand and appreciate the work, which would require both parties to be somewhat of a connoisseur. Kauffman’s education allowed her the privilege of spotlighting many of her most influential heroines of classical history, painting women, while ultra feminine, as the main character and the active protagonists. While Kauffman pursued classic historial scenes she recast epics as foregrounding women, often conveying a moral message, a cornerstone in the pursuit of sensibility. Cornelia, Mother of the Gracchi, Pointing to her Children as Her Treasures, c. 1785. 

 (See Figure 5) teaches the viewer an allegorical tale,  taken from ancient Rome,  indicated by the garments the figures are wearing. This painting illustrates one of Corneilias teachings; the woman painted in red is a visitor, who has come to be boastful of her expensive array of jewelry which she considered to be her most precious treasures. Cornelia, when asked to show her most precious treasures, humbly shows her children who surround her in the painting.  Kauffman dresses her in white classical garments, while placing the ostentatious woman positioned physically and morally below her in red clothing, displaying a furrowed brow and open mouth, highlighting the disparity between them in sensibility. The message Kauffman wishes to display is clear, the rejection of material possessions in favour of treasuring and nurturing children is one of the virtuous learnings important to sensibility and morality. This meaningful and beautifully executed painting is just one of many that Kauffman was praised for, however when  we explore deeper, we realise works as exquisite as this are undermined.

Notoriously, within Johan Joseph Zoffany portrait of The Academicians of the Royal Academy in 1771 (figure 6), which is best known for its portrait of Kauffman and Mary Mosen as appearing non-living entities, existing only as ill-defined portraits in a sea of men below. They are excluded from the life-class because the painting of nude men was an exclusively masucline endeavour. Figure 7, Design, shows how a woman in classical dress, resorting to studying busts of the Belvedere Torso as a way to understand the male anatomy, which intrinsically set her back from her fellow male artists.  Zoffany’s painting acts as a reminder that including women in anything seen as inherently masuline is tokenistic, and therefore is important to study to understand the position of women, even those anomalies of success, in eighteenth century art.  

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A critical reflection of my History of Art degree semester 1

This critical reflection will be based on the academic progress I have made in semester one. Using my personal experience and the feedback from marked essays, I will observe my own strengths and the skills I need to develop in future modules. I started this semester and degree with limited knowledge of Art History- while having a keen interest in galleries and museums, my restricted reading material caused me to be apprehensive of what to expect and the difficulties that I may face. After the first lectures that took place it was clear to me that had made the correct choice, the enjoyment I have found in studying History of Art is great.

However, these few months of lectures which have acted as a brief introduction to art history, particularly that of Western Art History, have exposed gaps in my knowledge. Historical events and the politics surrounding Art have become paramount in my studies. Conducting research outside of lectures; through books, documentaries and academic articles has enriched my knowledge. Dr. Roberts’ and Dr. Carroll’s recommendations during lectures, the stream of relevant emails and the links provided on the Key Module Information page on canvas helped to shape my understanding further. However, a better understanding of history from the offset would have placed my perception of the works or the artist within a contextual framework outside of what the course has provided, subsequently enhancing my interpretations of them. In hindsight I could have better prepared for my start in the degree by reading more books tackling context and history, rather than the technique of an artist which was my initial interest. Therefore, I have selected some texts to read as preparation for non-Western art next semester. However, through my considerable reading in the last months, I have became aware that the benefits of my attempts to purify the artistic context from misguided inferences about an artist’s life, can be outweighed by the reductive interpretations that such artistic criticism produces.

I initially struggled to negotiate my time between the workload for my degree and my obligations in my personal life. I have found my boundaries which I must complete my work within, and how to balance the number of hours I can dedicate to reading as preparation to my essays. By the process of trial and error I discovered I cannot comfortably work more than twenty hours a week at my part time job as a Sales Associate, and keep up with the academic work I have set out for myself. Delegating these working hours over the weekend and one day in the week has allowed me to focus my studies with in the rest of the days, uninterrupted. I also made sure to use the extra time, whilst on furlough, to devote more time to my presentations, poster and essay, ahead of the store reopening and the Christmas rush where I was required to be contracted more hours. The amount of time I had outside of lectures to do work was further exasperated by moving out of my current living situation during a pandemic, which took up a lot more time than anticipated. While I managed these situations to the best of my ability, I definitely will increase the intensity of my studies, now these issues are resolved, in the coming Semester. I look forward to dedicating myself completely to my learning and improvement in the coming months.

The way in which I take notes and study has also evolved through the first semester. The notes that I have taken I recorded by hand in notebooks, during the lecture and also from the recording of it afterwards. I kept them organized by numbering the pages and creating a contents page, so I could easily find a topic or Art movement. I also found it beneficial to create a glossary at the back of my notebook for the new meanings of words I learned, updating it after every session. On my laptop, I kept a google document of links to websites or articles I found on Discover that I found interesting or helpful to refer to later when writing essays. I will continue to hand write my notes as I believe the time it takes to write down the information and my own analysis, gives me the opportunity to retain and digest what I have learned. While these techniques where successful, I had some problems when writing my essays which I will improve next semester. I wrote the majority of my planning, notes and rough drafts by hand on paper, however there was no way of checking my word count, and therefore led to vast amounts of notes which weren’t as relevant my topic. When it came to writing my essay formally onto Word, I found it difficult to exclude these ideas in order to keep to the word count and to cite them correctly. Having to wade through masses of notes, unable to use the ‘Find’ tool as I would if I wrote my plan on Microsoft Word was frustrating.  Next semester I will achieve a more cohesive writing ability by using Word to plan my essays, as well as write them.

However, my far my greatest pitfall was my approach to referencing. While I felt I had picked appropriate topics for an interesting analysis, I grossly underestimated the importance of Harvard referencing. There was also some confusion around whether I needed footnotes or not, after being corrected that I did not, I thought this meant I didn’t need to enter any citation throughout the essay except in my bibliography. I now realise the importance of referencing correctly, for both a professional finish to my essays, and for their subsequent grade.

To conclude, within the first semester of studying History of Art I have made progress and took enjoyment in the knowledge acquired. Reflecting on what I have interest in through the broader introduction has opening new doors to areas of study more in-depth. Whilst I continue to refine my skills as I aspire to higher grades, improved writing quality and employability, I am pleased with the achievements I have made so far and look forward to the rest of my degree.  

[artreflectiveblog]

Marcel Duchamp Research

Marcel Duchamp had a bold ambition – he spent his life unconcerned with how to be a great artist, in lieu walked his own path, dedicating himself to finding the meaning of art and the artistic status. Perhaps his greatest contribution to twentieth-century art was the pioneering of the readymade. Duchamp gave life to this conceptualisation in the 1910s, and went on to make only thirteen ready-mades in his lifetime. The readymade is the theoretic idea that a selection of, or a singular chosen object, no matter how mundane or inartistic, assembled by an artist is then a work of art- as the artist declares it to be. Duchamp broke down the notions surrounding art that have been held for centuries through the development of his readymades. The concept of art as synonymous with skill and beauty was abandoned and the use of painting and sculpture that showed the genius in the beauty of creation, Duchamp disregarded as secondary or of no importance at all. Duchamp branded this traditional art form as ‘retinal’ – using this term to refer to the components that made a work beautiful; the aesthetics of the brush stroke or the colour seemed shallow to him, void of meaning. He replaced the assumptions that ‘good’ art had beauty, and ‘bad’ art had a lack of it, instead putting the concept the artist wanted to portray as paragon. (Cabanne, 1967)

Duchamp moved his work through the retinal boundaries that were previously established, creating a path that has remained influential more than one hundred years later. Duchamp did not just blur the confines of what is considered art, he quite literally reinvented the wheel. Bicycle Wheel (Figure 1) was his first and most recognized ‘assisted readymade’. The piece consisted of simply mounting a bicycle wheel upside down on a white, wooden draftsman’s stool, which he kept in his studio and spun from time to time for his own visual pleasure. The significance that the objects were bought or found, not created, and still declared by Duchamp to be artwork was ground-breaking. This notion of freedom may seem familiar to art critics and enthusiasts today, as readymade objects have become common place in galleries of contemporary art as valid forms of artistic expression. Credited to the readymades like the Bicycle Wheel, which set in motion the limitless and undefined question: What is Art? Duchamp in a later monologue explained;  

‘The word “art” interests me very much. If it comes from Sanskrit, as I’ve heard, it signifies “making”. Now everyone makes something, and those who make things on a canvas, with a frame, they’re called artists.’ (Cabanne, 1967, p.16)

 Duchamp revolutionised the definition of art ‘into a field where language, thought and vision act upon one another...heralding many of the technical, mental and visual details to be found in more recent art’ (Johns, 1968, p.109)This complex interplay of materials was often satirical, using word play combined with imagery as a commentary on the subdued seriousness of the art world which he distanced himself from. It is common for abstract meaning to be attached to readymades like the Bicycle Wheel (Figure 1). Interpreting the circular shapes of the wheel as correlating to that of the head of the stool, or the relationship between the spinning and static. However this is the opposite of Duchamp's intention - to call his readymades beautiful or meaningful would be the worst insult one could give. Works like the Fountain (Figure 2) or L.H.O.O.Q (Figure 3) seem adolescent, and reveal Duchamp’s sense of humour and ultimate rebellion against all that is considered proper or beautiful.

           Duchamp’s great ambition reconceptualization through his readymades, lay dormant for a while after conception. He took long breaks from the art scene to play chess and continued his life as a bachelor, only dipping back in from time to time. Duchamp was not a wealthy man, selling old paintings from previous years and being supported financially by his father often, vacillating between New York and France mostly. (Cabanne, 1967) He began his artistic career as a painter, for around a decade he experimented with Impressionism, eventually progressing into Cubism. His most famous painting is perhaps Nude Descending a Staircase No.2 (Figure 4) which was refused by the Salon des Indépendants in 1912. We can see his clear mechanical influence and occupation with movement within the painting.

‘I wanted to create a static image of movement; movement is abstraction, a deduction articulated within the painting … Fundamentally, movement is in the eye of the spectator, who incorporates it into a painting.” (Cabanne, 1967, p.30)

However Duchamp found little fulfillment in his painting, realising the fatuous nature of trying to become a great master in an oversaturated art world. Above all, he observed his own boredom in painting or ‘retinal art’, seeing through the superficial and forever changing standard for great art. ‘I think a picture dies after a few years like the man who painted it. Afterward it’s called history of art… Men are mortal, pictures too.’ (Cabanne, 1967, p.67)

The impact that the readymade had on twentieth-century art was massive. After decades of relative non-celebrity, Duchamp began to make several re-editions of his lost readymades. His work regained popularity in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s within the realms of Conceptual, Pop or Minimal art. Young artists such as Jasper Jones and Robert Rauschenberg became fascinated with the concept of the artist having the power to declare what an artwork is, with little need for craft or even hard work. An idea that Duchamp’s readymades pioneered;

‘With the latest Pop artists, there is less of that idea of distortion. They borrow things already made, readymade drawings, posters, etc. So it’s a very different attitude that makes them interesting’. (Cabbane, 1967, p.94)

These new contemporary artworks echo previous readymades from the 1910s such as L.H.O.O.Q (Figure 3) which alter Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, (Figure 5) to fit Duchamp's narrative and wit. This undoubtedly influenced later artists forty years later and even today, giving them the uninhibited freedom to proclaim their own ideas as art.

Duchamp’s presence in the art world continues to be felt today. Through his readymades and conceptual artwork, he destroyed the boundaries previously set by the traditional art. Duchamp’s readymades still have the desired effect one-hundred years later- visitors of his work that are unfamiliar scoff “I could do that” at the apparent lack of skill, or pretentious art critics attempt to assign meaning to a work that's very purpose is to be of objective and nominal value only. Duchamp’s work can not be analyzed and constrained in the same way as other art. He did not live for the art he made, it seemed to be a by-product of his life.

‘I don’t think any of the work I have done can have any social importance whatsoever in future. Therefore, if you wish, my art would be living: each second, each breath is a work that is inscribed nowhere, which is neither visual or cerebral. It’s a sort of constant euphoria.’ (Cabbane, 1967, p.72)

[artreflectiveblog]

John Everett Millais Isabella; or, The Pot of Basil

John Everett Millais’ painting Isabella renders a scene from John Keats’ poem Isabella; or, The Pot of Basil using a distinct narrative control. The poem was originally reprised from Giovanni Boccaccio’s medieval allegory; Decameron. As Millais’ first Pre-Raphaelite painting, finished at only 20 years old, Isabella holds major significance to the inception of the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood, whose engraved initials P.R.B proudly marks the chair occupied by Isabella. The movement is further embedded in the painting by the presence of the members of P.R.B, Dante Rossetti himself modelling for the man sitting at the end of the table, finishing a glass of wine.

Millais’ distinctive Pre-Raphaelite style encapsulates the catalytic moment in Keats’ Isabella, where the conniving brothers discover Lorenzo’s and Isabella’s love affair. Millais augments the scene through the expressiveness of the brothers faces and clear iconographic symbols that forebode their savage intentions. 

These brethren having found by many signs 

What love Lorenzo for their sister had, 

And how she lov’d him too [...]

When ‘twas their plan to coax her by degrees

To some high noble and his olive trees (ll. 128-135)

Millais uses an almost comedic irony, staging a snapshot in time where the viewer can see the brothers plot their murder and simultaneously the heedless lovers sharing a tender moment. The Florentine scene shows a lively gathering, with focal lines pointing towards Lorenzo offering Isabella a sliced blood orange. The brothers seethe with anger upon their realisation, while the other diners sit oblivious to the grotesque series of events that have just been set into motion. 

The extensive iconography used within the painting gives the same complex richness as the stanzas of Keats’ poem Isabella, or the Pot of Basil. Millais new-found Pre-Raphaelite style gives the otherwise flat composition a lively quality, using the same exact precision to paint each figure despite their relative anonymity. It is within these small details the meaning enfolds within the poem - a didactic insight into the danger of monetary greed and perhaps naivety in young love. However, the deceptively rich colours, sedated atmosphere and flow of composition are dominated by the insinuation of Lorenzo’s death. There is a poignant innocence in his expression as he offers Isabella a blood orange, unaware of the murderous brothers’ plots and the allusions to his violent death that surround him. In the background, a pot of basil taunts their unfortunate fate. 

Perhaps the most obvious iconographical foreboding is that of the hawk, ominously perched on the back of an empty chair, tearing a feather in its beak. Allusive of death, the hawk overlooks the unfolding scene as an almost omniscient entity. More disturbing still, is the white feather it shreds, symbolic of the loss of peace and faith. Millais’ dark symbolism of the hawk consuming part of itself is indicative of the self-inflicted destruction the brothers inevitably experience, having to flee Florence after the discovery of the grotesque head of Isabella’s beloved; emphasising their unavailing plan. 

The apprehension of Lorenzo’s death is further alluded to by the use of colour. The more astute of the brothers stares in pensive thought through a glass of blood red wine towards Isabella and Lorenzo, contemplating his execution. The distorted perspective of the glass reflects their inner deceitful intentions, and the poignancy of the crimson red colour creates a sense of definitiveness, as if the fate of the lovers has already been decided.  The indirect allusion of hatred by one brother is juxtaposed by the brash, violent motion of the other. Their aversion to Lorenzo is epitomised by the thrust of the brothers’ leg towards the dog, whimpering in Isabella’s’ lap - the dog signifying Lorenzo’s devotion to Isabella. This connotes the brothers' treatment of lower class, and their charging of Lorenzo, his leg extended, foot straightened in an accusatory point; ‘to make the youngster for his crime atone’ (line 55).

Adding to the chaotic scene is the salt cellar lying on its side, knocked over in violent commotion. Salt, a symbol of life, is spilled across the table foreboding the blood shed of Lorenzo. It is conceivable that Millais was referencing the religious significance of salt, which is chronicled many times throughout the Bible. Salt as a life sustaining substance Christ used to purify or punish sinners, for example in Genesis 19:23 ‘The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah’, a disobedient woman who is turned into a pillar of salt. It is ambiguously left to the viewer to decide whether it is the pre-marital lovers or the greedy brothers that are in need of punishment or redemption. 

The sweetness of true love in Keats’ writing is not lost among the symbols of death that evade the painting. Instead, love is accompanied by death;

Love never dies, but lives, immortal Lord: 

If love impersonate was ever dead, 

Pale Isabella would kiss’d it, and low moan’d.

T’was love; cold, - dead indeed, but not dethroned. (ll. 317-320)

Millais’ floral imagery of white roses intertwined in the arch above Isabella’s and Lorenzo’s head is emblematic of their pure and all-consuming love. The flowers in bloom express the beauty in new romance, but also the fragility of love, as their beauty and fragrance soon wilt away. The use of nature as a symbol of the transience of life echoes that of Keats’ poetry; ‘So sweet Isabelle by gradual decay from beauty fell because Lorenzo came not.’ (ll.134-136) Alternatively, Millais may have been using flowers to express the deceit within their shrouded love affair. ‘Even bees the little almsmen of spring-bowers, know there is richest juice in poison flowers.’  (103) Rather than a depiction of tragic romance, Millais may be using Isabella to tell a cautionary tale about the pursuit of doomed attraction. 

Lorenzo and Isabella’s secret are ultimately revealed through the central symbol of the cut blood orange that he tenderly offers to Isabella. The surface level connotations around the orange evoke images of passion and sweetness, and ground the scene in Florence. However, the dark emphasis on a cut blood orange is figurative of a decapitated neck, echoing Isabella's desperation in keeping her beheaded lover, and the price the brothers ultimately have to pay for their sin.

The guerdon of their murder they had got, 

And so left Florence in a moment’s space,

Never to turn again.- Away they went, 

With blood upon their heads, to banishment. (ll.454-458)

Therefore, Millais may have instead been expressing Lorenzo’s celestial quality, shown in his resurrection in the dreams of Isabella. Perhaps a reference to the European idea of a blood orange delineating resurrection and eternal life. Ultimately, Millais uses iconographic symbols to vacillate between life and death, a recurring theme illustrated by the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood and by Keats’ in his; ‘Love never dies, but lives, immortal Lord’. (Line 317)

[artreflectiveblog]

Critique of Marc Jacobs Oh, Lola! Advertisement in relation to Nabokov’s Lolita.

Marc Jacobs‘ 2011 advertising campaign for his Eau de Parfum Oh, Lola! depicts seventeen-year-old actress Dakota Fanning sitting with an oversized perfume bottle resting between her thighs. She is wearing a pink frilly polka dot dress and peers through her blonde hair with a sulky, wide-eyed expression. Perhaps the lack of explicit sexual imagery in this advert would not cause the same immediate offence as the conspicuous nudity plastered across the media today. Regardless, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) banned the advert under the grounds that the image ‘could be seen to sexualise a child’. Coty UK Perfume Distributor’s defended the advert, stating it does not include any ‘private body parts and sexual activity’. However, the source of inspiration for the image transforms the seemingly demure subject into a more implicitly sexual image. The oversized lid’s yonic imagery, combined with its placement, was deemed ‘sexually provocative’ by the ASA. Despite Marc Jacobs rebuffing the claims, the ASA ‘considered that the length of her dress, her leg and position of the perfume bottle drew attention to her sexuality’, which is problematic as Fanning looks under the age of consent.

Marc Jacobs' choice of imagery for Oh, Lola! closely echoes Vladimir Nabokov’s 1955 classic but controversial erotic novel Lolita. The advert contains a general, pervasive influence in the motifs explored in the book, however the campaign’s title Oh, Lola! is a direct reference to the following passage:

She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning, standing four feet ten in one sock. She was Lola in slacks. She was Dolly at school. She was Dolores on the dotted line. But in my arms she was always Lolita.

Marc Jacobs’ Oh, Lola! beckons Nabokov's character Lolita, a twelve-year-old girl who is raped by paedophile Humbert, under the guise of his infatuation. The chronicle of Humbert’s life reads almost as a cautionary tale; the strong moral implications of his fixation with the underage girl have tragic ramifications for both Lolita and Humbert. Whereas Oh, Lola! exploits the seemingly glamorous nymphet aesthetic to sell perfume, without concern for the consequences for the teenage customer or the more sinister audience who may encounter it. The advert is comparable to the text in not only the name - both Lolita and Oh, Lola! portray the female lead through a glance of male desire.

It is clear Jacobs was not attempting to shy away from his reference to Lolita’s dark poetics, ‘I know she could be this contemporary Lolita, seductive, yet sweet.’ This feeds into the aptly named ‘Lolita Complex’ which is prevalent in the media today. The sexual attraction towards prepubescent girls depicting them with erotic undertones - the nymphet - innocent yet seductive play thing, who men wish to corrupt. Despite paedophilia being considered one of the most condemnable and heinous acts, the moral obliquity slips through the cracks when there is a profit to be made. The media turns a blind eye to marketing campaigns like Oh, Lola!, which are rife with imagery of ambiguously young looking girls, a precursor to pornography. The genre of ‘Teen’ pornography depicts submissive, hairless, underdeveloped girls, often subject to sexual violence as more desirable than the clearly adult women. These forced ideals are detrimental to the development of a healthy sexual attraction among viewers of porn, and to the self-esteem of women who cannot fit into this archetype. Marc Jacobs Oh, Lola!  therefore begs the question; what has changed about the sexualised portrayal of underage girls since Nabokov's publication of Lolita 70 years ago?

[artreflectiveblog]

An exploration of Mark Rothko’s life, techniques and practices.

Mark Rothko’s development of techniques and practices chronicled a journey towards his later colour block artwork, which could be considered odes to the rudiments of human emotion.  Rothko was an American abstract artist, successful in his lifetime and still widely renowned after his death in 1970, leaving behind a sought after collection of 836 artworks displayed in private collections and museums throughout the world. His work gains the highest prices among the auctions of contemporary art, defined often by critics and admirers as the fathering example of Abstract Expressionism or Colour Field artistry. Rothko himself rejected these labels vehemently, insisting he was much more than this and that his works were his philosophies. Privately, Rothko wrote much about the effect of art and the artist had on society, recounting his own influences and the intentions of his transcendental pieces. These abstracts published after his death - taken from the mind of one of the most revered contemporary artists of the modern era - allows an in-depth study as to why he used unusual practices and techniques in his works. The roots of Rothko’s works are much more complex than the seemingly simple use of colour and shapes on his canvases, his obsessive readings of, and writings on; history, philosophy, the Masters of art, Modern literature and materialism, formed the training and development of his individual style.  Through this, Mark Rothko creates an experience for his viewers that relates to the fundamentals of being human. The duality of life: the pain and the pleasure. While not always in equal amounts on his canvas, the anguish and ecstasy intermingle as a true reflection of human existence. Rothko’s paintings are human emotion reduced to its purest form, the transformative large blocks of blurred layers of colour, instead of referencing nature or subject, create a vivid and intensely personal experience - his canvases are a mirror reflecting the soul. ‘The people who weep before my pictures are having the same religious experience I had when I painted them.’ (Rothko, Mark, 2006, p. 119).  

When examining the techniques and practices of Mark Rothko, we must first contextually inform ourselves of the impact his early life had on his later works. At ten years old, Marcus Rothkowitz immigrated from Daugavpils, Latvia to Portland, Oregon USA, with his family, his father whom he greatly admired, died shortly after their arrival. A young Marcus led an isolated existence during his formative years, the loss of his beloved father, of his home and country, and the dissipation of his Jewish faith isolated him. This seclusion from society likely developed the practices in his career as an artist, placing the deep emotional connection he felt with the viewer making them the epicentre of his works. He constantly infused his works with the feeling of loss, an emotion which unites all humans, striving to establish an intimate relationship for those willing to experience his work. The effects of longing for human connection, even that of the strangers, is shown in his seemingly doomed later life. This turmoil - two failed marriages, extreme psychological episodes, endless health problems from his chain-smoking and excessive drinking which contributed to his suicide, all seem to live within each of his works. Every one of Rothko’s work is intimate to his own life, they follow like an tragic arc, getting increasingly dark in their colours and forms, towards his last commission for the non-denominational Rothko Chapel before his death in 1970 (see figure 1). Fourteen paintings, which are a mass of darkness with some colour-hues, envelop the viewer. The paintings are a reflection of his deteriorating inner psyche, after finishing this commission, those close to him reported a major downfall in health. However, without the knowledge of the unhappiness that plagued Rothko’s life, completely out of context, the paintings still strike a poignant note in the heart of the viewer. This transcendental feeling summarised by philosopher Trevor Pateman.

Imagine, then, that someone enters the Rothko room at the Tate Gallery. Before they have focussed their attention selectively on any one painting, they find that they are affected by something-they-know-not-what. Their stomach muscles tighten, or they feel suddenly more alert, or a black cloud descends and alters their mood - and so on, through an indefinite number of possibilities. Suppose that the person now reflects on the psychosomatic changes affecting them, and comes to think of them in terms of human emotions, as being parts of sadness or grief or awe. And, finally, suppose that the person focuses on the paintings hung in the Rothko room and is amazed by their potency (Pateman, 2008, p. 1).

However, Rothko, despite his inseparable association to them in our minds, did not develop his so-called multiform paintings of rectangular shapes until the late 1940s. In the 1930s, he used his surroundings of New York City as the subjects of his work. Subway c.1937 (see figure 2), seem a life apart from his later works. Rothko did not begin his artistic experimentation at all until his late teens, but once it had begun, his art sustained him throughout his life. In 1929, he worked as a teacher at the Center Academy of the Brooklyn Jewish Centre, and drew great inspiration from the children's art he saw. He admired their deliberate misrepresentations and crude application of paint, they drew what they saw, not what they ought to see. From this, his techniques and practices developed, while never conforming to traditional modes of realistic representation, Rothko focused his paintings on street scenes and interiors with figures. Stressing the emotional approach characteristic to his work, whether considered great or not, (Figure 3  Underground Fantasy, c. 1940, depicts a haunting New York subway, the dull tones create a flatness of composition, the characters seemingly hide within the paintings. 

Their exaggerated bodies are part of the structural integrity of the underground subway, almost holding up the ceiling. The subjects seem confined by the walls, columns and ceilings that frame them, Rothko shows New York City as an eccentric place in which he lived. Within each of these early paintings, he tells us of the anecdotal lives of the passengers. The man reading the newspaper or the woman solemnly ambling along next to him are only indicated, they remain faceless, yet Rothko’s targeted emotion is still found. His technique inches further towards success in multiform paintings when he began to abandon his loose representations of human form. His imagery became increasingly symbolic in conjunction with the tragedy of World War II, which left society devastated and also fed the psyche of the artist. The heightened emotion felt surrounding these subjects of mass tragedy developed Rosko’s practices from images of his life, towards that of portraying emotion. Figure 4, The Omen of the Eagle c.1942, shows the formation of archaic forms and symbols, Rothko states "It was with the utmost reluctance that I found the figure could not serve my purposes... But a time came when none of us could use the figure without mutilating it." Rosko made the realisation that if art’s purpose was to express the tragedy of the human condition, a new idiom had to be developed.

During the 1930s, artists began a heated mid-century debate surrounding the importance of subject matter in art, trying to extricate themselves from realism and even representational art, while still defending their importance within the art world. In 1935, Artist Fernand Léger declared that subject matter was “done for” and that form and design had been freed. This greatly inspired the progression within Rothko’s oeuvre, perhaps giving him the encouragement to completely abandon form altogether. Even more salient for Rothko was Léger’s announcement of the importance of colour- ‘color has a reality in itself, a life of its own; that a geometric form has also a reality in itself, independent and plastic’. This idea is reflected in Rothko’s own writings later on, in relation to his own work;

I’m not interested in relations of color or form… I'm not an abstractionist." (colour is a vehicle to express )"basic human emotions—tragedy, ecstasy, doom… The people who weep before my pictures are having the same religious experience I had when I painted them. And if you, as you say, are moved only by their color relationships, then you miss the point (Rothko, Mark, 2006, p. 119).

The chronological development of techniques and practices that were born from Rothko's individual style are marked by his interviews and articles published during and after his life. Christopher Rothko, Mark Rothko’s son, explained his fathers reluctance to share his writings while still making his works of art, as he wanted a raw response to his works and did not wish to offer any written answers to what they should be feeling when immersed in front of a canvas. However, in 1958, Rothko gave an address to the Pratt Institute, in which he offered a ‘Recipe of a work of art - its ingredients - how to make it - the formula’ ;

 1. There must be a clear preoccupation with death – intimations of mortality … Tragic art, romantic art, etc. deals with the knowledge of death.

2. Sensuality. Our basis of being concrete about the world. It is a lustful relationship to things that exist.

3. Tension. Either conflict or curbed desire.

4. Irony. This is a modern ingredient – the self-effacement and examination by which a man for an instant can go on to something else.

5. Wit and Play … for the human element.

6. The ephemeral and chance … for the human element.

7. Hope. 10% to make the tragic concept more endurable.

(Breslin, 1993, p. 390)

         These elements of technique and practice to Rothko’s recipe of a successful artwork, while said in a tongue and cheek manner, ring true to many of his works. Rothko made himself unwell to achieve these notions in his own unique abstract way - not sleeping for days, his all-consuming work layering paint for many hours - to look at one of his paintings awakens a crisis within, therefore we must consider the detriment it must have caused to create one. While these are the combined ‘ingredients’ to create an art piece, there are paintings which exhibit one of these characteristics more than another. Painted more than ten years after his addressal discussing the ‘recipe of a work of art’, Untitled (Black on Grey), (Figure 5) created in 1970, shows his hypothesis. Painted the same year of his suicide, Untitled (Black and Grey) embodies the first ‘ingredient’ to the ‘recipe’. 

There is a ‘clear preoccupation with death- intimations of morality’ … ‘the knowledge of death’ is upon him, the vast black emptiness underlined by the depressing grey mass embodies the deep disponadance within. While there is abundance of the first ingredient of Death, there is little of the final seventh - Hope. Rothko has made little effort in this painting to ‘make the tragic concept more endurable.’ Gone are Hope, or Sensuality, the painting is rather a portal to nothingness, as if the fight has already been lost, ‘there is ‘no lustful relationship to things that exist.’ However, Mark Rothko is known for his colour, and his paintings were not always as doomed as those in his later years. Twenty years before his death he painted White Center (Yellow, Pink and Lavender on Rose) in 1950, (Figure 6) the colours evoke a Wit and Playfulness (ingredient number 2), an almost childlike in its composition of rectangles, gives the same significance but not the heaviness of his later works.

           The ultimate aim of Mark Rothko through his main body of work, the large multiforms of colour and shape, was to create a spiritual and transcendental experience. He consciously sought to provide an corporeal experience for his viewer through his techniques and practices. Rothko was very specific in his requirement for how his artworks were displayed, when he gifted The Seagram Murals (Figure 7) to the Tate Modern, he requested for them to be hung at a specific height, as to allow the viewer to intimately peer beyond the dense colours into the emotions they contain. Rothko’s works are not to be hurried past, instead should be meditated in front of.

(The artist) tries to give human beings direct contact with eternal verities through reduction of those verities to the realm of sensuality, which is the basic language for the human experience of all things’ Rothko, Mark, 2004, pp. 24-25    

The transcendent nature of Rothko’s works were important in relation to other artists. Rothko acknowledged the techniques and practices of those before him, who also aimed to capture the sublime through abstract art. Rothko made it a condition that the Tate Gallery would show his works next the British landscape artists, W.J. Turner, who also aimed to capture the same imagination and feelings in his viewer (Figure 8). The size of Rothko painting is nearly as important to the experience than the colours and composition he chose for the canvas itself. This practice adopted by Rothko of extremely large canvases, combined with bold colours, are successful in creating the transcendental experience enveloping the viewer.

I paint very large pictures, I realize that historically the function of painting large pictures is something very grandiose and pompous. The reason I paint them however … is precisely because I want to be intimate and human. To paint a small picture is to place yourself outside your experience, to look upon an experience as a stereopticon view or with a reducing glass. However you paint the larger picture, you are in it. It isn’t something you command. (Rothko, Mark, 2006, p. 74).

Rothko belonged to the introspective, moody and philosophical New York art scene of the 1960s, his turbulent life reflected in his later multiforms. Rothko’s perspective on life and art seemed to follow the pattern of creative genius, however eventually caused mental illness and led to him taking his own life. His work also followed the same trajectory, succumbing to the pain rather than the pleasure. His chosen palette of once vibrant, colourful and translucent shifts to darker, flatter opaque colours. To conclude, Mark Rothko radically changed the technique he used to make his art. His modernist artworks of his early life in New York City (figure 2), convey abstract composition arrangements to reflect architectural spaces, exploring the relationship the viewer has with the painting. This exploration is shown throughout his career, even in his last works of his life Untitled (Black and Grey) (see figure 5).

[artreflectiveblog]

SICKERT- A Life in Art Exhibition Review

To move through The Walker Art Gallery’s newest exhibition

Sickert - A Life in Art  is to essentially walk the path of one of Britain's most extraordinary artists, whose creative evolution spans nearly six decades. Walter Richard Sickert (1890-1942) was a German born, English Post Impressionist artist who produced an unapologetic body of work, gaining a reputation after his death as one of Britain’s most radical painters of the twentieth century. 

Sickert’s progressive approach to subject matter sought out those who were overlooked in society, being the first English artist to paint London’s atmospheric music halls during his early career, then later capturing his notorious naked women in his Camden Town nude series. (Miller, 2021, P.20) These artworks illuminated the underbody of society, shining a light on those kept in the shadows. Constantly honing his skill, Sickert challenged what his contemporary audiences found shocking and intriguing, and went on to influence British Avant-garde in the mid-twentieth century.  Sickert’s passion for authenticity and the modern world resulted in a kind of pure art form, capturing an enduring essence of humanity that relates audiences today to subjects who lived more than one hundred years before. Sickert - A Life in Art has been curated as an intimate exhibition - despite the large volume of works. Charlotte Keenan McDonald, Lead Curator of Fine Art, at the Walker Art Gallery, said; “He repeatedly reinvented himself, pushing his art in new and unexpected directions. He sought to combine a technical interest in painting with his conviction that art should reflect the modern world. Visitors to the exhibition will experience first-hand how Sickert chronicled Britain during a period of rapid change through an outstanding and uncompromising body of work.”  Each artwork also acts as a snapshot of Sickert’s personal life which seeps out from the thick layered oil paintings beneath.  The collection of Sickert’s work is the largest that has taken place in Britain for thirty years, boasting over three-hundred paintings and drawings, (Miller, 2021, p.5) allowing the public to re-examine Sickert’s contribution to British art- both then and now. 

E A R L Y   L I F E

Upon entering the gallery, Sickert’s sombre Self Portrait 1896 (Figure 1) both confronts and welcomes, overlooking the gallery as a precursor to what is to come. The gloomy portrait was painted at the height of his success, despite his unsmiling, forbidding expression. The combined muted colour palette exposes the true weight of his financial misfortunes and separation of his wife, Ellen, which overshadowed his success at this time. (Miller, 2021, p.13) The painting, like Sickert’s personality, is captivating and complicated. While this painting is outside of the otherwise chronological timeline of the exhibition, it effectively kicks off the outstanding retrospective. Interestingly, the self portrait is surrounded by Sickert's early years; his rudimentary first paintings Violets 1880 (Figure 2) and scratchy pencil sketches, Husum 1978 (Figure 3) The pairing of these artworks together anticipates the changes in his artistic ability - uniting the improved technique and meaning that he gave to his later works.

     T H E  M U S I C  H A L L   S E R I E S                                                                                                                                                                                                              Adjoining his early works are Sickert’s famous music hall paintings. Sickert was part of the vibrant art scene in London, where he became the apprentice of James Abbot McNeil Whistler for whom he owes credit for the inspiration of his earliest works. However, Sickert was not always an aspiring painter. As a young man, he pursued an acting career which ultimately was unsuccessful, but did inform some of his most acclaimed works – The Music Hall Series. (Corbett, 1998, p. 34) This sector of the exhibition spans across red walls, allowing the hints of colour among darkness to stand out to the visitor. Perhaps the star of the show is Minnie Cunningham 1892, (Figure 4) the vibrant vermillion red of the performer’s dress projects from the painting, surrounded by the same cherry-hue of the walls. Sickert found the beauty within the otherwise grim London scenes, which were at the time associated with heavy drinking and rowdy audiences of the middle class. His choice of subject perhaps influenced by the Parisian Impressionist scenes of nightlife and prostitution which were popular mong artists such as Degas and Manet. (Miller, 2021, p.18) These depictions of Music Hall paintings shocked the Victorian audiences, however despite the criticism that Sickert was bound to face, he engaged in the public debate surround politics and sex which undercut the modern society. Sickert's focus turned away from the performers in the later 1890’s, and focused primarily on the grand architectural spaces and the atmosphere among those in the audience. (Miller, 2021, p.32)This evolution is clearly marked through exhibition, using detailed information plaques and a simplified timeline, which is helpful for those who know less about Sickert’s life. It is clear from the outset of the exhibition that the intent is to simply and effectively display Sickert’s remarkable life and evolution as an artist in a sequential way-  as the name of the show would suggest. 

T I M E  S P E N T  A B ROAD

V E N I C E

Moving forwards into the next room introduces a new era of Sickert’s life, with travel and the time he spent painting in Venice and Dieppe explored thematically. Beneath an arched entrance, the audience is met with a series of cityscape paintings juxtaposing the dark and cramped interiors of the London Music halls displayed in the previous room. Sickert’s range of skill and technique required for such a shift in subject matter is apparent, Venice’s elegant surroundings allowed him to expand his collection of picturesque scenes. The first in the series of Venetian paintings shown is The Facade of St Mark’s Red Sky at Night 1895 (Figure 5) which is an impressive example among the many versions he painted of the same building under changing light. The dusty pink evening sky forms the background behind the vast building, gold brilliance bouncing off each of the crosses in the diminishing light. This exhibition places great importance on the influence Sickert’s environment had upon him, as well as the other great artists he had contact with.

D I E P P E

Another location that Sickert spent a prolonged amount of time at, and somewhere that proved to be fruitful for his career was Dieppe. Dieppe is a coastal town on the outskirts of Northern France, and was a social and artistic hub in the late 19th Century. There are two rooms dedicated to the collection of work he produced there, emphasising the importance to Sickert's career and the bridge Dieppe built between Britain and France. Degas, Blanche and Sickert became acquainted while working there, this expansion of social network exposed the flourishing artist to gain contact with Parisian dealers. (Daniels, 2002, p.59) Most impressive to the collection where the paintings that were originally commissioned by the owner of the Hotel de la Plage in Dieppe. To stand in the centre of the six large paintings, which have never been displayed together before, really gives a sense of what Sickert was striving to achieve. However, as the story goes, the Hotel owner was disappointed by the six paintings and they were never to be installed together until today in The Walker Art Gallery. Perhaps most favoured of the group is the painting Bathers 1902 (Figure 6) which was a unique take on Dieppe for Sickert, with no foreground or horizon and a sharp contrast between the striped red and blue bathers at leisure in the sea. 

    D R A W I N G S   A N D   S K E T C H E S

What sets this exhibition apart from the previous retrospectives displaying Sickert’s work is the expansive drawings and sketches that are part of The Walker Art Galleries’ Collection. Boasting over three-hundred pieces, The Walker has remounted the drawings in small collections in the same way that Sickert did originally onto canvas board. (Miller, 2021, p53) For the visitor, being able to view these fleeting moments of inspiration recorded quickly on scraps of paper, then being able to compare them to finished paintings, breaks down the artistic process and the boundaries set by traditional ‘painting only’ exhibitions. The glass encased palette (Figure 7) displaying his left-over paints is also encased in glass, as if he had just set down his paint brush. Sickert used soft graphite and black chalk to clarify the form of the figures and to help process the composition for the finished paintings. This cultivates a deeper meaning with the audience, bringing the master down to the basics of his creation. An excellent addition to the collection of paintings, Sickert’s paper collection displayed as he would have added an exciting twist to the exhibition.

  C A M D E N   T O W N   N U D E S

Sickert moved back to London from Venice and Dieppe in 1905, and made some of his most iconic works during this era of his life. He began to capture domestic settings, portraits of those close to him and their nudes. Sickert had a fascination with capturing modern life, the mundane day-to-day events in his paintings went against public taste. ( Miller, 2021, p.65) The evolving role women and the increase in sex workers was a taboo subject for his early Twentieth Century audience. Within his Camden Town Nudes Series, he focused attention on limited use of light, exposing instead a rose hued, purposeful portion of the naked woman. The gloomy shades in the cramped dark rooms create a sinister undertone, combined with the violent brush strokes which are perhaps symbolic of sexual violence these idealised women endured. While a twenty-first century lens may criticise the objectification of these women, there is some merit perhaps in the realistic portrayal of female anatomy, there is a brutally honest portrayal of women within the paintings of whom he lived among and observed. La Hollandaise 1906 is one of the more shocking and intimate of the group. The position of the nude figure, propping herself up on one arm with her face obscured is suggestive of her insignificance as she is just one of many. Importance instead is placed on her illuminated body and the transaction that is about to take place. 

 J A C K  T H E   R I P P E R

The accusation that Sickert was Jack the Ripper has been given much media attention in the wake of this exhibition. Tactfully, the room exploring this conspiracy has been left towards the end of the exhibition, despite it being one of the main focuses of the advertising campaign. The suggestion that Sickert was the notorious murderer did not come to light until the 1970’s (Daniels, 2002, p 58) long after Sickert’s painting career and death, and it proved to be impossible that Sickert was the culprit as he was in Dieppe during the course of the crimes. While the exhibition leans into a sinister narrative by displaying the paintings on black walls with writing ‘Murder is as good as any other subject’ large above the paintings, the rumours are cleared discreetly on a wall panel. 

 T H E R E S E   L E S S O R E

During the finishing walk of the gallery rooms, there is a space dedicated to artists other than Sickert who had influenced or been influenced by his work. While some of Sickert's portrayals of women may be controversial due to their violent imagery, the exhibition makes a case for the uplifting Sickert achieved of his female counterpart during his life time. Mentioned predominantly within the discussion of his woman-artist companion, his third wife, Therese Lessore. Sickert promoted her work long before their marriage, and like many female artists, Lessore has been greatly overlooked instead living under Sickert’s status. (Miller, 2021, p53) Whilst only a small portion of the exhibition discusses the vital role that women played in Sickert career, this honourable mention brings an aspect of inclusion to his otherwise white, cis male oriented exhibition.

 L A T E R    Y E A R S

The exhibition concludes with the later paintings of Sickert’s career  and his final creative period of work to conclude the chronology. The journey from Sickert's early, formative years through to the final decades is overall a moving and extraordinary journey. Especially since Sickert’s final years where some of his most successful, and much of his work was purchased for public collections. Despite this, a lot of this work is less favoured than his earlier pieces and the final room of the exhibition almost seems underwhelming because of this, just a blur of street fronts and street scenes. Perhaps this is due to the increasing reliance on photography that Sickert had developed. These images are often direct copies of images found in his day to day life, such as newspapers. 

 Over all, Sickert: A Life in Art takes its viewers on an interesting chronological tour through the shifting career and changing styles of the artist. The volume of the works exhibited leaves something for every viewer to enjoy and the sheer differences in technique between each decade creates an absorbing journey into one of Britain’s most famed artists of the twentieth century.

[artreflectiveblog]

Conclusion: My Experience With Contemporary Art

This blog - A Reflection on Contemporary Art- is a platform I have used to to explore the ideas surrounding contemporary art and evolve my preconceived notions towards the question: What Is Art? The theme and colour scheme I have chosen is white and black to emulate that of A White Cube Gallery,  the leading institution for housing Contemporary art. 

In conjunction to my lectures within this Contemporary Art module,  I have recorded my thoughts and feelings that my research has provoked.  By visiting outdoor contemporary artworks around Liverpool, such as the Ugo Rondinone: Liverpool Mountain, and reading books such as ‘How to write about Contemporary Art’  by Gilda Williams, and also visiting online virtual exhibitions including The Loneliness of the Soul exhibition by Tracey Emin,- I have broadened by horizon towards an art scene that seems to surround me in everyday life.  While my knowledge of contemporary artists and artworks has expanded, my definition of Contemporary Art, or lack there of, has not. Within the three months I have investigated  the subject, I have found no new answer; 

‘When considering what does Contemporary Art mean to me, I found no singular answer. To put a definitive label on Contemporary Art would contradict the nature of it, as it does not fit into any particular artistic category - there is no conformity to concept, the materials it uses or the way in which it is displayed. It seems to me that it is a shape shifting term.

However, there does seem to be one link that runs throughout all Contemporary art and artists. What seems to be persistent is the focus on the ‘concept’ relating to the time in which it was made - the relevance and the idea of a piece often being paramount to the aesthetic.’

[artreflectiveblog]

Marina Abramović - The House With The Ocean View

Performance Art in the last fifty years has reshaped the landscape of what is considered contemporary art. The temporary nature of performance challenges the notion of what constitutes as fine art, being contemporary and always passing meaning it is unable to be bought or sold.  An example of the most extreme contemporary performance art,  perhaps is that of a human being on display. Known as a ‘living installation’ which means that a person exhibiting themselves as the art work.  In 2002, Marina Abramović brought this concept to life with her performance- The House With The Ocean View, which took place in New York at the Sean Kelly Gallery.  

The performance consisted of her being confined to three rooms; a bedroom, bathroom and a sitting room. She was unable to eat or talk for the twelve days she was there, and a ladder of knives was placed below her she could not leave, and the outside could not reach her.  The ‘Ocean View’ referenced in the title, referred to where the audience would stand, for Abramović, the public were the view and the three white cubes she lived in was the house. She created a void of time in this space, offering an energy exchange for anyone who came to visit. The contemporary themes that a modern audience can relate to were explored, such as mortality. Abramović giving up her own comfort and privacy for the sake of art- offering up her own human life on display, gave audiences a poignant reminder of the connection between all humans, this contemporary piece uniting the artist and the public as one.

Marina Abramović The House With An Ocean View Photograph Sean Kelly Gallery Archives, New York. 

The visitor did not need to have extensive knowledge of contemporary performance art to relate to Abramović, meaning that this gallery may have met the challenge of making contemporary art accessible to everyone. I have found performance art to be an integral example of what is contemporary, it embodies the ‘here and the now’, each second that passes within the performance is a flash of the modern society. 

https://news.artnet.com/art-world/marina-abramovic4-announces-new-athens-based-collaborative-performance-project-409535

[artreflectiveblog]

Tracey Emin/Edvard Munch- The Loneliness of the Soul Exhibition

Contemporary ideas have always been constant through out Art History, as each new and exciting change, accepted or otherwise, develops our complex society.  The intermingling of pleasure and pain that unites the artworks of British contemporary artist, Tracey Emin and Norwegian Expressionist, Edvard Munch transcends the century that divides them. To (virtually) move through The Loneliness of the Soul online exhibition displayed in The Royal Academy of Arts, was to essentially walk the path of two discernible artists who, despite their obvious differences, unite in their contemporary artistic expression and their shocking exposition of personal trauma. The intimate virtual tour allowed for the first time, Edvard Munch and Tracey Emin to be shown alongside each other; the chronology of their lives and paintings running parallel along the gallery walls and exposing the stark similarities in the depiction of their naked women. When eighteen years old, Emin discovered Munch as the pioneer of expressionism, beginning a lifelong affinity with the painter, stating that she had finally found ‘a friend in art’. Despite the limitations of the exhibition being viewed through a video format, the paintings, sculptures and neons kept a constant, whispering dialogue with one another, amplified by the dark atmosphere of pointed lighting and the midnight blue walls of The Royal Academy. The audience is constantly reminded of Munch’s paintings created a century earlier, despite their modern contemporary themes which act as a haunting precursor to Emin’s later contemporary formative works. 

Tracey Emin, c.2014 More Solitude. Neon [30.5cm  x 115cm]  The Royal Academy of Arts, London

The contemporary mediums that Emin utilises includes Neon lights in the form of text. (Above) However, she also more recently has explored the more traditional medium of painting, incorporating her present thoughts and feelings. Emin’s Because You Left And This Is Life Without You- You Made Me Feel Like This (2018) shows a stretched out reclining nude, which is anonymised by smeared blood red paint over her face and between her legs. The careful composition of this violent imagery shown next to Munch’s Consolation (1907) vacillates chaotically between eroticism and shame.  Likewise, Emin delves into even the most painful experiences in the name of her art, exploring contemporary motifs within the human psyche of loss, vulnerability, sexuality and salvation. Perhaps the second most interesting difference between the artists, other than the time and geographical region that separates them, is gender. Munch’s women are undeniably scrutinised under the male gaze; although it could be argued that his ideas surrounding his female subjects should be considered contemporary and unusual for the time, due to the sympathetic portrayal of the opposite sex in his oeuvre. Nevertheless, they are, by nature, unable to reliably record the experiences of women due to the separation in gender and experience. Whereas Emin breaks this boundary as she exists within her nude paintings, she is both the creator and the subject, making her inseparable to the contemporary  art which she creates.

Tracey Emin in front of Because you left and this is life without you- you made me feel like this. Photo: David Parry

Edvard Munch, c.1907 Consolation, Oil on canvas. [89.5 x 108.5 cm.] Munchmuseet.

Emin’s My Cunt Is Wet With Fear (1998) white neon script shines through the dark gallery as a shocking emblem, grounding the viewer in the tumultuous world of the artist. The cancer that took over her body and that nearly took her life last year allows a new meaning to take shape under the light of neon messages.  My Cunt Is Wet With Fear (1998) takes on a layered meaning, a testimony to the traumatic experiences of Emin’s life as she explored the taboo and contemporary subjects of society today; as a rape victim, the physical trauma of an abortion she endured and later health complications in relation to her genitalia, she leans into her pain as an unapologetic display on the illuminated walls of the gallery. The blood hues of red that are found in a majority of her works reference surgery she underwent to remove her uterus, ovaries, lymph nodes, urethra and some of her vagina last year. The contorted bodies and obliterated shades of crimson simultaneously summon images of a crime scene, a birth, an abortion, surgery and sex depending on the psychological state of the individual contemplating it. The deep emotional response that their contemporary artwork evokes surpasses the limitations of being confined to a screen, being able to view these radical confessions of the human psyche in your own home brings new significance to the pieces. However, one must admit that not being able to move round the exhibition in the same way as would be possible in person limits the audience’s perspective. The natural gravitation towards particular works and the personal connections made in the mind's eye between Emin, Munch and their own life are taken away.

Tracey Emin c.1998 My Cunt Is Wet With Fear, Neon  [20.3 x 14.2 x7.6 cm]  The Royal Academy, London (Provenance : The White Cube)

The composition and scale of contemporary art is fundamental in cultivating a meaningful experience. Emin’s large scale canvases envelope the person standing in front of them, drawing people into her omission with fast lines, drawn out paint strokes, limited colour palette and blank faces. They are spaced out, each one demanding the undivided attention from the audience- a singular canvas taking up an entire wall in some instances. Whereas Munch’s smaller watercolour paintings are perhaps more ‘substantial’ and ‘complete’. The colour, the finer details and bold lines are purposeful. The paintings are divided into small clusters on the walls of blues, reds and yellows. Nothing is accidental with Munch’s painted sketches, carefully rendered to fit his expressionist depiction of his women. In juxtaposition, Emin’s painterly style seems erratic and brimming with emotion, her fragile self-image being projected all over the canvases.  For instance, Emin’s It - didnt stop - I didnt stop (2019), in relation to Munch’s Crouching Nude (1917-19); Munch’s nude passively curls into a fetal position, the continuous lines and watered hues of blues, reds and peach tones create a sense of peace. Whereas Emin’s seems active, a violent struggle of movement and harsh contrasting colours. Despite these artistic differences, his contemporary influence upon her is clear, the striking similarities of the form of her subjects in relation to Munch’s ’s in undeniable.

Tracey Emin c.2019 It – didnt stop – I didnt Stop Acrylic on canvas. [152 x 183.5cm] The Royal Academy, London

Edvard Munch, c.1917-1919 Crouching Nude. Oil on canvas, [70 x 90cm]  Munch Museum, Oslo, Currently at The Royal academy of Arts, London

Seen together, Tracey Emin and Edvard Munch’s combined contemporary portrayal of women within The Loneliness Of The Soul Exhibition at The Royal Academy of Art London, gives a profound insight into the complex nature of human condition. The constant correspondence between the artists through their artwork, as pioneers of what is contemporary in thier time, transcends the boundaries of gender and era that separates them. Emin ‘fell in love with Munch at 18 years old’, their unusual affair perhaps being one of the most influential in her artistic practice.  

https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibition/tracey-emin-edvard-munch

[artreflectiveblog]

Another Place - Antony Gormley

On the 20th of February 2021, I visited Crosby Beach in Merseyside to view the installation of Another Place by Sir Antony Gormley.  (Following the government guidelines and social distancing, with a member of my own household only.)  

Crosby Beach is a place I visited a lot as a child. The iron men that scatter across the landscape have been there for as long as I can remember, however until recently, I have not understood the meaning behind the bodies, or took much notice of them at all. In my search for outdoor, Covid safe contemporary art sites that I could visit to contribute to my blog, Crosby beach seemed an ideal place to expand my knowledge of the city I live in. 

Another Place consists of one hundred iron statues scattered three kilometres across the beach, and one kilometre out to sea. Each statue is made from cast-iron and is a life size replica of the naked body of artist Antony Gormley. The statues stand 6 ft 2 inches tall, and weigh around 650kg, stoically facing the horizon. First installed in 2005, and then made permanent in 2007, the sculptures have become a fundamental part of the beach, and since similar statues have been erected in Japan, Manhattan and Florence. 

Antony Gormley: ‘The seaside is a good place to do this. Here time is tested by tide, architecture by the elements and the prevalence of sky seems to question the earth's substance. In this work human life is tested against planetary time. This sculpture exposes to light and time the nakedness of a particular and peculiar body. It is no hero, no ideal, just the industrially reproduced body of a middle-aged man trying to remain standing and trying to breathe, facing a horizon busy with ships moving materials and manufactured things around the planet.’

For the first time, I was struck by the correlation the work could have to my own life. Despite walking past many times, and as a child, laughing at the curiousness of the naked man's body on the beach, there was something very grounding to stand between the men and look out to the horizon, watching some of them disappear into the sea in the distance. The beach became a place for meditation of the past year, the statues allowing me to stop and reflect. The work seems contemporary in more than one way, the corrosion and the barnacles that adorn each statue makes it so their appearance is constantly evolving, the organisms that live upon them have became part of the art. 

‘I’ve also been amazed at how many people have expressed to me the consolation or the use that they put Another Place to, either to deal with personal loss or to just as a place that’s there constantly in the changing conditions of the year, the sea, the sky, but also our moods, and that this work can become in a way a foil to or measure of our life course... It’s very encouraging and extremely moving when people find an artwork allows them, I guess, reflection and a place where big issues about what kind of future we dream of, what kind of pain we might have suffered, what kind of joy we might be experiencing, can in a way be associated with a bigger picture of life.’

Liverpool Echo Photograph 

All other images are my own.

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/whats-on/arts-culture-news/antony-gormley-talks-another-place-9533774

https://www.visitliverpool.com/things-to-do/another-place-by-antony-gormley-p160981

[artreflectiveblog]

Modern Times - A Virtual Tour

On Tuesday 2nd March, I explored the small world of online exhibitions through Sinta Tantra’s Modern Times exhibition, curated by Guillaume Vandame, shown at Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery. These 3D virtual tours have become a necessity in these restricted times, the Corona Virus pandemic limiting our access to galleries and museums, pushing us to adapt further into a digital age. 

Modern Times, Tantra’s latest exhibition has been transformed into an immersive video experience, which allows the viewer to ‘walk’ around the gallery at home, at their own pace, permitting them to zoom into the geometric artworks at their leisure. Sinta Tantra is a British-Balinese artist, her works consist of colour and playful geometric shape. My initial impression when entering the digital gallery was the floods of natural light from the glass ceiling above, illuminating the vibrant colours and angular shapes of the canvases in front of me. By clicking my mouse, I was able to advance through the space, the architecture of the building almost as if part of one of her pieces; the show was created as a site-specific installation of a building that was previously used as an industrial factory, the London Bridge space. The staircases leading to other works and the coloured windows and glass doors surrounding them acted as imitation of the vibrant sculptures, paintings and installation that it housed. 

BALI BIRDSONG (SUNRISE), 2020Tempera on linen120 x 100 cm 47 1/4 x 39 3/8 in

Design Exchange Photograph

Design Exchange Photograph

After exploring and gathering my first impressions of the exhibition through the virtual tour, I watched the accompanying video Modern Times with Sinta Tantra at Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery. This helped me to inform myself contextually, as not being physically there in some ways prohibited my experience. Sinta Tantra’s  Modern Times was inspired by the Charlie Chaplin film ‘Modern Times’. Chaplin expresses ‘a critical portrayal of modernity and the capitalistic system it revolves around.’ Charlie Chaplin, when making the film, was said to be inspired by his exploration of Asia, in particular Bali, Indonesia. In the video tour, Tantra explains the exhibition first begins with video footage of Bali taken in 1932 by Chaplin himself, these rare moments of natural life before the Westernisation of Bali are fondly remembered by Tantra and her family, but also admired ‘his presence felt on and off camera.’  From here, to inform my knowledge further, I knew I must watch the original Charlie Chaplin film ‘Modern Times’ on Youtube. It really helped me to understand Tantra’s work. For Chaplin, Bali symbolised a place that was anti-modern, the people’s lives revolved around dancing, art and community. The film juxtaposes this, representing the relentless life of living and working that, more than ever, our society glorifies. Tantra’s work commenting on, and transcending this contemporary topic, as a parable on the modernisation and urbanisation, that is still an issue 90 years later. 

‘From these people, one gleams the true meaning of life, to work and to play. Play being as important to work to man’s existence.’ 

Learning about the contextual significance of the space informed my knowledge of the exhibition further. The pink tinted glass I had noticed when I first explored the virtual tour, was in fact acting as a sundial. Tantra explained that she wanted to use the architecture of the building were when the sun shines through, to create beautiful pools of coloured light that cover the walls, floor and the paintings themselves. ‘As a viewer, you become aware of the sun setting from East to West and also the concept of Universal time.’ The series Modern Times is made up of mechanical looking paintings with shades of black, white and grey. The video allowed me to hear the sounds that cut through the exhibition space provided, the birdsong that is played as you walk around mimics a scene in the film, symbolises the sound of freedom. Overall, I found the exhibition to be a celebration of the experimentation of different materials and mediums, made in collaboration with local artisans. Sinta Tantra’s exhibition is poignant in today’s society, her contemporary work commenting on the modern, capitalist society that consumes the previously ‘natural life’.

BALI BIRDSONG (EVENING), 2020Tempera on linen160 x 180 cm 63 x 70 7/8 in

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7C_2nVVFAI&feature=emb_title  (Video)

https://kristinhjellegjerde.com/exhibitions/151/video/  (3D Tour)

[artreflectiveblog]

Ugo Rondinone: Liverpool Mountain

On Thursday 24th of February, I visited the Ugo Rondinone’s sculpture Liverpool Mountain, next to Tate Liverpool. The work stands over ten meters tall in the court yard next to the gallery, its fluorescent colours soaring above the heads of the public below. The large-scale installation consists simply of five colourful boulders stacked vertically on top each other, as part of his Magic Mountain series, poised between the natural state of rocks and the artificial colours they are painted. It looks almost gravity defying, despite the careless and random composition, the sculpture seems solid and transforms the surrounding space into a vibrant atmosphere. The work is inspired by the naturally occurring Hoodoos, combined with the meditative rock balancing practice. Similar towers have been created by Rondinone in Miami and Las Vegas, but Liverpool Mountain is the only one of it’s kind in Europe. The work was commissioned for the Liverpool 2018 programme, the project marking the 10th anniversary of Liverpool European Capital of Culture, the 20th anniversary of Liverpool Biennial and the 30th anniversary of Tate Liverpool.

(I visited the artwork following the Government guidelines, wearing masks, socially distancing and with a member of my household only.)

When approaching the Liverpool Mountain, I was struck by the overwhelming size and the vibrant colours. The overcast weather and monotone landscape of the browns and greys of the Albert Docks was disturbed by this mountain of rocks, nothing in sight close to matching its luminous quality.

“In Nevada, I wanted to make the mountains pop out of a grey and brown landscape. In Liverpool, I want to make them pop too. The city is so grey – it needs some strong, aggressive colours.”  (Ugo Rondinone, The Guardian, 2018)

Rondinone intended the artwork to be understood by everyone, as colour and stone are universal. This idea of inclusivity is something that could contradict the elitist attitude that Contemporary Art can cause, standing with the public as opposed to hidden within a White Cube. Its simplicity and the public nature of the rocks allows it to be accessible for everyone, you can walk right up to it’s rough surface or admire it from a far distance. Now more than ever art like this is needed, the Corona Virus pandemic that has affected the world over the past year has meant there is limited accessibility to art, the galleries and museums being closed under lock-down restrictions, instead, are scrambling to adapt to being online. While this work was created long before the pandemic, when I first viewed it in 2018, I felt indifferent towards it. However now, its meaning has been transformed through social circumstance. Not only is it one of the few contemporary pieces that can still be admired safely around Liverpool, the colour, joy and vibrancy it emits acts a beacon of hope in a city hit hard by the pandemic. The colours are playful and stimulating in a time mired by unhappiness. Two years after it’s creation, I feel the contemporary nature of the Liverpool Mountain has allowed it to be reborn again under a different light.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y81OJiom72Y

Image: Liverpool Echo 

All other images are my own.

[artreflectiveblog]

Eve Provost Chartrand - An Ode to Ageing

On Thursday 18th February, I attended a lecture by Contemporary artist Eve Provost Chartrand. Her work was powerful and struck a chord within my personal life. Chartrand is a visual artist living and working in Canada. She spoke about her series of works with great expertise, unpacking her seemingly complicated, strange, sometimes disturbing life forms into meaningful visual iterations of ageing that manifest in our society. Chartrand’s work stemmed from observing her parents experience degenerative diseases, where she ‘experienced first-hand how disabled and “disgraceful” bodies trigger unease, contempt and/or violence.’  The idea of ageing, and of my own parents struggling as they get older, often gets pushed to the back of my consciousness, scared to think of their old age despite the evidence of it all over their faces and body. Chartrand’s work forced me to face the notion of ageing that overshadows so much of our lives, but to ultimately celebrate and accept it. Her artwork caused me to turn inwards, as at only nineteen, old age seems like a distant prospect. Although, time sprints towards this inevitability, causing me to question whether the society I live within then, will condemn me as frail, forgotten and dismiss me as only a remnant of my previous existence? Chartrand’s work as the catalyst, I began my own self-reflection, her words forcing me to examine how I felt about the notion of ageing, and also how I treat those ageing around me. Within her bacterial landscapes she pushed me to consider the culture we live in that equates old age with disease and disappearance of self, but more vehemently, the need to resist this movement. Through her work she rejects the belief that ageing is ‘intrinsically defined by disability, ontological decay, and death’, instead, like the fungi and mushrooms that live on her work, ageing is regeneration, vulnerability and above all human. 

The ​conviction surrounding ageing, particularly that of women, is a contemporary subject. Our current society uses ageing as a stick to beat women with; the proliferation of products that are branded as ‘anti-ageing’, the praising of those who don’t look fifty or the glorification of celebrity women who remain wrinkle-less and therefore age-less. However, this is just the surface level of a society that worships the young. Underneath are the pressing issues that anti-ageing exposes; ableism, sexism and racism are counterparts to the movement. Chartrand’s work acts as an excellent example of the contemporary examination of today’s society. The focus of her work and research is primarily about the woman’s ageing body. She explored the implications of self-identity, allowing intersectionality to run throughout her narrative, not limited to the ‘White North American Woman’. A realisation that the people who have age related disability are confined, excluded and disembodied. Her thesis being;

What are the implications to self-identity and agency of current negative body constructs in middle-aged women’s lives? 

The most powerful artwork of Chartrand I encountered in the presentation was the series entitled ‘Is there anybody home?’ (2018). A collection of personal, physical mementos which hold emotional residence, embodying fleeting memories combined with regeneration of bacterial forms. Some of these works are accompanied by poems, fragments of her past emotion. 

During the lecture she boiled down her artistic process and extensive research into six steps;

1. Mise-en - Coming to terms with the ageing, demystifying the social sphere surrounding it. 

2. Data Collection - Visit thrift stores and rummage through her own personal collection, searching for a feeling or fragment of memory and begin to record the emotions found. 

3. Data Analysis -  Through ‘morbid abundance’ analyse the data collected through previous steps.

4. Creative Data Analysis - Begins the creation of the artwork and the collection of items become individual.

5. Summary - presents work to the public, considers whether the message came across. 

6. Cognitive stage - A reflection on work.

Chartrand explained that she swabbed the chosen objects, placing the bacteria in petri dishes and growing it into their own little life forms. This moved me greatly, the understanding that these culminations of bacterial life are living portraits of the people that they belonged to. It made me consider the belongings of loved ones that I live among, holding the capacity to once again become a bustling life form of the person they belonged to. The teacup of an ancestor or relative, or a piece of beloved jewellery, can be now transformed from inanimate objects into an extension of the person who once held them dearly. The ecosystems within Chartrand’s petri dish are as complicated as the complex relationships that stitch the world of living and dead together. Summing up the concept in her lecture so poignantly as; ‘Cosmopolitan entities that provide their own sustenance.’ 

All images belong to Eve Provost Chartrand. 

Eve Provost Chartrand Website- https://www.eveprovostchartrand.com/

Is there anybody home? Specimen #3 : A teacup 2018 Eve Provost Chartrand

Is there anybody home? Anything lived into long enough becomes and orchard. 2018 Eve Provost Chartrand

Is there anybody home? Specien #5 : A Hair Brush. (Detailed) 2018 Eve Provost Chartrand

[artreflectiveblog]

An Introduction to Contemporary Art

This blog is dedicated to my experience surrounding Contemporary Art as a first year undergraduate student at Liverpool John Moores University. Throughout this assignment I will use this blog as a platform to record my expanding knowledge of Contemporary Art through the module lectures, in conjunction with my own experiences and research.

My name is Eve, my pronouns are she/her. I am nineteen years old, living in Liverpool. 

What does Contemporary Art mean to me?

When first considering what does Contemporary Art mean to me, I found no singular answer. To put a definitive label on Contemporary Art would contradict the nature of it, as it does not fit into any particular artistic category - there is no conformity to concept, the materials it uses or the way in which it is displayed. It seems to me that it is a shape shifting term.

However, there does seem to be one link that runs throughout all Contemporary art and artists. What seems to be persistent is the focus on the ‘concept’ relating to the time in which it was made - the relevance and the idea of a piece often being paramount to the aesthetic. 

My Experience with Contemporary Art

My first glimpse into the Contemporary Art world was not a positive experience. Like a large group of the general public, I did not always have interest or perhaps the respect that I do now for the seemingly elite group of art, artists and galleries that are branded as ‘Contemporary’. Growing up in a non-artistic, non-academic background, there was a general consensus that there was ‘good’ and ‘bad’ art. The ‘good’ art was that which showed great technical skill and ability, something that only those most gifted could produce; the ‘bad’ was ugly, hard to understand and pretentious with no rationale for being so -Contemporary. When I initially became interested in art, I began to visit Contemporary ‘white cube’ galleries and I felt fraudulent standing there, silent, contemplating a work, which truthfully, I could not cultivate a deep or meaningful relationship with. Contemporary artwork felt very inaccessible to me, I felt left out of the secret, as much as I wished to be initiated in the club. 

However, over time I broadened my horizons. I was struck so forcefully by my discovery of leading Contemporary artist of the 20th Century- Jean Michelle Basquiat. For me, this was the beginning of my own exploration of the Contemporary Art world. Basqiuat’s raw and intense excitement shown in his paintings, drawing and graffiti spoke so clearly of the social injustice he experienced. The narrative of those marginalised shown within each scribble, clashing colour and line, attacking the structures of power and and speaking of his experiences within the black community in New York in the 1980’s. The relevancy is still felt so much today, transcending the time in which it was made.  

Bird on the Money (1981) Jean-Michel Basquiat 

Acidquiat (1980) Jean-Michel Basquiat While Basquiat was the first Contemporary artist that sparked my interest, my most recent curiosity is with Felix Gonzalez-Torres. More specifically, the work Untitled (Perfect Lovers) which consists of two battery operated clocks, set at the same time and are placed touching on the wall. At the time of conception of the piece, both Gonzalez and his boyfriend Ross Laylock were dying of AIDS. Gonzalez said that creating the work terrified him, he used it as a way to face up to the fleeting time he had left both with his love, Ross, and of his own life. The idea being that the clocks would eventually go out of sync (as lovers do) and eventually one would stop completely. This work, without any painting or particular skill exists only as a concept, still so poignantly expresses the meaning which all humans can relate their lives to - a  great reflection of the transience of life. Another work that fascinates me by Gonzalez is (Untitled) Portrait of Ross in L.A. which was recreated a series of times. This installation is a pile of colourful wrapped sweets, which the public are encouraged to take away with them. Dimensions vary with installation however it ideally weighs 175lb, which was Ross Laylocks weight when healthy. The concept being the depiction the effect AIDS had, causing the decline of Ross’ health over time, reflected in the diminishing sweets - it is as if the viewers are taking a piece of Ross Laylock away with them. 

(Untitled) Perfect Lovers  (1991) Felix Gonzalez-Torres

(Untitled) A Portrait of Ross In L.A. (1991)  Felix Gonzalez-Torres

A love letter from Felix Gonzalex-Torres to Ross Laylock (1988)