“And who is so
barbarous as not to understand that the foot of a man is nobler than his shoe,
and his skin nobler than that of the sheep with which he is clothed.” -
Michelangelo
The
female nude, also known as the Venus, has been prominent throughout the history
of Western art. Fascination with the nude dates back to Greek and Roman
antiquity, while mastery of the nude continues to be an indication of a well-trained
and distinguished artist. The nude form has always been something that grips
and entices us as human beings. While containing an inherent sense of beauty,
loveliness, and dignity the nude has been admired over centuries and continues
to marvel the viewer to this day. While culturally reflecting a sense of sensuality
and seductiveness, the nude also possesses a purity of form and is the
embodiment of true rationality. In Florinda, Franz Xaver Winterhalter depicts a personal and sensuous scene of nude women lounging in
the woods which is a classical composition of the nude during the 19th
century. The 19th century was characterized by Victorian ideas of romanticism
and pure sensuality. This expressed itself in many forms of art including
painting, music, and theatre. Narratives were full of exaggerated romanticism
and emphasized Victorian ideals of chivalry and chastity. Art was a medium that
brought these over romanticized stories to life and allowed the viewer to
partake in the story in a new way. Modernization and the Industrial Revolution
at the beginning of the 19th century led to a change in thought and
world view; these new ideas also caused a shift in the way that artists pursued
their work. Throughout the 19th century while many artists continued
to reference antiquity in their presentation of the nude, new artists were beginning
to use new techniques and blend different ideas in their artwork which began to
challenge the limits of the nude within academic art.
Florinda,
Franz
Xaver Winterhalter, 1853, oil on canvas, 01.21
In
this artwork Winterhalter depicts a sensuous scene of half-clothed women
creating a new perspective for the classical nude. The ideal forms of the women
and the luxuriously smooth brushwork creates a tie to classicism and antiquity.
However, the sense of location and narrative brings a fresh twist to the nude.
As the centerpiece of this exhibition we are drawn to see how Winterhalter is
using the classics and tying it with pieces of modernity. Winterhalter takes
the Victorian ideas of the 19th century and overlaps them with
antiquity. This draws us into a new idea of how modern thought and technique
were challenging and shaping the classical legacy of the ideal nude.
Musidora,
Thomas Sully, 1813-35, oil on wood, 21.48
Musidora
is the only nude that Thomas Sully paints during his lifetime. This artwork envelops
the essence of a Victorian nude, the piece creates a perfect balance between
the chaste and erotic. Much in the same way that Florinda tells a narrative Sully does so with this piece. Musidora is inspired by James Thomson’s
poem Summer (1727). Another similarity is how both artists incorporate the
audience into the scene as an onlooker, in Musidora
however the viewer plays the role of Damon who discovers Musidora bathing and
falls in love with her. This piece simultaneously references classical
antiquity and the modern values of the Victorian time period.
· Seated
Female Nude, Eugène Durieu, 1853-54, albumen silver
print from glass negative, 2005.100.41
Durieu
was a practitioner of photography, a recently new invention, in France who
created a series of photographic studies of nudes and other costumed figures.
Durieu elicited the help of a romantic painter, Delacroix, who helped him pose
figures for his photographs. In his photography, Durieu desired to do more than
make just a copy of reality but create an expression of the photographer’s
temperament and vision. The pose of this woman alludes back to the Grand
Odalisque by Ingres. The Seated Female
Nude presents a perfect combination of the nude’s sensuality mixed with
classicism in a modern medium of the 19th century.
The White Captive, Erastus Dow Palmer,
1857-59, marble, 94.9.3
The
White Captive is a genuinely American
piece and alludes to the many skirmishes between the Native Americans and the American
pioneers. This piece pushes the legacy of nude classicism into new and fresh
contexts. This marble sculpture recalls classical antiquity and creates a
glamorized narrative for the audience. Much like Michelangelo’s David, Palmer strips down the woman to
the nude but leaves a few indications of her place in a narrative. Thereby,
Palmer is stretching the boundaries between the naked and the nude just as many
before him have done. The White Captive
uses the nude in a new context and ties this to classical antiquity, reflecting
how America, a new nation, is rising and trying to establish their own
prominence and solidarity.
Bathers,
Paul Cézanne, 1874-75, oil on canvas, 1976.201.12
Paul
Cézanne was a French painter who was part of the Post-Impressionism art
movement. Cézanne took a more scientific approach to his work than the
Impressionists before him and focused on creating works that were about
perception and materiality. In this work Bathers,
Cézanne depicts a group of women bathing in a river, one of his first works
focused upon bathers. However, the subject of bathers became an important focus
during the rest of Cézanne’s career. In this piece we can see how Cézanne understands
the female nude, but also how he molds it to fit into his vision and purpose.
Unlike other classical nudes, Cézanne does not finely smooth and blend the body
to create a life-like fleshy, soft figure; instead Cézanne uses more unnatural
colors that seem rough while creating a dynamic and angular feel about their bodies.
Cézanne is one of the many artists in the 19th century that began
pushing the boundaries of the classical nude and used the nude in new ways
challenging the viewer to see them in a new light.
The
Birth of Venus, Alexandre Cabanel, 1875, oil on canvas,
94.24.1
Alexandre
Cabanel, an established French painter, first presented this well-praised nude The Birth of Venus in the Paris Salon of
1863 which was deemed “Salon of the Venuses” because of how many female nudes
were displayed. This is a smaller replica which was later commissioned by John
Wolfe in 1875. Cabanel took a more academic and classical approach with his nude
in which he emphasizes the sensuality of the nude through use mythological
subject and finely smoothed brushwork that creates an otherworldly feel. The Birth of Venus also recalls other famous
nudes which came before such as Botticelli’s Birth of Venus. Unlike Cézanne, Cabanel adheres to antiquity
instead of pushing into new boundaries. The alluring nature of Cabanel’s nude
plays on the romantic narrative that was praised during the 19th
century while also embodying the sensuality and purity of classical nude
ideals.
Tahitian
Women Bathing, Paul Gauguin, 1892, oil on paper, 1975.1.179
Paul
Gauguin was another Post-Impressionist painter like Cézanne; Gauguin however
took a more emotional approach to his work. He thought there was too much
rationalism and modernism in Impressionist painting. Gauguin was also an advocate
of primitivism and was captivated by the idea of unexplored places and
authentic people untouched by modernity. This was expressed in his many trips
to Tahiti and other Polynesian Islands. In Gauguin’s Tahitian Women Bathing, the viewer can see his adoption of
non-western art as a criticism of European modernity and how he creates a hyper-sexuality,
superstitious feel. The use of unnatural colors and the posture of the female
figures build upon this sense of the primitive and wild authenticity that
Gauguin praises. Gauguin’s Tahitian Women
Bathing is more sexualized and untamed than previous nudes; it poses a challenge
to the classical history of the nude while also questioning its purpose in art
much like Édouard Manet’s Olympia.
Bather
in the Woods, Camille Pissarro, 1895, oil on canvas,
29.100.126
Pissarro
was a French painter at the end of the 19th century and this piece, Bather in the Woods, is one of a number
of his pieces in a series of nude peasant women bathing. Pissarro’s creation
shows the influence of divisionist technique, a Neo-Impressionist style, while
also being naturalistic in nature. The painting all at once seems full of
energy and movement but is also serene and peaceful. The nude as depicted in
this different style of painting envelops a new style itself, a more vibrant
and uncharacteristic nature. While deviating from the classical and painterly
nudes such as Musidora and The Birth of Venus, Pissarro maintains a
peaceful and sensual nature. Pissarro explores the nude through the use of
different painterly techniques and represents the nude in a slightly different
style than before.
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