Existential Silence: Youthful Faces Before Futurity
In Being and Time, Heidegger suggested that “futurity,” the temporality of time, is the most fundamental level of existence, hence “fundamental ontology.” Traditional ways of portrait art, no matter painting, sculpture, or photography (as technology advanced in the 19th century), all capture a static moment. This static moment, a silent presence, however, has different levels of anticipation of the future in it. The artist is looking forward to the finish of the work. The sitter is looking forward to the re-presentation of themselves, and the piece is looking forward to being preserved and presented to later generations. In these levels of futurity, they are having their existence of their images being preserved for the future.
Cultures usually portray older people with wisdom, thoughtfulness, and solemness considering the future (because of their imminent death). However, in a sense, younger people, on their faces, reveal different yet equally interesting encounters with the future. In the following curation, I want to present different forms and contents of the silent faces of young sitters. Before their faces, we may contemplate on the different ways young people may reveal interesting and different ways in their static yet temporal existence.
Albert (René) Grenier
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
1887
Oil on Wood
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, United States of America
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec is best known for his posters. However, he is also an equally talented painter. His portraits are best known for his sharp insight in painting out the hidden qualities of the sitters. In this particular portrait, Toulouse-Lautrec painted his friend and host Albert Grenier. With the impressionist/post-impressionist philosophy, Toulouse-Lautrec gives up refined details and realistic background for emotional expressions through brush strokes and non-representational background. The blue eyes draw the attention of the viewers. With his sealed lips, the young professional painter is looking straight into the future.
Lewis Carroll
Oscar Gustav Rejlander
1863
Albumen silver print from glass negative
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, United States of America
Oscar Rejlander is one of the first artistic photographers in history. After his attempt to mimic the thematic paintings with Two Ways of Life, Rejlander turned his attention to depicting the nuances of the human countenance. Photography, different from painting, has the advantage of recording the sitter authentically. In this photograph, Rejlander photographed his friend and fellow photographer, Lewis Carroll, who is also the author of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
Marble Head of a Hellenistic Ruler
Unknown Artist
1st to 2nd century CE
Medium: Marble
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, United States of America
Greek sculptures aim to depict the ideal body. Rome. while heavily influenced by Greek arts, inclines to have a more realistic touch on sculptures. This sculpture contains both Hellenistic idealism (his perfectly proportioned face) and Roman realism (his hair). Time has left marks and scars on this sculpture, adding to another layer of time on this silent face of a young ruler.
Young Abyssinian Girl
Charles Cordier
1866
Bronze with black and brown patina, pedestal in yellow marble
High Museum of Art, Atlanta, United States of America
Charles Cordier aims to use statues to present the beauty of different ethnicities and cultures. Under such an aim, he also used materials creatively to depict different kinds of color and texture. This particular sculpture, however, reveals more than simply beauty. Sometimes named as “slave girl,” her tears and her non-present arms indicated her passive and unfortunate situation. Many uncertainties and tragedies seem to be before her.
Portrait with Red Chair (Mrs. A. S. Baylinson)
Homer Boss
1920
Oil on Canvas
Hunter Museum of American Art, Chattanooga, United States of America
The sitter occupies most of the space on canvas. Her posture, however, indicates that she is not very confident or comfortable. Compared to her closed body position, the seat she sits in is open, to an extent that feels unnatural and reminds us of Cezanne’s Still Life with Baskets of Apples. This invites the viewer to explore the painting from different perspectives. Nevertheless, she is defensive from the viewer no matter what angle the viewer sees her. Her eyes look beyond the presence, and no matter what she is seeing, she does not feel comfortable with it.
Seated Peasant Woman
Camille Pissarro
1882
Oil on Canvas
High Museum of Art, Atlanta, United States of America
Different from Boss’ painting, the young woman sitting on the chair seems relatively calm and related. Under the peaceful surface, however, Pissarro’s impressionistic brushes and the woman’s eyes and lips indicate more is happening. Her hands have been red, probably due to her hard work. Her face, however, is still relatively young and beautiful. She sits in between the hopeful past of a girl and the solid future as an adult peasant woman, and at this moment, she is happy to dwell in this tumult under a restful hour.
Portrait of Annie Lee
Julia Margaret Cameron
1864
Albumen print
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
Julia Margaret Cameron is a friend and contemporary of Rejlander. Malcolm Daniel commented that her photographs have a “powerful spiritual content.” (https://www.metmuseum.org/essays/julia-margaret-cameron-1815-1879) In this full-of-movement picture, the young sitter anticipates the future viewers. In this anticipation, she stares back at the beholder both in resoluteness shown in her lips and uncertainty revealed by her hands. In her silence, she is both passive in this dialogue with her future beholders and at the same time actively presenting her existence before them.
Convent Thoughts
Charles Allston Collins
1850-1851
Oil on canvas
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
The nun looks at a passion fruit, which is a symbol of the crucifixion of Christ. While Collins was not a member of the pre-Raphaelites, the minute details indicate the influence of the movement. In many ways, this painting points us to the past: contemplation about Jesus Christ, monastery lives, and reacting to Raphael’s artworks. However, in this pointing back to the past, it is also very obvious how it is being-towards-the-future. The more we dwell before this painting, the more details we will discover about it. In this process, we joined the nun in a journey towards the future of discovering the past.
References
Heidegger, Martin. Being and Time. Translated by John Macquarrie and Edward Robinson. Blackwell, 1962.
Levinas, Emmanuel. Existence and Existents. Translated by Alphonso Lingis. Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1978.
No comments:
Post a Comment