art in context - the figure and body in art

Well as a class we talked and looked over a power point about the figure and body in art.

Some of the questions asked : Why do artist's make images of themselves and others?

Thinking back to the cave painting of hands. way back in the caves of  Lascaux - France. Why did the people or artist's feel the need to create such works? For pleasure or outta boredom? To show their worth, in honor of the people and culture, or to ask for more of these images in real life? To pray and ask the gods for more?

I guess we will never truly know and while many theories have been written, I like to think that the compulsion to create is and always has been part of man. I'm not studying art and design for the money, but to satisfy something I had always felt was missing inside me.

Question is will I ever feel I've learned or have enough knowledge? I hope not, I'd like to think that in this day and age, (internet resources, new technologies,  ones own opinions etc) that I will always want to learn and better my own self worth.


Self-worth - How has society and cultures impacted on how we see the body/figures?



Throughout the Baroque era, artwork became full of strong colour, movement, drama and theatricality, through the work of masters such as Caravaggio, Bernini and Rubens, the style became popular across much of Europe.  The Flemish painter Rubens won many commissions from the Catholic church during the reformation.

The females he painted were of a larger size. This is thought to represent wealth, health and  prosperity as the general population struggled with food shortages and famine.  Beauty was all about the Rubenesque figure. Big is beautiful. But not in the way we see it today, the truth being that many painters in his day did draw and paint from the ideals of the Greek and Roman sculptures or the in the style of the perfect figure (male/female). Rubens being religious wanted to capture real people and the anatomy, when god chose between the saved and the damned the fact of who was fat or thin for Rubens didn't matter. It was what was inside that was judged.  He was far more concerned with questions of faith and eternity.

ruben venus at the mirror

Venus and Adonis rubens

The fertility of the earth Jakob Jordaens 

Lucas Cranach the Elder cupid complaning to venus

Being 35 I feel very strongly that my own ideal of the perfect figure has been sculptured in my upbringing! For years and before social media I grew up in a small town and think that many felt the need to conform to the same thinking as many of the other people my age or older. In my younger years nobody gave the younger generation a voice and I feel I went along with the social conditioning and played/ behaved according to what was socially acceptable or the conventions or standards. For years I guess women's figures have been changing, thinking back to the fashion of the 1920's and the flat dresses and slim line shape, to the 1980's when aerobics was great exercise for the body conscious and big everything else.

1920's fashion

1920's fashion

1980's

1980s

1980s

1980s

In class I felt the younger students seemed more confident within themselves, more sure of the facts of what each one believed. Having they own voice and open to debate. I felt two things during this conversation, 1 - jealously of them knowing what they thought and believing whole heartily in what they were discussing.  2 are they naive -  the standards of the past will always come back into place, this everyone has a voice etc is just another farce that lets people think that they opinion matters or that things are changing? Hell things haven't changed for years!

Elizabeth Zvonar - collage artist

People wanting more like in the cave painting of the horse's and buffalo in France, if they were asking for more than they needed? Once they got more of what they wanted do you think the people would have been happier? Or would they have just began to take everything for granted and moved on to more challenging game or resources? Are we ever happy?

Diet and the perfect figure - In different countries the ideal women differs from country to country. What does make someone beautiful?

Renoir 

Asking my teenagers this question of what makes someone beautiful the was interesting, one described the women of being - slim model like with bobbed red hair (not ginger) freckles and a gap in the front teeth! Reminded me of the Renoir image above.

But put in a search for red hair women with gap teeth and this image is what comes up!  happiness lives here I think. picturesque background smiling with red hair and freckles.

 The other (boy) said curvy shape but not too big, blue eyes and wasnt sure if hair colour mattered as it was a personal preference!

My neighbour (female 50+) thinks that the singer/artist Pink is the ultimate ideal of a women. her so called girl crush.

pink

pink

well that's most of us buggered and you'll understand this if you've been to a swimming pool full of families lately! truth is Rubenesque is what I would describe most females nowadays.

joan semmel

When I was the stereotypical perfect slim size, I still wasn't happy! don't get me wrong I was happier fitting perfectly in to any garment I liked, but mentally I wasn't truly happy and still could find faults. Comparing myself with others and wishing something was different. Its tough being human! Men have these stereotypes to live up to also, and this something that comes from the past. Not to show emotion and to MANage mental health alone for fear of judgement. Romans and strong men going to war, tough and hard working men supporting families etc. The David of this time.

Remembering my aunt dying in the hospital bed non of that matters, and yet after realising this my mind still goes back to its conditioned way of viewing the world we live in. Very sad really!
Truth is I prefer to draw a fuller figure over a hinner odel. I enjoy the curves and the mapping of the areas. Yet to be able to see the beauty in myself I struggle.

For me this is the closest the artist's old and comtemporary have came to capturing my idea of beauty

joan semmel

Diego Velazquez

Is beauty only skin deep? Maybe rubens faith and views were correct after all..  I'm not sure I've addressed these questions correctly or spoke enough about the art in general enough... but it has been a starting point for my studies and more questions to address down the line.. I also feel I didn't address the male side of this argument...next I will look at male drawing females and vice versa.



Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counter-Reformation
Google - Michelago's David - images
http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/antiquity/greek-sculpture.htm
https://sites.google.com/a/pvlearners.net/role-of-women/products-services
https://aplus.com/a/history-female-beauty-standards?no_monetization=true
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminine_beauty_ideal
https://pixabay.com/en/portrait-face-woman-caucasian-1580290/
https://www.artspace.com/elizabeth-zvonar/french-fantasy
https://useum.org/artwork/Cupid-complaining-to-Venus-Lucas-Cranach-the-Elder
joan semmel - google search