painting. Initially conceived in 1909 as a scene of Arcadian leisure, four years later in Morocco, Matisse divided the canvas vertically into equal, hard-edges of green, black, white, and pale gray, suppressed the waterfall, condensed the foliage and transformed his four bathers, cutting off the head of one, slicing another’s legs at the ankles into massive, mutilated, stone-grey figures. The canvas marked the reconciliation between form and feeling, reason and intuition that Matisse had been working on ever since he returned from Morocco (Figure 3).
Matisse transposed this traditional arcadian and Moroccan bathing beach into a monumental image of grief and stoicism. The mood is lightened only by the paint itself, with the presence of fine
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Matisse commonly painted female nudes, and other than his self-portraits, the females in his paintings were not specified. The setting is naturalistic much like Matisse’s past paintings, but is represented in a different way. The females in Bathers by a River are larger than the intended viewer and all but one face the viewer. Their gaze is not directed towards the viewer and their bodies are note entirely exposed to the viewer like a traditional female nude. The female figures in Matisse’s Bathers by a River are not objectified because they are not representative of any particular female, they do not have distinguished sexual parts, and they are not positioned in a way to be “consumed” by the …show more content…
The figure on the left side of the painting and the figure in the white panel face away from the viewer, do not allow the viewer to see her female anatomy. The figure placed between the sharp blades of grass and the black panel is sitting down with her hand on her knee, a pose that suggests agency. The figure on the right side of the painting is the only figure that faces the viewer. The placement of each figure allows each of them to demand their own attention. The placement of the figures and the positions they are in are reminiscent of Picasso’s Demoiselles d’Avignon. Because the figures are unidentifiable and presented with indistinguishable features, and no faces, there is no commentary on class, race, religion, or sexuality using the female nude. Henri Matisse’s portrayal of the female nude in Bathers by a River represents his frustrations with the political climate in France after World War I while also documenting the evolution of his style over the course of a decade. Bathers by a River is described as one of the five most pivotal works of Matisse’s career because of its importance as a symbol of his fear, the strength of the French people, and the collective moment when the effects of the tragedies of WW1 were finally
“In spite of their economic status, Morisot and Cassatt had many obstacles to overcome in establishing themselves as artists, and they experienced more discouragement than anyone would be likely to guess from looking at their works. Not surprisingly, they concentrated on familiar, domestic, themes. ” (Francis E. Hyslop) Interestingly enough, at a quick glance their paintings can look the same, but their representation of women and the message they try to convey is remarkably contrasting. Mary Cassatt focused on the “real” definition of woman. She wanted her audience to view women as strong and independent human beings who are completely capable of pursuing anything they set their mind too. Mary Cassatt made her audience think, she wanted to make a quiet scandal, she wanted to speak through her figures. In Mary Cassatt’s The loge (1882), she illustrates two elegantly dressed women enjoying a night at the theatre. Usually, men are the ones that would go out without their wives and enjoy a casual or elegant social scene while women socialize in their houses drinking tea and watching their kids play. “Cassatt’s new images include representations of women as independent public people; women pursuing interests which are not directed toward the needs of others; and women who enjoy the company of other women.” (Yeh) This painting illustrates how women are more than capable to socialize in a public
The painting depicts a mother and her four children, who are all leaning on her as she looks down solemnly, her tired, despondent expression suggests she felt trapped in her roles as being a mother and a wife. The woman and her children are clearly the focal point of the artwork as the bright colours used to paint them stand out impeccably against the dull, lifeless colours of the background. This painting appears to be centred around the ideology that women are home-keepers, whose main role is to satisfy and assist her husband while simultaneously minding the children and keeping the home tidy and ready for his return. The social consequences of this artwork could have been that the woman could have been berated for not taking pleasure out of being a mother and raising her children, as a woman should. She could have been made redundant as her husband may have felt as though she is no longer useful if she couldn’t adequately adhere to her roles as a mother and a
According to Shearer West, a portrait is “a work of art that represents a unique individual”. West elaborates on the implications of this definition of a portrait, introducing the dilemma of the painter, who may strive to illustrate either or both the ideal figure, or a likeness of the sitter. Jean Germain Drouais’ resolution to such a dilemma can be observed in the painting, Madame de Pompadour at her Tambour Frame, as he struggles to portray both the femininity of the ideal woman in the 1760s, while conveying the more present, aged and unique characteristics of the lady that captured King Louis XV’s heart.
The composition of this painting forces the eye to the woman, and specifically to her face. Although the white wedding dress is large and takes up most of the woman’s figure, the white contrasts with her face and dark hair, forcing the viewer to look more closely into the woman’s face. She smokes a cigarette and rests her chin on her hands. She does not appear to be a very young woman and her eyes are cast down and seem sad. In general, her face appears to show a sense of disillusionment with life and specifically with her own life. Although this is apparently her wedding day, she does not seem to be happy.
In this work, the colors and shapes come together to form the depiction of a woman in a chair gazing out at the landscape beyond a window. This subject matter relates to Picasso’s infamous relationship with women and may serve as a depiction of one of the many women he was linked with. The painting depicts the woman with a dual omniscient and introspective vision. Picasso develops this dichotomy through the depiction of a wayward eye gazing out the window and a larger ubiquitous eye glaring directly at the viewers. In constructing such a contrast, the painter is able to convey the personality...
The nineteenth century produced a large number of works of art from numerous of artists. Since I have been to the Art Institute in Chicago, I decided to walk through this gallery online. Remembering that when I went there I liked a lot of the artwork that I saw. There I stumbled upon an artwork by Claude Monet called “The beach at Sainte-Adresse’. This painting caught my eye because of the beach scenery. The beach has always been my favorite place to go, where I am able to relax and clear my mind. This is what I was able to feel when I saw this artwork.
The significant difference is two individuals in the portrait are males. On the other hand, it is rarely to see the portrait of father and son appearing in the same frame throughout the history of western art. In most of the portraits, fathers are serious and alone. In the 19th century France, women are concerned with the realms of their activities, men are free to go anywhere they want in the whole day. Based on Garb’s description, the theater is the few places women are able to go for entertainment. For the rest of their time, they have to stay in the private sphere because of conventional ideology. For the males in the patriarchal society, they are eager to exemplify their ambitions and masculinity in the public spaces. From their point of view, home is the assigned setting for women. Wives and children, sometimes, are equal to the tools of manifesting their power and social status.
The painting is organized simply. The background of the painting is painted in an Impressionist style. The blurring of edges, however, starkly contrasts with the sharp and hard contours of the figure in the foreground. The female figure is very sharp and clear compared to the background. The background paint is thick compared to the thin lines used to paint the figures in the foreground. The thick paint adds to the reduction of detail for the background. The colors used to paint the foreground figures are vibrant, as opposed to the whitened colors of the Impressionist background. The painting is mostly comprised of cool colors but there is a range of dark and light colors. The light colors are predominantly in the background and the darker colors are in the foreground. The vivid color of the robe contrasts with the muted colors of the background, resulting in an emphasis of the robe color. This emphasis leads the viewer's gaze to the focal part of the painting: the figures in the foreground. The female and baby in the foreground take up most of the canvas. The background was not painted as the artist saw it, but rather the impression t...
His styles and techniques were so particular and well-liked, that he succeeded regardless of the trends going on around him; The Dance (1910) being the perfect example, for it was loved and hated by many. By the 1920's, he was increasingly noticed as an upholder of the classical tradition in French painting. He was appreciated for bringing that traditional style painting into the modern age and not allowing it to die out like many other artistic traditions had.11 Even though he had been firmly criticized for how he painted, he was still respected for his eclectic style of line and brushwork. Matisse dreamt of, "an art of balance, of purity and serenity, devoid of troubling subject matter" (MA, 38).12 He did this by painting things with simple detail, and also with a light, airy, feel. He wanted to convey the message of classical art, as well as very modern styles of art. As he was influenced by many, he, later on, influenced other great modern artists. He carefully prepared his works but chose colors spontaneously and freely, this is what he called instinct. Like his art, Matisse's career is tightly consolidated. In the context of his development as an artist, his illustrations of the nude females in The Dance (1910), have quite a different significance than judgmental commentators give
Picasso ignored the traditional aesthetic canons governing the representation of the female nude. The bodies are deformed. The woman sitting presents both his back and his face. The influence of African art, which replaces that of Orientalism of the nineteenth century, is very clear in the
Aristotle once claimed that, “The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.” Artists, such as Louise-Elizabeth Vigée Le Brun and Mary Cassatt, captured not only the way things physically appeared on the outside, but also the emotions that were transpiring on the inside. A part no always visible to the viewer. While both artists, Le Brun and Cassatt, worked within the perimeters of their artistic cultures --the 18th century in which female artists were excluded and the 19th century, in which women were artistically limited-- they were able to capture the loving relationship between mother and child, but in works such as Marie Antoinette and Her Children and Mother Nursing her Child 1898,
Henri Matisse was a French Artist during the Cubist and Fauvist period, which influenced his art greatly. Although he was primarily known as a painter, he was also a printmaker, sculptor, and draughtsman. His piece Mademoiselle Yvonne Landsberg resembles that of a print; however, it is in oil painting. Mademoiselle Yvonne Landsberg is believed to have been a piece in which Matisse was experimenting with new ideas and methods, as this painting appears to be very labor intensive. There are multiple parts of the painting where Matisse scraped away layers of paint and leave behind lines that parallel cross-hatching. The aspect of the painting that is different from other cubist pieces of the time are the lines that emanate from the Mlle Landsberg, thought to be a depiction of her movement while the piece was being made.
During a visit to Brittany, Matisse discovered Impressionism (Essers 8). The works of Cezanne and Van Gogh influenced him. When he returned, he exhibited his first painting, Dinner Table, in 1897. This was his first painting of impressionistic style. Matisse’s art began to concentrate on landscapes, still life, and domestic interiors. Still life is a theme Henri would follow for the rest of his career.
Women’s interest in art and attempts to hold a career would be met with disapproval in a society demanding a woman stay out of masculine activities and to stick to their realm of abilities. In an anonymous letter submitted to a French art journal L’Artiste the expectation of women’s participation in art is expressed as:
While looking at this sculpture it is transformed every time you move your own head, walk around it, and bend closer. It just has a way of changing shape. While looking at it, it first appeared to me as a man or some kind of creature. Looking at the name, one would realize what the sculpture is. The sculpture was a woman. It has a lot of rough and sharp points, but the surface was very smooth. It is kind of disturbing on how Picasso seems to see beneath the skin. He reveals the tendons in Fernande's neck. The fractured texture of Fernande's face, her hair a system of gorges and upland ridges, is a metaphor for the way we experience another person. (Hughs) Like Rembrandt's most intimate portraits, it is about the mystery of being close to another human being. (Cooper) Picasso makes you recognize this by inviting your eye down into those channels and crevices, until you feel you are inside Fernande's head. You can never exhaust the richness of this head. (Hughs)