Joan Eardley - Social Realist, Neo-Romantic or Abstract Expressionist?
In asking others[1] on their opinions of Joan Eardley the initial answer was usually the same; that generally Joan Eardley’s works are concocted in a realist style. Though, each of my sources, after some thought and discussion, changed their minds during the course of the debate. However, I will attempt to define Eardley’s work through personal opinion and analysis in the following essay and will hopefully finish with a fuller understanding and a more sound opinion of her work.
There are very few published works on Eardley and therefore, limited ideas in print. This has proved a great advantage in the answering of this question since my primary inspiration (evidently this should always be the case) has been solely the works themselves. In addressing the definitions of the terms in question, I came to the conclusion that Eardley did in fact employ a little of each genre in her paintings. Social Realism aims for the, “...truthful, historically concrete portrayal of reality in its revolutionary development...” It also shows “idealised representations of heroic workers and soldiers, in a naturalistic style.”[2] In considering the latter part of this definition, it seems fitting to refer to Eardley’s ‘The Mixer Men’ of
1944 [Plate 1]. This painting was inspired as a result of her job as a carpenter’s assistant. The piece is full of gritty realism and is truthful in the sense that Eardley painted them through direct human contact. She slaps on the canvas a vision of how she sees these men which is in this case from behind the predominant figure. This viewpoint in reminiscent of Degas’ ‘keyhole’ effect and possibly reflects her interest in the style and composition of this impressionistic artist.
This notion of personal and human contact was very important for
Eardley throughout her career. She made clear that she thought the story behind her sitter was just as important as the final outcome.
The fact that she was painting real pictures of real people is a key factor when looking at her paintings. She did not abide by what was thought to be socially acceptable at the time. A prime example of this was her painting of friend, Angus Neil, entitled, ‘Sleeping Nude’ of
1954-5. [Plate 2] This piece was shown at the annual exhibition of the
Glasgow institute in 1955 and caused huge uproar. The very idea of a woman painting a male nude, and depicting him so blatantly and gaunt, was deemed unacceptable. The painting itself tells no lies and reflects no flattery on the sitter. The brushstrokes are reminiscent of Van Gogh and in the same way, express Eardley’s mentality at the
The double Portrait ( Happy Birthday, Dear Eshter) was created by Abraham Rattner in1974. It’s an oil paint on Masonite and the size of artwork is 29.5 x 28 in. This painting has two figures who are Rattner’s second wife, Eshter and Rattner himself. The scene is Rattner is painting the portrait of Eshter and Rattner, himself is half of the paining. Rattner is stadning foreground. He is holding paint pallet by left hand and he is facing sideway. Eshter is painted in the painting frame, thus she is a kind of slightly background position. This was a part of her birthday gift from Rattner. The year painted for this double portrait was their 25th wedding anniversary after they married in 1949 and he was 81 years old. He painted on Masonite which is made from a mixture of wood fibers that have been broken down and molded into a board using heat, pressure and the natural adhesion
The painting can be found at the Washington’s National Art Gallery. Further, this artwork is an important piece of art created during her mature career. Cassatt depicts the young girl alone within a domestic exterior. The informal posture, as well as the evident brushwork, are attributed to impressionism while the asymmetrical structure, the hasty scene cropping, and the shallow space indicate the Japanese art inspirations. Additionally, the young girl seated in an unselfconscious and sprawling manner is a reminder to the viewer of her young age
Macbeth rejects conformation to traditional gender roles in its portrayal of Lady Macbeth’s relationship with her husband, her morals and their effect on her actions, and her hunger for power. Her regard for Macbeth is one of low respect and beratement, an uncommon and most likely socially unacceptable attitude for a wife to have towards her spouse at the time. She often ignores morality and acts for the benefit of her husband, and subsequently herself. She is also very power-hungry and lets nothing stand in the way of her success. Lady Macbeth was a character which challenged expectations of women and feminism when it was written in the seventeenth century.
The painting depicts two figures, the one of a woman and of a man. The dominating central figure is the one of the woman. We see her profile as she looks to the left. Her hands are crossed in a graceful manner. She has blonde hair and her figure is lit by what seems to be natur...
A prominent theme in William Shakespeare’s novel Macbeth is the idea of universal masculinity. Throughout the play, Shakespeare utilizes male gender stereotypes to present conflicting views on the definition of manhood. Macbeth tells the reader about a man who allows both societal pressures inflicted upon him by his wife and his intense ambition to drag Macbeth into a spiral of committing obscene acts of violence. Characters often associate being a man with courage, cruelty and power. This pervading caricature of a “man” is evident to the reader throughout the play. Lady Macbeth, for instance, goads Macbeth about his masculinity to the point of murder. Additionally, Malcolm and Macduff’s rigid discussion on revenge reveals a defined notion of “true” masculinity. Perhaps the culmination of rigid gender stereotypes is evident in Macbeth's pondering of the legitimacy of the hired murderers' manhood. Clearly, Shakespeare upholds male gender stereotypes throughout Macbeth.
Julia Robins writes about labor rights violations suffered by nail workers and some solutions for it in the article “Aesthetic Activism.” New York Times distributes many articles about workers who experience robberies, physical and verbal assaults, ethnic discriminating and overexposure to virulent chemicals in salons. Andrew Cuomo, a member of the Democratic Party, enforces paying unpaid salaries, closes unpermitted or unlicensed salons. Also, he provides labors with some information about their rights. In addition, he endorses a law bill in order to diminish language and anything that prevents official licensing and training of workers. On the other hand, some people participate to solve this problem by sharing awareness about nail
Mary Stevenson Cassatt (1844 –1926), one of the leading artists in the Impressionist movement of the later part of the nineteenth century, is known for her depictions of the social and private lives of women, with particular emphasis on the intimate bonds between mothers and children. After visiting a large exhibition of Japanese woodblock prints (ukiyo-e) at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris in April 1890, Mary Cassatt began to experiment with different print techniques. In 1890-1891, Cassatt produced a series of ten colored drypoint and aquatint prints in open admiration of ukiyo-e prints, which became a milestone in graphic art and Impressionist printmaking. With the growing popularity of Japanese woodcuts during the 1890s, Cassatt’s relationship
Teleological reasoning is reasoning from the “telos,” meaning of the goal, the end or the purpose of something being distributed. This is Aristotle’s way of positioning the idea that the appropriate purpose of a social goal results from reason from the telos which ties into Michael Standel’s lecture “Arguing with Affirmative Action.” Now the question arises; is Aristotle correct? Is it so that justice is giving people their dues? Perhaps this is true when one considers the respects of equality. All in all there are several ideas to consider however; perhaps affirmative action has become solely a temporal way of alleviating the discrimination done in the past.
Yoko Ono is known for being the famous John Lennon’s wife and the scapegoat that is blamed for breaking up the pop/rock sensation group, The Beatles. Unfortunately, She is lesser known and given less media credit for being a fantastic alternative artist.
Shakespeare’s ideas of masculinity are exhibited predominantly through Macbeth. In the play, Macbeth fears killing King Duncan who currently holds the throne in which he intends to seize. In spite of this, Lady Macbeth demoralizes Macbeth. She feels that once Macbeth just “durst do it, then [he is] a man 1.7.54”. It is implied
Self-Portrait with Two Pupils, Marie Gabrielle Capet and Marie Marguerite Carreaux de Rosemond was done Adelaide Labille Guiard in 1785. It was done in Paris, France and the medium is oil on canvas. Adelaide Labille Guiard was born in 1749 and died in 1803. She was one of few to practice and master at miniatures, pastels and oil paintings. Due to male dominance in these practices, women were not accepted as pupils, due to society perception that women are not able to follow instructions as easily as men.
The untraditional marriage between Lady Macbeth and Macbeth. Lady Macbeth shows how a woman takes charge of her marriage, showing she is the woman of the house. She is manly and all powerful over her husband. Lady Macbeth proves to be the untraditional woman of Scotland, she differs from the role of a traditional woman because she is not feminine as a woman should be, in fact she wishes she was a man. She tells the spirits to, “ unsex me here”. ( Enotes… unsex me here). This pertains to the theme of gender roles because it demonstrates how Lady Macbeth wishes it was a man. She’s manlier than her husband, that show the untraditional woman. Lady Macbeth feels her husband is to nice, friendly, and full of milk “ worrying her is to full of the milk of human kindness to take Duncan’s throne” ( Gale. Par 3). She worries that Macbeth has cold feet. He’s afraid of the consequence that will follow the murder; She planed the murder herself, because she didn’t believe he could do with out her help. She worries he is to manly to snatch the crown. So Lady Macbeth is manly enough to plan the murder, but wants Macbeth to commit the murder. ...
Throughout Macbeth, Shakespeare dramatically shows what can happen when our common gender roles are broken. He shows the power that people can have over others when they aren’t acting the way they’re expected to.
“When she married Edward Hopper, Josephine Nivison was 41, and had been painting successfully for 16 years. Her work had been shown alongside that of Modigliani and Picasso, Maurice Prendergast and Man Ray. She regularly sold drawings to the New York Tribune , the Evening Post and the Chicago Herald Examiner (....). When the Hoppers embarked on their hermitic existence, however, their influences fused to curious effect: as his palette borrowed some of her bright hues he became a runaway success, and when she began to emulate his style she lost all recognition.” (Wood,
Roughly from 1815 to 1910, this period of time is called the romantic period. At this period, all arts are transforming from classic arts by having greater emphasis on the qualities of remoteness and strangeness in essence. The influence of romanticism in music particularly, has shown that romantic composers value the freedom of expression, movement, passion, and endless pursuit of the unattainable fantasy and imagination. The composers of the romantic period are in search of new subject matters, more emotional and are more expressive of their feelings as they are not bounded by structural rules in classical music where order, equilibrium, control and perfection are deemed important (Dorak, 2000).