NOTE: See also the post below this one which features my photo on the cover of a professional journal. It isn't Life but still very exciting for me!
The Nudes of Pan Yuliang
(1899–1977) was a Chinese painter born Zhang Yuliang.[1] Sold to a brothel as a child after the death of her parents, she was raised to become a prostitute. She attracted the attention of Pan Zanhua[1] a wealthy official, who bought her freedom and married her as a second wife. She began painting, eventually traveling to Paris to study, where she won some acclaim. Her paintings of nude models violated cultural norms in China and generated much controversy. She was forced to move to France to pursue her work. She remained there until her death in 1977.
Pan Yuliang Self-Portrait
These are beutiful, and unique. My favorites, I think, are the first and the last. They remind me the most of Chinese painting, seeming to partake of both traditions.
ReplyDeleteIt's a wonder to me that so many cultures around the globe do not appreciate or understand the nude in art. Part of me wants to work this out, and decide whether they are wrong or whether we are - whether depicting the nude in art is good in some absolute sense, or harmful in some absolute sense. The nude is used for many distasteful things. But all things can be used for ill. And the nude in art seems to foster an openness and enlightened view of the body, even of the worth of human life.
But most of me doesn't want to tackle the problem at that scale. I'm content, I think, to leave this as a personal issue - something like spirituality, which must be worked out by every person for themselves. It's a maturity issue. A taste issue. A matter of readiness for the messages. I know there are messages I avoid and am unwilling to see or hear, as well... We all place our windows and walls where we choose - perhaps where we need them to be.
I'm glad I have a large window, a door, on much of the art world. It's part of my soul. I'm glad I share it with others - like you and many of your readers.
Thank you, as always, for finding, organizing, and posting these images and the informative captions and introductions.
An outstanding entry of yours. Please have a wonderful start into the weekend.
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I love seeing these Asian women with a little meat on their bones - I always seem to think of them as so petite and thin! I love your description of yourself at the top of the blog too.
ReplyDeleteGreat! And I loved that old post about Man Ray. I have to write a post about compemporary icconocast artists, those who produce to take money from people. In the ideia of Warhol "making money is art"
ReplyDeleteA very good weekend for you.
These are all so very beautiful!
ReplyDeleteWOW. Those are lovely. I had never heard of that artist before.
ReplyDeleteher lines are so wonderful - so bold and full yet graceful
ReplyDeleteand the faces are so joyful
Yes, the first one was a very good choice for drawing us into the others. The lines are clear and tenderly rendered of bodies all the more beautiful in their perfect imperfection. The subtle coloring is marvelous.
ReplyDeleteThe full color paintings done later are much stronger but don't become flamboyant which is also very nice but overall I think I prefer the line drawings over the watercolor. There's something about them that reminds me of Lautrec's honesty of vision.
I think Steve's correct about the use of nudity in art. It was Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart who said it best: 'I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description ["hard-core pornography"]; and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it, and the motion picture involved in this case is not that.'
Wow these works are absolutely stunning. Thanks fro drawing my attention to another artist I did not know before
ReplyDeleteAll rather lovely. Amazing life story.
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