The Friday Evening Nudes

Tonight I feature (and quickly) the nudes of American figurative painter George Tooker, whose work is generally associated with the Magic Realism and Social Realism movements.

We're planning a trip to NYC and a visit to The Whitney Museum of American Art, where a sampling of Tooker's work will be featured in the exhibition Real/Surreal, along with other artists of the same bend.

A native of Brooklyn, New York, Tooker lived and worked in Windsor, Vermont. His religious panel works hang in the St. Francis of Assisi Parish, of which Tooker was an avid member. We're planning a visit there this weekend. That should provide enough material for a more comprehensive post on George Tooker.

Here you go and off I go to dinner! To my American friends and family, have a safe holiday weekend. To everyone peace and love and lots of sunshine. After a very long rainy spell, it looks like we're going to have fine weather in Western New England, finally!

~ Gina

ABC Wednesday - F

F is for Freud

 British painter, born 1922

Lucian Freud bio

"A painter's tastes must grow out of what so obsesses him in life that he never has to ask himself what it is suitable for him to do in art."

- Lucian Freud 

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From Whitehot Magazine:

Lucian Freud’s tireless exploration of the human form, removed from the romantic pedestal, and examined in the most minute and disturbing detail, makes him the most interesting British painter of his generation.
Freud has produced stunning figurative paintings and portraits for over sixty years, but these lesser known etchings reveal a much more delicate approach to his subjects than his oil paintings. In this interesting mix of paintings and prints spanning six decades, Starr Figura, the curator, has engineered a fascinating glimpse at the bones behind Freud’s paintings. His first etchings were produced in the 1940’s after which he abandoned the technique for over thirty years, returning to the plates in the 1980’s. In spite of Freud’s use of color in his oil paintings, his subjects are always bleak. For Freud, the hard reality of an image is far more interesting than anything imagined. Etching, a process in which a reverse image is scratched with special needles on copper plates, is a technique that lends itself to Freud’s relentless eye. His vision is as exact and uncompromising as the hairline etches in these black and white prints. The result is powerful and a little disturbing, as though things are being magnified when we asked for no such thing. Freud is foremost a portraitist, and his unerring and often unflattering images speak of the immense depths behind the simplest objects and things. Few contemporary artists can claim the ability to capture a human emotion so precisely and so unflinchingly. His occasional forays into non human subjects show similar ability, whether it is the dense flora of his garden or the exquisite form of his dog, Pluto, which is one of the finest etchings on display.

Self-portrait with Black Eye 

c. 1978

(This self-portrait by Lucian Freud nursing a black eye after a brawl with a taxi driver has sold for £2.8 million at auction)

Lucian Freud's paintings are not easy met up-close and personal, as they mostly found in private collections. People appear to want to keep Freud's work close to them. They are profoundly personal and original images. Freud's viewpoint on the human figures he captures on canvas certainly makes him, in my book, one of the greatest living figurative painters in the world. PS

Girl With a White Dog
 1951-52

 Double Portrait
1985-86


"I paint people not because of what they are like, not exactly in spite of what they are like, but how they happen to be."
Lucian Freud

"Full, saturated colours have an emotional significance I want to avoid."
Lucian Freud

 Gaz
 1997

"I am only interested in painting the actual person, in doing a painting of them, not in using them to some ulterior end of art. For me, to use someone doing something not native to them would be wrong. "
Lucian Freud

Interior A


 "When I make a painting, I paint as if it is the only painting I am working on.  Or, further, I paint as if it is the only painting that I have ever made.  Or, even further still, I paint as if it is the only painting that anyone ever has made."
- Lucian Freud

 Two Men
  1987-88

Lying by the Rags1989-90

"The paintings that really excite me have an erotic element or side to them irrespective of subject matter. "
Lucian Freud

 The Artist's Daughter and her Husband

 Portrait of Bruce Bernard

'

"The aura given out by a person or object is as much a part of them as their flesh."  
Lucian Freud

 

Lucian Freud's paintings are not easy met up-close and personal, as they are mostly found in private collections. People appear to want to keep Freud's work close to them. They are profoundly personal and original images. Freud's viewpoint on the human figures he captures on canvas certainly makes him, in my book, one of the greatest living figurative painters in the world.

Sources

Art News Blog

The Telegraph

WhiteHot Magazine

The Artchive
Brainy Quotes
Transposition Blog
 Web Art Academy


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ABC Wednesday

The Friday Evening Nudes

Two Nudes
William Etty

Frederic Leighton
Venus Preparing for the Bath

Robert Henri

Eugene-Emmanuel Amaury Duval
Birth of Venus

William Glackens
at a great new art site I discovered called 3-D Dali

The Friday Evening Nudes

The Men

Michelangelo
Seated Nude


Jacques Louis David Patrocle

Jean Germain Drouais

Henrick Goltzius
The Fall of Man

Delacroix
Male Academy Figure,probably+ Polonais, standing

Alexandre Cabanel Fallen Angel

Study of a Nude Man

French Painter,Unknown.+c.+1816

Male Nude Seen from Behind
artist unknown

The Friday Evening Nudes

George Platt Lynes

Valentine's Day Edition

Two Nudes Standing

Francois Jacques Moulin

below

The Kissers
Rodin

Mother and Child
Tina Madotti


And a valentine from me,
with love

Adult Content?

In anticipation of The Friday Evening Nudes, I'd like to ask you a question about what constitutes "adult content". Those of us who live in a world where nudity in life and art are normal and natural, perhaps give very little, if any, thought to whether the picture offends or is "appropriate" for family viewing.

With that said, my question is, essentially: should I flag the blog for adult content in the event that I choose to post photographs that are contemporary, and therefore perhaps more explicit than the innocent nudes of, say, Monet. I try not to post anything that I don't consider artistic; especially when it comes to nudes. Yet, that is a major judgment call. What I deem artistic, may be considered pornographic by someone else. It was with that assumption in mind that I initially decided not to flag the Pagan Sphinx.

Some of my thinking on this stems from the fact that I'm not part of large, artsy circles where these things are taken for granted. I'm a teacher at a tiny rural school where the mind-set is at times very puritanical. It is, after all, New England, where puritan values are still rather alive and well. It is also a community of which some members are offended by nudity and not by the gore and violence of the deer hunt. The latter offends me on many levels.

I will give you a couple of examples to rate.

Peter Hujar
Nude with Pearls
1979

Hujar, I just learned, is a notable American photographer who photographed not only nudes but also animals and nighttime scenes of downtown Manhattan. His work has been exhibited at important museums such as The Institute of Contemporary Arts in London.

I don't really like this photograph that much, personally. But I want to know your thoughts on how it differs from pornography. Even though I don't care for this particular picture, I do recognize is as artistic and not pornographic. What do you think?

George Platt Lynes

1940's?

To my eye, this one is a stunner. It doesn't evoke any sexual feelings in me. I love the lines of the body, the shadow of it cast on the wall, how the body is suspended off the floor by the ropes. I think of dancing or gymnastics or aerial ballet.

But then I start wondering: what if a young child sees this painting and asks about it? I know how I would respond and I feel fine about it. But how would a parent who is not comfortable with nudity respond to that child's question?

I guess my main concern is that I'm living in my own bubble of arty images and thoughts. And The Pagan Sphinx is an eclectic blog. I wonder how I'd feel if the mother of a child who visits the blog to look at a sledding scene I took on the playground at school, comes upon a, if not pornographic, at least adult art photo. I'm okay with it, assuming it's handled simply and appropriately. Is that random possibility worth flagging the blog over? Tell me your thoughts.

And then there is this question: are female nudes viewed by any of you as exploitative of women, in general? I tend to evaluate that by my own set of criteria. What I'm thinking when I see the picture. The artist's motives, if any, don't usually play a part in my judgment. And it is a judgment. Perhaps it should. But I try very hard not to second-guess the artist. Again, thoughts.

I'm not personally overwhelmed by these issues. Most people, I'm sure, click on by if they see something or read something they don't like. I know I do. I guess I'm not so much concerned about offending people. My political views on say, Israel and the Palestinians, have the potential to offend many more people than nudes. What I'm wondering is, really - should I warn people that they may be offended by flagging the blog?

I hope this turns out to be an interesting discussion. I want your opinions; no holds barred.

Yours in peace,
Pagan Sphinx

The Friday Evening Nudes

Janet Fish

Diego Velázquez.
Venus at Her Mirror
c. 1644-48

Charles Edward Boutibonne
Sirens
French

1816-1897

Boucher
Odalisk

“The buttocks are the most aesthetically pleasing part of the body because they are non-functional. Although they conceal an essential orifice, these pointless globes are as near as the human form can ever come to abstract art.”

Kenneth Tynan (English theatre Critic, 1927-1980)