"Like the study of science and art, accounts of historical events can be intrinsically fascinating. But they have a wider significance. I believe that people are better able to chart their life course and make life decisions when they know how others have dealt with pressures and dilemmas---historically, contemporaneously, and in works of art. And only equipped with such understanding can we participate knowledgeably in contemporary discussions (and decisions) about the culpability of various individuals and countries in the Second World War. Only with such understanding can we ponder the responsibilty of human beings everywhere to counter current efforts at genocide in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia to bring the perpetrators to justice."
"...we humans are the kinds of animals who learn chiefly by observing others---what they value, what they spurn, how they conduct themselves from day to day, and especially, what they do when they believe that no one is looking."
----Howard Gardner, from The Disciplined Mind, published in 1999

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Considering the Feminine in Art; or, A Flip-book













Unicorn in Captivity, c.1505 www.metmuseum.org
Georgia O'Keefe: Hands with Thimble, Alfred Stieglitz, 1920 www.kameraclub.co.za
Madame X, John Singer Sargent (neroli's zoom), 1884 www.metmuseum.org
Self-portrait with Cropped Hair, Frida Kahlo, 1940 www.abcgallery.com
Judith I, Gustav Klimt, 1904 (neroli's edit) www.art.com
Mother and Child, Gustav Klimt, 1905 www.art.com
Red Tara Kurukulla www.exoticindiaart.com
L'invention de la vie, Rene Magritte, 1928 www.abcgallery.com
Departure, Max Beckmann, 1935 www.moma.org
Collective Invention, Rene Magritte, 1934 (neroli's edit) www.abcgallery.com
US Postal Service, sheet stamps of quilt's from Gee's Bend www.outsider-folk-art.org
Nude Descending a Staircase, Marcel Duchamp, 1912 www.artofeurope.com
Birth of Venus, detail, Sandro Botticellli, 1485 www.art.com
Simhavaktra, Lion-faced Dakini www.exoticindiaart.com
Sky Above Clouds IV, Georgia O'Keefe, 1965 www.artci.edu

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I stumbled across dancing Vag1na(s) here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GbHkhGr6-A&mode=related&search=

Which I thought was lovely, but is not very popular with others that I have shared it with.

...Since we're on the subject of women and art.

neroli said...

Well, that's *some* opening sentence!
(And though the kids in my class find birthday horns to be desirable objects, and therefore good for reinforcement, I'm not going to be able to see them in the same light again....!)
My vote, no pun intended?
Thumbs up.
(I teared up at the ending---I'm such a sap!)

Pelicano said...

I love Du Champ's Nude Descending...; I can't tell you how many conversations of polite debate I've had with certain friends over that painting! It will always remain in its own category, in my opinion: neither cubist nor futurist.

I've never seen Collective Invention before. I like it- it reminds me of some stuff some friends and I used to come up with when playing "exquisite corpse". Hmmm...I wonder how many readers I'd lose if i scanned and posted some of them? Lordy, they think I'm nuts now as it is! :-D

neroli said...

I think I really appreciate just about everything that Du Champ made.
You're absolutely right,this one defies any parameters.
I'm not sure how I would fare in those polite conversations: I've always found futurism to be an "iffy" proposition at best---but I realize it is all in how one looks at things...
I'm a big Magritte fan as well. That particular image is more realistic than most people would know, given his mother's death (again, I love how it's all in the perspective)...
Pel, it would probably be hilarious if you were to invite your readers to play exquisite corpse *with* you---that way everyone can share in the fun(shock) ;-)!
I'll volunteer to play if you do.