4 quizzes, especially for you, Dear Reader!
This week, I collected reference photos for the 'Raft Of The Medusa' painting:
Life model Clare Creed (also a pole-dance instructor and body-builder) brought her portable pole to the studio
My daughter Izzi brought a book
My son Leon dressed up in his dad's black tie
Photographer David Lintott licensed me to use his fantastic photo of the 2022 England v New Zealand Women's Rugby World Cup final lineout.
So, the underpainting is well under way, can you spot them in there? I've included the original Gericault painting, gridded up as I had it to transfer the outlines to the canvas before right royally messing with it.
Last week, [the same] Clare and I gave a talk about the Male Gaze to our life drawing group, before she modelled. I thought it would be an interesting challenge to quantify what makes a picture more 'ewww' than 'oooh' to the enlightened critic. For your amusement, here's my draft. I would welcome your thoughts and refinements.
Out of interest, the weighting of the questions was proposed by a male artist friend. And the final question came from Clare, to which I would add that whilst this isn't a witch-hunt, a wizard-hunt does sound ridiculous.
Clare then talked about how, as a life model, she routinely tries to combat being cast in this way, by 'activating' passive poses. She demonstrated what she meant, recreating a series of classic examples of the male gaze in art, plus (the other side of the same coin) reconstructing two archetypal male tropes. Can you identify any/all of these well known works of art? My favourite was how she reclaimed Titian's 'Venus of Urbina' by (instead of languishing seductively), posing "as if writing my talk about the male gaze". It inspired the 'reading' pose I asked Izzi to take for the reference photo above. Answers at the end of this newsletter.
Maybe you're not convinced about this whole Male Gaze thing? Perhaps a sublime painting justifies the woman being presented as a passive, idealised, seductive invitation? Perhaps it's a storm in a teacup?
One person I think gets it is John Dalton, host of the hugely popular artist interview podcast Gently Does It. John has interviewed almost all the top contemporary artists, many of whom say they listen to his podcast in the studio. I have heard him challenge both male and female artist guests on this subject. Here's a toecurling clip that made me beam - John relaying a question from a listener to the living legend Jeremy Lipking. The link should take you to 1:40:39, but you may need to skip forward to that bit. Keep listening till 1:43:53 for the full awkward.
OK. If you're still with me, thank you. Especially if you disagree with my point of view.
Talking of views, I hope you've got this private one in your diary:
There are a couple of exciting events planned, both for the private view and for the final day of the show, that I look forward to sharing in my next newsletter. I've been busy ordering frames, compiling the catalogue, and negotiating with collaborators!
So, for your last puzzle... can you spot the subject (as opposed to the focal point) of this painting, called "The Linnet", which was painted looking from Pendeen Lighthouse towards the Cornish tin mines? The painting looks better in real life (honest!), but nothing can capture the fresh salty wind, crashing waves, and sparkling light of the scene itself...
Have a great weekend, and thank you again for your interest,
Gail xxx
PS those answers:
Michaelangelo - Day (sculpture)
Michaelangelo - David (sculpture)
Ingres - Grande Odalisque
Titian - Venus of Urbina
Delacroix - Odalisque
Botticelli - Venus