2013년 7월 2일 화요일

The Art of Resistance: Fantasy & Eros

The Art of Resistance: Fantasy & Eros

405 E State St. #B. Redalnds, CA 92373

Director: Taemin Ha 

Fantasy / Pierre Puvis De Chavannes (1866)
Oil on canvas/ Height: 103.74 in, Width: 58.46 in 

 When you see the painting above, what do you feel? I could sense the fantasy of the people because the people look free without clothes and the pegasus has big wings. Everybody has their own fantasy and people tend to be eager for freedom. That is why artists that aim for fantasy and eros appeared in the past to express people's fantasy, desire, and eros. I dare say that it is because of artists' resistance of the common art.  

My exhibition of art works will demonstrate the feeling of fantasy and eros. Although the paining of people is not completely nude nor realistic, we might be able to feel fantasy or eros because I believe that art must be seen through personal perception.



Exhibition Introduction

The Art of Resistance: Fantasy & Eros



1. Salome / Franz Von Stuck (1906)

2. The Apparition / Gustave Moreau (1876)

3. The Cyclops / Odilon Redon (1914)

4. The Scream / Edvard Munk (1893)

5. Eternal Spring / Auguste Rodin (1884)

6. Zwei Sich Umarmende Frauen / Egon Schiele (1911)

7. Adam and Eve / Gustav Klimt (1917-1918)

8. Skeletons Fighting Over a Hanged Man / James Ensor (1891)

9. Study of Drapery / Alphonse Mucha (1900)

10. The Toilette / Pierre Puvis De Chavannes (1883)



- Posting Concept -

 Each of the art works has their own Statement of The Art, Brief Biographical Information of Artist, Background of the Art Work, and Connection Between the Art and the Theme. I aim for demonstrating the feeling of fantasy and eros. You will be able to feel the fantasy and eros through each piece of artwork that is displayed in this exhibition. The pieces that I chose to show in this exhibition has one thing in common, and that is nudity and sexuality, in order to demonstrate the theme of fantasy and eros. When choosing the artists, I looked for artists that use similar styles and themes.

1. Salome / Franz Von Stuck (1906)


Salome / Franz Von Stuck (1906)


Salome / Franz Von Stuck (1906)
Oil on canvas / H: 115.5 cm, W: 62.5 cm

■ Statement

"A formal analysis would describe the soft painterly style, the use of fluid lines accented by the strong vivid diagonal of her earings all creating the illusion of wild ecstatic dance. The dark limited palette of the background focusing the eye on her pale fleshy nudity and then on the menacing dark skinned learing slave bringing the head of the saint."

■ Brief Biographical Information of Artist 

Franz Stuck was born in February 24, 1863 in Bavaria, at Tettenweis. From an early age, he showed great interest and passion for art - drawing and caricature. In 1878, he moved to Munich where he began his education in art. And from 1881 to 1885, he attended Munich Academy where he polished and further improved his skills in art. His first exhibition was in 1889, in which he received a gold medal for The Guardian of Paradise. Franz was a member of the International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers. He passed away in Munich on August 30, 1928.

■ Background of the Art work

Salome was inspired by the Gospel story in Mark 6:21-29. The women in the artwork is Salome, daughter of Herodias. John the Baptist criticized King Herod for illegally marrying Herodias. In return, John the Baptist was imprisoned. But, Herodias was not satisfied and commanded Salome to perform a charming birthday dance for her stepfather (King Herod), in return making him promise Salome of any wish she wished for. Salome asked for John's severed head on a platter.

■ Connection Between the Art and the Theme 

This piece of art connects to my theme because a women's charm, beauty, and sexuality can be used to persuade certain decisions.

2. The Apparition / Gustave Moreau (1876)

The Apparition / Gustave Moreau (1876)

The Apparition / Gustave Moreau (1876)
Watercolor / H: 105 cm, W: 72

■ Statement

“The mystery of Gustave Moreau is that he pursued not one but many painting ideals, that he followed his imagination determinedly until it brought him to strange junctures that must have startled and baffled even his own lucid intelligence.”

■ Brief Biographical Information of Artist 

Gustave Moreau was a French painter born in Paris, France, in 1826. Gustave Moreau is one of the first known symbolist artists. His art focused on symbolic images based on myth and legend. Moreau's style was focused on classical mythology and literature. The importance of mythical femme fatale, sphinxes, sirens, and other dangerous creature on his visionary style categorized Gustave Moreau as a symbolist artist. Symbolist artist are artist that perform arts with themes like death, spiritualism, evil, power or innocence.

■ Background of the Art work

One of Gustave Moreau symbolic famous work was, "The Apparition," a fascinating scene from the legend of Salome. Moreau used watercolor on this intriguing art; that was included in the Salon of 1876. In this painting, you will see a beautiful woman in the middle of the scene, by looking at her; you can tell that the story of this art focused on her. The plot was in a cathedral; the architecture and the lightning are different. There are certain details used, such as the capitals inspired by the Alhambra in Grenada, Spain, and in the center the haloed statue, which, hardly visible in the watercolor. Mainly influential is the evocation of temple caves in India, especially those at Elephanta, photographs of which Gustave Moreau had studied at the Palais de l'Industrie in 1873 (Horsley).

■ Connection Between the Art and the Theme 


Religion and sexuality.. although contradicting, it may be biggest fantasy in our lives.

3. The Cyclops / Odilon Redon (1914)

The Cyclops / Odilon Redon (1914)

The Cyclops / Odilon Redon (1914)
Oil on canvas / H: 64 cm, W: 51

■ Statement

"I have often, as an exercise and as a sustenance, painted before an object down to the smallest accidents of its visual appearance; but the day left me sad and with an unsatiated thirst. The next day I let the other source run, that of imagination, through the recollection of the forms and I was then reassured and appeased."

■ Brief Biographical Information of Artist 

French painter Odilon Redon (1840 – 1916) dissociated himself from all artistic movements and trends with his fantastic black and white depictions of amorphous creatures, and insects and plants with human heads. Inspired by his dreams, Redon equated his bizarre creations to music, with its ability to transport the audience to ambiguous realms. Redon’s nocturnal world was also related to writings by Poe, Baudelaire and Mallarmé. During the last 15 years of his life, Redon unexpectedly painted luminous pastels and radiant oils of flowers and mythological subjects. Producing 200 prints in his lifetime, Redon laid the groundwork for Surrealism and Dada.

■ Background of the Art work

The Cyclops is a painting by Odilon Redon depicting a myth starring an "unlucky naiad Galatea, loved by Polyphemus, the most famous Cyclops." Like most Cyclops in mythologyPolyphemus was villainized as a wild creature that hunted its victims and then consumed them. This subject had been painted before by artists such as Moreau; however Redon has taken this myth and given Polyphemus a makeover. In Redon's version, Polyphemus is shown as a non-threatening passive creature. The normally menacing beast is shown softly gazing with a large eye that has been seen in previous Redon works. Galatea, the naiad, is shown naked and vulnerably lying on a patch of vegetation. It appears Polyphemus is keeping one gentle eye watching over the "sexualized maiden." He has hidden himself from Galatea behind the rocky terrain, too shy to directly confront her "helpless" form. Redon was not typical in his topics or artistic ventures, his departure from the normal depiction of Polyphemus was influenced by his dream like style and departure from artistic norm.

■ Connection Between the Art and the Theme 

Its original painter "Max Moreau" was painting this art work to express erotic beauty of the elf. On the other hand, Odilon Redon tried to express the monster's sadness, but he since has only one eye, he cannot propose to her.

4. The Scream / Edvard Munk (1893)

The Scream / Edvard Munk (1893)

The Scream / Edvard Munk (1893)
Oil on canvas, H:91 cm, W: 73.5

■ Statement

"One evening I was walking along a path, the city was on one side and the fjord below. I felt tired and ill. I stopped and looked out over the fjord—the sun was setting, and the clouds turning blood red. I sensed a scream passing through nature; it seemed to me that I heard the scream. I painted this picture, painted the clouds as actual blood. The color shrieked. This became The Scream."

■ Brief Biographical Information of Artist 

Edvard Munch (1863–1944) was a Norwegian painter and printmaker whose intensely evocative treatment of psychological themes built upon some of the main tenets of late 19th-century Symbolism and greatly influenced German Expressionism in the early 20th century. One of his most well-known works is The Scream of 1893.

■ Background of the Art work

Edvard Munch created four versions in various media. The National Gallery, Oslo, holds one of two painted versions. The Munch Museum holds the other painted version and a pastel version from 1893. These three versions have not traveled for years.The Scream is the popular name given to each of four versions of a composition, created as both paintings and pastels, by the Expressionist artist Edvard Munch between 1893 and 1910. Der Schrei der Natur (The Scream of Nature) is the title Munch gave to these works, all of which show a figure with an agonized expression against a landscape with a tumultuous orange sky. Arthur Lubow has described The Scream as "an icon of modern art, a Mona Lisa for our time."

■ Connection Between the Art and the Theme 

This art work is really popular to express people's anxieties, stresses, and pain in our life. By the face of the painting, we can easily imagine the theses anxieties, stresses, pain, and maybe even the stress that might develop with an individual's fantasy & eros.

5. Eternal Spring / Auguste Rodin (1884)

Eternal Spring / Auguste Rodin (1884)

Eternal Spring / Auguste Rodin (1884)
Bronze 
■ Statement

"It is Michelangelo who has freed me from academic sculpture."

■ Brief Biographical Information of Artist 


In a career that spanned the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Auguste Rodin (French, 1840–1917) was deeply inspired by tradition yet rebelled against its idealized forms, introducing innovative practices that paved the way for modern sculpture. He believed that art should be true to nature, a philosophy that shaped his attitudes to models and materials. Many know Rodin for the controversies surrounding certain of his works, such as the scandals around The Age of Bronze or the Monument to Honoré de Balzac, and for his unfinished projects, most famously, The Gates of Hell. But few who recognize Rodin's sculptures have failed to be moved by them. His genius was to express inner truths of the human psyche, and his gaze penetrated beneath the external appearance of the world. Exploring this realm beneath the surface, Rodin developed an agile technique for rendering the extreme physical states that correspond to expressions of inner turmoil or overwhelming joy. He sculpted a universe of great passion and tragedy, a world of imagination that exceeded the mundane reality of everyday existence.


■ Background of the Art work


The torso of the woman in this group is recognizable as that of a model named Adèle Abruzzezzi. Rodin used it repeatedly, and it appears, for example, in a very different context in The Gates of HellEternal Spring is in a lighter vein, however, full of awakening sensuality and implying neither guilt nor punishment to come. The sculpture was extremely popular, and Rodin repeated it often both in marble and in bronze. In 1898, he sold his plaster foundry models with the reproduction rights for this sculpture and its spiritual twin, The Kiss, to the firm of Ferdinand Barbedienne, the commercial foundry. This marble, commissioned from Rodin in 1906 and finished in March 1907, displays the sensuous, veiled quality of carving that creates an impressionistic play of light and shade on the surface of the medium characteristic of the marbles of Rodin's later career.


■ Connection Between the Art and the Theme 


Eternal Spring, created with the theme of neither guilt nor punishment can also be seen as a fantasy to some individuals. 

6. Zwei Sich Umarmende Frauen / Egon Schiele (1911)

Zwei Sich Umarmende Frauen / Egon Schiele (1911)

Zwei Sich Umarmende Frauen / Egon Schiele (1911)
Aquarell, Bleistift auf Papier / H:56 cm, W: 37 cm

■ Statement

"The beauty of this art piece is within the essence of lust"

■ Brief Biographical Information of Artist 


Egon Schiele (June 12, 1890 – October 31, 1918) was an Austrian painter. A protégé of Gustav Klimt, Schiele was a major figurative painter of the early 20th century. His work is noted for its intensity, and the many self-portraits the artist produced. The twisted body shapes and the expressive line that characterize Schiele's paintings and drawings mark the artist as an early exponent of Expressionism.


■ Background of the Art work


Schiele painted this picture in 1911. During this year, he used the town's teenage girls as models for his paintings. For this, the town's community drove him and his mistress, Wally, out of town.


■ Connection Between the Art and the Theme 


Two naked woman? It is just enough to have various fantasies.

7. Adam and Eve / Gustav Klimt (1917-1918)

Adam and Eve / Gustav Klimt (1917-1918)

Adam and Eve / Gustav Klimt (1917-1918)
Oil on canvas / H: 173 cm, W: 60 cm

■ Statement

"If you cannot please everyone with your deeds and your art, please only a few. To please many is bad."

■ Brief Biographical Information of Artist 


Gustav Klimt (July 14, 1862 – February 6, 1918) was an Austrian symbolist painter and one of the most prominent members of the Vienna Secession movement. Klimt is noted for his paintings, muralssketches, and other objets d'art. Klimt's primary subject was the female body; his works are marked by a frank eroticism.


■ Background of the Art work


The unfinished work, "Adam and Eve", by Gustav Klimt dates 1917/18 and could not be finished due to the sudden death of Klimt on February 6, 1918. The unmarked 173 x 60 cm painting was painted in oil on canvas, and now hangs in the Belvedere in Vienna.
The biblical couple Adam and Eve are on display. Klimt emphasises the appearance of Eve with bright and light colours in the foreground. She is the main figure in this painting. Adam in the background seems to be of no great importance to Klimt. Klimt is known for his depictions of women, because he preferred the female body in its anatomy, form and aesthetics. So it is not surprising that Eve is dominating the painting.
Even in the private life of the artist women played a greater role than men. After Klimt's father and brother had died, the artist lived the rest of his life with his mother and sisters. In addition, Klimt's life was marked by the open relationship or friendship with the designer Emilie Flöge. The numerous affairs with his models, who posed in his studio every day show Klimts' love to the female sex and so beeing his biggest inspiration. Klimt was not interested in religion in general, so this painting with its biblical scence is a exception in Klimts' oeuvre.


■ Connection Between the Art and the Theme 



Both men and women have unlimited imagination about the naked body ans sexuality.

8. Skeletons Fighting Over a Hanged Man / James Ensor (1891)

Skeletons Fighting Over a Hanged Man / James Ensor (1891)

Skeletons Fighting Over a Hanged Man / James Ensor (1891)
Oil on panel / H: 74 cm, W: 59 cm

■ Statement

"I'm not young enough to know everything."

■ Brief Biographical Information of Artist 


James Ensor (13 April 1860 – 19 November 1949) was born to an English father and Belgian mother, and lived in Ostend most of his life. As an early impressionist painter he was associated with the artist group Les XX, and is considered an innovator for 19th century art, and an influence on the 20th century surrealist painters. 

■ Background of the Art work


In his early years Ensor's paintings were considered scandalous, but he gained acceptance later in life. He is considered to have influenced Klee, amongst others.

James Ensor's most famous work, the Entry of Christ into Brussels, is a modern day depiction of Christ returning to a commercial world with advertising slogans for the socialist party and Coleman’s Mustard included in the piece. Painted in 1888 it now hangs in the Getty Art Museum in Malibu, California. 


■ Connection Between the Art and the Theme 


I think that this art work tries to convey the image of the death. I believe that people's imagination is unlimited.

9. Study of Drapery / Alphonse Mucha (1900)

Study of Drapery / Alphonse Mucha (1900)

Study of Drapery / Alphonse Mucha (1900)
Gouache / H: 61 cm, W: 46 cm

■ Statement

"I think [the Exposition Universelle] made some contribution toward bringing aesthetic values into arts and crafts." 


■ Brief Biographical Information of Artist 

Alphonse Maria Mucha first name from the Czech Alfons (24 July 1860 – 14 July 1939), was a Czech Art Nouveau painter and decorative artist, best known for his distinct style and his images of women. He produced many paintings, illustrations, advertisements, and designs.


■ Background of the Art work

Mucha married Maruška (Marie/Maria) Chytilová on June 10, 1906, in Prague. The couple visited the U.S. from 1906 to 1910, during which time their daughter, Jaroslava, was born in New York City. They also had a son, Jiri, (born March 12, 1915 in Prague; died April 5, 1991 in Prague) who later became a well known journalist, writer, screenwriter, author of autobiographical novels and studies of the works of his father. In the U.S. Alphonse expected to earn money to fund his nationalistic projects to demonstrate to Czechs that he had not "sold out". He was supported by millionaire Charles R. Crane, who used his fortune to help promote revolutions and, after meeting Thomas Masaryk, Slavic nationalism. Alphonse and his family returned to the Czech lands and settled in Prague, where he decorated the Theater of Fine Arts, contributed his time and talent to create the murals in the Mayor's Office at the Municipal House, and other landmarks around the city. When Czechoslovakia won its independence after World War I, Mucha designed the new postage stamps, banknotes, and other government documents for the new state. 

■ Connection Between the Art and the Theme 


I could not feel that the art work is realistic, but we are able to imagine her face and body. By two blurred images alongside the middle woman, the artist tried to make people have a fantasy of the woman.

10. The Toilette / Pierre Puvis De Chavannes (1883)

The Toilette / Pierre Puvis De Chavannes (1883)

The Toilette / Pierre Puvis De Chavannes (1883)
Oil on canvas / H: 14.8 cm, W: 10.5 cm

■ Statement

"Her distant sensuality introduces a 'contained eroticism', thanks in particular to the dry, matt appearance of the paint, which contains very little oil, like the frescoes of the old masters."


■ Brief Biographical Information of Artist 


Born in Lyons on Dec. 14, 1824, Pierre Puvis de Chavannes belonged to the generation of Gustave Courbet and édouard Manet, and he was fully aware of their revolutionary achievements. Nevertheless, he was drawn to a more traditional and conservative style. From his first involvement with art, which began after a trip to Italy and which interrupted his intention to follow the engineering profession that his father practiced, Puvis pursued his career within the scope of academic classicism and the Salon. Even in this chosen arena, however, he was rejected, particularly during the 1850s. But he gradually won acceptance. By the 1880s he was an established figure in the Salons, and by the 1890s he was their acknowledged master.


■ Background of the Art work


Pierre Puvis De Chavannes approached this piece with a "classical" feel. The women having her hair brushed does not have make-up on, resembling true classy beauty. Her hair being brushed by her servant is treated as a material that is both heavy and fluid, with a compact appearance. The layout demonstrates an economy of resources.

■ Connection Between the Art and the Theme 



Although her face looks gloomy, I think that people are easily able to feel her attraction. I believe that the artist attempted to appeal people's vain by her expression. In addition, the artist might express woman's abstraction and the fantasy by her naked body.

Conclusion / Summary

- Conclusion -

I believe that art must be seen through personal perception. I attempted to focus on demonstrating the feeling of fantasy and eros. However, someone might not feel the same about fantasy and eros. When I surfed many art websites, I could figure out that some art works are really popular in some field, but not for other fields. It proves that art works are seen through personal perception. I think the organization of my exhibition is really good because it came to me naturally. On the other hand, finding the statement of the artworks were difficult for me because I could not agree to some of the art works, so I spent a long time to find the statement which I agree upon. Eastern and western cultures have many different ideas such as mind and behavior, so it was very interesting for me because I am an international student from Korea. Therefore, I am satisfied with the result of my exhibition even though it might not be perfect. I am one of people who are very much imaginative, so I got much connections between the artists that I displayed and myself. Fantasy and eros... I think these ideas are people's natural instinct, and people are not able to control by themselves.