Maureen Walker's blog: An Artist's Journey

Human body structure is perhaps most famously recorded in the notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci. From Vitruvian man to sketches of a sectioned womb – complete with foetus. The following website details features in the publication “Leonardo da Vinci: Anatomist”. Martin Clayton and Ron Philo explore the artist’s extensive notebooks on human anatomy.

https://www.rct.uk/collection/search#/2/collection/912640/the-muscles-of-the-shoulder-torso-and-leg-and-a-skirmish

In her blog https://streetanatomy.com
Vaness Ruiz gives links to artists and medical illustrators at work today. These include, Linton Meagher, Pedro Henrique and Jessica Burke’s Dressed Up Bones.

The images range from the grotesque to the bizarre. I didnt feel too grossed out by them, though they include tattoo designs as well as information posters. I cannot look at a tattoo without imagining the discomfort involved in its production.

References:

Leonardo da Vinci: Anatomist. Clayton. M, Philo. R. https://www.rct.uk/collection/search#/2/collection/912640/the-muscles-of-the-shoulder-torso-and-leg-and-a-skirmish

Vanessa Ruiz https://streetanatomy.com

Egyptian Musicians and Dancers (c. 1400BCE) Tomb of Nebamun (see pictured above)

The human figure is so prevalent in art, we tend not to notice its ubiquitous nature.

Abstract art can leave the viewer searching for the “missing” figure as in Kandinsky’s Cossacks ((1910-11), Tate Gallery) https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/kandinsky-cossacks-n04948

which contains only the slightest reference to its title subject, yet we readily identify the familiar human figures from the merest hint at their uniforms. Kandinsky apparently became obsessed (1911-1914) with achieving “pure abstraction” by meticulously removing all reference to potentially recognisable objects from his abstract compositions,(e.g. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.theartstory.org/amp/artist/kandinsky-wassily/artworks/

Earliest art (cave paintings) rarely contained human figures; when occurring, figures tended to be schematic while animals are naturalistic.

Early figurative art records daily activity, e.g . Egyptian Musicians and Dancers (c. 1400BCE) Tomb of Nebamun (see pictured above) Available from:

Paintings from the Tomb-chapel of Nebamun

Although not visible in the above, we see here the beginnings of figurative art being used to illustrate wealth and power, and early depictions objectifying the female body.

Wealth, power and beauty continue to this day as themes in figurative art.

By the 2nd – 5th centuries BCE, in the Ajanta Cave paintings in India, we start to see figurative paintings that combine all three elements (power, wealth and beauty), e.g. in one of four frescoes for the Mahajanaka Jataka tale: the king announces his abdication to become an ascetic in https://www.openart.in/history/ajanta-cave-paintings-brief-note/ This is particularly interesting in that it illustrates the sensual lifestyle that its subject is giving up – perhaps one last excess?

Wealth and power are widely illustrated throughout history, with costume often underlining the message – eg paintings of royalty (series of English monarchs in National Portrait Gallery) and nobility.

Religion follows a parallel path – often also wealth and power, but with exceptions – eg Ghandhi in his loin cloth.

Other leaders also break with tradition for effect, eg Gadaffi in “traditional” dress in order to be seen as closer to his supporters

Interesting contrast and self-contradiction can be perceived in African leaders – sometimes pictured in traditional dress, sometimes in European, depending on intended message to viewer.

Further research points:

David Shrigley – I admire his anarchic sense of logic. His scrawled images of humanity are deliberately inept. To me, they convey immediately and comedically the message that we are all ultimately doomed as a species.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38561059-fully-coherent-plan

Tracey Emin

One thousand drawings. Though I own a copy of this book, I have yet to sit down and peruse this volume of drawings. The ones I have seen are suggestive of the frustration and fleeting nature of extremes of emotion.

https://www.studiointernational.com/index.php/book-review-one-thousand-drawings-by-tracey-emin

Figures in film (including pornography)

Figures in cartoons etc – everything from Hogarth’s Rake’s Progress to traditional comic strip characters

Figures in icons and logos – eg the simplicity of the male/female icons for toilets

References:

https://www.openart.in/history/ajanta-cave-paintings-brief-note/ (date of access 17/05/20)

Egyptian Musicians and Dancers (c. 1400BCE) Tomb of Nebamun (see pictured above) Available from: smarthistory.org

https://smarthistory.org/paintings-from-the-tomb-chapel-of-nebamun/ (date of access 17/05/20)

https://www.studiointernational.com/index.php/book-review-one-thousand-drawings-by-tracey-emin (date of access 17/05/20)

http://www.theartstory.org/amp/artist/kandinsky-wassily/artworks (date of access 17/05/20)

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38561059-fully-coherent-plan (date of access 17/05/20)

In drawing the nude a lot depends upon the approach of both the artist and the model. Though my online sitter is not an 18 year old “Venus”, she is in possession of natural curves and folds of flesh which make for aesthetically appealing drawings. When delving deeper into what makes the nude female form pleasing, it is impossible to avoid courting controversy.

But, I feel, due to the sheer number of interesting curves, the female form is far more interesting to draw than a man’s. I dont think this is purely down to the artist’s sexual proclivities or even to that of their intended audience.

In this age of technology, with organised religion’s influence on the wane in the west, there are many and varied ways in which a western woman can choose her way in the world. However, we cannot easily divorce ourselves from the influences of the past. If, since Adam and Eve, women have been cast in a villainous role, does that not make for a self-fulfilling prophecy in the eyes of men? This damning by religion cannot help but affect how a woman feels about herself and how her overall image is presented and received by others, not only by men. Her innate power is suppressed not only by society but by herself – that is if she wants a quiet life!

To “fix” the inequalities between the sexes is more complex than asking permission from the more dominant sex. Women have a responsibility to see themselves as equal first. That means seeing other people as equal. Not just male or female. This is problematic as people are far from being equal in status. There are the “haves” and the “have-nots”. With human nature the way it is, this fact will remain so.

Back to art. I refer to an earlier post on Jenny Saville. Here is a good example of an artist who seeks not to present the nude as a sexual object but how she personally sees it, which is, as far as I can tell, more of a “warts and all” type of reality.

Personally, I shall continue to try to draw as I see, but bearing in mind that I am as influenced by my social upbringing and heritage as is the subject of my drawing. Knowing oneself is to be wise.

I thought it was about time I set down the ISMs in Art that I’m aware of in some semblance of order.

Renaissance: “Rebirth” in Italy of Classical Art. From 1400 onwards. Raphael was one Renaissance master. Much later his name was used by the Preraphaelite Brotherhood who were big fans of Art of the Middle Ages.

Neoclassicism: circa 1750. Pure form of classicism.

Pre-Raphaelites: A “secret society” of young British Artists in opposition to the classicist ideal prevailing at the Royal Academy circa 1848. (Perhaps revealing of their own superciliousness, they referred to Sir Joshua Reynolds as “Sir Sloshua” as “sloshy” meant laxity in the process of painting anything commonplace or conventional. In her essay Jenniffer Meagher says: “The (Preraphaelite) Brotherhood at its inception strove to transmit a message of artistic renewal and moral reform” in times of industrialisation.)

Impressionism: Artists such as John Constable and Claude Monet (water lilies) painted “en plein air” so as to best describe their surroundings in a more natural way.

Post Impressionism: from circa 1886 (the last Impressionist show) where changes in style took place.

German/Expressionism: Art where reality plays second fiddle to methods expressive of the artist’s inner world. (Wassily Kandinsky. Earnest Ludwig Kirchner. Frank Marc.)

Modernism: Global movement towards using new mediums imagery and techniques in keeping with modern societies.

Cubism: An approach to representing “reality” from multiple viewpoints simultaneously (circa 1907)

That’s tidied up that little lot in my mind’s eye for now. Something on which to build knowledge of the intervening century. It seems each reacts to the ones preceding it whilst reflecting upon and/or reacting against societal norms or conventions. It seems that the artists who have made waves are those that buck the trend. What if the trend were to advance so far that it disappeared? Seriously. What if we went full circle to cave painting for example? Back to our shamanic roots?

What is it about Art that makes it so important? Why does it seem so impenetrably exclusive right now? Context matters. What was the context for cave painters? Depends on where they lived. Context again.

Like the Preraphaelite Brotherhood’s superciliousness, it can be difficult to see oneself outside of one’s own context. Change is a reliable fact of life both for cave dwellers and for “secret societies”. Incremental rather than cataclysmic change is what we are used to adapting to.

If there was a revolution/social upheaval/apocalypse – would the Art of today be appreciated? Once removed, the context is no longer there to support it. Would Contemporary Art stand up to scrutiny? The answer depends on our criteria. But the criteria then relies on context. The context of our rhetorical “new world order”. The Art of the present, like other periods in Art stands up to scrutiny only if it is relevant. When change affects context, all bets are off.

Context in Art is so much more important than I realised prior to engaging with Drawing 1: Drawing skills.

References:

Meagher, Jennifer. “The Pre-Raphaelites.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/praf/hd_praf.htm (October 2004)

(Date of access: 05/05/20)

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms

(Date of access: 05/05/20)