VENUS OF WILLENDORF AUSTRIA 30,000 BCE
Hard Life Beauty
This ancient artist's erotic desires closely matched
Darwinian specifications for a high endurance specimen
of human female built to overcome extreme hardship.
She would be big boned and husky, able to survive
multiple childbirths. Everything she ate over the
summer would convert to body fat, providing the
calories needed to outlast the long, snowy winter -
living on to provide the family a child in the spring.
The characteristics that maximize a species'
chance of success in its environment are
often genetically prescribed in male fantasy.
The same principle holds true for women's
fantasies, as well.
Ancient Egypt.
The beginnings of recorded history.
What better way to communicate with a vast,
illiterate population than with picture words.
They are interesting, colorful and easy to learn.
Human depiction, like all other words, must follow
rules of convention. For instance, both shoulders
must be fully presented no matter the pose struck
by the individual.
Functionality was the primary purpose of Egyptian art
but aesthetics also had its role.
A craftsman is skilled working with his hands.
An artist of ancient Greece attempted to portray
something exalted. The classicists of the time
believed they were portraying perfection.
The humans sculpted from stone bore features
worthy of gods.
The Greco-Roman artist had to strictly adhere to
depicting a balanced form. Art represented what
was believed to be eternal and universal in scope,
while also demonstrating love of reason, objectivity
and restraint.
ANATOMY LESSON OF DR. TULP REMBRANDT 1632
The politics of Mount Olympus are here replaced
by a group of surgeons watching the dissection of
a human corpse. Rembrandt made good money
providing portraits for the wealthy merchants of
Amsterdam. His settings were often unconventional,
even irreverent in treatment, but he was loved
because his subjects were ennobled by his treatment
of them with oils.
Capturing the moment.
The immediacy of a photograph together with the
sensual pleasure of having it recorded in quick,
decisive brushstrokes of oil. An artist's impression
lifted by accolades to the realm of fine art.
Look at her.
Untouched sherbet. Unlit cigarette.
She's not off in a daydream.
She's bored and ignored.
The guy that brought her here is over at
a distant table flirting with another woman.
The men she falls for always leave her in the lurch.
When will she ever learn?
It's coffee and a fresh pack of smokes for the couple
at the far end of the counter. The soda jerk talks about
the Cubs but the couple barely pay attention, satisfied
with merely being together in this weary hour of night.
Further down the counter a man sits alone with
his thoughts. His back is your only view of him.
"If you could say it in words there would be
no reason to paint it."
Edward Hopper
* * * * *
EVER EASY
No comments:
Post a Comment