Weiblicher Akt mit Tod als Vanitasallegorie (Female Nude with Death as Vanitas Allegory). Hermann BEHRENS s.d.g., (1901) huile sur toile. 180 x 107 cm. Coll. privée.
Goltzius was a Dutch printmaker, draftsman, and painter. He was the leading Dutch engraver of the early Baroque period, a leading example of the Northern Mannerism style, noted for his sophisticated technique and the exuberance of his compositions. According to A. Hyatt Mayor, Goltzius “was the last professional engraver who drew with the authority of a good painter and the last who invented many pictures for others to copy”. In middle age he also began to produce paintings.
La photographie n’est pas un métier, c’est une passion, qui vous traite avec plus ou moins de bienveillance, cela sans regard des frais engagés ou du temps passé, c’est injuste aussi bien que salvateur.
Photography is not a profession–it’s a passion that treats you more or less benevolently, but without regard for the expenses incurred or the time spent. It is an injustice yet also a salvation.
Of plagiarism I once wrote, “It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” Mere copying, in other words, also my words, had no value.
Three years ago, a photography instructor decided to challenge my unique perspective, arguing that within his medium true plagiarism was not possible. An inherent originality, he said, would transform the imitator into a creator.
His students were told to mimic as best they could a famous image containing nudity.
When I was in art school I remember becoming discouraged, believing any worthwhile image had already been made. The goal of this assignment was to teach that even if you try very hard to remake someone else’s work, your photographs can only be your own.
I must admit that the ensuing product, prepared by the students, looks nothing like Matisse’s Blue Nude.
What happens when a woman photographs another woman in the nude? Photographer Amanda Charchian calls it the “Pheromone Hotbox”: an elevated, erotic state of tension that seesaws from sexuality to creativity.
It’s often the moments before photographing someone, their shy gestures, the way they prepare, the way they react to imminent danger or threat of being caught nude in public, that shows me the most about them…
In the case that a woman willingly takes a nude portrait, it becomes a letter to the world; broadcasted message of here-ness. You cannot exploit the empowered.
I feel strongly that things should be real. I wanted to show a different way of seeing and to get at something universally human. A woman’s body is a map of her journey through life.
Crouching female nude with bended head by Egon Schiele, 1918.
On June 18th, 1915, three days after his wedding, Schiele was conscripted into the Austrian army. Due to his excellence in handwriting, he spent most of the war working as a clerk in a POW camp. He continued to draw, encouraged by his commanding officer.
Despite avoiding action on the front lines, Schiele did not survive to see the Armistice. His wife, six months pregnant, fell victim to the Spanish Influenza pandemic on Oct. 28th, 1918. Schiele, who had also contracted the disease, capitulated three days later. He was 28.
One hundred years after his death, Schiele is categorized with a group of erotic artists that includes one of his mentors, Gustav Klimt. I’m not sure that’s the right place for Schiele, as although his major works have sexual themes, they are often grotesque.
In 1912, Schiele was arrested for seducing a girl under the age of consent. He was ultimately convicted on a lesser charge of showing pornography to a child. He may also have initiated an incestuous relationship with his sister, Gerti, when she was 12. On at least one occasion, he was forced to move out of town due to suspicions he had molested teenage girls posing for him.
Whereas Klimt unabashedly celebrated eroticism, I think Schiele had a much darker perspective on sexuality. Although there can be beauty in brutality, Schiele’s work is tinged by a sense of repulsion, perhaps self-directed.
The gap of time does not allow for confirmation or rejection of the rumours surrounding Schiele, The art he left behind, however, has a distorted and delinquent quality (for example, the portrayal of the genitals of the redheaded model, above) which–and mine is a minority opinion–isn’t so sexy.
