Chase vs Sargent

 

A wonderful corner of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

 
Recently, I was able to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.  If you haven't yet seen the new American wing, you really need to make the trip.  It's well worth the effort.  While there, I took a moment to sit in front of two favorite artists' works that happened to be displayed side by side - William Merritt Chase's Lady in Black and John Singer Sargent's famous Madame Gautreau.  


As they are hung right next to each other it's hard not to make comparisons.  Even the wall placard notes how Chase's composition seems to quote Sargent's, perhaps especially with the placement of the table.  I sat there for quite sometime doing a thumbnail sketch of the beautiful Lady In Black.  As I drew, I found more and more points of comparison.  Now, it is not my intention to upset any Sargent fans. I am indeed quite a fan myself - but I have to say in my humble opinion, the Chase painting is the more interesting portrait.  Madame X has become such an icon for artists in realist art circles, so perhaps my favoring Chase's work has more to do with my propensity to root for the seeming underdog?  I'm not sure, but I will try to remain as objective as possible.

 

John Singer Sargent, Madame Gautreau (aka Madame X), oil on canvas, 82 1/8 x 43 1/4 in, 1883-84

Sargent's painting of Madame X,  with her pinched waist, evening attire and averted gaze, doesn't allow us to witness her full personality.  We surely understand her status in life, but beyond that not much else is offered.  (I must note that as a figurative artist I totally understand his choice in painting her head turned to the side.  Who wouldn't want to paint that stunning profile?!  This perhaps accounts for the averted gaze).  We instead are shown the pomp and circumstance of an elite's commissioned portrait.  Even Mme X's feet are softly absorbed into shadow, further obscuring personal identity.  Because of this, I find the Chase work a more honest and to my contemporary taste, a more appealing depiction.  In Lady in Black we are presented with a woman (Ms. Marietta Benedict Cotton) who is more humble in her attire and confronting with her gaze.  She stands solidly grounded with one foot in light.  There is little apprehension or coyness to her gaze.  Though her gown is surely not today's casual, it does seem more reserved or down to earth.  Even the polish of her skin is not overly smooth, soft or pasty as Mme. X's seems.  The paint itself has more action, more color, and is overall more interesting.

 

William Merritt Chase, Lady in Black, oil on canvas, 74 1/4 x 36 5/16 in, 1888

Perhaps, the Chase work resonates because it is more approachable, more easily accessible, depicting a class that I am closer to understanding.  Or perhaps its more that I enjoy seeing a portrait that shows more of the character of an individual, not just the surface characteristics.  My husband argues that because of the averted gaze, the Mme. X painting is more enigmatic, is more open to being read as story.  While the first one reads as an honest depiction of an individual.  His point is well taken here.  I understand neither is wrong or makes for lesser of a painting.

Placed together, these two paintings evoke much thought and emotion. I look forward to returning to visit these two wonderful paintings again soon.  Let me know what you think?  Do you favor one more than another?

 

Here's the little sketch I did with a few random notes that I jotted down as well:

-note that there are more reds in the flesh of "Lady" 

-note the balance of edges up and down the figure:

left shoulder has soft edge - right shoulder hard

left sleeve hard edge - right sleeve soft

-note that the perspective of the table is off, but less awkward than the table leg meeting up with the corner of the composition in the Mme. X painting. 

Thanks for having a read.

Threshold

Threshold, oil on panel, 64" x 48", 2012

As a figurative painter, it is pretty hard to avoid painting a female figure or two or twenty.  The nude is an essential component to the study of representing the human form.  Here is my most recent attempt.  

 detail - Threshold

At first, my intentions were admittedly simple.  I wanted to represent the female nude figure with dignity and respect.  There are so many images (including within my own oeuvre) that show women as objects of desire, as sexually available.  This has become a prevalent practice even or especially in advertising.  Let's face it, sex sells.  But aren't we capable of showing women as more than that?  Am I capable of reclaiming the female nude (please pardon the potentially dated feminist speak)?  Over the course of this painting I started to doubt the validity of my intentions.  Who am I reclaiming the nude female figure from?  Male artists?  Well sure, there are plenty of over sexed images of women painted by male artists of past and present - but so is true of female artists (again I am not discluding myself here).  Alternatively, there are also fantastically painted female nudes that ooze humanity, dignity and create empathy within the viewer, painted by some contemporary artists such as Daniel Sprick, Richard Maury or Catherine Prescott.  In the end, I'm not sure where this painting lands.  Is this a successful painting despite the vacillating ideas present between strokes?  If you hadn't read all this, would you more likely be questioning the validity of some woman walking to the porch in the buff?  Questions just raise more questions. 

Scattered

It has been a frustrating few weeks.  I've had a series of  distractions that has kept me out of the studio.  The least fun perhaps was the 'chance' to do our taxes.  This yearly endeavor causes nothing but grief and hair loss.  It is rather depressing to see how much money can be spent on the making of art.  In fact, I let it creep into that cyclical crevice in my brain that holds the nefarious creature I've spoken of before...  Yes, good ol' Self Doubt.  I quickly started to doubt the validity of being an artist at all.  What a selfish pursuit it is to be stuck in a room alone to make pretty pictures, when there are masses of people who are in need of real things like food and water and shelter.  How can I quantify the value or cost of my Art to my children?  I let these thoughts paralyze me.  I'm embarrassed to share that I could have given drawings to the Lodi Project's Artist's Unite For Haiti; I had intended too.  Yet, in my tail spin, I missed the drop off dates and lost an opportunity to feel like I affected some small change.  Did I intentionally sabotage myself so that I wouldn't feel a bit better?  And now even, is this post an attempt to appease the guilt felt for being a have instead of a have not?

At some point though, there is a need to breath again; to lift myself from the muddle of thoughts; to regain my determination to become a better artist (whatever that is to me, at that moment).  Once again, it was the by the grace of Mother Nature that yielded inner peace.  We were dealt our first snow storm of the season.  And it was wonderful to see the world anew.  A fresh white palette to observe the minutia in the scheme of the whole.  I wandered into my refuge, the woods, and once again found clarity.  I took these photos of nature undisturbed.  I am sure some of these images will pop up in paintings to come, as personal symbols of calm and clarity.

Good Art in Raleigh

Shortly after relocating to North Carolina, about one year ago, I went out to experience my first Raleigh art walk (known as First Friday), which happened to fall on January 2nd 2009. What an unfortunate first impression this night left on me. Having come from Southern California, where there are almost too many Art Walks to choose from each month, Raleigh's art scene appeared a very ho-hum, dead scene. People must have been recovering from their festivities, because I now know this isn't the typical First Friday scenario. But on that blustery, night I happened to walk into the (then quiet) studios of 311 W. Martin St. It was there that I met an artist who gave me hope that Raleigh wasn't the cultural vacuum I had assumed.

Julie Niskanen has her studio at 311 W. Martin Studios, which houses many fine print makers and a few painters as well as hosts gallery exhibits in the front space. I immediately fell in love with the rich blacks of Julie's mezzotints as well as her seemingly simple compositions. I've been coveting one of her piece's in particular, since that night. And today my husband and I celebrated our twelfth anniversary by purchasing this piece. Please take the time to look through her website which includes installation shots and mixed media pieces as well as drawings and of course her beautiful prints.


Julie Niskanen, Sanctuary, mezzotint, 18" x 24"

To Post, or Not to Post...

I know I've asked this question before. I still don't have any solid feelings on whether I should share publicly paintings or series of works that are in development. I have finished two little beauties, that I'd love to post here, but my gut tells me to hold out. Stingy bitch that I am... No, it's not that really. These 2 paintings are the first of a new series for my solo show that is coming up sometime in the fall of 2010 at Sullivan Goss in Santa Barbara, CA. In all honesty, I should be much further along on this show... but with things like relocating to a new state, and family health issues and the loss of a beloved pet... you know LIFE... I'm woefully behind. Initially, I also had started painting in a direction that my heart was not interested. It took me several months to find a new direction that suited my head, heart and past images. Perhaps it's my inner narcissist, but I tend to see all my work as a single continuum, a single thread. That one leads to the next, or relates to another from further in the past and that there should be symbols (even if only apparent to myself) in one that relates to another. I imagine retrospectives or hard bound books that could easily show that progression... yeah, like a said, inner narcissist dreaming... Any thoughts?