Pierre-Auguste Renoir And Nude On Sofa By Henri Matisse

5). The painting shows the languid bodies of two women lovers wrapped in a sensual caress. The artist juxtaposes two voluptuous women, one dark-haired and the other with golden hair — a prevalent motif in nineteenth century eroticism, which is also echoed in another of Courbet’s double nudes, Venus and Psyche (fig. 6). In The Sleepers, Courbet exploits the nude as an erotic device to depict a scene of lesbianism. He does not conceal the sexual nature of the image, but instead amplifies it. Every aspect of the painting exudes desire. The skin of the women is clammy; they are heavily fatigued; their heads are nestled together in a gesture of intimacy — all of which is indicative of “an intense romantic struggle.” Perhaps more so than The Origin of the World, the viewer is left to examine the painting from a voyeuristic position. It is as if the viewer has intruded upon a private scene of raw intimacy between the women. Thus, it is not merely the context of the scene that lends the painting its erotic quality, but how Courbet renders his

The figures can be identified as nude woman and men in a bright, vibrant, landscape scenery. Instead of painting a typical and most recognizable scene of a contemporary park, Matisse tests the boundaries with sensuality, vibrancy and expression. Many of Matisse’s works express sensuality, the curvature of the figures bodies, their nude and strewn about positions, depict serenity and a sense of true relaxation and paradise. The line and curvature of the figures bodies takes the viewer on a journey. The curving and sweeping of the arcs of each person’s back, out stretched arms, and further twisted bodies move the viewers eye all about the canvas, covering every

1884). The painting, like most of Renoir’s work, has a female subject. The girl is the only visible person or focus in the art. Her red hair serves as a contrast from the muted background, which is outdoors in Renoir’s usual style. It has a mixture of bright and darker colors and the individual brush strokes can be seen. The painting features everyday life, a common factor in paintings by Renoir. The girl is wearing a hat, running her fingers through her hair, and looking directly at the viewer of the artwork. This is similar to many of Renoir’s pieces from later in his

Anne Hollander discusses how some painters render a woman wearing an elegant dress as if the dress is part of the woman. In contrast to images from previous chapters in which women are depicted as posing in their gowns as they look directly at the viewer, Hollander presents several images showing a woman whose gaze is directed elsewhere. She explains that if the depicted woman meets the viewers gaze that she calls attention to herself and her clothing, thus the clothing is modeled and posed in which implies seduction towards the male. In contrast, the common traits of the discussed paintings includes facial imagery that is obscured or shadowed, a sense of the woman being alone with her own thoughts, and an unawareness of the gown that the figure

Photorealism is a genre of art that creates photographic images which blend the real and the unreal. Édouard Manet’s painting, A Bar at the Folies-Bergère, utilizes photorealism to depict the scene of a young barmaid standing behind a bar table in a lively cabaret music hall, facing the viewer with an exhausted, serious expression and awaiting her patron's order. The painting plays with our sense of reality by including a mirror that shows a strange man and the oblique-angled reflections of the barmaid and liquor bottles. Likewise, in Picture for Women, Jeff Wall emulates the arrangement of Manet’s painting and also positions the light bulbs and ceiling pipes to create linear perspective. This photograph is composed entirely of the mirror reflection of a studio and is split into three sections; on the left is a woman who stares at the viewer fiercely,

Hollander discusses a new tradition of painting half-length portraits and first leads the reader through the gradual move to more erotic and sensual images portrayed in artworks. She presents works by Titian and Tintoretto and explains that artists of the period portrayed real people in exotic poses, sometimes with bare-chested men or semi-exposed women’s breasts, and titled their works as mythical characters. Throughout the chapter, the author leads the reader through a variety of images that show the gradual progression of exposed skin in artworks, from draped modern garments assuming folds of classical draperies, which revealed parts of the body, to works such as Caravaggio’s Boy Bitten by a Lizard (1571 – 1610) where the attention on the

This formal comparison of two paintings displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Elizabeth Farren, the Late Countess of Derby (ca. 1790), by Sir Tomas Lawrence, and Madame Aguste Cuoq (ca. 1852-57), by Gustave Gourbet, brings attention the distinctions and similarities in the approaches each artist took to present these two women’s personalities living in the 18th and 19th century. Initially the first thing the viewer notes is that, both paintings are full-body length portraits of women, who are focused directly at the viewer. The scale of both women figures, are fairly similar to human size and their position allows the viewer to get a feel of the uniqueness of each woman’s personality, fashion and style.

Historicaly, women have been used as subjects for art by male artists. These images represent women as sexualized objects for the male gaze or as an ideal figure. Most of these women have no identity beyond their physical bodies. The paintings of passive nude reclining women began to appear in the 15th century Renaissance in Western Europe. These reclining nude women are commonly shown in compositions that accentuate the glow of their skin. The paintings show a close-up image of the naked woman reclining on a bed, and their sexualized naked bodies span the entire width of the canvas. The hands and feet of these reclining nude women commonly remain inside the picture's frame, and the women are sometimes shown as asleep, often facing the viewer

The art world has been host to a vast menagerie of talent, intellect, and creativity for about as long as human culture has existed. Naturally, with such an impressively expansive history, avenues of art are visited time and time again. Artists seek not only to bring their own personal flavor and meaning to timeless concepts, but to find ways to reinvent them. While not all creators can make such a great impact in art, their efforts give birth to some truly magnificent works. In an effort to create an understanding, as well an appreciation, of the nuances and design choices employed in these attempts, a comparison will be made between Edouard Vuillard’s Interior With a Screen (1909-1910) and Henri Matisse’s Blue Nude (Souvenir of Biskra) (1907).

This painting draws from classical and modern ideas. It portrays both classical portraiture and the classic female nude. The strange part, however, is that in this portrait the head is a womans torso. On an elongated neck, topped with a full head of hair, there is a face that contains nipples for eyes, a bellybutton for a nose, and a woman's groin where the mouth and chin would be located. The shape of the neck and head also suggest a phallic representation of some kind. Behind this woman lies a desolate landscape and blue sky to complete a complementary color

The analysis of these paintings will begin with Vuillard’s oil painting Interior With a Screen. This piece depicts a female nude placed in the interior a large and furnished room; the woman appears to be slightly hunched over

Picasso’s work abandoned traditional composition and perspective in painting (MoMA, 2013) . As with Cezanne’s painting, Picasso’s work also features nudes, however, we now see a distortion of the body with the use of geometric forms to represent the females painted in Picasso's painting. This approach in which Picasso chose, posed a challenge towards the expectations of Art the World from times past. Female body paintings were often used to represent beauty, but here we have Picasso creating a painting that focuses on five naked prostitutes in a brothel. A stark contrast to even Matisse and Cezanne's paintings which highlighted the sensuality of the body.

What works of art from his own previous paintings of single nudes does Renoir’s Bathers recall? (p. 111)

The female figure is shown almost full bodied in the center of the composition, her body turned sideways but her face rotated to look out at the viewer (as seen in most of her pieces). Her body is a combination of diseased skin which looks almost otherworldly with bright spots of saturated oranges, reds and browns for the legs, thighs and buttocks, followed by muted greens and yellows for the back, shoulders, and head. Although diseased, the skin alludes to floral patterns, giving the female body a sense of oneness with nature. The use of actual human skin in part of the torso, arm and breast further emphasizes the splendor of the female sexuality. Her lips are full and plump, her eyes wide blue eyes

The historical context of this painting was during a time of mobile artist. Men could go out and paint as they saw things increasing the flaneur of people. This compares to women, who were confined to painting the domestic side of life. They were not allowed to leave the house freely like men unless they were accompanied. It brings together the rise of modernity in Paris during the impressionist time period.