Bridging The Gap Between Old and New Post 3

  The paintings in the exhibit Angels and Tomboys at the Newark Museum made me have a deeper appreciation of classic works of art of the 19th century even more while the artists that we are studying in class right now make me appreciate the historical, societal and economic innovations throughout the 20th century that influenced artistic and literary movements like Dada. Our docent explained in great detail the subjects of the different paintings and the history behind them. In most of the paintings in the earlier portion of the tour the young women were holding pansies or pansies were in their lap. Our docent explained that the pansies were a symbol of fertility and in some instances the Holy Trinity, when there were three petals. She also explained the importance of androgyny in the exhibit because some of the subjects that we thought were young women or little girls were actually young men or little boys. She explained that this was the case because in most of the paintings the scene is outside in nature and during that time young girls and women were not painted outside.

All of the artists in the exhibition were interesting but the one that stood out the most for me was John Singer Sargent 1856-1925. We discussed one of his paintings in class when we were studying chapter 14 in Eisenman, Lady Agnew of Lochnaw 1892-3, and our docent at the museum discussed his portrait of Katherine Chase Pratt 1890 According to Eisenman sitting for a portrait established social class and socioeconomic status (304) our docent reitterated that on the tour. Most of the subjects came from well to do aristcratic families, Katherine Chase Pratt came from the wealthy Pratt family of Massachusetts that founded the Pratt Institute in New York and Lady Agnew was Scotland Royalty, the Agnew family occupied Lochnaw Castle until the end of the 19th century right around the time the Singer portrait was done (Scotland). 

Singer focused on gender in paintings like Cassatt and Eakins but like some of the other artists in the exhibition focused on flowers as well in these two paintings. Unlike the other paintings in the exhibition the flowers are not in the laps of the women they are behind them and their hands are in their laps. Both women were in their late teens when they sat for these paitings so in their era they would have been at the marrying age maybe that is why the flowers are behind them because they will lose their sexual innocence once they are married.In both paintings the background is darker and the light is the foreground, this is Singer's homeage to the classics(Singer). Lady Agnew has an alluring look where as Katherine is seen in profile. The brushstrokes are very visible in Katherine and barely visible in Lady Agnew. 

  

Francis Picabia's approach to painting "aligns him to the Symbolist-Synthesist concepts of the late 19th century where art is not considered a copy of nature but rather the artist's emotional experience of it as seen in a synthesis of form and color with subjective expression"( Picabia). This is a similartiy between Singer and Picabia because their works were all about subjective expression. Another similar characteristic especially with my choice of paintings is gender. In Octophone I 1922 Picabia uses imagery and rejects the value of art. In Octophone I Picabia has painted a large target in black and white and their is a silhouette of a nude female accented with the color orange. The nude silhouette seems to refer back to more traditional art forms.

Unlike the work of Cassat and Eakins when dealing with the issue of gender the female nude silhouette in Picabia's paiting is the focal point and the viewer is supposed to focus on the female. I don't know if this was painted for the male gaze but it appears to be the case. If you look at the painting long enough which I did you get the effect of a stereogram. The orange accent looks like an androgynous figure with its buttocks in the air, knees bended and head tilted up slightly. I could not find any research to support that but felt that I might be in the ball park since my research revealed that Salvador Dali did use stereograms in some of his paintings. Stereograms had been produced for years at the time Octophone I was painted because they were first produced by Charles Wheatstone in 1838(hermes-press).   

  

    Works Cited

 

"Angles & Tomboys: Girlhood in 19th-Century American Art.”  Newark Museum. 49 Washington Street, Newark, NJ 07102. 23 Nov. 2012.

 

Eisenman, Stephen M. Nineteenth Century Art: A Critical History. 4th ed. New York, NY: Thames & Hudson, 2011. Print.

 

www.hermes-press.com/stereogram1.htm

 

http://www.johnsingersargent.org/

http://www.picabia.com/biograph/bio_ev_p4.htm

 

http://www.scotland.org.uk/castles/lochnaw-castle

 

 

 

Links

Newark Museum

 

John Singer Sargent

 

Francis