Class Two 

Kouros/Apollo

 

kouros and kouros-like figures

The peculiar Archaic Greek 'Kouros' statuary seems to have be influenced by Egyptian figurative sculpture.  In earlier versions the male figure is stepping forward smiling and seems to have been oft-repeated (2nd from right). Later versions became more naturalistic, less rigid and hierarchic, and perhaps evolved into representations of Apollo.  Below are 20th century figures in similar poses, but you can see clearly that the figure below right, which is not stepping forward but has it's feet firmly planted on the ground, communicates a very different message to the Kouros.  To have a figure or model stepping, or walking toward the spectator in an engaging manner is a highly compelling archetypal pose.

 

 

 

Walking

Having considered the walking Kouros as an archetypal pose, it could be worth looking at some other types of walk for model poses. There is something archetypal about walking itself, for obvious reasons.  Walking upright might be considered what makes us human, and not just on H. G. Well's fictional Island of Dr. Moreau.

 

 

The act of walking can represent liberation or healing as when the lame are compelled to walk again.  Below, the strange doctor of physics and scientific advisor from Stanley Kubrick's classic black comedy Dr. Strangelove who, after summerising a post nuclear recovery scenario, rises from his wheel chair and announces to American President Merkin Muffley 'mein Fuhrer, I can walk'.  (Peter Sellers plays both Merkin Muffley and Strangelove.) You can see the clip from the movie HERE.

 

 

Below, more walking figures from art and advertising.

 

 

For obvious reasons, the scotch bottler Johnnie Walker has made walking part of it's logo and many an advertising campaign.  Below is a still from the stunning 'Evolution' advert we saw in class in which the archetype of walking across a new threshold is shown.  You can view this ad for Johnnie Walker scotch HERE.

 

 

Compare the dandified gentlemanly (in traditional English hunt attire) Johnny Walker logo character (who carries a walking stick and is about to tip his hat) to the male dancers in the clip of The Cake Walk dance.  This dance apparently originated amongst African American slaves as a way of poking fun at their white 'owners' by creating a paroldy of their aristocratic dances.  The new African-Americans would hold their own dance competitions, for which the prize might be a cake, the winning couple would apparently dance a circuit together doing a the parody 'Cake Walk' dance/march. You can view the clip from the American Library of Congress that the still below is taken from by clicking HERE.

For a stirring and hepped-up rendition of Cake Walking Babies from Home with (I think) Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet and Eva Taylor, click HERE and try not to twitch, tap or shake.

 

As with The Cake Walk, walking, strutting, strolling can be archetypal elements of dance routines.  Below a still from a clip of The Stroll dance craze from 1958.  You can watch the clip HERE.  Under no circumstances should you watch this clip after taking valium or any other powerful sedative.

 

Below images of two Moon Walks, both of which can be considered remarkable.

 

 

Below, the archetypal, probably clown or mime-based walk made famous by cartoonist R. Crumb.

 

 

 

The archetypal act of marching, or walking can be used for consciousness raising, fund raising, or, raising the dead as in the Zombie Walk craze that is currently infecting urban populations.  When our model assumes a pose in which she or he appears to be walking, it can be considered a powerful and remarkable pose indeed.

Confronting the Sublime

I can't resist adding this potential pose; a variation of the kouros pose, or the contrapposto pose, but viewed from behind.  In it, the figure stands on the edge of some kind of precipice, viewing belittling vastness, or violent turbulent nature; The Sublime which is both terrifying and beautiful in a way that leaves the spectator speechless.  Below is the classic pose struck by the figure in Kasper David Fredriech's Romantic Sublime painting The Wanderer.

The pose weights one leg.  If you ever find yourself standing on the edge of a precipice, or confronting a terrifying or awesome spectacle, see what position you assume.  The contrapposto is architecturally useful because, with the weighted leg, it is easy to step forward a little closer if you dare, or step back if you don't.  It is a crucial pose which allows you to move either forward or backward.

 

 

In the detail of the fine art photograph above, it is probably with irony that the artist/photographer has a figure confronting a pastoral landscape in a similar way to confronting the sublime.  At any moment he looks like he could step forward or backward, or, with the slight twist, turn on his heels and back off.  As mentioned, the engineering of the pose is perfect for actually confronting a sublime abyss.  Below a couple of snaps from my own camera; a mountaineer approaches a gulf, a steep notch, between two of the peaks of Mt. Colonel Foster in Strathcona Park.  He is ready to edge closer or back off.  Being roped up gives him confidence to move especially close to the edge.  The black and white shot below is me; I had handed my camera to my brother, who had said 'let me get  a shot of you' while on the summit of a local peak.  We were near cliffs on Jutland Mountain looking across to Mount Albert Edward.  I did'nt consciously assume a pose similar to David's The Wanderer, above, but the similarity in both these images below is striking.

 

Below is a still from the ending of the '80's sci-fi movie The Quiet Earth.  The main character has crossed some kind of threshold to find himself an observer in a strange new location.  The strangeness of his location is revealed by a 'planet rise' over the horizon on the edge of a sea.  He walks slowly toward and into the ocean; between each of his gradual steps is a pose similar to the contrapposto pose a figure often assumes when confronting the sublime, and when the footage finally stops, he appears to be in that archetypal 'confronting the sublime' pose.  There is another hint that he is indeed experiencing a deeply sublime experience. Throughout the movie, in which events unfold after a devastating experiment of some kind, the main character, a scientist, has been desperately trying to explain what has happened, what he thinks has happened, and recording his thoughts in words on a tape recorder.  In the final scene he looks at his tape recorder, which he still has, and says nothing, at a complete loss for words, which is the classic response to confronting the awesomeness of the sublime.  View the ending and ending credits of The Quiet Earth HERE.

 

Tim Gardner is a visual artist who lives and works on Vancouver Island and who exhibits internationally.  He could well be considered to be a conceptual artist first and foremost. However, he is also a highly accomplished watercolourist and his landscapes usually include figures. Gardner does many things with his imagery, but a recurring theme is the figure or figures confronting, at various proximities, sublime nature; landscapes that are in some way formidable, potentially violent and intimidating.  Visit Gardner's blog/website HERE, and scroll down to view his work.  See how many of the paintings feature figures confronting the sublime in the classic contrapposto pose viewed from behind, or subtle variations of that pose. There will be some striking similarities to the image above in some of them.

 

Nudity and Idealized Form

Some of the depictions of archetypal figures we've looked at represent idealized human forms without clothes or scantily dressed.  These might be depictions of Apollo, or Ancient Grecian youth, or they might be anorexic looking modern fashion models.  These idealized body types have changed as cultures change.  Seeking an ideal form of the human body can seem like a positive aesthetic persuit juxtaposed to persuing the perversely ugly.  But both can be fraught with psychological pitfalls, most especially the persuit of physical beauty, as we will touch on in this brief consideration of the tradition of drawing and painting The Nude in European art.

What do you visualize of when you think of an artist drawing a nude model?  Quite possibly the following. The artist is clothed,male and concentrating formidably.  The model is female, undressed of course, and probably young and attractive in a conventional sense.  The pose she has assumed is possibly reclining, languid and provocative, and the point of view of the artist might be higher and more dominating. You might develop a mild smirk at the imagined situation which is a parody of sorts.

'Drawing from life' brings with it some inherited baggage, in part, from human society's tumultuous relationship with itself in a state of undress. 'Drawing from Life'  also comes with some percieved baggage associated with the western painting and drawing tradition of The Nude.  For centuries the naked human form has fluctuated back and forth in appreciation of the art world from being the epitome of visual beauty to anathema.  Recently it has not been thought well of.  Addressing, or undressing, the issue a little in these few skimpy  paragraphs is tantilizing and interesting and something that you can give consideration on your own time whether or not you draw from life on a regular basis. 

Some of the obvious baggage issues surrounding The Nude and drawing from life might be as follows:  Cultural and religious taboos against nudity, or enforcement of modesty.  Objectification of people, particularly women. Discomfort with possible sensual, erotic or pornographic implications of naked figures.  Vulnerability, humiliation, depersonalisation of naked persons.  Irrelevance of the nude figure as a subject matter for the modern world. Discomfort with inflating a concept of ideal physical beauty and the implied concept of physical uglyness.  As well there are also body and self image issues in the face of ideal nude beauty.

Thinking about the place of The Nude in the pantheon of visual arts generates paradoxes,  strong opinion and convictions, but thats what makes the subject interesting. 

       

Above left; nakedness, nudity and vulnerability.   A prisoner in the notorious Abu Ghraib prison is menaced while stripped.  Over and over again, nakedness has been used to 'strip' people of their respect and identity. 

Next to the right; Masaccio's expulsion from the garden.  In Biblical passage's self awareness of nakedness induces shame and fear, and body postures not unlike the unfortunate Abu Ghraib inmate.

Next right; Manet's Luncheon on the Grass, noted by John Berger in the 1970's 'Ways of Seeing'  documentary as significant in marking the end of the European tradition of The Nude, in his opinion,  in which the dressed view the undressed.

Far right; a  model assumes a pose reminiscent of the woman in 'Luncheon on the Grass'  in a still from John Berger's seminal 1970's BBC documentary 'Ways of Seeing'.  Episode two of 'Ways of Seeing' looks at the the effect of  the tradition of The Nude on advertising and the self image of women.  Berger's conjectures in episode two increasingly apply to men in a world where we are becoming more and more aware and concerned with how others see us as a result of mass visual media and personal visual media.  You can see the beginning of episode two on YouTube HERE and then link to other episodes.

In Ways of Seeing, Berger posits that being Naked is being yourself and being Nude is being an object.  He seems to assert that nakedness is being our most personal and intimate self.  However, he doesn't note that when power is exercised abusively, clothes are often removed from victims in an attempt to destroy identity.  Paradoxically both being with or without clothes can be seen as obscuring self identity.

If we look at a naked figure to study anatomy and engineering, are we not objectifying our subject also? 

It is interesting to consider what a profound impact the invention of the mirror must have been on human consciousness. Suddenly an individual could see how others see them.  Berger touches on the effect of the camera (and advertising) on how women might constantly imagine themselves under scrutiny.  If this is the case, in our current era of portable digital imaging and surveilance how much time do people in general spend imagining and trying to manipulate or accomodate how others see them?  Obsessing about appearance is a type of posing, or posturing, and so of interest to us in this workshop.

John Berger is an interesting thinker; critic, novelist, essayist, documentary film maker and artist.  Despite his riveting 1970's critique of the tradition of The Nude, he regularly draws from life.  A recent documentary on the UK's channel 4 called Today's Nude featured John Berger drawing from a model in Episode 5.  Each episode consists of an artist drawing from a model and discussing their process, and thoughts about art, the figure and the body.  You can visit Channel 4's page on the series HERE.  Alas, we can't see the episodes here for licencing reasons, but I found it on YouTube once, and it can be found on the web at sites on which you must register.  It might be available in the library system and you might watch for it on PBS or Knowledge networks. 

 

 Above, John Berger draws from life in the Channel 4 series 'Todays Nude'. 

         

If you've taken a look at Ways of Seeing and Berger's critique of the western tradition of The Nude in visual art you'll recognise that tradition in some of the displays of flesh above, but you'll also notice the changing body types of the subjects.  The two left hand images are of Ancient Greek sculpture; the 'Kritios Youth' and the 'Venus de Milo.  The Ancient Greeks had a different view of nudity, particularly male nudity, than during the European painting tradition or today.  The Greek ideal of beauty was male youth in a society that was relatively bisexual among those entitled to be citizens.  Athletes competed nude, and the body beautiful aesthetic may well have been appreciated as much as the feats of strength and endurance.  There were also ideals of female beauty projected on goddesses such as the Venus de Milo statue.

Moving right to Hans Memling's nude portrait of Vanity: in northern Europe in the Rennaisance, the 'ideal' body type for women and men was still based on the mediaval Gothic nude's proportions, and was radically different than that of Southern Europe where there was a greater interest in antiquities and where the regular unearthing of new sculptures by Roman and Greek artists ocurred with great fanfare. 

Centre right is a classical rape scene by Rubens (a disturbingly frequent subject matter in the European tradition) whose ideal of volumptuous flesh has coined the term 'Rubenesque' for amply fleshed persons, particularly women.

Last image is of Ingres 'Odelisque', a bizarredly idealized creature who apparently has a surplus of two vertabrae in her back.

The artistic search for ideal beauty in the human form had been considered a noble quest for centuries, but is now critiqued and scrutinized for possibly damaging effects to the self image of real, not idealized people.  During the time of the European painting tradition of The Nude, this might have only effected women of the privileged classes, as the richer you were the more imagery of yourself and others was available to you.  Today we are bombarded by images that effect every strata of society, and effect the way we see ourselves; often for the worse.  This applies to women most especially, but more and more it applies to men as well.

Below an idealized portrait of a woman by Ingres with an oddly elongated neck; and beside her a screengrab from the compelling short movie/advert by Dove Soap called 'Evolution'.  If you would like to watch this one minute ad on YouTube click HERE.  Note the elongation of the neck ocurring in the Dove short movie while the image is manipulated digitally; very similar to what has been done by Ingres.  

   

Eroticism, it should be pointed out, is completely out of place in the group life drawing studio situation.  Blatant eroticism might be awkward for other drawers and most importantly, awkward and embarrassing for your model.  But is erotic expression in the  wider pantheon of visual arts something to take exception to?  Many of the eroticly contentious paintings in the European tradition illustrate meaningful archetypal narratives from literature and scripture.  Film, theatre, and literature don't turn a blind eye to expressing human physical love; why should two dimensional visual art?

While on the subject of physical beauty, you might be interested in a very popular visual presentation by  American realist artist Scott Burdick.  He takes exception to the contemporary art world's apparent 'banishment of beauty'.  He makes some interesting points. Does modern art completely avoid things of beauty?  Many of Burdick's prefered images of what he considers to be beautiful might be considered trivial and 'pretty', even cheesy representations of ideal beauty. Some of his examples of  lousy visual art  I , er..., well, I really like them.  He takes exception to abstraction and non representational art, often considering it as ugly.  But a great deal of non representational art is arrangement  of colour, texture and shape.  Does this not risk becoming beautiful in a 'pretty' way, a bit like flower arranging might? Or painting cheesy semi clad nudes?

So much of what is considered good taste, including concepts of ideal beauty, are aquired, and change with time.  Ideals of the human form have gone from the ample to the anorexic. 

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and if you broaden the scope of what you behold you will inevitably start to see beauty in unexpected places, including in things you once found 'ugly'. 

Paradoxes abound in the art world; and although it would seem rational to assume that nothing could be said with great certainty about art, artists and critics from all directions make their points with utter and complete conviction and belief.  Click HERE to see Scott Burdick's presentation on YouTube. 

 

If you go life drawing, you probably won't have to worry about your model's self image.  Male or female, it takes great confidence for the model to allow themselves to be scrutinized and represented by others.  In the life drawing group that I attend, our models are interesting folk; often artists, musicians, dancers, yoga practisioners.  Male or female, they currently range in age from their late 20's to around 60.  There isn't one model that I don't look forward to drawing, and our group is respectful and appreciative of the model's active role in our creativity. 

I think its possible that  life drawing can, if you are so inclined to practice it, alter your attitude to beauty, to nudity, to self image, and to the image you have of others.  Through life drawing we become familiar with the faces and bodies of others and start to recognise attractivness in traits that are not part of  the genre of the conventional mass produced cloned and digitally manipulated figures and faces of advertising..or 'art'. Rather than leading us toward some restrictive, rarified and possibly distorted ideal image as envisaged in art history, 'pretty' painting, or modern advertising, drawing real people can expand our concept of beauty and the appreciation for the human form. 

It's also a great way to improve your drawing skills.

Below are a couple of modern archetypal pose-memes that are supposed to represent modern idealized forms of beauty and celebrity.  The poses of the fashion models particularly illustrate the risks to human health that might be associated with the concept of ideal beauty. You can see that fashion models appear to have more successfully sculpted their bodies into the shape of the idealized body type found in the plastic children's toy than have the actors. 

The Catwalk Pose

catwalk models and a Barbie Doll 

 

The Red Carpet Pose

 

photos of  female actresses on the red carpet and two Barbie Dolls 

  

Parody and Exaggeration in creating a public image

the amazing Grace Jones

 

The stunningly lithe looking musician Grace Jones either had someone create, or created herself, a public image as chiselled 'hard edge' figure. This marketing strategy may well have been a parody of, or an embelleshment of, the high fashion ideal.  Her apparently hard-edged body lines were exaggerated even more with her clothing and by airbrushing on her album covers.  On the cover art of 'My Jamaican Guy' you can see masking tape delineating her hard-edge outline, and on the cover of 'Living my Life' the extent of the hard-edge image parody  is alluded to by a piece of the masking tape tacked above her left eye. 

 

Authoritarian and Socialist Realist Figures 

 

You can see how Socialist Realism painting of both workers and leaders has drawn on archetypal illuminating gestures that go back thousands of years.  Above a Roman statue of Augustus; a Gustave Dore engraving of Moses; and the raised lamp of the Statue of Liberty.  Socialist realist figures are also sometimes pointing to some divine or lofty concept, illuminating the world, or threatening it with a brandished tool or weapon, poses and gestures drawn from a long tradition of authoritive figures.  Even in the photography of live events, such as the photo of the Fascist Mussolini below left, we can see how a despot acts out and assumes ancient gestures with a Fascist variation in the clutching of the waist.  These photos of poses almost become official portraits of despots in the same way an actual official portrait can, and by virtue of their stance alone they can be used over and over in the media to say 'despot' or 'fascist' or 'Mussolini'. 

 

two photos of Mussolini

 

 

Above is a Time Magazine cover from just after the shooting of President Ronald Regan.  In the confusion after the shooting former the former General who was Secretary of State Alexander Haig appeared on television assuring Americans that he was in control.   At the time there was some question of his assertion, although he was effectively correct.  In the article on his 'taking command', with the gold relief eagle behind Hague, he assumes a very fascist pose and it doesn't take much to imagine him as positively Hitlerian.  Was this an editorial decision at Time Magazine to undermine Hague by making him look like a despot, or a decision on his part to appeal to the very right wing sentiments of many Americans?  I'll never know, but the background, the text, and of especial interest to us...the pose...makes some very unnerving associations.

 

mural of Saddam

 

official socialist realism does a lot of gesticulating, sometimes brandishing tools or weapons

 

Adam and Eve/Male and Female 

   

 

Above are classic images of the Biblical Adam and Eve (note how the sculpture of Eve top left is given the ancient Greek 'Aphrodite' pose).  These two figures have become so archetypal in sacred art through European history that it becomes very easy to see 'Adam and Eve' whenever we see a male and a female side by side.  Sometimes this connection might be genuinely alluded to, as was perhaps the case when the artist rendered the couple below left; coincidental perhaps, in the case of the inscription put on the Voyageur spacecraft now travelling through interstellar space beyond our solar system; or projected onto abstract objects, as might be the case in the abstract sculpture below right.

 

 

 

Class Three