The Nude in Weatern Tradition
The depiction of the nude female model by a male artist in oil painting has played a significant role in the western tradition over the last 500 years. The oil painting of the female nude is subject to the artist's interpretation of her form. She is affected by the artist's desire for his model, as well as his art and she is torn between the artist's inability to be both lover and painter. Hubert Damisch's "The Underneaths of Painting" helps the reader understand the importance of the male painter's imaging of the female form. By analyzing Balzac's Unknown Masterpiece, Damisch uncovers several tangents to the unique relationship between artist's and the women they create on canvas. Balzac tells a tale of the truth behind the creative process of an artist and the way he perceives his vision when finally completed in oil. Poussin is a young painter who doesn't quite understand how the concepts of desire and love will affect the perception of his model, and lover, Gilette. He soon embarks on a journey that takes him underneath the paint:"Under the paint and as its 'truth', instead and in the place of the so-called picture, the exchange
For it was his desire that she should model for him, yet a desire which did not necessarily pass without explanation, at least for the one who was, as it were its passing object. Damisch utilizes Balzac's tale to define the position of the artist's heart. we are amongst painters who only have eyes for painting. assuming its last true face: a woman for a picture and a woman for what forms (or ought to) its subject. Gilette may argue that Poussin doesn't want her for the same reasons that she wants him, but she does not understand that this complaint can only be made by the female nude on the canvas: the test of true desire on the artist's part is if he can look into his painting and he feels the need to caress the canvas- then he has perfected his image. There are many layers of paint put on to one canvas, but the image isn't visible right away, she must grow through the brushstrokes. Since he shares his love with her and his work, Poussin cannot capture true realism in the females he depicts. He falls in love with his creation and there can be no room for a tangible love. As far as Gilette is concerned she has no part in their commerce: she doesn't look at the painting, but sees only the painters. But this doubt will soon vanish: the young man will forget his mistress, he will desire only to be a painter, he will see his art and nothing else," (Damisch 200). She does not say: without desiring her. The artist has created his masterpiece and she can be discussed like a real woman now; she has a name, she has the personality the artist has given her which makes her come alive, she is so real that observers feel the need to touch her and she looks right back.
Common topics in this essay:
Masterpiece Damisch,
Gilette Poussin,
Essay Topic,
Underneaths Painting,
female nude,
Art History,
Elizabeth Towers,
damisch 200,
female model,
oil painting,
desire love,
desire model,
love damisch,
lover painter,
|
Acceptance Essays
