Laura Jeanne Grimes, artist
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Back from Italy!

6/25/2013

2 Comments

 
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I recently returned from a two-week visit to both Florence and Bologna, Italy.  Such a grand trip!
I had a goal of doing a drawing a day while there.  So, I am going to share a select few with you, with commentary.  At left, see my favorite photo taken of the River Arno which bisects Florence.  Then, on to drawings. All of these drawings were done on my iPad, using the Sketch Club app.

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This early work by Michelangelo is part of a much larger piece, the Arca of San Domenico, which contains the remains of Saint Dominic, in the church which bears his name: Basilica San Domenico in Bologna, Italy.

I stood and drew for about on hour on my iPad, using the Sketch Club app.  My back was killing me afterwards!  People think doing artwork is relaxing.  Tell that to Michelangelo, doing hard labor, chipping away at the marble to release the statue he believed it already contained.

Do we see a foreshadowing of the David in this face, in this hair?  I hope my quick sketch gives you at least a feeling for the so much greater mastery of the young Michelangelo.



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At the Accademia at Florence, along with Michelangelo's famous David, you will find a number of his unfinished works.  Yes, he actually left quite a bit of sculptures before they were done.  He would get a commission, start to work.  Then, the funds might get lowered, or taken away entirely.  His unfinished work seems to struggle for release from the rock. Most of these works are known as the Unfinished Slaves.  But, not all of them.  I sat (yes, the luxury of a seat!) and drew his sculpture of San Matteo (Saint Matthew).  A powerful figure emerges from the rock.  How I wish my drawing could do him justice!

The Bargello in Florence contains extremely important works, including works by Michelangelo.  Instead, I focused on a carved wood crucifixion, purportedly by Michelangelo (which means probably not).  It profoundly moved me.  Christ is completely naked, which is historically accurate.  The victims were stripped naked, this being part of the shame and humiliation of the Cross.  Where the piece strays from historical accuracy is in the smooth, unmarked skin (except for the wounded hands, feet and side).  The physical torture before crucifixion would have left Him horribly mutilated and bloody.  The smooth, unmarked skin, the serene face of the traditional crucifix?  It was a few centuries after the beginning of Christianity that people began using the Crucifixion as a subject of art.  They had to get away from the reality first.  I drew, again for about an hour, and I show you his nudity, as the artist portrayed it.  The New Testament describes Jesus as wholly man and wholly God. In the Crucifixion, we see the weakness, the utter vulnerability of human flesh. My name circles behind Him, not simply to watermark the image, but to say, simply, He died for me.
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I think we are at an appropriate place to stop for now.  Perhaps tomorrow I will post other drawings.  For now, I leave us to reflect.
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The Christian artist and nudity

4/20/2011

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In our hyper-sexualized yet puritanical American culture, many assume that all depictions of the unclothed human body are, by definition, pornographic.  What is the Christian artist to do?  

First, let's go to the Bible.

"So, God created man in His own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female He created them." Genesis 1:27 (NIV)

"The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.  We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." John 1:14 (NIV)

The words from Genesis strongly suggest that every human being is created with inherent dignity and worth.  The verse from the New Testament proclaims that God Himself, in Jesus Christ, "became flesh" -- that is to say, was, in a particular place, in a particular time, born a human being. 

And, let's consider a book from the Bible: The Song of Songs. Both Jewish and Christian scholars have been  so profoundly uncomfortable with this text, that they have interpreted it as metaphor.  For many Jewish commentators, the book speaks symbolically of the love of God for His people, Israel.  For many Christian teachers, it reveals the love of Christ for His Bride, the Church.  But, to anyone who approaches the text at face value, it very forthrightly and enthusiastically expresses erotic love between and man and a woman.  Yet, there it is, a book of the Holy Bible.

Now, let's look at two images.  One, from a Victoria's Secret catalog.  And one from a masterpiece of Christian art, the Ghent Altarpiece, by the Van Eyck brothers, completed in 1432.  Which one best fits your definition of pornography?


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Victoria has never had very many secrets, has she?

The underwire push-up bra.  About as comfortable to a woman as a tight necktie is to a man.  It could be worse, tho.  We could still be wearing corsets.  

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A detail from the Ghent Altarpiece.









At the top of this piece, see the Sacrifice of Isaac.  The angel will appear any moment to stay Abraham's hand.

Below, see the woman.  Her name appears on the arch over her head.  Eva. She holds a fruit in her hand.  Any moment, she will take the first bite.

To the modern American eye, she appears to be pregnant.  Not the case.  In the Northern Renaissance, the ideal female body type had small, high breasts, a long torso, and a large stomach.  Ideals of feminine beauty are, after all, cultural.  

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The Ghent Altarpiece is also known as "Adoration of the Mystic Lamb."  Here is a detail from the lower front panels.  






















I have only shown two details of this amazingly complex work of art.  To explore this masterpiece more deeply, go to Belgium (and, I would so love to go with you!).  Otherwise, google the words "Ghent Altarpiece" and click on images.  You will be blown away.


 For almost 2000 years, we have had Christian art, the earliest examples found in the catacombs.  Below, see Adam and Eve, after eating the fruit:
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Jumping ahead a few centuries:
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This dome mosaic (above) in the Baptistry in Ravenna, Italy, dates from the 5th Century A.D.  It depicts  the baptism of Jesus.  John the Baptist, on the left, the Holy Spirit as a dove above Christ's head.  In the right background, we see a figure holding a garment.  He has been interpreted as the personification of the river Jordan, ready to offer the naked Jesus clothing when the baptism has been completed
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I'll conclude with a question.  Do we really want to equate the Sistine Chapel with a Playboy Magazine?

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You decide.

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Michelangelo's Three PIetas

4/11/2011

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Pietà
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Michelangelo’s first true masterpiece, his sculpture of the Pieta, is a familiar image to many, whether they have traveled to St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome to see it, or not.  A proud, young man in his early twenties at the time, the artist carved his name down Mary’s sash to prove that he indeed was the sculptor.  Here, Mary gazes down at the body of her son, lying in her lap, as if he were a little boy who fell asleep in his mother’s arms.  Her face is youthful and serene, devoid of sorrow.  Michelangelo obviously did not intend to portray the intense anguish of a mother’s grief.  Instead, he presents an iconic image of the Blessed Virgin, Queen of Heaven, presenting to all the body of her Son, sacrificed for the sins of the world.  

As an older man, Michelangelo returned twice to the theme of the Pieta and each time brought a more and more human interpretation to the story.  (A fourth statue has been attributed to him, but is in doubt, so I will not bring it into this discussion.)

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His Deposition, in Florence, presents the body of Jesus being removed from the Cross.  Four figures carry him: his mother Mary, Mary Magdalene, and a figure who is either Nicodemus or Joseph of Arimathea.  Michelangelo carved a self-portrait for the man’s face, making himself an active participant in the scene.  Fifty years older than he was when he carved his first Pieta, he now demonstrates a personal connection with Christ.  He intended this sculpture for his own tomb. 

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In the last years of his life, he returned to the theme of the Pieta, working on the sculpture until shortly before he died, at the age of 89.  It remained unfinished and is known as the Rondanini Pieta.  Find this work in the Castello Sforzesco in Milan.

I have had the privilege of viewing all three of these sculptures.  His final Pieta, in its unfinished state, moved me more profoundly than the other two.  Why?  I saw such tenderness in this work. In the first Pieta, Mary gazes down at her son with no sign of sorrow.  But now Mary struggles to lift up Jesus.  He is a dead weight, sagging in her arms.  Michelangelo presents us with a truly human mother, drawing her son as close to herself as she can, before his cold body must go to the tomb. I perceive an acute awareness of mortality and grief in this, the artist’s last masterpiece. The long years have taken him from youthful bravado to the humility of old age. 

Let us close with a quote from a poem by the artist himself:

“Ma che poss'io, Signor, s'a me non vieni coll'usata ineffabil cortesia?”

(“But what can I do, Lord, if you come not to me with your inexpressible kindness of old?”)


10 Comments

Americans and The Figure

10/12/2010

0 Comments

 
For over 25 years now, a lifedrawing open studio has met on Tuesday mornings at the Dougherty Cultural Arts Center in Austin, TX.  I attended this studio in the 80's, intermittently in the '90's.  In this, the first decade of the 21st Century, I became more regular.  Dorothy Billman started this endeavor, and she stayed on as the studio monitor for 25 years.  Aa few years ago, at the age of 83, she fell and cracked her pelvis.  I substituted for her, expecting her return.  She planned to return.  But, she did not get back to driving.  No one was willing to take it on, and I wanted to keep drawing, so I stepped in officially.  The group has grown, so much so, that I opened up another open studio at the Austin Visual Arts Association on Wednesday mornings.  I put us on MeetUp.com, where I promote, not only my group, but every lifedrawing group in the Austin area, at least the ones I know about.

When I returned to UT in the early '80's, this time as a studio art major, freshmen were required to take two semesters of lifedrawing.  A friend from church rebuked me for taking the class, as it was a "sin".  Now, UT doesn't even offer freshman lifedrawing.  For budgetary reasons.  Less lifedrawing classes means less budget going to pay for the models.  It's no secret in the art world that the best way to learn to draw is lifedrawing.  Why?  My theory is that we are hard-wired to notice the human face, the human body -- expression, body language.  This captures our attention in a way that a still life never will.  With the attention captured, we focus on the line, the form, the volume.  As we master the figure, the skill transfers to other subjects a well: the landscape, the still life, etc. 


Even in the liberal city of Austin (Austin is not really part of Texas, it is its own little world),  the nude still shocks people.  This dynamic baffles me.  Americans, who watch R-rated movies with both nudity and truly pornographic violence, still find a painting, a drawing, a sculpture of the nude scandalous.   When parents say, "I let my child watch that R-rated film, because it was "only" rated R for violence," I am perplexed.  As if violence in movies doesn't numb us to violence in reality.


Sheesh.  I blame the state of art education in our country.  Few people have even a passing familiarity with art history.  They know of Michelangelo's David, and would probably visit it if they found themselves in Florence.  Perhaps they have seen images of Botticelli's Venus, from his painting "The Birth of Venus".  They could visit her in Florence as well, at the Uffizzi Gallery, the house of so many of the greatest works of Western art.  Would they flinch, seeing these works?  The David was commissioned to stand in the public square, as a symbol of the city of Florence.  Men, women and children walked by for centuries.  Did they shield their eyes?


So, I offer images of both works.  Judge for yourself.  And make the pilgrimage to Florence before you die.  You won't regret it.



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