Liberal Arts Blog — Gauguin’s “Nevermore.” Goya’s “La Maja Desnuda.” Velazquez, “La Venus del Espejo”
Liberal Arts Blog — Friday is the Joy of Art, Architecture, Design, Film, and All Things Visual Day
Today’s Topic — Gauguin’s “Nevermore,” (1897) Goya’s “La Maja Desnuda.”(1797–1800). Velazquez, “La Venus del Espejo” (1647–1651)
The theme of the day is reclining female nudes, a staple of Western painting for the last 500 years — ever since Giorgione’s “Sleeping Venus” of 1510. I was quite familiar with Manet’s “Olympia,” the “Odalisque” of Ingres, and the reclining nudes of Modigiliani. Today, a few tidbits on three other ones. Experts — please chime in. Correct, elaborate, elucidate.
VELASQUEZ (1599–1660) — “La Venus del Espejo” — National Gallery, London
1. Nudes were rare during the Spanish Inquisition. This is the only one by Velazquez. The cherub holding the mirror is Cupid, the son of Venus.
2. In 1914 the suffragette Mary Richardson attacked the painting with a meat cleaver, slashing it seven times.
3. “I have tried to destroy the picture of the most beautiful woman in mythological history as a protest against the Government for destroying Mrs. Pankhurst, who is the most beautiful character in modern history.”
NB: She was apparently also annoyed at “how male visitors gaped at it all day long.” She was sentenced to six months in prison.
GOYA (1746–1828) — “La Maja Desnuda” — Museo del Prado, Madrid
1. In 1930, in honor of the hundredth anniversary of Goya’s death, three postage stamps were issued with “La Maja Desnuda” on the front.
2. The indignation extended beyond the borders of conservative, catholic Spain. The US Mail banned all letters franked with a “Maja.”
3. Time Magazine was particularly concerned that “millions of innocent children collect stamps.”
PAUL GAUGUIN (1848–1903) “Nevermore” — Courtauld Gallery, London
1. The young woman (15 years old) is Gauguin’s Tahitian mistress Pahura. She is mourning the death of their first child — just a few days after her birth on Christmas day 1896.
2. The birth itself is depicted in a Polynesian nativity scene, “Te tamari no Atua” (The Son of God) which is now in the Neue Pinakothek in Munich. See last link below.
3. The painting’s title (which appears in the upper left of the painting) comes from the poemv“The Raven” by Edgar Allen Poe, the refrain of which is “nevermore.”
NB: In 2010, “Nevermore” was rated the most romantic painting in Britain.
The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe | Poetry Foundation
YOUR TURN
Please share the coolest thing you learned recently or ever related to art, sculpture, design, architecture, film, or anything visual.
This is your chance to make some one else’s day. And to cement in your own memory something cool or important you might otherwise forget. Or to think more deeply than you otherwise would about something that is close to your heart.
