Richard
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Mari DeRuntz
in relevant, timeless Art, the gender of the subject doesn't matter. . . .The Leonardo you posted is timeless and powerful - not because the sitter was a woman.
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Mari, I couldn't agree with you more on this. I truly believe (and see with my own eyes) that art which stands the test of time is certainly not dependent on the gender of the subject to give it power.
I started this thread not to argue that point, but because I was wondering why I see much more new figurative work (and sometimes portraits that border on figurative) of the "lovely young woman" type. People come in all shapes and sizes, and I find a variety of people interesting to paint. I'm actually looking for individuality more than classic beauty.
I also started this thread because I was struck by the way that Andrew Wyeth painted Helga and Siri in secret, over and over. To him it was very important, even essential, to have the complete artistic freedom to do this, and these obviously were very intense experiences for him. Somehow he knew his wife would not react well to the secrecy, but she might not have liked knowing, either. Somehow, he managed to continue painting whomever he wants to paint. Many male artists I know use the same femal model over and over and this is accepted practice. If you reverse the roles, the picture looks different. I suspect women artists would be given a harder time for doing the same thing, or even for painting male models alone in her studio, etc. I personally would like to have total artistic freedom in this, I am determined to have it, but it is problematic.