The Female Form in Art. Contextual study Unit 3

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Introduction – The Female Form

I believe Art is the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination taking form. This is, typically in the visual Arts such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or their ability to provoke a reaction. Art is also evidence of history and a reflection of the people in it, for example my theme; how women have been portrayed, in Art, over the years. As the world has developed and changed, Art has been one approach of recording this. It’s only been recently that Art has been separated from being just a chronicling of man’s life, to being in a constant state of flux ever changing.

     Throughout this constantly changing subject, which we loosely refer to as ‘Art’, I believe there has been one constant element; The Female form. Throughout the centuries the female form has dominated across many different disciplines, this is what I am going to investigate and why the women’s body has been appreciated and recorded by artists so thoroughly. The Art world has clearly enjoyed the curves, elegance and beauty of the female form, more than that of the male. This is clearly evident in the sheer volume of work that has been produced. Are women more valued as they have the power to produce? All of this has encouraged me to research further into my chosen theme to find out why the female figure has been so popular and still is a focus of so many artists.

     For my first chapter I've chosen to study the work “The Birth of Venus” by Botticelli. This is because of Venus’ Goddess like presentation and sense of importance that expresses the significance of women.

   For my second chapter I’m going to look at Edouard Manet’s wonderful pieces that portray women in all their beauty. “Olympia” is one of them; it is very similar to the work of Botticelli with the strong appearance of prominence though it was set in far more casual scenery.

   My third chapter I propose to compare Utamaro Kitagawa’s Japanese work with that of some of Degas’ just to understand how women are portrayed in two very different cultures. Looking at some of the similarities and differences such as the type of media and techniques that are used.

   My final chapter I will be looking at the work of Lucian Freud and Jenny Saville to see how the modern world interprets women in a more naturalistic verging on ugly approach.

Join now!

  Wherever the female form has been placed under scrutiny by artists around the world I will be searching for the common thread that links the female form as a thing of artistic and natural beauty.

Chapter 1-Goddess Beauty

The Birth of Venus (1486).

Sandro Botticelli was an Italian painter of the early renaissance, born in 1445 and died in 1510. During his life time he became an apprentice and in 1470 he went on to get his own workshop to create his work which at this early stage was produced with a conception of the figure as if ...

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