Essay on Manet's Olympia

This particular artwork could be interpreted as symbolic for identifying a future for sexual freedom of women; women being able to discuss themselves sexually, accept who they are and their individual beauty and the freedom to express female sexuality art, removing the stigma

Reclining nude female is a common subject matter in art history since the Venetian Renaissance, Titian’s Venus of Urbino painted in 1538 is one of the earliest reclining nude female in painting history. It described a beautiful young female laying on her bed with her sleeping dog, on the back ground is her maids looking for cloth or her in the cassone. Manet’s Olympia that painted in 1865 is a painting with a similar composition, A nude young female who was suggested a prostitute, behind her is her black female maid holding a big bouquet of flower which is possibly from her customer. On the same part of the composition, there is an animal as well, but this time it is a cat. Titian and Manet’s reclining nude female have a same composition and subject matter, however They are very different in art history, both stylistically and culturally.

“Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has known.” -Oscar Wilde. Women are wild, sensitive, magnificent, mysterious, and above all: individual. Art’s many different medias allowed artist throughout the ages to capture women at both their strongest and most vulnerable points. It has the power to capture a woman: as a naïve, young girl clutching her brother as they are painted into a lasting portrait, a golden statue of an angel sent down to Earth to help a saved man take his first steps into an eternal life with God, to the powerful goddess, Artemis, transforming a hunter into a deer and having his hunting dogs tragically attack him. The six pieces of art chosen express the individuality of each women who has walked, walks, and will walk the earth.

Knowing the sex of the artist introduces the preconceived notion of how the artist may view the opposite sex. In this painting, because I know the artist is a male when viewing the subjects of the painting I understand why they are painted in the way they are. His gender influences my

“People can take what they like out of the work”-Saville (YouTube, 2017). The female nude is one of the most prominent themes in the history of art and has been subject for many masterpieces such as botticelli's The Birth of Venus and Manet’s Le Dejeuner sur I’herbe. Saville's treatment of the female nude is undeniably like no other from the centuries before her.

Even though some artists, as Berger claims, tried to resist this tradition, they couldn’t overcome the cultural tradition of female objectification that has continued to the present. These artists failed to create a different view in culture because of the media and how the perception wouldn’t change in the eyes of men. One famous artist who tried to resist this awful trend was an artist name Rubens. In his portrait of his second wife, the painting named Helene Fourment in a Fur Coat, he tried to portray the same message with a different image.The image is of a women with no other clothing other than a fur coat looking shameful. The middle-aged looking women in the painting was wearing a big brown fur coat. The difference between a regular “nude”

The reading claims that nudes throughout artistic history have been an important source of beauty and controversy. Nudes began to spike during the Baroque period as they were used for the more expressive and emotional arts of the time. In the nineteenth century, nudes became more common, yet became more sensitive. Artists would train by drawing nudes of ancient Greek statues and figures from myth. However, many artists would then move on to create works depicting prostitutes or peasant naked women. This would not please patrons as they were extremely societally taboo. However, this did not start artists from making them, as they moved into the twentieth and twenty-first century. This shows the importance of artistic nudes and their impact

For centuries, sexuality and nude figures has been a face of art. Venus of Urbino by Titian and Olympia by Édouard Manet represents the faces of female domination and their ability to lure any men. In this essay we shall talk about the two artists, Manet and Titian, and also compare and contrast between the two painting based on their cultural and structural significance. Manet was born in 1832 in Paris. He was considered as the founder of modern art and a master analyst of visual arts. His artworks were realistic, spontaneous and monumental. Inspite of coming from a privileged family, Manet’s work mostly consisted paintings of the less desirable and the lower class people of Paris. His artworks commonly represented everyday life scenarios

Berthe Morisot was born in 1841, a time when it was still quite difficult for women to become professional artists as the art world was predominantly male. She continually faced criticism and encountered difficulties due to her sex. Despite this, Morisot was able to establish herself as a respected artist whose work only continues to become more highly regarded with time. Her place in art history alongside such Impressionist artists as Claude Monet, Marie Bracquemond, Mary Cassatt, and Edgar Degas, is a testament to her ambition. She was an artist who “aspired to greatness” who “was not content to take second place.” Her painting Young Woman Knitting of 1883 is a excellent example of her style and technique. To fully comprehend how this painting is typical of her work, it is helpful to study her life, as well as her artistic development, especially in her paintings.

And it is for that reason the painting received so much criticism. It was too real. The nude woman in the painting was not an idealized mystical subject like the woman in Titian’s Venus of Urbino anymore, but it was based on a real woman, Victorine Meurent. The reality of the piece brought all the harsh criticism onto itself, because it raised a lot of issues regarding prostitution and women’s place and roles in the French society. Another reason the painting shocked the crowd other than the realness of it is its style, how it was painted. Olympia was painted roughly with clear brushstrokes, poor details (everything was also very flat), and stark value

Much of the art of Manet reflects the developments going on in Paris in the 1860s and 1870s. The rebuilding of Paris was being supervised by Baron Haussman, as much of the old medieval centre of the city was being destroyed so that the new city could be rebuilt. In his book "The painting of modern life" TJ Clark argues that modern art of the 20th century evolves from the art produced by Manet during this period of great change in Paris. Manet's scenes of Parisian cafes, bars and streets reflected the new Paris. Manet's work influenced the impressionist painters, who were a strong influences on the painting of the 20th century, so in this sense Manet's painting is the first modern art that emerged from the creation of the new Paris

Throughout history female figures have played an important role as subject matter. The female figure is very subjective, as peered through the different lenses of varying cultures. The status and functions of women in these cultures are the primary factors that influence how they are portrayed in art of a certain culture. However, the female figure itself through its natural and inherent iconography represents fertility and the importance of women in society. This natural iconography creates certain parallels in content between all works that use the female figure as subject matter. This varying subjectivity of a female’s status based on an artist’s culture will create differences in content and themes; however some aspects remain similar

At the time of Édouard Manet's lifetime, no one would have thought twice about his impact towards the future. Though that was one of his greatest feats achieved. A trend-setter, as some would call him to his day, made his works at the time seemingly useless and awkward. They were above his time, and many years after. His goal wasn't like others, which was to conform to society and create things that would be appealing. Édouard's goal was simply what any artists goal should be, and that is to use it as a mode of expression. He expressed himself through his paintings in any way that he chose, and in any style that he wanted. Being the trend-setter that he was really gained him popularity after his time. Some call him "one of the most controversial

The painting depicts real people doing everyday things, like studying. Classical Antiquity was greatly displayed through another painting it depicts a normal person holding a balance. In the Middle Ages this would have been frowned upon because they discouraged the making of realistic paintings (Follett software). Realistic paintings would not have been introduced to the Renaissance without the humanists studying classical antiquity.

Twenty eight years after Giorgione’s death, as a close friend to him, Titian created another version of the reclining female nude, which is also one of the most famous female nude in art history - the Venus of Urbino in 1538. It was an oil painting on canvas, and now located at Uffizi gallery in Florence.