tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4904021173466473381.post7592243759090203330..comments2023-10-11T04:09:53.564-07:00Comments on materfamilias writes: Planning Visits to Art Exhibitions in Paris, e.g. Vigée Le Brun at Grand Palaismaterfamiliashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16062766947897513369noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4904021173466473381.post-47636968639087249082015-12-13T15:05:17.579-08:002015-12-13T15:05:17.579-08:00What a nice thing to say, Linda -- thank you so mu...What a nice thing to say, Linda -- thank you so much!<br />We were lucky enough to visit an exhibition of Artemisia Getileschi's work a couple of years ago at the Maillol in Paris (closed now, sadly, although I have my fingers crossed it will straight out financial problems and re-open). I subsequently read Susan Vreeland's novel based on AG's life and I wrote a bit about it here http://materfamiliasreads.blogspot.ca/2012/10/a-historical-survey.html<br />I suspect I'd enjoy the BBC program more -- I'll have to try to see if the iTunes store might have it. It would fit in nicely with the reading I've been doing on Bernini and Borromini and balance all that Baroque testosterone a bit... materfamiliashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16062766947897513369noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4904021173466473381.post-84102891531944714062015-12-13T01:36:47.966-08:002015-12-13T01:36:47.966-08:00I enjoyed this post very much. Your blog makes me ...I enjoyed this post very much. Your blog makes me feel I'm getting my brain in gear after many years of it being deadened by my job (ironically in a university, but on The Dark Side (management). You may be interested in another woman painter, Artemisia Gentileschi. Michael Palin is doing a programme about her on BBC4 after Christmas. http://www.themichaelpalin.com/ramblings/ (Eurostar to Paris); http://www.biography.com/people/artemisia-gentileschi-9308725. I know you probably don't get BBC iPlayer tho :(.Lindahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11269887100694066103noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4904021173466473381.post-18757035256033602852015-12-11T06:45:33.453-08:002015-12-11T06:45:33.453-08:00If you haven't already read it, I think you...If you haven't already read it, I think you'd really enjoy Caroline Moorehead's Dancing to the Precipice (2009) about Lucie de la Tour du Pin, another woman who survived the Revolution. Interesting times, indeed - and like all such times, I imagine, better to read about than to live through!<br />Rosemary Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4904021173466473381.post-88599483500834292712015-12-10T19:18:33.015-08:002015-12-10T19:18:33.015-08:00It was such a tumultuous time, and even though she...It was such a tumultuous time, and even though she was politically quite reactionary (a very loyal monarchist!), she was a modern woman in terms of her career, certainly, although pragmatic enough to conform to the most important conventions. So many fascinating lives.. .And portraits, especially, seem to me to point in so many interesting directions.materfamiliashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16062766947897513369noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4904021173466473381.post-4688150396185083062015-12-09T22:10:35.830-08:002015-12-09T22:10:35.830-08:00Elizabeth,the convention of painting portraits wit...Elizabeth,the convention of painting portraits with mouths shut may be partially because of the conditition of their teeth. And teeth are difficult to paint to look natural<br />Or everyone wants to look serious and smart :-)<br />DottoressaAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4904021173466473381.post-41838949533225058052015-12-09T19:52:41.038-08:002015-12-09T19:52:41.038-08:00So much to digest here. I'm going to have to c...So much to digest here. I'm going to have to come back and re-read, but there's something (to me, anyway) very *modern* about Le Brun's works. There's a suggestion of earthy humanity, even in the most formal of portraits. The poignancy of both painted and photographed portraits of people we know met a bad end always stays with me.Susan Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16005855250089328310noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4904021173466473381.post-28434824599838089632015-12-09T06:44:14.640-08:002015-12-09T06:44:14.640-08:00Elizabeth, I came across this response somewhere b...Elizabeth, I came across this response somewhere but then couldn't find it again so I didn't want to cite it. But it's true that several of her portraits do show women with their mouth at least partly open, allowing at least a glimpse of their teeth, as you can see in the mother-daughter pose above with V leB herself. What I understood from wherever I read about this was that in showing them, she was defying conventions of painting that had been adhered to for centuries. materfamiliashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16062766947897513369noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4904021173466473381.post-57308556673637130102015-12-09T06:40:15.688-08:002015-12-09T06:40:15.688-08:00Thanks, Rosemary. I spent too many hours putting t...Thanks, Rosemary. I spent too many hours putting this together and then wondered if anyone would want to read all the way through. Waking up to these first three knowledgeable and thoughtful comments made it all worthwhile! <br />Yes, the exhibition catalogues are absolutely splendid. I'll admit I'm generally too frugal with money and suitcase space, and instead I get the much slimmer version which has at least the "best of"s and a selection of essays...materfamiliashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16062766947897513369noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4904021173466473381.post-42060011427486327882015-12-09T06:37:25.301-08:002015-12-09T06:37:25.301-08:00I'm so glad you enjoyed the post! I was fascin...I'm so glad you enjoyed the post! I was fascinated by Vigée Le Brun's life and by her work as well, and writing the post gave me a chance to review what I'd learned and find out a bit more. Apparently, there's a play about VleB and Marie Antoinette, and there's a film in the works -- The Colour of Flesh, it seems to be called. materfamiliashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16062766947897513369noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4904021173466473381.post-81688449546157342722015-12-09T02:56:02.448-08:002015-12-09T02:56:02.448-08:00It's years since I studied Vigee Le Brun, but ...It's years since I studied Vigee Le Brun, but I seem to remember she was criticised at the time for showing women's teeth - considered shocking in those days - was that because they would have been unattractive, or was there a perceived erotic element? She also challenged the idea of the 'male gaze' with her women subjects' gaze challenging that of the - usually male - onlooker. ElizabethAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4904021173466473381.post-50127601805000352822015-12-09T01:50:56.756-08:002015-12-09T01:50:56.756-08:00I really enjoyed reading your account of the exhib...I really enjoyed reading your account of the exhibition. Lovely illustrations too. Those French exhibition catalogues are sumptuous, aren't they? - though expensive and heavy to carry. <br />I was interested in your reference to the three gazes, and have been mulling over Vigee Lebrun's own three gazes - as woman, as artist and as subject (of the crown when painting the queen, but as subject per se in the self portraits).Thank you so much for such a thought-provoking post - I'd been looking forward to it very much and it was ALMOST as good as being there! <br />Rosemary Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4904021173466473381.post-9530813264838059062015-12-08T23:12:32.754-08:002015-12-08T23:12:32.754-08:00Beautiful,beautiful description of the exibition a...Beautiful,beautiful description of the exibition and your consideration!<br /> Paintings are wonderful and sad,thinking about the time they were painted. I read a lot about Marie Antoinette when I was young (Dumas and other authors),so many opinions and approaches about her and her life,it is fascinating! And somewhere I met the lady paintress,too. Her life was very interesting,too. But it was long time ago (my reading). <br />It is great post Frances,I like it very much. Thank you ,for the exibition and for the reminder!<br />DottoressaAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com