the blonde and the brune

[whswhs]

Years and years ago, before I met C, I discovered a painting by Gustave Courbet rather unlike the social realism my art history teacher was showing us. Last year, I tracked it down online and downloaded an image of it: Le Sommeil [Sleep], commissioned by a Turkish diplomat named Halil Sherif Pasha. It shows two nude women lying down together with

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[sartorias]

Can see at a single glance that they are posed, and not at all comfortable, though the blonde woman has the slightly easier pose. To add to the tension, the brown-haired woman has to keep those damn beads from sliding off the bed.

[whswhs]

I'm not that visual a thinker; my intelligence is verbal, numerical, and introspective (I used to say that I was born to be a Brahmin). It took looking at it for a week or more, and having C remark on the nuances to me, for me to see it. On the other hand, it does encourage me to think that I can see what's going on in a painting or drawing if I look at it long enough.

[sartorias]

Some of that is recognizing common elements that show up a lot in art, but some of it--in this case definitely--a visceral recognition of body language. Example: I was touring the Barnes institute with friends during fall, and one friend (male) commented on a typical 19th c painting of a prostitute in a pose that I think was supposed to suggest languor and invitation, but my gaze arrowed straight to her shoulders. Friend commented, I said, that woman is not in the mood, she's enduring, and his female companion said, bingo. Look at those tight shoulders.