Art History… or HerStory?
Two conspicuously similar paintings of women, one painted by a woman, the other by a man. One hailed as a breakthrough, the other painted 70 years earlier.
Exhibit 1
Marie-Denise Villers: Young Woman Drawing (1801)
What appears to be a well-executed, straight-forward portrait rewards close attention with layers of meaning and some truly groundbreaking formal innovations:
The young woman of the title is looking towards a mirror as she sketches for a self-portrait. The viewer occupies the position of the mirror and so the subject makes direct and searching eye-contact. Cleverly, the white paper on her drawing board reflects the window light onto her face, giving a slightly underlit ethereal softness as the direct light sets her hair aglow. This halo of light lifts her from the flat dark grey wall behind her.
The background is made up of a grid of flat rectangular forms, the floor, the wall, the four panes in the window and the board that rests on her lap. The woman’s organic form fluidly disrupts this strict grid. Her face is expressive and perhaps melancholy.
