The Artist's Model: From Etty to Spencer

Rating:
Summary: A Muse a Day
Review: The artists model is a subject that always causes controversy. They are always the important but forgoten subject. Yet in figurative painting and drawing, it is the artists's model that either makes or breaks an Artist. The execution of form, the visual representation: realistic or abstract tangible or symbolic are all due to the relationship the artist has with his model, whether the artist and the model have been able to build a mutal rapport. Most books on the subject of artists's model have in fact been mere glamourous biograhies of the more famous sitters, like Elizabeth Siddal, Fanny Comforth, Gwen John, sister of Augustus John and an artist in her own right, expressing the model as a sexually available mistress or muse! Little was said of the diversitty of of the models's lives, and the atrocious conditions of their work which was usually arduous,mundane and poorly paid. Maybe little has been said because a lot of the models were sexually available as mistresses and some of them of them made poor muses, but most looked great nude; on canvas at least! Here is abook that gives a fantastic account of what the Artist's model life was like; from the social, economic,; and ideological conditions that underpinned perceptions of the model in Britain who worked from 1830's to the 1950's. The book holds true to the various artist's work and we really are given a "behind the picture" look, an account of what it was like to be 'an artist's model'. The opening chapters look at the debates surrounding the role of life drawing in art education, the use of he model as a subjct for painting and literature, the changing status of the nude within the context of artistic movements, and the social reaction to the morality of such depiction. Why the founding ethos of the Royal Academy in the 18th c, gave way to Victorian crusading and undermined art and its history as taught let alone as an ideal. There is an intereseting section which looks at the physics of the artist's studio, where it is all to apparent that the claas divide and the economic necessity of modelling was exploited, that the working class model was given seperate acess to tyhe studio to that as that of any of the other classes, that even the changing room was secluded so that the liasons between artist and model took place within the secrecy and innocence of the studio. Naturally, it has been maintained , that every effort was taken to make sure that no impropriety took place. Why then were so many models also mistresses? The book portray's the succcesful and not so sucessful. Those for whom modelling brought wealth and fame, those whose lives were destroyed. The book also charts the decline in the use of the model due to the rise of abstract and conceptual art styles. And paradoxically, covers the re-emergence of the model in recent years due to the ggrowing influence of modern figurative painting. Contempoary models are better educated, healthier, and will hopefully, avoid the trap of their Victorian counterparts. The Victorian model, though introduced to to High Art and Profound Ideas., show only to well how they became victims and were easily discarded. Would any of the artists like that to happen to their work? I think not. I haven't mentioned any of the Artists or their sitters here so that you can explore for youself this fasciniting but important piece of the development and chronicling of Art History.But as the title suggests, the Artists of the late Victorian Era who used models are given a new vista. 'The Artists Model' is an exciting book and provides invaluable historical insights into the experience of modelling and and aspects of the models lives.

There is an exhibition related to the book at Kenwood House, Hampstead Lane, london, NW6

23rd July- 26th September 1999 Telephone [phone]

Rating:
Summary: Visually and textually informing
Review: What some may see as just another pretty artsy coffee table book will be missing a truly educational experience. THE ARTIST'S MODEL, though a catalogue of sorts accompanying an exhibition in England in 1999, is a fine historical documentation about the role of the live model in representational painting from the early 19th Century to the present. Logically divided into four sections - 'From Academy to Art School', 'The Studio Model', 'Models and Muses', and 'The Naked and the Nude' - the four writers deliver historical data accompanied by copious visual examples. Here are all of the well know British figurative artists as well as some lesser lights that deserve more attention. Yes, the book delivers the expected gossip of which artists did what with which models in a wonderfully British tone. But more important is the survey of how the models in the academies and schools moved from being solely male to almost exclusively female and the sociological changes that accompanied this odd transition.

This book overflows with beautiful illustrations, but it doesn't stop at images: each painting depicted is accompanied by a bit of history about the artist AND the model and the way in which this example illustrates each author's premise. This is a wise, informed, and thouroughly entertaining book that deserves greater attention.

Rating:
Summary: Visually and textually informing
Review: What some may see as just another pretty artsy coffee table book will be missing a truly educational experience. THE ARTIST'S MODEL, though a catalogue of sorts accompanying an exhibition in England in 1999, is a fine historical documentation about the role of the live model in representational painting from the early 19th Century to the present. Logically divided into four sections - 'From Academy to Art School', 'The Studio Model', 'Models and Muses', and 'The Naked and the Nude' - the four writers deliver historical data accompanied by copious visual examples. Here are all of the well know British figurative artists as well as some lesser lights that deserve more attention. Yes, the book delivers the expected gossip of which artists did what with which models in a wonderfully British tone. But more important is the survey of how the models in the academies and schools moved from being solely male to almost exclusively female and the sociological changes that accompanied this odd transition.

This book overflows with beautiful illustrations, but it doesn't stop at images: each painting depicted is accompanied by a bit of history about the artist AND the model and the way in which this example illustrates each author's premise. This is a wise, informed, and thouroughly entertaining book that deserves greater attention.