#constance queniaux

[lejournaldupeintre]

Constance Quéniaux

Constance Quéniaux, dancer, model for Gustave Courbet, courtesan, philanthropist.

Constance could be Courbet’s model for the ‘Origin of the world’.

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[historical-nonfiction]

New Discoveries About the Origin of the World

L'Origine du Monde, an 1866 painting by French artist Gustave Courbet, has been controversial since it debuted. To be blunt, it depicts a nude woman's private parts and torso. Even today the painting is considered risque. Facebook recently shut down a French teacher's account when they posted a picture of the painting. Which is why this post does not contain it -- you'll have to go to the linked article to see.

The reason L'Origine du Monde is in the news now? The woman it depicts may have been identified. Or re-discovered, to be more accurate. Constance Queniaux had retired as a ballet dancer at the Paris Opera in 1859. She was known at the time to be the mistress of Turkish-Egyptian diplomat Halil Sherif Pasha. The man who commissioned Courbet's painting. But all this has been known for a long time, it is not news.

But further evidence recently turned up in letters between the writer George Sand and the son of writer Alexandre Dumas. Of all things. You'll have to go to the article to get the specific wording, but basically, Dumas was gently criticizing the painting and in the process, he delicately alluded to Ms. Queniaux's privates. Dumas therefore had seen the painting, and believed for whatever reason that it was of Constance Queniaux.

That's not the only new evidence. When Ms. Queniaux died in 1908, she bequeathed a painting by Courbet of a bouquet of spring flowers and red and white camellias. Camellias were the flowers most closely identified with courtesans. And they would have made sense, if a painting for Ms. Queniaux was commissioned from Courbet by his Ottoman patron, to have painted those specific flowers. It all goes together neatly.

[another-random-dom-3]

Two things.

One, look up the painting 'L'Origine du monde', that Gustave Courbet painted in 1866. Art historians argue about it, but one theory with evidence to support it is that this oil-on-canvas pussy-pic was of former dancer Constance Queniaux, commissioned by her Ottoman diplomat boyfriend.

Two, aren't four unused tickets for the Titanic worth a fucking fortune? Collectors go nuts for Titanic shit, no?

[internetexplorersclub]

sing to me muse, of the history of muses

I idly clicked on a link to this WIRED piece about Lena, the woman behind the first JPEG image, and got completely sucked in. I had no idea that the original image used to create the JPEG compression was a Playboy centerfold (!) and the article not only goes and finds the original Lena but dives into the history of women and muses in art, which is extremely my jam.

It draws a through line from L’inconnu de la Seine (whose face would be later used on CPR dummies) to Audrey Munson (muse of early 20th century urban sculpture), to Kodak’s Shirleys (women photographed to calibrate film), to Lena herself. A fascinating read.

I ended up diving even deeper into the story of Audrey Munson, and it’s a helluva ride. This piece gives an incredible overview of her life (28 min read)—from model of almost 100 documented statues, include at the Panama-Pacific Exhibition (see above, she’s the statue that adorns the roof) to the first woman to be nude in a motion picture—which contains sweeping ups and downs, and constant attempts at reinvention. It’s ultimately a heartbreaking one, but I’m glad more light is being shed on her life:

When she smiled, her eyes were heavy-lidded and she had a toothy overbite. But when she posed, she had a face that could launch a thousand ships: a chin that curved like the wood on a violin, cheekbones that caught the light and revealed the perfect symmetry of a human face.

I am in particular, struck by the fact that I had never thought about these statues, particularly the allegorical ones, as being based on models. (Did I think they were somehow just that good at sculpture? Unclear). It now seems so intimate—almost uncomfortably so—to look at these statues, knowing much more about the woman they’re based on.

This goes hand-in-hand with a lot of conversations that have been going on about Greek statuary recently. It’s now at least somewhat well-known that Greek statues were originally brightly colored, and this piece in the New Yorker is a great overview of that, though there’s now been some pushback at the bright colors themselves—there are no variants in hues in these restorations, no subtleties, when other Greco-Roman art (mosaics, frescoes—see above), or adjacent (Fayum portraits) have both of those. They also choose this awful color pink for skin which is just… not based in what we know the Greeks looked like!

Two final things to close out our talk of muses: they have discovered the identity of L’Origine du monde (NSFW!)—it’s ballet dancer Constance Queniaux; and two: I just found out about these Sleeping Beauty automata that are designed to breathe slowly. It is eerily realistic:

etcetera: An ode to glass bricks. Someone has catalogued all the fossils that exist in monuments in Washington. D.C. Oh, well when you put it that way:

[celia-t]

“L’origine du monde” : l’identité derrière la vulve.

150 après la réalisation du tableau, l’écrivain Claude Schopp dévoile l’identité du modèle qui a posé pour Courbet.

Ventre à moitié voilé, ne laissant apparaître que le bout du sein droit, posé sur un drap blanc. Le modèle, les jambes écartées, donne à voir ce qui dans les années 1865-66 (années dans lesquelles cette peinture a été réalisée) n’était que représenté sur des planches anatomiques dans les écoles de médecine ou bien sur des photos érotiques, qui circulaient sous le manteau. Pas question de montrer un sexe féminin en cadrage serré aussi directement en peinture. Un sexe féminin dont l’identité ne vient que d’être dévoilée récemment.

Peinte originairement pour Khalil-Bey, collectionneur d’art, la toile « L’origine du monde » de Courbet a depuis changé de mains maintes fois, toujours voilée, cachée derrière d’autres tableaux représentant des sujets plus « modestes ». Toujours secrète, elle est achetée en 1954 par le psychanalyste Jacques Lacan, qui la cache lui aussi, derrière un dessin d'André Masson. C’est en 1993 après le décès de Sylvia Bataille, l'épouse de Lacan que l’œuvre entre dans les collections publiques. Déjà exposé en 1991 pour la toute première fois au grand public dans une exposition à Ornans, la ville natale de Courbet, le tableau le plus secret du XIXe siècle entre enfin, au musée d'Orsay, cent vingt-cinq ans après sa réalisation. Le tableau « inconnu », caché de Khalil-Bey est alors enfin à la vue du monde.

Aujourd’hui, un autre secret concernant le tableau a pu être dévoilé : l’identité jusque-là secrète du modèle féminin ayant posé pour Courbet. L’écrivain Claude Schopp a pu lui donner un visage et un nom : Constance Quéniaux, "une danseuse de second ordre et sans doute une excellente demi mondaine[1]". Danseuse à l’Opéra de Paris depuis l’âge de 14, c’est sa relation de maîtresse de Khalil-Bey, collectionneur d’art et commanditaire du tableau en question, qui l’a menée à poser pour Courbet.  

                 Constance Quéniaux, ici photographiée par Nadar,

C’est dans la correspondance entre George Sand et Dumas fils que Claude Schopp a trouvé la clé du tableau L’Origine du monde, son modèle. On peut lire dans cette lettre d'Alexandre Dumas fils, qui date de juin 1871 : “On ne peint pas de son pinceau le plus délicat et le plus sonore l’intérieur de Mlle Queniault de l’Opéra.” Ainsi, pour Schopp, cette phrase est à comprendre comme une figure de style : « l’intérieur de Mlle Queniault », c’est le sexe féminin et surtout la vulve représentée sur le tableau.

[1] Site de France Culture, https://www.franceculture.fr/peinture/mademoiselle-constance-queniaux-la-femme-a-lorigine-du-monde

[artprism-blog]

L'Origine du Monde: Mystery Courbet nude uncovered 150 years on

Scandal has never been far from Gustave Courbet's L'Origine du Monde, one of the most provocative works of art history depicting a naked woman's genitalia and torso. Now a French scholar may have solved the mystery of whose body was painted so explicitly in his 1866 work, not exhibited publicly in France till 1991. The subject of Courbet's work was for years assumed to be his Irish lover. But the woman now thought to be in the picture is dancer Constance Queniaux.

Webmaster's insight:

In his new book, Claude Schopp explains how a chance discovery led him to identify the woman in the painting. #Courbet

[mudaimemo]

【9月26日 AFP】美術史上、最大級の謎がついに解き明かされたようだ。フランスの写実主義の画家ギュスターブ・クールベ（Gustave Courbet）が1866年に制作した「世界の起源（The Origin of the World）」。女性の下腹部を描いたこの作品は19世紀で最もわいせつな絵画とも言われるが、このほど専門家によってモデルの身元がほぼ確実に特定された。

　研究者たちは長年にわたり、モデルはクールベの愛人だったアイルランド人モデル、ジョアンナ・ヒファーナン（Joanna Hiffernan）だと考えてきた。ヒファーナンはクールベの友人の米国人画家ジェームズ・ホイッスラー（James Whistler）とも恋愛関係にあり、パリでは珍しくない三角関係にあった。

　しかし、ヒファーナン説に対しては疑問も根強くあった。主な理由は、絵に描かれた黒々とした陰毛が、ヒファーナンの燃えるように赤い髪の巻き毛と一致しない点だ。

　そしてこのほど、「三銃士（The Three Musketeers）」などで知られる作家アレクサンドル・デュマ（Alexandre Dumas）の息子と作家ジョルジュ・サンド（George Sand）がやり取りした手紙の中から、パリ・オペラ座バレエ団（Paris Opera Ballet）の元バレリーナ、コンスタンス・クニョー（Constance Queniaux）がモデルだと直接言及する証拠が見つかった。

　作品が描かれた1866年夏当時、クニョーはトルコの外交官ハリル・ベイ（Khalil Bey）ことハリル・シェリフ・パシャ（Halil Sherif Pasha）の愛人だった。そしてパシャこそが、官能コレクション収集の一環として、クールベに「世界の起源」の制作を依頼した人物だった。

　このつながりに気付いたのは仏歴史学者クロード・ショプ（Claude Schopp）氏。自著の資料集めとしてデュマの手紙の写しを調べていた際に発見したという。

■「99％確信」

　ショプ氏は、特に「パリ・オペラ座バレエ団のミス・クニョーの最もデリケートで、最も堂々とした『インタビュー』を描写できる者はいない」と書かれた一節に困惑させられたと言う。手書きの原本を調べてようやく、写しには転記ミスがあり、「インタビュー（interview、アンテルビュー）」は「内部、秘部」を意味する「intérieur（アンテリユール）」の間違いだったことに気付いたという。

　この発見をテーマにした今週発売の新刊の中で、ショプ氏は「いつもは発見は長年取り組んだ後にくるのだが、今回はすぐだった。不当という気さえする」と自嘲気味に書いている。

　フランス国立図書館（French National Library）のシルビー・オーブナ（Sylvie Aubenas）氏は、これまでクニョー説を唱えてきた。ショプ氏から発見を伝えられたオーブナ氏はAFPに対し、「当時のこの証拠のおかげで、クールベのモデルがコンスタンス・クニョーだと99％確信できた」と述べた。

　クニョーはモデルをした当時34歳で、オペラ座バレエ団を退団。有名な高級売春婦マリアンヌ・ドゥトルベ（Marie-Anne Detourbay）とパシャの寵愛（ちょうあい）を争っていた。

　ドゥトゥルベは有名なサロンの主人で、後にロワイヌ（Loynes）伯爵夫人となった。ドゥトゥルベも「世界の起源」のモデル候補の一人に挙げられてきた。

　クールベのこの作品の衝撃は現代になっても薄れず、交流サイト（SNS）最大手の米フェイスブック（Facebook）は2011年まで、この絵をプロフィール写真に使うことを制限していた。(c)AFP/Alain JEAN-ROBERT, Fiachra GIBBONS

[nabyyle]

via A la une – France 24 - L’Actualité Internationale 24h/24

[helloyojo]

Experts say they are 99% sure model who posed for L’Origine du monde was ballet dancer Constance Queniaux

One of the greatest mysteries in art history appears to have been solved.

The identity of the model who posed for the most scandalous painting of the 19th century, Gustave Courbet’s L’Origine du monde (The Origin of the World), has finally been revealed.

Continue reading...#designguardian

[coltonwbrown]