#genre art

[classic-art-favourites]

Gee-Up by Arthur Elsley, 1914.

[abnormes]

Spirit, George Roux (1885)

[eirene]

The Death of Cleopatra, 1890

John Collier

[lionofchaeronea]

Women Watching Stars, Ōta Chōu, 1936

[leatherandmossprints]

‘The Quiet Pet’ (detail) by John William Godward, c. 1906.

[from-a-spiders-web]

Reading, 1865 Mosè Bianchi

[galleryofart]

Salome Dancer

Artist: Robert Henri (American, 1865-1929)

Date: 1909

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: Mead Art Museum at Amherst College, Amherst, MA, United States

Description

Broad, slashing strokes give powerful shape to this defiant female figure standing with parted legs, a pose more athletic - even pugilistic - than seductive. Her oppositional posturing matched the painter’s contrary aesthetic sensibilities. The Realist painter Henri sought a provocative and timely subject in Salome, the biblical figure who served as her mother’s dutiful pawn in facilitating King Herod’s assassination of John the Baptist. By the late nineteenth century Salome had evolved into a far more aggressive and decadent creature, as witnessed in Oscar Wilde’s notorious play of 1891. That Henri adopted the theme in 1909 suggests his desire to capitalize on Salome’s high currency for controversy, which had been confirmed by the New York Metropolitan Opera’s scandal-provoking performance of Richard Strauss’s Salome (based on Wilde’s play) in 1907. The gleam of amusement that enhances Salome’s haughty expression slyly evokes her complicity in constructing Henri’s own reputation as a radical painter.

[icecreamwithjackdaniels]

Gerard ter Borch (Dutch, 1617–1681), "The Letter", (detail), ca. 1660–65

[liturgical-agenda]

Laughing Girl, 1882 by Raffaello Sorbi

[jeannepompadour]

"Stylish women strolling" by Basile Lemeunier, 1900

[20thcenturypaintings]

Woman in Red Holding Parrot

Artist: Louis Kronberg (American, 1872–1965)

Date: 1908

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, Delaware, United States

[classic-art-favourites]

Merchant's Wife at Tea by Boris Kustodiev, 1918.

[cinematic-phosphenes]

Portrait of a Young Woman | 1896 Vittorio-Matteo Corcos

[eirene]

Bath time, 1897 Virgilio Tojetti

[lionofchaeronea]

The Lantern Bearers, Maxfield Parrish, 1908