tartistry

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1960s Bengali book covers of Sree Parabat’s novels

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The musicians by Gino Severini

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Vincent Van Gogh - Cypresses, 1889 (details)

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Oh, honey. Goddesses don’t speak in whispers. They scream.

the countess // room service (via ta-ta-tate)

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KARL L.H. MÜLLER Century Vase, ca. 1876-77 Porcelain, with bisque and glazed surfaces, partially painted and gilded

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JOHN LESLIE BRECK Grey Day on the Charles, 1894 Oil on canvas

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HENRY PRELLWITZ Lotus and Laurel, 1904 Oil on canvas

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ELIHU VEDDER The Cup of Death, 1885 Oil on canvas

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WALTER UFER On the Rio Grande (Rio Grande November), 1927 Oil on canvas

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AARON DOUGLAS The Prodigal Son, ca. 1927 Oil on canvas

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PHILIP EVERGOOD Street Corner, 1936 Oil on canvas mounted to board

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MANIERRE DAWSON Figures in Action (Struggle), 1912 Oil on canvas

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ROBERT HENRI Spanish Girl of Madrid (Una Chula), 1908 Oil on canvas

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MAURICE BRAZIL PRENDERGAST Salem, 1918 Oil on canvas

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ELDZIER CORTOR Southern Landscape, 1941 Oil on Masonite

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Laika the space pooch

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Water & the Female Figure

Throughout the course of art history (whether it be in literature, paintings, ..anime) its been a common thing to associate water with feminine attributes. You can look up an endless source of material supporting this and it’s origin might have something to do with mythology.. or misogyny. (No one is surprised).   

In ye olden days...women were called to be good mothers, emotionally open creatures, sexually pure, and in need of a male guide to reign in a woman’s treacherous nature. (Hoooo boy.) Such juxtaposition was compared to the ocean, and the moon- Who also were/are considered divine and life giving forces of nature but deemed too mysterious to understand. (And too dangerous to turn your back on, apparently?)

As progressives pushed for women’s rights and claimed agency, its obvious that they were met with backlash. Women were suppose to be these passive figures created to be devices for men and their fantasies.

  ”Water has been traditionally connected with life, birth and re-birth, creation and creativity, but also with death and oblivion. The water surface often serves as a kind of a mirror. As Bram Dijkstra points out, in many works of art the "natural mirror" of water appears as the source of woman's being "from which, like Venus, she had come and to which, like Ophelia, she was destined to return"  (read more) 

The rejection of this idea came by reminding the masses that the sea also has the ability to claim thousands of lives at a flip of dime and no man is capable of controlling her. 

So lets meditate on the relationship between the feminine mystic and the tide.. Are these negative ideas about the role of women still around today? Do we unconsciously reinforce ideas rooted in misogyny or transphobia? Can the symbolism associated with women and water be reclaimed? Does it matter? Do the women in your art reflect any passive attributes? Is that negative?