Throwback Thursday: International Women's Day (Part 1)

Last night at work, we had our (Night Shift's) equivalent to morning tea: we call it tea break.  At school, we called it either 'little lunch' or recess.  If I was working normal business hours, it would be morning tea.  Basically, we were treated to cakes and chocolates - it was a very nice gesture from the (mostly male) management.

Anyway, it brings me to another issue with my art work and graphic design practice.  I haven't been doing a great deal of art work lately and haven't had much incentive to do new stuff.  So anyway, I thought I would put some of my past works that honour my fellow females - my mother, my grandmother, my sister, my niece, my teachers (including the nuns), my female classmates, my female colleagues - the list goes on.

So anyway, I thought I would put these drawings up of the 'female' form - some of which I have done whilst receiving tuition from the much acclaimed Julian Ashton School of Art.

These are charcoal and pencil drawings - one week, we had this relatively younger, slightly 'fuller-figured' model who was probably new to the profession (see the first four pictures); the next week, we had a woman who was probably slightly older than myself, and was both an experienced artist's model and an artist in her own right - I vaguely remember her telling me she was a sculptor (see the next three sketches of the reclining figure).

This is not strictly relevant to the Julian Ashton academy but is to the depiction of women in art.  One well-known Australian artist was Norman Lindsay  He was not only well-known for his cartoons and written works, but also his works depicting nude women.  These works often earned him alot of contempt from 'wowsers' (those overly religious and conservative people who can be rather puritanical in their attitude to these kinds of things).

Now, I often wonder how modern day feminists would feel about him - would they say he is 'sexist' because he depicted naked women with typical 'hourglass' figures that have (what men would think are 'curves in the right places')?  Or would they admire the technical skill that goes into life drawing?  Or maybe a bit of both?

Or maybe he was a bit of a 'sex maniac' who liked looking at women's bodies (and if that is the case, then maybe the feminists would have a good reason for objecting; though it would be possible to admire the female form while being able to keep one's sexual impulses in check).  If so, the feminist critique would argue that such women (both in the pictures and in real life) are subjected to the 'male gaze'.

But what if you are a lesbian and get turned on by these women?  That is not the 'male gaze' if that is the case.

And for anyone who is asking me what the relevance to this is, yes, this is International Women's Day, and not only did I study at Julian Ashton but also at St Ursula's College (which also had a very good art department and I thought only the best would do).  And that college was actually an all-girls' high school which taught us about the importance of women, in religion, in art and in society in general.

Also, my father (God bless him) also was a big fan of Norman Lindsay and was inspired by him as well; and when I attended Julian Ashton - it gave me a better understanding of anatomy, which would make me the best artist I could be (I got no 'sexual pleasure' from it).  Though Lindsay didn't attend Julian Ashton (he actually attended the Heidelberg School in Melbourne), those works would make you think he did attend that school.  The school, however, did teach many other Australian artists including Elioth Gruner, George Lambert, B. E. Minns, Thea Proctor, Adrian Feint, Sydney Long, Howard Ashton (Julian's son), Dorrit Black, J. J. Hilder, William Dobell, Edmund Arthur Harvey, Eric Wilson, Jean Bellette, Douglas Dundas, Arthur Freeman, William Dadswell, John Passmore, Yvonne Audette, Joshua Smith, Max Dupain, John Olsen, Michael Johnston, Jim Russell, Florence Turner Blake, Sydney Ure Smith, Alexander McKenzie, Brett Whiteley, Susan Dorothea White, Nigel Thomson, Nora Heysen, Salvatore Zofrea, and Helen Stewart. 

Anyway, maybe some of you might find these things offensive?  Maybe not?  Nevertheless, there is a degree of technical skill involved in life drawing, and regardless of your religious or political views, you have to admire this kind of skill level.

So, please let me know what your thoughts are in the comments section.

cheers,

Colleen