Wednesday, September 3, 2008

The Cranky Women of Frederick Sandys

I'm so sorry for the spotty posting over the past week! I have been getting back in the school/studying routine. Also, my little pug Olive has been sick with a heart problem, and I have been obsessing over her day and night...I will keep you posted on that.
Today we are getting the remnants of the hurricane here -- it is dreary, windy, and wet. I don't feel at all like chatting about clothes (especially since I plan on staying in my PJ's and reading most of the day). So, I thought I would post a few pictures that reflect my cranky and slightly frustrated state of mind the past few days. Some of these images appear in a book I have been reading entitled "Idols of Perversity" by Bram Dijkstra. He dicusses art from the Victorian period through the turn of the twentieth century, particularly images of women in art. He argues that most of the images of women we see in this art reflect a fear and hatred of women by male artists during this time -- it is really quite shocking and eye-opening. I'm not sure I agree with him on every point, but it has certainly given me a more critical eye! The artist Frederick Sandys is particularly interesting because he painted so many pictures of angry, mean, cranky-looking mythological women...I think he was just a tad intimidated by the ladies, what do you think?


Frederick Sandys, Helen of Troy.


Frederick Sandys, Medea.


Frederick Sandys. Medusa.


Frederick Sandys. Cassandra, c. 1895.

2 comments:

Sharon S said...

haha, girls with attitude, way to go!!

loveology said...

Beautiful, but also kind of scary and intimidating...not that that's a bad thing! ;)