The Sacred Feminine: April 2009

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Bouguereau

Nymphs and Satyrs (detail, from Art Renewal Website)

Sunday, April 26, 2009

John William Waterhouse, 1849-1917

The Rose Bower, oil on canvas, 20 x 18 inches

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Feuerbach neck

Interesting detail from a painting by Feuerbach

Sir John Everett Millais

Ophelia

Portrait of a Girl (Sophie Gray), 12 x 19 inches

Victorian painters have been criticised for depicting the feminine as ineffectual, passive and swooning.

The first of these works may have added to this perception. The girl in the portrait; however, is depicted without idealism. There's a certain defiance in the jutting chin; perhaps impatience from sitting for the portrait.

Karl Pavlovich Briullov

Mikhail Vrubel - Russian

Sandra Flood - American

Self-Portrait, 24 x 36 inches

Blue Maia, 36 x 30 inches

Ali with Russian Hat, 20 x 20 inches

Monday, April 13, 2009

Leonardo?

13 x 9.4 inches

This work has recently been attributed, by some, to Leonardo Da Vinci.

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." - da Vinci

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Priscilla Treacy - American

9 x 14 inches

Cropping out the superfluous concentrates the attention on what's important.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Kristin Vestgard - Norwegian

In the Midst of it All, 60 cm

Forest

Drippy turpsy paint on the clothes

About This Blog

A collection of some of the most beautiful depictions of the feminine in Western art throughout the ages, with a particular emphasis on the sacred feminine. Most of the works are paintings, and most in oil.

Included are some works by non-Western artists working in the Western tradition of oil technique.

Click on images to view larger.

Comments and suggestions always welcome.

If you are the owner of any of the images and would like them removed please advise in a comment to the post.

Figurative art describes artwork - particularly paintings and sculptures - which are clearly derived from real object sources, and are therefore by definition representational. The term 'figurative art' is often taken to mean art which represents the human figure, or even an animal figure, and, though this is often the case, it is not necessarily so. Since the arrival of abstract art the term figurative has been used to refer to any form of modern art that retains strong references to the real world. This blog is about figurative art in the sense of the human figure, with particular emphasis on idealised representations of the feminine, or the feminine as sacred.