Humanities 262 post #2

Madame X: James Singer Sargent

John Singer Sargent’s portrait “Madame X” fascinates me. It’s such a social no-no for the 1800’s – in fact, it humiliated the subject and essentially ended the career of the painter. By today’s standards, it would hardly be considered risqué, but back in the day it certainly was: the sexually charged pose, the deep neckline, and the haughty aloofness were far too revealing for a lady. Originally, it was even more offensive – in the final version, he repainted her right shoulder strap so that it sat where it belonged, rather than slipped down her arm, as it was in earlier drafts. Not only was the portrait considered offensive, but the title did nothing to preserve the anonymity of the sitter: everyone who saw the portrait on display at the Paris Salon recognized the fashionable American expatriate Virginie Amelie Avegno Gautreau.

*Note the shoulder strap

Although I’m interested by the social implications of the portrait, I feel most compelled by the dynamic energy exuding from Mme. Gautreau. She is confident, sexual, comfortable, aloof, and determined. Everything about her posture, from her long neck to the way her right arm extends, implies that she is a woman who can fend for herself. The brashness of her confidence is almost overwhelming, especially for a woman of the 1800s. The facts of her life up to that time – she was an American expat climbing rapidly up through the social sphere of Paris – indicate the kind of confidence that she displays in this portrait.

However, confidence isn’t the only energy coming from the portrait. There is a different, more subtle variety of that aura that comes primarily from her face: the slightly arched eyebrows, the staring eyes, and the totally relaxed lips. As Wikipedia tells it, “Gautreau was bored by the process of sitting.” In short, she accepted his request to paint her portrait, but tired of it quickly. I love that that aspect of her personality rises through the brushstrokes: it’s beautiful.

As a theatre student, I’ve learned to search for emotions in others, because that is how I connect on stage and in analysis. I love being able to connect in that way with art other than theatre. Every time I do, I learn a little bit more about the power of any kind of art to portray humans for what we really are underneath our socially acceptable facades: deeply emotional beings with living, interactive energies that affect everyone around us.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portrait_of_Madame_X

American Art: A Cultural History by David Bjelejac

My first Humanities 262 post!

For my American Humanities class this semester, I'm required to post my essays and thoughts for the class on a blog. For convenience's sake, I'm using the same blog I used for London - lazy, right? Whatever. Anyway, until December (when the class ends) I'll be posting only things for my class. If you're interested, go ahead and read. If you're not, I really don't blame you! This first entry is a creative writing assignment: an essay based off of Mark Twain's essay "The War Prayer" (http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/making/warprayer.html - read it, it's a beautiful piece of satire!)

The Tea Party Conundrum

It was a time of great anticipation: the country was spellbound by the ever-present campaign slogans overflowing from radios, televisions, town halls, and spamboxes: midterm elections were on. Campaign trails blazed across the country as Democrats and Repulicans went head to head in heated debates and powerful speeches; tax-deductible donations came rolling in, occasionally resulting in lawsuits against over-generous corporations; special interest lobbyists clogged the roadways of Washington DC; political analysts on every news-station worked endless overtime; political science professors assigned extra homework to encourage their students to be better citizens; packed meeting halls listened, entranced, to flowing speeches which inspired even the most uninterested of sports jocks and rich girls to choose a candidate and cast a ballot; indeed, golden, heroic, beautiful promises for a better nation, honest politics, and the American dream inspired every eligible citizen to declare allegiance to a candidate. Piercing through the middle of all the excitement and beautiful promises, however, was one enduring question on the mind of every voter, on the lips of every reporter, and on the front page of every paper: which candidate will cut my taxes? The occasional bold reporter who dared to interview a candidate without focusing on his plan to help the American people recover from the devastating economic downturn was immediately censured to such a degree by colleagues, employers, and viewers, that for the sake of their careers they immediately discarded the determination to provide well-rounded pictures of the candidates in question and stuck primarily to tax cuts and economic stimulus.

Finally, Monday morning came – the next day the people would flock to courthouses, town halls, and schools to cast their votes; the tension was high, the faces of everyone alight with the excitement of participating in the selection of those who would soon govern our great country. Politicians were delivering final speeches, each determined to outdo the others: shouts of “I promise to lower your taxes,” “Look at his history – he’s always voted against tax reformation,” and “I’ll bring Americans back to prosperity – I’ll let you keep your hard-earned money!” filled the air.

Abruptly, the chaos fell silent, drowned by a thick cloud describable only as Reason Incarnate. Television screens all over the country no longer displayed the familiar images of candidates at podiums surrounded by microphones and flashing camera lights; the radio waves no longer broadcast the familiar sounds of interviews and speeches; in their place was the voice and face of Reason Incarnate. Reporters sat back, stunned, and the entire nation froze in confusion and curiosity. For some moments the mysterious being contemplated his spell-bound audience, and then he began to speak.

“I have heard your demand,” he said, “and I will grant it if that is what you truly desire after I, The Candidate of Reason, express to you the implication of such a demand – that is to say, the full implication; indeed, it asks for more than they who demand it are aware of, unless they be forced to pause and think.

“You have made your demands. Have you paused and taken thought? Is it only one demand? No - it is many: one uttered, and many left in shadow, unnoticed and uncomprehended. But both have been heard by me, Your Candidate, and I stand ready to fill them all. Ponder these next words: keep them in mind before you cast your final vote. If you ask for the blessing of lower taxes, beware, unless you unwittingly bring a curse upon yourselves and your nation. Your request demands that more harm than good to come upon you – especially in your times of greatest need.

“You have heard your own demand – the uttered part of it. I am brought into being from the silenced worries of your candidates, that I may put into words the rest of your demand – the part which all of you uttered silently in your hearts. Ignorantly and unthinkingly? Assuredly so. To every hopeful Senator, every potential Governor, you spoke aloud the words “lower our taxes or we will never elect you, much less re-elect you.” That is sufficient: the whole of the demand is compacted into these few words. However, it now falls upon me to elaborate. To expose the truth underneath your shallow demands, and to show you that as you exacted promises of decreased taxes, you also exacted promises for what would surely follow such measures. Listening candidates wept, but were powerless to express the consequences of your demands, for they knew that you would not listen, but would instead disgracefully shunt them out of the race in favor of candidates who spoke less candidly of the consequences you would face. Now, I put into words the things these future leaders heard, but dared not warn against! The things you said in your hearts without comprehending in your minds!

“We go out from all walks of life to the polls today – heed our desires or be beaten out by one who will! Above all, we desire lower taxes that will allow us to keep more of our money in our pockets - an easing of the strain of government’s burden on us! Candidates, lower our taxes, and take away from us the security and peace of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, and leave our elderly helpless and penniless in their time of greatest need; indeed, eliminate those tax-funded services forever, so that we ourselves may suffer in the end of our lives without aid or pension from those who rule us. Sharply decrease funding to our national public school system, so that our teachers will be more terribly underpaid and our youth will pathetically trail even further behind their Asian and European counterparts. Allow our highways to rot and crumble into pothole after deadly pothole; cease to plow our roads in the icy winters, repair our stoplights in busy intersections, and enforce safe driving laws. Unlock and empty every last federal penitentiary and allow their dangerous, criminal inhabitants to roam our country uninhibited by laws or penalties. Sell our national parks to developers to be exploited and destroyed. Cease to fund the FDA and bring our country back to the meat-packing days of the 1800s. Drain funding from the CIS, the FBI, the Pentagon, and our military; allow our country to be easily infiltrated, exploited, and destroyed by those who wish us harm, and force us to abandon the many weak, oppressed nations that we currently support with our troops and intelligence; and after you have effectively disbanded the military, abandon all of the dedicated men and women that served our country: yes, withhold medical care, counseling, retirement funds, college educations, and memorial services. Leave inner-city slums to become unregulated gang turf, and allow the families of those areas to struggle for survival through the chaos of drug wars. Please, after environmental disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and the BP oil spill, leave those who have lost professions, homes, family members, and health to fend for themselves in the bleak aftermath. Leave us ungoverned, unsupported, and unregulated. This we demand of you, our dedicated and patriotic candidates. Leave us not unsatisfied.

“You have demanded it. If you still desire it, speak, and we will fulfill. The future government of your country awaits your response.”

For months after the election, confused citizens struggled to remember what they had been doing for that hour the day before the election: all who spoke of it expressed the same vague memory of an unnerving feeling that they needed to "be responsible, or else" but nobody knew why. Equally confused political analysts tried desperately to account for the sudden increase in viewer interest regarding issues such as public schooling, military campaigns, and the law enforcement system.

http://cagle.com/news/TeaParty10/6.asp