Another instance of the Flandrin pose, this time by
way of Donald Miller‘s photography and artwork.
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8 thoughts on “The recurrent pose”
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A journal by artist and designer John Coulthart.
Ho, I do like a little eye candy on a Monday morning…
Thanks.
:)
Glad to be of service. :)
I keep wondering why people are so attracted to this pose.The vulnerability it conveys, perhaps? Would be interesting to know if Flandrin himself had any intention behind his painting.
Isn’t it a bit of a foetus in the womb pose?
Mind you I prefer naked women but at least gays and female viewers can enjoy this sort of stuff.
Yes, it’s somewhat foetal but I doubt that was what Flandrin had in mind. It’s related in part to another painting he did reminiscent of Greek pottery and sculpture. I think he was aiming for that kind of Classical simplicity but inadvertently ended up hitting something that gay men find attractive. And that attraction probably relates to it being a masculine figure in a more vulnerable posture than you usually see.
If you look at the original Evolution of an Icon post you’ll see a recent comment pointing to some pictures by Maxfield Parrish with a similar pose but female figures.
Damn cannot find server when you click on the 2nd Parrish one.
This is the one:
http://www.allposters.com/-sp/Century-Poster-Gold-Trim-Posters_i419667_.htm
Parrish did a lot of pictures of figures in profile so it’s perhaps not so surprising he produced something similar to Flandrin. Stars does seem influenced by it though.
Well – to try to bring some answer to your question as to why so many artists use this pose – it is a very chaste pose for a nude, so it would appeal to a model who is not used to taking off his or her clothes (the egg like position acting as some type of mental protection for the model). And the exposed back allows nice light plays too.
And for sketching, because it is a compact pose, it brings the model to fit in nicely into A size paper, making most of the surface available.
I’ve turned up more samples of this pose, in photography and art, will post those in a few days’ time.