Tate Modern

I made a trip to the Tate Modern today, the London equivalent of the MOMA in NYC. There were a few special exhibitions like Edvard Munch but I only explored the regular rooms (which are free...exhibitions are, unfortunately, not). 

Of course they had the basics.

Picasso...

(Bust of a Woman, 1944)

Giacometti...

(Man Pointing, 1947)

Rothco...

(Untitled, c. 1950-2)

and Pollock....

(Yellow Islands, 1952)

Which are all wonderful! 

But what I really like to do in a museum is browse for something that really makes me think. Something that piques my interest and makes me look a bit longer. Something that puts my years of school work to use.

Today that was Room #7, The Reclining Nude.

The motif of the reclining nude has been around since the 1500s. Most people would recognize the reclining nudes by Giorgione and Titian (even if they don't know that is who painted them). Titian's Venus of Urbino is below, painted in 1538. 

This motif has been repeated a myriad of times since its rise to popularity during the Renaissance. In the early 1800s, the Neo-Classicist work by Ingres, Le Grande Odalisque, appeared in 1814, looking remarkably similar to the work by Titian done almost 300 years prior. 

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, "modern" artists embraced this tradition and twisted it to fit their particular aesthetic. The Tate Modern gathered a few of these types of works into Room #7  that exemplify the modern take on the female nude. 

Below is a sculpture by Henri Matisse, French impressionist artist who lived from 1869-1954. Matisse treats the female nude with an element of abstraction not present in the more classical versions by Titian and Ingres seen above. Made of bronze, this sculpture features smooth, relaxed curves like the Renaissance works. However, there is no face on the woman, the level of detail has been blurred into the surface of the bronze, and the arms appear more robust than those of the paintings because the woman holds herself up on them. 

Picasso's variation on the theme is exemplified by his work from 1932, Nude, Green Leaves and Bust. Consequently, this work was the one that caused such a fuss in the auction world in May of 2010 selling for over $106.5 million dollars, setting a new record for the highest price paid for any work of art at auction.

(Here is a LINK to the YouTube video of the actual auction when it took place at Christie's in NYC)

Even more recent is the work by Henri Laurens from 1948. L'Automne is a bronze sculpture created to resemble the traditional odalisque or reclining female nude, however Laurens imbued it with "ripeness," stating that he "should like to succeed in making it so full...that nothing could be added." I think he succeeded. The fullness of the forms recalls the ripeness of the autumn season, as the title suggests, yet the traditional positioning still resembles the Renaissance painting by Titian we saw earlier. 

Much more going on at the Tate Modern - this was just one small room. The museum features videos, installation art, and actual performance art. I'll be back I'm sure!