'Manet was a Realist, but sometimes his “real” situations shocked and rocked the Parisian art world to its foundations'
This painting by Manet was first exhibited in Paris 1865. This painting was brought to my attention after I showed my tutor the image of Hannah staring straight at the camera. This image when first shown, caused an astonishing amount of controversy and criticism and it was for the same reason, the females gaze rather than her nudity. The female in the painting stares at the viewer, making her seem 'confrontational' giving of the connotations that she is a prostitute. This is because at this time, women wouldn't be open to sex, it was all 'hush hush' so too speak. It's not like today where women are happy to get naked or appeal in a sexual way, it's more open now in my culture. This is me taking it metaphorically though, because in fact there are many connotations to prostitution in this painting, her slipper, her orchid and her black bow all being some of them. Her hand is also something that gives off the message that she is a prostitute, her hand blocks her private area, giving off the notion that although she is naked, she isn't enticing men to 'come get her' but in fact showing that she can grant or restrict permission for men to come to her. She is confident, not vulnerable which is something I need to portray in my images, however I then run the risk of my images connoting this element of prostitution. I need to be able to find the line and stay on it. I would like to think that my image of hannah didn't give off the impression of 'come get me' and rather ' i'm naked and I'm happy' (maybe something not as cliche as that, but you know what I mean).
This is my own image I'm referring to :
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