It’s been a bad week to be a woman (& an ally). There’s enough righteous anger going about to fuel billionaire patriarchal types on a trip to to…oh I don’t know…Mars? I’d cheerfully leave them there. If you don’t know what I mean, pick up a paper because I’m not spelling it out for you. I have enough to do. It’s been a bad week for me overall. Stress, workload, worry, hassle & anxiety about any number of things isn’t helping.
As we shuffle through what we hope & imagine the end of the pandemic might be, it’s not looking good. It hasn’t been as earth-shatteringly freeing & no-one on high seems to have been prepared to reset their rotten behaviour or unreasonable expectations & in any case, too many people are acting as if everything is “normal.”
ANYWAY
…one of my favourite Facebook art lists from 2020 (& pre-lockdown!!!) related to grumpy women in art, so it seemed like a good time for me to revisit this tremendous subject. & I’m talking about just that: grumpiness. A state of irritability, a little beyond peevish, but not yet near rage mode. It’s a simmering emotion, an in-between condition, a space you can inhabit for VERY long periods of time & unfortunately often depends on others not to turn the heat up just that tiny bit too high…
You’ve been warned. Although writing about it & rummaging round for these fantastic images has cheered me up no end.
Until the next time.
Yeah, you read right Grumpy Women in Art: ONE.
John William Waterhouse (1849-1917), Cleopatra
I mean she’s seriously close to boiling point, right? & with presumably unlimited access to snakes, only a fool would mess with this magnificent queen. Half-slumped, half-sassy, there is the sense of a brooding decision being made. Whose head will be parted from its body today? she wonders. Best not stick around to find out.
Diego Velázquez (1599-1660), Madre Jerónima de la Fuente
Out of the frying pan, into the fire… This is one staggeringly cheesed-off nun. She has had it with your sinning & pitiful excuses & nothing but the wrath of an ironically Old Testament God will cut it as far as she’d concerned. You’ll be lucky if that cross isn’t wrapped around your head anytime soon as she doesn’t look convinced that you’ll be suitably punished in the afterlife. (PS - if anyone watches Derry Girls, I’ve got two words for you: Sister Michael).
Egon Schiele (1890-1918), Kneeling Female in Orange Dress
I’ve said it before & I’ll say it again: wherever there’s emotion in art, there’s Schiele, the ultimate figurative Expressionist. His women are often strong & self-absorbed. His subject here is quietly seething & staring him (& us, eek!) down. The orange fabric & jagged edges, folds & corners of the cloth add to the tension that exists between us & her.
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), Ginerva de’Benci
Sometimes, da Vinci’s women have a vague look to them, as if they’re mildly drunk (lucky things). Sadly for this subject, she is all too sober. Horribly sober. To me, it seems as if whatever has annoyed her has only just happened. She hasn’t had a chance to fully take in the absolute NERVE OF THEM & is either going to turn on her heels & flounce off or thoroughly let them have it. Obviously I’m hoping for the latter.
Donna Ceraulo (?), Devoted Offering
Incredible expression. Have you ever seen a woman looking more as if - in today’s parlance - she “cant’ even”? Can’t take it, can’t believe it, can’t stand it any longer. Although the title suggests something a little different, all I can see is a woman at the end of her rope, counting to ten in her head before she unleashes an unmerry hell on the probably deserving unfortunates before her. All power to her, I say.
Luciano Garbati (b. 1973), Medusa (with the head of Perseus)
Medusa is a frequently fuming subject & even with her snakey hair, this depiction is entirely relatable. She’s almost post-fuming. She’s satisfied that what needed doing has been done. That expression is so spot on we don’t even need to see the full sculpture. Her famous eyes bore through whatever she sees & in that sense this is an incredibly expressionistic work.
Carl Fischer (1887-1962), Woman Reclining
This woman “reclines” much as I have been this week, in a right old huff & entirely unable to switch off. It’s as if she’s playing over the various indignities, insults & injustices of the day over & over in her head & she’s reclining there because she knows she won’t get any sleep if she goes to bed. She’ll be too wound up to sleep & that’ll only frustrate her more. I may be projecting somewhat.
Félix Armand Heullant (b. 1834), In Gedanken
Again, I’m projecting strongly. Perhaps that’s the source of her frustration right behind her. She cannot deal with him or his nonsense any more. What on earth was she thinking to get lumbered with that oaf? Or perhaps the book is the source of her exasperation. That’s an hour she’s not getting back. Has she ever read such utter tripe in all her born days? Looks like that’s a no.
Marcel Garbi (?), Pretty Annoyed
Hahaha the understatement of the title amuses me hugely & I think it’s fair to say she’s on the aforementioned “rage mode” side of grumpy. Her body language is fantastic & if you could see her hands, you could be sure they are in fact fists.
Giovanni Battista Moroni (b.1960), Portrait of a Young Woman
Wonderful depiction of everything I’ve been talking about. She is judging us all. It might be silent right now, but you just wait. You can almost hear her taking a deep breath in through her nose. Her disdain is palpable. You ought to be ashamed of yourself.
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