Art's Desires

'The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls'

[jessicasianconway]

Flaming June (AKA Ultra-Hair Barbie)

I saw Flaming June in 2016, when it was displayed at Leighton House in Kensington.

Finding a picture of this painting in Google Images proves extremely difficult, if not impossible - nothing comes close to the brightness of those oranges and golds when seeing the real deal. It's so bright it almost hurts your eyes - get too close to it and you really have to squint. The painting is kept in a museum in Puerto Rico, so having the opportunity to see it in the flesh was an honour indeed. 

So what is it about this painting that I love so much?

1. First of all - she's asleep. Afternoon napping. One of life's greatest pleasures, for me at least. Ok, it doesn't look like the most comfortable sleeping position, but she's really nailed 'pretty-sleeping' (a skill I'm yet to master).

2. Next - hair. LOOK AT ALL THAT HAIR! It fills me with that feeling of longing I had as a child when I played with my Ultra-Hair Barbie. What is it about long hair that holds such appeal? I suppose it's a sign of health, vitality, femininity. Those thick, wavy, auburn tresses... If they were mine I'd never wear clothes. I'd just arrange them around my lady parts like Boticelli's Venus.

3. Nature - another thing that draws me to this painting. The late afternoon sun shining on a still sea, the warm apricot scent of the oleander flowers. There's such a Mediterranean feeling to this scene. I can feel the warmth of the sun on her arms and the cool of the marble floor under her feet.

4. That bod - there's nothing dainty about our June. I like to imagine her when she stands up from her glorious afternoon nap and has a good old stretch. I reckon she's about 6ft 5. I love her strong arms and long powerful thighs. Her features too - all angular and solid, framed with those thick brows.

I wonder what June will do after her nap... Maybe head into the kitchen, her bare feet padding over the sandy tiles, to help herself to a plate of cheese and honey. Then a bath, one of those mighty freestanding baths with gold feet and a jug to pour water over her heavenly hair. There'll be a party tonight in the villa. She'll wear a sheer green gown and dance with her friends and get chatted up by dukes. A pretty blissful existence I'd say.

[jessicasianconway]

I love this one, also by Klimt. This painting, 'Lady with Fan,' is typical of Klimt, who is most well known for his paintings of the female form.

[jessicasianconway]

This is ‘Judith and the Head of Holofernes’ by Gustav Klimt (1901). Judith was a beautiful biblical widow who got Holofernes drunk in his tent and chopped off his head in order to stop him from destroying her city. Looks like she rather enjoyed it too.

[jessicasianconway]

Sir Federic Leighton clearly had an eye for the ladies… Here we have ‘Flaming June,’ snoozing in her orange dress, the alluring 'Pavonia’ with her inky black hair, innocent wide-eyed 'Biondina’ and the saucy 'Actaea, Nymph of the Shore.’

Leighton was a Yorkshireman, born in 1830. He studied in Florence and Paris and is best known for his biblical and classical work. Rumour has it he fathered an illegitimate child with one of his models. But rumour also has it that he was the gay lover of a poet called Henry, so who knows who to believe!

[jessicasianconway]

This is 'The Lament for Icarus' by Herbert Draper (1898). It shows the fallen Icarus surrounded by sorrowful nymphs. The pattern of the wings is based on that of a bird of prey. Draper is best known for his studies of mythological marine subjects. It is thought that the painting was created in tribute to the artist's dead father.

[jessicasianconway]

These are excerpts from Tom Philips’ ‘A Humument,’ which is currently being displayed at the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts (go and see it if you can - it’s amazing!). He has been working on this since 1966, when he found a book called 'A Human Document’ by W.H. Mallock (1892) and set about transforming it into his own little pieces of art / poetry by obscuring words on the page

[jessicasianconway]

Here are three more paintings by Dottori; ‘Aerie, Vele, Lago,’ 'La Virata’ and 'Umbria Vergine’

[jessicasianconway]

This is ‘Incendio nella Città’ or 'Fire in the City’ by an Italian Futurist painter called Gerado Dottori (or Gerard Doctors as I like to call him). He liked to paint Umbrian landscapes and was a pretty big deal in Futurist Italian art. This was painted in the 1920s, but only found fairly recently. It is owned by a private collector in Rome