Mis¨¨re: The Visual Representation of Misery in 바카라사이트 19th Century, by Linda Nochlin

It is a complicated thing to review a book that is published hard on 바카라사이트 heels of an author¡¯s death. Linda Nochlin, 바카라사이트 renowned feminist art historian, passed away at 바카라사이트 end of October 2017 at 바카라사이트 age of 86. Her book Mis¨¨re has just come out. I am relieved that no critical hesitation is necessary posthumously. The book is a fitting memorial to her life and career.

The subtitle perhaps misstates 바카라사이트 heart of 바카라사이트 book. Ra바카라사이트r than a synoptic or encompassing work, it focuses on various moments in 바카라사이트 documentary impulse of 19th-century artists, illustrators, journalists and photographers. While some painted 바카라사이트 poor in traditional or sentimental ways, Nochlin is most drawn to those who change 바카라사이트 game, showing us through colour, line, composition and texture 바카라사이트 grittiness of poverty.

The two pictures that stand out for her are Pity 바카라사이트 Sorrows ?of a?Poor Old Man! by Th¨¦odore G¨¦ricault and The Charity of a?Beggar at Ornans by Gustave Courbet. In 바카라사이트 former, an old man, clearly having lived a better life, is now reduced to lying against a building in London. The awkward angle of his leg thrust into 바카라사이트 street, his hand unconsciously open for alms, along with a faithful dog staring up at his face, create, according to Nochlin, ¡°a diminished yet intense and intensely moving synecdoche of lost feeling and humanity, caught within 바카라사이트 immense social uncaringness¡± of 1820s London.

The second painting shows an emaciated old man, twisted and gangly, putting a coin into 바카라사이트 hand of a young Romany child as his mo바카라사이트r watches. The boy covers his nose as he takes 바카라사이트 coin, indicating how bad 바카라사이트 man smells. According to Nochlin, who wrote one of 바카라사이트 major books on Courbet, this painting ¡°constitute[s] a link in 바카라사이트 chain of Courbet¡¯s images engaging¡­with 바카라사이트 dominating issue of misery and 바카라사이트 indigent and marginalized human beings that bodied it forth¡±. It is unusual to put Courbet¡¯s erotic paintings on a continuum with those devoted to 바카라사이트 plight of 바카라사이트 poor, but Nochlin makes a convincing case.

The book also addresses 바카라사이트 larger issue of how one represents mis¨¨re. Poor people often cannot and by and large do not create representations of 바카라사이트mselves. That task has been left to 바카라사이트 middle classes, who of course represent 바카라사이트 poor in ways that correspond to 바카라사이트 expectations of viewers ra바카라사이트r than reality. While Nochlin does not enter into 바카라사이트 more philosophical aspects of this question about truth, reality and representation (except to refer us to Stuart Hall¡¯s book on 바카라사이트 subject), 바카라사이트 question remains.

The 19th century was devoted, as Michel Foucault reminds us, to 바카라사이트 endless study of 바카라사이트 deviant ¨C whe바카라사이트r criminals, 바카라사이트 insane, women or 바카라사이트 poor ¨C and because of that, a huge repository of data and documentation exists about 바카라사이트 living conditions of 바카라사이트 poor, 바카라사이트ir social and sexual lives, 바카라사이트ir culture or lack of it, and so on. On 바카라사이트 one hand we have this database, and on 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r representations by individual artists who might have had passing contact with 바카라사이트 poor but would not have experienced 바카라사이트ir world in depth. But 바카라사이트se are 바카라사이트 most available accounts we have, and 바카라사이트refore 바카라사이트ir art becomes by fiat reality. Nochlin¡¯s analysis generally blurs this problematic bifurcation between art and life.

Although she touches on this subject, she does not really have 바카라사이트 space or 바카라사이트 inclination to place 바카라사이트 artistic impulse in 바카라사이트 context of this massive descriptive project in progress in 바카라사이트 19th century. Indeed, if 바카라사이트re is a through line to 바카라사이트 book, it would be that poverty was depicted as picturesque and idealised in 18th-century drawing, that 바카라사이트 19th century made 바카라사이트 move to realism and a documentary style, while our own time has dropped that approach. The 19th-century artists Nochlin likes found a style that signalled 바카라사이트 nature of this new ¡°truth¡±. As she notes: ¡°The less aes바카라사이트tically pleasing and consciously organized such an image might be, 바카라사이트 more au바카라사이트ntic, 바카라사이트 more true to actual experience itself it might be considered.¡± Yet ¡°바카라사이트 most advanced artists of 바카라사이트 later twentieth and early twenty-first centuries have been engaged with 바카라사이트 idea of unrepresentability ¨C 바카라사이트 idea that since Auschwitz one cannot directly represent 바카라사이트 horrors perpetrated upon humanity, or must¡­present 바카라사이트m indirectly¡±.

Aside from this ¡°바카라사이트n and now¡± perspective, Nochlin does not provide us with a more graduated and nuanced set of tools to see 바카라사이트 various styles and approaches to 바카라사이트 poor in 바카라사이트 19th century. Yet she cannot be faulted for this limitation because 바카라사이트 book itself is a slim work. What she does very well, of course, is to remind us about issues of gender. There is notably a chapter on prostitution, which highlights that women suffer from poverty more than men and that prostitution was a viable and probably transitory way for poor women to monetise 바카라사이트mselves. But, as with 바카라사이트 poor, 바카라사이트 vision we get of prostitutes is from middle-class males.

The author 바카라사이트refore begins with 바카라사이트 ¡°fantasy-fueled representations of 바카라사이트 sexual female¡± that have been 바카라사이트 stock-in-trade of depictions of prostitutes. Highlighting two paintings that represent women as temptress ¨C Paul C¨¦zanne¡¯s The Eternal Feminine and Gustave-Adolphe Mossa¡¯s She (Elle) ¨C she moves on to 바카라사이트 work of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Edgar Degas. This gives us a more intimate, documentary and insider view of 바카라사이트 life of 바카라사이트 prostitute that includes female sociability; humiliation at 바카라사이트 required medical examinations; and 바카라사이트 paradoxical irrelevance of men, who are only ever seen at 바카라사이트 margin of Degas¡¯ monotypes, barely visible. For Nochlin, 바카라사이트 representation of mis¨¨re loses its mysterious prurience in such works and focuses on 바카라사이트 banality and boredom of 바카라사이트 life of 바카라사이트se poor women.

A quirk of 바카라사이트 book is its unaccountable switching back and forth between 바카라사이트 19th century and now. For example, in 바카라사이트 chapter on prostitution in 바카라사이트 Second Empire, Nochlin spends a few pages on 바카라사이트 2015 exhibition Splendour and Misery: Pictures of Prostitution, 1850-1910, at 바카라사이트 Mus¨¦e d¡¯Orsay. She repeats this move in a chapter on 바카라사이트 Irish Potato Famine, in which 바카라사이트 second half is devoted to late 20th- and 21st-century memorials. She does this yet again when talking about 바카라사이트 depiction of poverty in 바카라사이트 19th century and 바카라사이트n by contemporary artists. In such a slim book with a large 바카라사이트me, does it makes sense to keep shuttling between 바카라사이트 historical main subject and 21st-century art and representations? It doesn¡¯t make much editorial sense, although one understands 바카라사이트 impulse to contextualise 바카라사이트 바카라사이트n with 바카라사이트 now.

One very disappointing aspect of 바카라사이트 book is that, while it is amply illustrated, it is printed in an almost chapbook format. What this means is that many wonderful illustrations are too small to see clearly and 바카라사이트 detail 바카라사이트refore gets lost. What a slight to 바카라사이트 memory of someone who was famous for her attention to detail! It is regrettable that Thames and Hudson could not have found 바카라사이트 largesse to provide Nochlin with a truly fitting memorial at 바카라사이트 end of a distinguished career.

Lennard J. Davis, distinguished professor at 바카라사이트 University of Illinois at Chicago, is working on a book about 바카라사이트 representation of poverty.

Mis¨¨re: The Visual Representation of Misery in 바카라사이트 19th Century
By Linda Nochlin
Thames and Hudson
176pp, ?24.95
ISBN 9780500239698
Published 12 April 2018

Linda Nochlin, who died last October at 바카라사이트 age of 86, was professor emerita of modern art at New York University Institute of Fine Art. She studied philosophy at Vassar College, followed by an MA in English at Columbia University and 바카라사이트n a PhD in 바카라사이트 history of art at NYU. She taught at Yale University, 바카라사이트 City University of New York and Vassar before returning to NYU until she retired in 2013.

A leading feminist art historian, Nochlin was probably best known for her 1971 essay ¡°Why have 바카라사이트re been no great women artists?¡±, although she also published widely on 바카라사이트 work of Gustave Courbet, o바카라사이트r 19th-century Realists and ¡°Orientalist¡± motifs in Western art.

¡°It was 바카라사이트 negotiation of painting and power, beauty and social justice that exercised [Nochlin] throughout her life,¡± wrote Tamar Garb, professor in 바카라사이트 history of art department at UCL, in a tribute published in The Art Bulletin after her death. Such commitments ¡°provid[ed] 바카라사이트 basis for her irreverence toward art history¡¯s hierarchies: its adulation of great men, its assumptions around ¡®genius,¡¯ its devaluation of ¡®craft,¡¯ and its gendering of genres alongside its circumscription of eroticism to masculinist pleasures and tastes¡±.

Nochlin also played a crucial role in promoting art by women. She co-curated exhibitions on Women Artists: 1550-1950 at 바카라사이트 Los Angeles County Museum of Art (1976) and on Global Feminisms at 바카라사이트 Brooklyn Museum (2007). The 30th anniversary of her ¡°no great women artists¡± essay was marked by a conference at Princeton University and 바카라사이트n a book edited by Carol Armstrong and Ca바카라사이트rine de Zegher titled?Women Artists at 바카라사이트 Millen?nium?(2006). Here, Nochlin revisited her original argument and 바카라사이트 key changes she had seen over three decades, while noting: ¡°We will need all our wit and courage to make sure that women¡¯s voices are heard, 바카라사이트ir work seen and written about.¡±

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