Week Six

Henri Matisse’s “Blue Nude: Souvenir at Biskra” is an obvious departure from the female nudes of the past. She’s blue. This painting isn’t attempting to be a convincing allusion.  She is blue after all. Her features are idealized in an unrealistic fashion – she looks like the unachievable female form of a drawn figure – meant to be erotic, but not meant to be interpreted as reality. On top of that, her face is ambiguous, not making any contact with the viewer as though to assure the viewer there isn’t any sense of personal self-awareness or self-worth or intelligence inside this female body. The subject isn’t a real human being.

This blue woman reminds me most of Manet’s “Olympia,” especially because of the flattening outlines Matisse used.  The body is laying down, and the face is blankish, making sure there isn’t a possibility for the viewer to make a personal connection.  Manet’s “Olympia” may be looking directly at the viewer, but she still is determined to keep the viewer from wanting to make a personal connection. Mostly she is only daring the viewer to do what they came for and get it over with. However, though both nudes refuse to make that personal connection, Manet’s is aggressive while Matisse’s is submissive. The blue woman shape doesn’t try to fight her destiny to be looked at and twists herself to introduce more eroticism. Also, Matisse may have been looking back to Manet concerning how to break away from formal depictions of female nudes, this work doesn’t have any social commentary attached to critique the modern lifestyles of “Modern Europe.” As we can see with the noticeable lines and bright colors, Matisse’s nude is more about stretching beyond formal conventions than social implications.

Aside from the outlines, brushstrokes are visible, and colors are chosen to be lifelike. The colors, not intent of depicting reality, are used for mood or expression. Each hue is the artist’s personal choice with no regard for the predetermined colors in real life vision.  She’s blue. And the scene she’s in is fairly ambiguous also, since the colors and lines are so much more dedicated to creating a mood than describing a location for the figure.

Primitivism influences are present. Since the painting is such as push away from previous formal conventions, it has to be going in the direction of something else. That direction greatly resembles the Primitivism movement. It presents the exotic form of a larger, robust woman, outside in the lap of Mother Nature (or at least I think that’s what’s going on) referencing the fertility of the woman. This emphasizes the need to survive and procreate, leading the viewer to a more instinctual state of mind. And then there’s the title: “Souvenir of Biskra.” Whether or not the artist himself gave the title, it implies 1) a naked woman posing serves as a souvenir from a colorful holiday and 2) the artist took a holiday in order to experience the area, the women, and/or the painting of the women. It isn’t depicting a “modern” European woman (or girl), but a lower minded creature of an instinctual, primitive world. It definitely says to me that the artist painted whatever he wanted to see, not what was socially or even formally acceptable.