Very interesting observations - you have taken a deeper dive into the
course materials than I have.
On 3/28/2016 6:50 PM, Bob W-PDML wrote:
I think it would be a very interesting course. I don't really have the time
myself, but they have picked some interesting and accessible photos rather than
throwing people in at the deep (?) end of Art Photography.
Clicking through, you can get a nice large copy of Dorothea Lange's 'Migrant
Mother'. Seeing it again, I had a dig around and found this article from what
looks like an interesting book:
http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/316062.html
One thing that has always troubled me about analyses of this photo, which is
repeated in the article, is the comparison with paintings of the Madonna and
Child. Of course, Mary only had one baby when people were wandering around
Bethlehem doing all that painting (I guess little James came along a bit
later), although she is sometimes shown with Jesus and John the Baptist as
infants. I don't think she is ever shown with more than the two of them though.
So to me the comparison with Virgin and Child paintings has never been very
convincing.
There is, however, a very popular theme in art of a woman with three children. The
authors of the article refer to Bougeureau's painting(s) called Charity, but their
analysis is wrong. They write "The painting recasts the portrait of the Madonna and
Child as a poor woman with a baby and two other ragged children". This is a bit of a
howler. The painting is called Charity, and that's precisely what it shows - an allegory
of Charity, which is one of the virtues, the others being Faith and Hope.
Charity in traditional Christian theology is both the love of God, and the love
of your neighbour. Painters depicted this double nature as a woman suckling one
child while two or more others played around her, representing two or more of
the seven works of Mercy.
To me this is a much more interesting way of reading the photograph, whether or
not Lange herself was aware of this allegory consciously, because the FSA
itself was a work of mercy. I'm rather surprised that the authors missed this.
Here are some other allegories of charity:
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/glossary/charity
Here is Reynolds alluding to the theme in a flattering portrait:
https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/sir-joshua-reynolds-lady-cockburn-and-her-three-eldest-sons
Good old Bougeureau knocked 'em out like he was giving them away, as a google
for bougeureau charity will reveal.
Here are some more:
http://www.art-breastfeeding.com/rel2/caridad.htm
Compositionally, Lange's picture is at least the equal of any of these. It
would be nice if more people recognised the theme though. So If you do take the
course and the tutors try to fob you off with Lady Madonna, tell them to
Bougeureauff. Charitably.
B
On 28 Mar 2016, at 03:22, ann sanfedele <[email protected]> wrote:
Mark - you don't need it!
ann
On 3/27/2016 5:16 PM, Mark C wrote:
Thanks, Dan. I actually enrolled in the course and will be interested in seeing
how it goes. It's free and I can do it at my own pace - not much to lose.
Mark
On 3/27/2016 8:06 AM, Daniel J. Matyola wrote:
http://www.openculture.com/2016/02/museum-of-modern-art-moma-launches-free-course-on-looking-at-photographs-as-art.html
Dan Matyola
http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/danieljmatyola
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