Rachel recently re-posted some art from the Odessa Museum of Modern Art in the Ukraine. One of the works was this portrait:
On several occasions I have posted this picture by David Gauld which hangs in the Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery in Glasgow.
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My comment on Rachel's blog was to the effect that I could stand in front of it for a long time. There is so much in those eyes staring at nothing and that expression - such loneliness they seem to have gone beyond pain. It occurred to me that there is a great similarity in the expression in the two painting yet I've never felt pain in Gauld's portrait before. Now I'm not so sure.
These portraits have haunting expressions, especially the sad eyes which seem to be looking at things unseen.
ReplyDeleteTerra, I agree about the things unseen - it's such a huge field though.
DeleteGauld's girl has a tiny curl at the corners of her lips that suggests she is not sad, merely hiding her personal joys from onlookers...
ReplyDeleteShe does indeed, Marcheline, and, oddly, I'd never been conscious of that before. Now I can't look away from her mouth!
DeleteEyes...the windows to the soul. Eyes tell many stories.....
ReplyDeleteIndeed, Lee. Eyes are so important when 'assessing' someone.
DeleteWell, as long as a woman who doesn't smile comes across as melancholic rather than growling - it's ok. A portrait is, of course, only a snapshot, a moment caught. For all we know both those women might have, after having danced the Flamenco (a serious dance), been laughing and enjoying life later that evening. If that sounds dismissive - it isn't.
ReplyDeleteIt's a strange thing about paintings; we see what we see. And what we see may well be different to the person standing next to us looking at the same painting. Dare I suggest that what we see reflects more on us than either the object of the painting or the painter's intention.
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Ursula, your points are, of course, all true (in my opinion) except, possibly, for the last one. I'm not sure that I think that is always the case. Obviously we don't actually know what the subject was thinking or feeling nor, as a rule, do we know what the painter's intentions were. However, if the painter has intended to portray something (as compared to being enigmatic) he may well achieve his intention with those who are able to see it.
DeleteEnnui.
ReplyDeleteTigger, indeed but whose: the painter or the subject?
DeleteSome faces leave us cold, while others make us want to look at them for hours, trying to "get" the person. I felt like that when I came across this portrait a few weeks ago. Like Ursula says, I suppose a lot of what we see in a portrait comes from within ourselves and is not necessarily part of the actual painting. Leonardo Da Vinci would have disagreed - he aspired to portray exactly that, the character, personality and emotions of the person he painted, not what the viewer saw, but what was really there.
ReplyDeleteMeike, I'd forgotten that about Leonardo (there is so much I have forgotten about him!). I think the fact that I couldn't actually decide what was in the mind of either of the subjects of these paintings tells me (and others?) something.
DeleteLucien Freud, though never a favourite painter of mine, said he needed to spend a long time with a sitter. This meant observing his sitter's many expressions and moods; and from these he would paint the portrait, working from many preliminary sketches. All this from a compelling book, The Man in the Blue Scarf. I could talk for hours on painters and paintings, so I'd better stop. Can we see and hear more from the Odessa Gallery, Graham?
DeleteDepends on Rachel really, Hamel. It was she who visited the Odessa Museum of Modern Art, not Graham and he pciked the painting of the woman from her blog. I think this is fairly clear from Graham's post.
DeleteThat Gauld portrait is certainly intriguing. I have been looking at that face for a while now and am still uncertain as to what mood or emotion I can or cannot see there. It seems to change each time I come back to it. As others have said, perhaps we imprint our own feelings onto the expressions that we see?
ReplyDeleteJayCee, I agree with your point about thoughts changing on the Gauld painting indeed on both paintings for me. I am still uncertain about the second point.
DeleteI am not familiar with the Gauld portrait but my first reaction is that she is looking very wistful, like something she wants is out of her reach and she is not going to get it, a disappointed look. The Ukrainian woman does not have such a look and is more self contained. It reminds me of many of the Frida Kahlo self portraits although until seeing it here on your blog I had never thought of this before. In fact I have never thought too much about the portrait at all before although she caught my attention in the gallery to photograph her.
ReplyDeleteRachel, I'm glad that she caught your attention long enough to photograph her because I find her fascinating. So thanks for that. The Frida Kahlo self portraits seem to me to be more portraying an awareness of self and great self assurance. I notice that she fell foul of the US Ambassador who said she was a Marxist. So she obviously had a lot to think about.
DeleteI had a similar reaction to Amaury-Duval's painting of Madame DeLoynes (Musee d'Orsay) when I saw it last fall. Something about her gaze just held me transfixed. Read up on it later...evidently an art critic, Emile Cantal, felt the same way, saying, "There is a world and a half in those eyes." Discovered upon reading about her that she led quite an interesting life.
ReplyDeleteMary, the Amaury-Duval painting of Madame DeLoynes differs in that she is much more directly challenging the viewer by looking very directly at her or him.
DeleteThere certainly is similarity between those two portraits. Funny how when we take photographs we ask people to smile but in both paintings the young women look as miserable as sin. "Cheer up love!" a northerner might say.
ReplyDeleteYP, your point amused me greatly. You are absolutely correct - stick that up in a chippie and that's exactly what would be said. By the way there are a lot of good chippies in Stornoway (and nearer to me on a Saturday evening when the mobile chippie serves Point) but I never think about it. I may now.
DeleteIt could become a habit and in a few months time you will be known as Fatty Edwards.
DeleteYP given that I weigh 58k I think being a fatty is an unlikely outcome.
DeleteGraham and YP, you make me smile in memory. One of the few times in my life when I felt like punching someone though didn't on account of being a woman (of restraint) was when this guy, total stranger, said to me in passing: "Cheer up, Love, it may never happen". "It already has", I said. Why the hell he'd think I'd look down in the mouth otherwise? I think the cat had died five minutes earlier or something.
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Ursula, that is a very common Northern saying. I occasionally add "unless, of course, it already has." which probably just makes things worse.
DeleteBoth portraits look very similar in that they both have very serious expressions. But with art you could look at something and get so many impressions and thoughts.
ReplyDeleteAmy, as you say, art can mean so many things to different people and, indeed, to the same person on different occasions.
DeleteInteresting, I don’t see sadness but perhaps that says more about how I feel today?
ReplyDeleteBut you are right about eyes; we have a neighbour who always wears mirrored sunglasses in the summer and I used to hate bumping into him when I walked Daisy. It is disconcerting to talk to someone who appears to be facing you but could be looking anywhere (and with this particular chap I always felt uncomfortable as to where he might be looking 🤠)
Jayne, possibly if one is essentially a happy person ones sees sadness all the more acutely? We are complicated creatures.
DeleteI heartily agree about mirrored sunglasses. I don't like speaking to emotionally anonymous faces.
After reading the comments and your post notes, Graham, I looked at both portraits a second time and lingered longer. The first one seemed sadder and because of that, more haunting. The second Gault one does seem more cheerful and perhaps as someone has already suggested that is a hint of a smile in the young lady's expression.
ReplyDeleteBeatrice, I certainly agree with your view of the first picture. I have, for the umpteenth time in umpteen years (I wonder where the term 'umpteen' came from - must look it up) had another look at the Gault face. I had never seen that before until the comments here and it has caused me to re-assess my thoughts on it. I still think it's enigmatic though and I'll never really know. Which, I suppose, is what makes it so interesting.
DeleteThere may be a hint of a smile on her lips (the Gauld portrait), but not in her eyes! (I think)
ReplyDeleteMonica, that adds yet another dimension to my thoughts. Thank you.
DeleteIt seems to me that the eyes in both portraits convey more than a little angst.
ReplyDeleteOnce again, David, I apologise for missing your comment. I've had yet another stare at the pictures and, at this moment anyway, I'm not sure I would go quite as far as angst. That's the beauty of trying to understand what the eyes were saying and what the painter was trying to portray.
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