artist-confessions: The deformation of the...

artist-confessions:

The deformation of the figure in Ingres’ painting is associated with a sideways curve of the trunk and a rotation of the pelvis which proved impossible to reproduce in the models. The visual effect of the excess length is to place the head further away from the pelvis. This impression is enhanced by the fact that the left arm of the Odalisque is shorter than the right.

An odalisque was a woman kept in a sultan’s harem. Ingres was well known for the way in which he reflected his subject’s social condition through the medium of his paintings. Art critics have repeatedly drawn attention to the contrast between the Odalisque’s posture and her facial expression. The gorgeous body is there for the sultan’s pleasure. The added pelvic length emphasizes the woman’s sensuous beauty. The face, however, has been described as betraying no feeling,as being sad and indifferent (Théophile Gautier), or aloof and inscrutable, reflecting a complex psychological make-up.By adding length to the Odalisque’s back, the painter may well have been trying to show, in physical terms, the gulf between the woman’s condition and her innermost thoughts and feelings.

source : Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine

If you want to advocate anatomy mistakes when they serve a purpose, do it right.

(yeah I know it has nothing to do with Ingres’ style but it was too tempting)

I didn’t know Rob Liefeld oil painted!

It looks more to me like the painter was trying to hide her butt-crack, but whatever.

10 months ago