Klimts Portraiture of Women - Essay Example

? Klimt’s Portraiture of Women as Compared to Schiele’s Portraits Total Number of Words: 3,001 Introduction Both Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele are of the most well-known Austrian painters in the past1. Unlike Schiele, Klimt has been known as the founder or the leader of the Vienna Succession movement 2. In fact, Klimt was the centre or the heart of Vienna’s avant-garde 3. Very much inspired by the previous art works of Klimt, Schiele eventually became one of the proteges of Klimt when he decided to enter the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts back in 1906 4, 5. When Klimt died back in February 6, 1918, Schiele was one of the candidates who can follow the footsteps of Klimt. With this in mind, Zwingenberger (2011, p. 60) revealed that Schiele has one time called himself as the “Silver Klimt” 6. In fact, during the early part of the 20th century, Schiele became a well-known Austrian expressionist and a figurative painter 7. Specifically the fall of the Hapsburgs Empire during the World War I has occurred back in 1918 8. In relation to the previous paintings of Klimt and Schiele, the main purpose of this study is to discuss the similarities and differences between a couple of portraits made by each of these two successful painters few years before the fall of the Hapsburgs Empire happened. To give the readers a better idea of what is to be discussed in this essay, the works of Klimt such as the The Three Ages of Woman, 1905 and Hope II, 1907–08 and Schiele’s Woman in Green Bonnet, 1914 and Green Stockings, 1914 will first be described in short details followed by making the comparison between the art works of Klimt and Schiele based on the title, subject-matter, aesthetics, medium, and social aspect. Klimt’s Work: “The Three Ages of Woman, 1905” Klimt’s work entitled “The Three Ages of Woman, 1905” was drawn and painted in a 178 x 198cm canvas using oil 9. Specifically the chosen subject in this particular portrait was all about the representation of a woman’s life in three (3) different stages which include childhood life, adulthood, and old age 10, 11, 12. It means that these stages in a woman’s life could range from being an infant to becoming a mother, and eventually an old lady. (See Image I – Klimt’s Work: The Three Ages of Woman, 1905 on page 4) Image I – Klimt’s Work: The Three Ages of Woman, 1905 Source: Strauss, 2013, p. 162; De Pascale, 2007, p. 98 Upon closely examining this particular portrait, the images of a nude baby girl and a couple of ladies in Klimt’s “The Three Ages of Woman, 1905” were drawn with a unique and colourful mixture of orange, yellow, and brownish abstract background 13. For instance, on the upper left side was an old lady followed by a fairly skinned young mother in the middle, and the young child on the middle right side of the portrait. In line with this, the creation of a unique abstract background gave more emphasis to the outline of the naked bodies of these three ladies 14, 15. On the left side of the portrait, Klimt has drawn the image of a deformed, “sagging” or “wrinkled” skin which represents the age of the old lady 16, 17, 18. Furthermore, the fact that Klimt has drawn the image of the old lady with her face bowing down strongly represents her feeling of negative emotions such as sorrow and repressed emotions 19. On the middle and right side of the portrait show the beautiful face of a young mother holding an innocent baby girl 20, 21. Klimt’s Work: Hope II, 1907–08 Klimt’s work entitled “Hope II, 1907–08” was drawn and painted in a 43-1/2 x 43-1/2 inches canvas using gold, platinum, and oil 22. In this portrait was a pregnant woman with her head bowed down and eyes closed. In the upper centre of the portrait shows a half-naked pregnant woman 23. Specifically the closing of the woman’s eyes in this particular portrait strongly suggest the idea that the lady has been devotedly praying or hoping for her own safety and her child’s safety 24. On her tummy was skull which symbolizes the risk of death. The fact that Klimt has drawn the skull strongly suggests that the pregnant woman and her unborn baby may have been in the middle of a life-threatening situation 25, 26. Furthermore, the three ladies drawn besides the pregnant woman’s feet strongly reflect that their grief. It could also suggest the idea that these three ladies were mourning and praying for the safety of both mother and the unborn child 27. Specifically the background used in Klimt’s “Hope II, 1907–08” was the colour of a “Byzantine gold” 28. Similar to some other paintings of Klimt, one can easily note the shade of gold. In line with this, Schwartz (2010, p. 38) clearly explained that Klimt had strongly inherited the “Baroque aesthetic” in the sense that his passion for the use of colour gold represents a couple of religious culture and tradition during the Habsburg Empire which includes Catholism and Judaism 29. Klimt’s inclination to adopt the Baroque aesthetic mainly explains why shades of gold can be noted in the lady’s dress particularly in Klimt’s “Hope II, 1907–08”. (See Image II – Klimt’s Work: Hope II, 1907–08 6 below) Image II – Klimt’s Work: Hope II, 1907–08 Source: Bee, Heliczer and McFadden, 2013, p. 40 Schiele’s Work: Woman in Green Bonnet, 1914 Schiele’s work entitled “Woman in Green Bonnet, 1914” was drawn in a sketch-like manner and was eventually painted with water colour 30 using limited colours like green, orange, and black. Specifically the subject that Schiele has drawn in his artwork entitled “Woman in Green Bonnet, 1914” was an image of a skinny nude young lady suggesting that the subject belongs to a lower-class social status during the bourgeoisie time 31, 32. In most of Schiele’s nude paintings of young ladies, Schiele has been accustomed of adding “decorative accessory” on top of the young ladies’ naked body 33. As suggested in the title of this particular portrait, Schiele has chosen a “green bonnet” as her preferred accessory. (See Image III – Schiele’s Work: Woman in Green Bonnet, 1914 below) Image III – Schiele’s Work: Woman in Green Bonnet, 1914 Source: Albertina, 2013 Unlike any other expressionist artists, Schiele has paid more attention to the details of the different extremities of the human body rather than that of the face 34. For instance, instead of adding too much detail in the young lady’s face, Schiele decided to focus more on giving emphasis on the young lady’s limbs and the rest of her naked body. Likewise, in this particular portrait, Schiele decided not to pay close attention to the young lady’s “surrounding environment” 35. To give emphasis on the subject’s naked body, Schiele created volume by purposely applying heavy application in some parts of the portrait. Furthermore, Schiele created a three-dimensional effect using different contours in the subject’s arms butt, and legs. In other words, the main focus of Schiele’s painting is the body language of his chosen subject 36. Schiele’s Work: Green Stockings, 1914 Schiele’s work entitled “Green Stockings, 1914” was unique in the sense that Schiele was able to present his thoughts and idea of a strange body position in such a way that the young lady’s body was drawn in an overlapping position 37. Specifically, Schiele’s personal interests in the use of abstract geometrical form can be noted in the way he has carefully drawn the linear fragments in the young lady’s head, joints, and stockings using his pencil in sketching and water colour in painting 38. Aside from the use of colour green as a highlight, it was mentioned that one of Schiele’s trademark is the use of “decorative accessory” in his chosen subject 39. The art of using dark green colour when highlighting Schiele’s use of “decorative accessory” could have effectively drawn the eyes of his target audiences from the face or the entire image of his chosen subject. In this particular portrait, Schiele gave emphasis on the young lady’s green stockings as clearly stated in his portrait title. (See Image IV – Schiele’s Work: Green Stockings, 1914 on page 9) Image IV – Schiele’s Work: Green Stockings, 1914 Source: Feller, 2013 Comparison between the Works of Klimt and Schiele before the Fall of the Hapsburgs Empire Both Klimt and Schiele had been known as few of the world’s best and most highly competent expressionist artists 40. It is surprising to know that there are a quite lot of differences in the works of Klimt and Schiele in terms of their preferred colour, specific group of women or girls as their preferred subject, social and cultural context, and the personal techniques they used in completing these paintings. All these differences strongly suggest that these two well-known Austrian painters were very much unique in their own little artistic ways 41. Similar to Klimt, Schiele has also completed quite a lot of nude paintings 42. However, the images shown in some of Schiele’s work such as the “Woman in Green Bonnet, 1914” and “Green Stockings, 1914” were pretty much straight-forward. Likewise, the nude paintings of Schiele were more shocking as compared to Klimt’s presentation of an attractive woman in his paintings. As compared to Klimt, Schiele is more inclined in painting young girls as his preferred subject or models on his portrait combined with his preferred method which is the “water colour sketches” 43. Furthermore, Schiele is found of doing a self-portrait but not Klimt 44, 45, 46. Similar to Klimt, Schiele also exerted extra effort in reflecting strong emotions like sadness or fear in their paintings 47. Furthermore, Whalen (2007, p. 82) revealed that even though both Klimt and Schiele create nude paintings, Klimt often times created quite a lot of frightening images whereas Schiele tends to produce and re-produce scary ones (i.e. tortured body or starved, etc.) 48. By nature, Klimt was very much accustomed in the use of colourful lines. In most cases, these lines were drawn using bright colours such as red, yellow, gold, and orange, etc. 49. Except for Klimt’s portrait of naked women, most of his paintings represented some form of “golden ornament” 50. For this reason, one can easily consider Klimt’s desire to draw “golden ornaments” as one of his trademark when doing artistic paintings. Likewise, Illies (2013) explained that Klimt decided to encircle the body of women in his sketches using some form of unique and soft lines throughout the entire image of women in canvas 51. Specifically the use of this particular artistic technique in painting made Klimt able to create the image of a woman’s soft skin. On the contrary, Schiele preferred not to make use of too much colour in his portraits 52. Instead of using too much colourful shades, Schiele is more famous for using a single dark colour such as the shade of green when highlighting his preferred decorative accessory. Unlike the other two portraits that were drawn by Schiele (i.e. Woman in Green Bonnet, 1914 and Green Stockings, 1914), Klimt’s works can be considered more aesthetic as most of the images shown in his paintings were able to effectively play tricks with the human eyes (i.e. illusion or duplicity) 53. Aside from the fact that most the artistic works of Klimt were more elegant in terms of projecting the subjects shown in his portraits as compared to the works of Schiele 54, Klimt’s portraits contain deeper meaning in terms of its social and cultural context. On the contrary, Schiele iwas more capable to creating contours that does not flow in harmony 55. In most cases, Schiele’s portraits of female bodies were mostly created in either sexual or distorted form. Although the title used by Klimt in most of his works were pretty much straightforward in terms of its meaning (i.e. The Three Ages of Woman, 1905 and Hope II, 1907–08), there were certain degree of ambiguity or vagueness in most of Klimt’s paintings 56. For example, rather than creating straightforward images, Klimt’s “The Three Ages of Woman, 1905” strongly represents either “life and death issues” 57 or the concept of a life cycle in general 58. On the other hand, Klimt’s “Hope II, 1907–08” can represent humanity and the main role of women particularly when it comes to becoming pregnant, giving birth, and risking their lives during the process of giving birth 59. In other words, Klimt’s “Hope II, 1907–08” may also represent death of women in relation to pregnancy 60, 61. Furthermore, the fact that Klimt has drawn and painted a fine costume in bright colour on pregnant woman strongly suggest that all women regardless of age and their socio-economic status can face the risk of losing their life or their baby’s life during the entire process of pregnancy 62. Unlike the two portraits that were drawn and painted by Schiele, Klimt’s “The Three Ages of Woman, 1905” is quite unique and more interesting in the sense that this particular portrait encourages his target audiences to reflect on the true meaning and characteristics of life as a woman goes through the different stages in life 63. Although Klimt has failed to give too much emphasis on the relevance of time, this particular portrait shows the evolution in a woman’s life in reality 64. During the fin-de-siecle time in Vienna, most of the portraits made by Klimt strongly represent issues related to women’s life and sexuality within the context of what is going on in the real world. Since most of Klimt’s work represents a certain degree in women’s cultural, social, and psychological development, Klimt – as one of the world’s famous portrait artists has served as an inspirational person to most other “impressionist painters” 65. Discussion Other than the style used in paintings and the country where both artists were born, the close relationship between Klimt and Schiele can be noted with the similarities between the time period when they exist to show the world of their talents in paintings. Even though both Klimt and Schiele had a strong interest in creating nude art works when painting women in general, it is surprising to know that even though Schiele was one of the proteges of Klimt, Schiele managed to come up with his own style and preferred subject and method when creating an artistic painting. Unlike the nude paintings of Schiele, Klimt’s erotic and nude sketches and paintings are known for its sexiness. As such, Klimt was known for having a unique way of bringing out the natural beauty among women. Based on Klimt’s nude paintings, one can say that Klimt had been very much mystified with the beauty of women’s body. On the contrary, Schiele was known for creating a different kind and using odd images in nude paintings. As such, Schiele was proud of presenting nude paintings that can cause shock on the part of his target audiences. Even though Schiele had the tendency to make use of the same women’s poses in Klimt’s nude paintings, Schiele’s nude paintings are more often being described as something that is wild, disturbing, and unusual. Furthermore, Klimt had the tendency to take more time trying to create a beautiful and unique background for his preferred subject in his paintings. On the contrary, most of Schiele’s work does not have any background. Aside from the fact that Klimt had the eyes for mixing and matching different attractive colours, the differences in Klimt’s and Shiele’s preferred background can be one of the reasons why most people had considered the works of Klimt to be more elegant and sophisticated as compared to the works of Schiele. In fact, some of Klimt’s art works projects a mosaic-like paintings. Conclusion The paintings of Klimt’s and Schiele’s when it comes to the portrait of women varies greatly from one another in terms of their preferred subject, their preferred medium, aesthetics, and social aspects. Even though both expressionist painters have made a lot of nude portraits of women, one can easily argue that most of Klimt’s portraits were not pretty straight-forward. With regards to the preferred subject of Klimt and Schiele, it is clear that Klimt does not discriminate or disregards old women in his paintings. On the other hand, Schiele has been more focused on the use of young girls as the main subject in his portraits. In most cases, the depths in Klimt’s work have certain degree of ambiguity or vagueness. In relation to the sample work of Klimt that were presented in this report, the vagueness in Klimt’s work can be noted by its representation of life and death issues as suggested in Klimt’s “The Three Ages of Woman, 1905” and the risk of death among pregnant women as suggested in Klimt’s “Hope II, 1907–08”. The works of Klimt or even the title of his works did not literally mention anything about deaths. However, in the process of carefully analyzing the symbols and signs that were present in his portraits, one can easily think that death is somehow connected to the representation of his paintings. Both painters have their own trademarks when it comes to their art works. For instance, Klimt preferred to use colourful lines using bright colours and some form of “golden ornament” in his paintings. Furthermore, most of Klimt’s work represents a certain degree in women’s cultural, social, and psychological development. On the other hand, Schiele is not found of using of too much colour in his portraits. Instead, Schiele tend to create more images using water colour sketches. When it comes to defining a woman’s naked body, Klimt tends to create the image of soft skin by sketching some soft lines in canvas. On the contrary, Schiele is more likely to represents the body of women in distorted order. Because of Klimt’s preferred theme and his ability to draw and paint images of women that can create illusionary effects in human eyes, Klimt inspires most other “impressionist painters” around the world. References Albertina. (2013). Woman in Green Bonnet, 1914. 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