Category Archives: European culture

Icons of erotic art #2

The Guitar Lesson [1] (French: La Leçon de guitare) is a 1934 painting by Balthus. It depicts a a young girl nude from the waist down and her teacher who has one breast exposed. The work was lovingly re-interpreted by Japanese photographer Naoto Kawahara in 2007 [2]. In the same vein Kawahara does a Mollinesque interpretation of Lucretia [3]. Kawahara (1971, Tokyo) recently exhibited at the Antwerp Zeno X Gallery, see zeno-x.com.

Previous entries here, and in a Wiki format here.

World cinema classics #23

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Md-LwM0s9fY]

Daisies (1966) – Věra Chytilová

It was against my rules to include films in this series that I had not seen. However, on the basis of this superb excerpt and some very warm recommendations of fellow bloggers, here is Daisies, a 1966 Czech film by director Věra Chytilová. It’s included in Film as a Subversive Art.

If everything’s going bad … so … we’re going … bad … as … well!

Previous “World Cinema Classics” and in the Wiki format here.

Viewing ‘wrong’ films for the right reasons

Muralla by Bofill

The image above is Xanadu in Calpe, Alicante (1969-1983), a surreal structure designed by Ricardo Bofill where the action of Jess Franco‘s 1980 Sade appropriation Eugenie, historia de una perversión is set. Robert Monell remarks that “this labyrinthine structure boggles the eye and teases our sense of perspective. This interior can be seen, shot from a radically different angle, in 1973’s The Perverse Countess.” Bofill’s design for the Catalan resort of Xanadu consists of a seven-story block with cubical living spaces arranged around a central utility core. Franco used this structure several times [1], [2].

Of all the “Euro trash” exploitation directors (I’m not counting Alain Robbe-Grillet, that’s artsploitation), Jess Franco had a knack for finding good interiors and exteriors. One of his films is set in Park Guell of Gaudi, but there are undoubtedly countless other examples to be found.

Of related interest is The Wrong House exhibition, on Hitchcock and architecture, currently showing in Antwerp.

World cinema classics #22

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stth1IlAMk8]

Je t’aime… moi non plus (1976) – Serge Gainsbourg

I’m not sure Je t’aime… moi non plus would work if it was made today. I saw at the local art house cinema in my mid twenties. At the time I was as much in love with the yellow truck as with the decadence of the film, the performances of Jane Birkin, and Joe Dallesandro and the cameo by Gérard Depardieu. As a fan of Serge Gainsbourg, I’m glad to showcase it here today. The striptease scene at the beginning is very typical of this film. Towards the end of this Youtube clip, the footage is underlit.

Previous “World Cinema Classics“

Merdre!

Ubu et la grande gidouille (1987) – Jan Lenica

Ubu et la grande gidouille is a 1987 French language feature animation film by Jan Lenica based on the work of Alfred Jarry.

From the excellent collection of experimental films by Youtube user TheMotionBrigades, from which { feuilleton }, culled to report on Karel Zeman. Also check, from the same collection, new work by Walerian Borowczyk  such as Encyclopedia de Grand Maman.

The comic grotesque in the West and the East

Arnold_Böcklin_Nessus_und_Deianeira

Nessus rapes Deianeira (1898) by Arnold Böcklin.

Arnold Böcklin (16 October 1827 – 16 January 1901) was a Swiss painter known for his grotesquely comic work. His best known painting is the macabre The Isle of the Dead. Most recently his work has been celebrated at the German traveling exhibition Comic Grotesque. He was born 180 years ago tomorrow.

I’ve always considered the ambivalence of the grotesque an essentially Western sensibility but I guess I’m wrong if you consider the work of Yue Minjun‏ (Googe gallery) Yue Minjun is an artist based in Beijing working in painting and sculpture. His style is ambiguous in that it is very Chinese, yet at the same time very Western, and very political, satirical and humorous to the point of the grotesque. Last Friday, his painting “Execution” became the most expensive work sold by a Chinese contemporary artist.

As further ‘proof’ that the grotesque and fantastique (two very related sensibilities, in the sense that they both rely on ambiguity at their core), there is the anthology of stories Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, which Franz Kafka described as “exquisite” and the painting below:

One of the dragons from The Nine Dragons handscroll (九龍圖卷; 陳容), painted by the Song Dynasty Chinese artist Chen Rong in the year 1244

One of the dragons from The Nine Dragons handscroll , painted by the Song Dynasty Chinese artist Chen Rong in the year 1244.

Tip of the hat to Doms.

Mihály Zichy @180

Artwork by Mihály Zichy (1827 – 1906)
Image sourced here.

Mihály Zichy (October 15 1827 in Zala, Hungary; February 28 1906 in St. Petersburg) was a Hungarian painter and graphic artist, best remembered today for the erotic pencil drawings in his X portfolio.

He was born 180 years ago today.

His Google gallery

He is not to be confused with “Count” Thedore Zichy:

Unidentified leg photograph

Theodore Zichy is one of the more enigmatic figures in the world of erotomania. All I found is on his page. I’m quite sure he was not a professional photographer, the photo depicted above is the only one I know of, and I can’t even remember where I sourced it. If anyone knows more, please fill me in.

Update: I found more myself. His autobio is That Was No Gentleman, That Was Zichy, London, Polybooks 1974. ISBN 0284985619. And some more photos: (prices range from 500 USD, to 1,000 USD, all gelatine prints): Shoes on a pillow, 1948, Woman and idol, 1948 and Nude with mask, 1948.