Cindy Sherman and Italian Baroque Painters

1 on the major features on the Baroque distinguishing it from classicism was the always imperfect appearance with the subject in portraiture, as well as the presence in the "extremely personal" expression on the artist (Cole and Gealt 155). A a lot more "engaging" atmosphere exists within the Baroque painting than in classicism. The Baroque approach changed the art of classicism from "a self-contained, isolated form to 1 that engages the

. . . space and viewers." From the Baroque, "levels of fact are challenged, divisions in between materials are breached, and the viewer is engaged in the object" (Cole and Gealt 165).

Sherman's photographs reflect Baroque features, but in what looks being a grotesque presentation. In her History Portraits, she aims to critique the works with the Baroque style. Her perspective in these photographs is intended to shock the viewer with its sense of horror, humor, as well as the grotesque. (In fact, there's little or no sense of genuine horror in this specific series from Sherman. Maybe a deep and disturbing realization of human suffering may possibly more accurately and meaningfully name the third in the 3 emotions applicable to this series.)

However, this find out will argue that Sherman includes a deeper, a lot more important, and more crucially human intention in mind than mere shock. The flamboyant elements with the Baroque are tailor-made for this sort of a critique, and Sherman's art is tailor-made to provide this kind of a critique. She is noted for using herself as the

 

Cole, Bruce, and Adelheid Gealt. Art of the Western World. new York: Summit, 1989.

Caravaggio was 1 artist credited with bringing the isolating work of classicism down to earth, starting with his use of ordinary models even within the portrayal with the religious scenarios which have been standard subjects for painters of his time in Church-dominated Rome. This exact same appreciation for ordinary folks as subjects, with certain personalities, marks the works of all three with the artists covered in this study.

Garrard, Mary D. Artemisia Gentileschi. Princeton, NJ: Princeton U P, 1989.

She returns being a sitter in this series, utilizing props and wearing lush costumes, wigs, and fake appendages to assume the character on the numerous nobles, mythological heroes, and madonnas that were depicted by court painters (Cruz 10).

Other interpretations suggest the artist "fancied himself as the reincarnation of the young Michelangelo, his namesake, . . . with whom he shared an virtually pagan appreciation of sense experience" and "an inclination toward homosexuality" (Moir 66).

Finally, the three artists show similarity in their naturalism, if a single sees that word as implying a depiction of particular and flawed people rather than ideal sorts as in classicism. Garrard writes of Caravaggio's "earthy naturalism," marked by "optical precision" where "each of [his] persons looms incredibly large, as a specific person instead of a type" (Garrard 8-9). The same can also be stated of Gentileschi and Sherman. Despite Sherman's grotesque features, her false breasts and obvious wigs and artificial noses, her photographs have higher impact over a viewer due to the fact they portray a compassion and understanding for human suffering which transcends gender and age. In contrast to Caravaggio, who is intent on a sensual, and unlike Gentileschi, who focuses on feminist heroism, Sherman aims at the person human heart of her characters where, ironically, universal sorrow and suffering reside.

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