Painting: The Origin of Problems (Study #1)

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This painting is a study for a painting, "The Origin of Problems," meant to be a humorous take on Gustave Courbet's "L'Origine du Monde" - or is it?

Courbet painted a series of erotic works, including The Sleepers, featuring a loving lesbian couple asleep in bed, and L’Origine du Monde, which depicts a woman’s genitals,  pubic hair, belly, spread legs, and breast, with her head covered by a sheet. 

The title of the painting pays homage to women’s capacity to give birth, thereby perpetuating the species (the world) but also refers to Courbet’s own fascination with seeing female nudity. Upon discovering this painting years ago, a friend of mine told me, "I want her." A visceral reaction...

Courbet’s superb rendering of the woman’s body serves as a testament to the tenets of Realism, the philosophy Courbet pioneered that endorsed strict adherence to reality in art.

In the 20th century, this painting caused outrage among feminist scholars, who perceive it as the ultimate example of female objectification - time to go the other way and objectify the male's body!

Starting with mine.

Oh la la...

Medium

Oil on Canvas, 48''x48''

Signaletics

is a 2005-2009 painting by Frederic Marsanne, the leading artist in the house where he lives... Frederic has exhibited at MKL GALLERY in Somerville, MA, Ambassador Galleries in Soho, NY, and was chosen to exhibit in a juried show at the New Rochelle Art Association Annual in New Rochelle, NY.

Style, Themes, Techniques

"L’Origine du Monde" is a gorgeous painting, but at least in some ways, it fails to tell the Truth. The origin of the world cannot possibly be reduced to a woman's genitalia. Indeed, it'd be tough for a headless lady to give birth and become a mother.. The masterpiece is, partially, an example of female objectification. Interestingly, some critics assert that the body depicted (i.e., the pallidness of the skin) is not a lively erotic portrayal of a female but of a corpse. How about that for an object?

In some other ways, the absence of a head makes the body more universal. This is not the nude of any one particular woman; it is, or has the potential to be, that of any woman, making "The Origin of the World" that much more compelling. It is not one woman, but all women - and the female body, in all its complexity and beauty - that perpetuate the species.

"The Origin of Problems" is having fun with many of the concepts above, as the painting:
1) objectifies the male body
2) make the male specimen the origin of problems, not of the world - although, of course, the male sexual organs allegedly (!) are as responsible for procreation as the female genitalia. It usually takes two - a couple - to f/mother a child...
3) The study goes crazy, not pretty, nearly abstract, although I expect "The Origin of Problems" to a be a realistic rendering of the male genitalia (I want the ultimate result to look like a pendant to Courbet's work). Some even find it 'difficult' to distinguish the penis. All the better: "The Origin of Problems" sure ain't a misnomer.

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