Thursday, April 7, 2011

What Does A 19th Century Woman Look Like?


There was a paintbrush long before there was a camera, so for a long time the artist was the documentarian at large.  What we "see" today is limited to what he "saw" yesterday.  

So what does a 19th century woman look like?  I closed my eyes and saw her...


and her...


and her...


And her... Wait a second! Who's that to her right?  She's the representative for the 19th century Aborigine who was brought to the light by Lynda Edrige.  Do you see Venus?  Which one is she?  Can she be both?


Not only did the Aborigine female have the sense to have her breasts free while European women had hearts bound in corsets...


But we came from her too.


Maybe we'd recognize her more if we only touched her. Not for experiment for understanding.



If beauty is nature, then the Aborigine woman is the trees, the birds, the earth.  Her roots have been here since the beginning of time, she sings to the forest and it responds, and when we mistreat the earth she cries.  

She would like to be freed to roam, but captured by the artist.  













1 comment:

  1. An interesting post! Are there any realist paintings of aboriginal women?

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