The Sibyls Salute: Judy Chicago

May 26, 2019 by the sibyls Leave a Comment

By Kerry Cue

Because men have a history, it is difficult for them to imagine what it is like to grow up without one,

or the sense of personal expansion that comes from discovering that we women have a worthy heritage.

Along with pride often comes rage – rage that one has been deprived of such a significant knowledge.

Judy Chicago, Good Reads

Artists never grow old because …

there’s no use-by date for passion.

…………………………………………………………..

Judy Chicago

Judy Chicago is a celebrated artist – There are 7 retrospective shows celebrating her work across America this year alone – who, at 74, shows no sign of slowing down.

Not only is Chicago a Sibyl, her life’s work has been dedicated to showing how women’s voices have been silenced throughout history and, this of course, includes the Sibyls.

Chicago’s best-known and most loved work is The Dinner Party. It consists of 39 place settings each representing a woman neglected by history. The vulvar and butterfly shaped ceramic place settings celebrate forgotten (female) goddesses, philosophers, priests, writers, doctors, painters, explorers, and rulers. The triangular table sits on a Heritage Floor, which contains the names of a further 999 women throughout history, who have made a significant contribution to bettering women’s’ lives.

The Dinner Party
Judy Chicago 1974 – 79

A new book by Chicago, The Dinner Party: Restoring Women to History (with a foreword by Arnold L. Lehman and contributions by Jane F. Gerhard) was also published this year.

The book not only looks an iconic feminist artwork, it highlights the fight feminists faced in the 1970s. The Dinner Party, for instance, once inspired aN 87-minute debate in the U.S. House of Representatives over whether it was art or pornography. You will find more information about Chicago’s fascinating art in the article Why Judy Chicago Still Fights for Feminist Art at 75 by Bob Duggan at Big Think.

We the Sibyls salute Judy Chicago.

Kerry Cue is a humorist, journalist, mathematician, and author. You can find more of her writing on her blog. Her latest book is a crime novel, Target 91, Penmore Press, Tucson, AZ (2019)

On being an artist: lost for 2 hrs staring at an eye

July 25, 2014 by the sibyls Leave a Comment

by Ruth McIntosh

I have just spent two hours staring at an eye I’m painting. What happened? Where did the time go?…and I still haven’t done the other one!

Being an artist is a lonely business but wonderfully transporting at the same time. Transporting where though? Well, transporting away from everything except those colours and that purpose in front of me to achieve Charlottes’ eye and all that it conveys.

One of the most important and difficult things I have come to terms with in painting is that most of the art I produce is simply practice and therapy, not some end product. The image is usually being wiped off, or painted over.

However the therapy is blissful. Putting on the music, singing at the top of my voice intermittently after making some strokes, having moments of immense energy accompanied by beautiful quiet interludes. Not thinking about dinner, children or any domesticities. Ahhh, bliss!

My studio is full of visual evidence of my whimsical thoughts. Sometimes it’s a bit depressing and sometimes it’s very comforting. My visual diaries document my life with amazing accuracy even without words.

Well, that’s enough of this little interlude and its back to Charlotte and the other eye and the smell of paint, turps and the heavy decision of which music to play. I’ll see the world in another two hours!

………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Ruth McIntosh

Ruth McIntosh is an extraordinary and passionate artist, who has been involved in art and art education for many years. She has held various solo exhibitions and has been involved in group shows. Ruth specializes in portraiture using both traditional methods of oil on canvas/linen and incorporating experimental use of media. Ruth is committed to extending her art to enjoy the riches of traditional workmanship alongside the excitement of contemporary application.

Her website is: Ruth McIntosh

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The Portrait of the Mother by the Artist

June 12, 2014 by the sibyls 1 Comment

by Kerry Cue

Rembrandt's Mother Reading (c. 1629) when she was 60 years old

Rembrandt’s Mother Reading (c. 1629) . Cornelia was 60 years old.

In her book, How to Age (The school of Life, 2014) Anne Karpf writes about the imagery of old age as a ‘hideous ruin’. Sociologist Mike Featherstone called such imagery ‘a pornography of old age’. And don’t we know it. We are surrounded by such images daily including the shriveled and stooped portrails of old geezers and crones in comics, birthday cards, cartoons, advertisements, horror movies, sitcoms, TV crime series and more. And don’t forget the witches in literature from Macbeth to the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. It is the aim of Sibylesque to provide the postive balance to this negativity. You can find such imagery at The Sibyls Salute: Jennette Williams.

The artist, however, runs into a dilemma when painting their own mother. Should they be sympathetic or realistic? Even artists can portray their own elderly mothers as ‘hideous ruins’. This was especially cruel as often their mother sat for the portrait when the artist’s model failed to appear. The painting that made Whistler famous resulted when the model didn’t show. (Below). The end result, however, was sympathetic. I will not dwell on the cruel images except for this sketch one sketch by Durer. I feel he was being very harsh on his own mother.

Drurer’s mother at 63 years of age. She had by this time experienced 18 pregnancies.

Durer’s mother at 63 years of age. She had by this time experienced 18 pregnancies.

Durer was not always so unforgiving in his portrayals of his mother. Here is an earlier oil painting by Durer of his mother. As one friend pointed out, Durer’s mother has a look on her face that suggests she’s thinking ‘Go on. Get on with it.’

Durer's Portrait of His mother,1490. She was 39 years old.

Durer’s Portrait of His mother,1490. Barbara was 39 years old.

Aging is often portrayed in modern media as some kind of failure. This is the price paid for living in a youth culture, I guess. Old age, however, can be presented with love and empathy and the result is an image, as Karpf notes, of dignity and beauty. Here are the portraits of artist’s mothers with their ages included:

Paul Cezanne The Artist's Mother c. 1866 when his mother was 52 years old.

Paul Cezanne The Artist’s Mother c. 1866. Anne was 52 years old.

Whistlers Mother, 1871. Painted when she was 67 ld.years o

Whistler’s Mother, 1871. Painted when she was 67 years old.

This painting by Whistler was a tribute to his mother. Here is a photograph of Anna Matilda Whistler.

Anna Matilda Whistler, ld.1850. She was 50 years o

Anna Matilda Whistler, 1850. She was 50 years old.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec portrait of his mother, Countess Adele Zoe de Toulouse Lautrec, 1883. She was 42 years old.

Van Gogh Portrait of the mother of the artist, 1888. Anna was 69 years old.

Picasso’s mother,1896. Maria was 41 years old.

Juan Gris, mother, 1912. At least Picasso painted his mother before Cubism etc.

Lucian Freud, The Painters Mother,1983 . Lucie was 77 years old.

Photo source: If it’s hip, it’s here blog.

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The Sibyls Salute: Judy Chicago

April 23, 2014 by the sibyls Leave a Comment

By Kerry Cue

Because men have a history, it is difficult for them to imagine what it is like to grow up without one,

or the sense of personal expansion that comes from discovering that we women have a worthy heritage.

Along with pride often comes rage – rage that one has been deprived of such a significant knowledge.

Judy Chicago, Good Reads

Artists never grow old because …

there’s no use-by date for passion.

…………………………………………………………..

Judy Chicago

Judy Chicago is a celebrated artist – There are 7 retrospective shows celebrating her work across America this year alone – who, at 74, shows no sign of slowing down.

Not only is Chicago a Sibyl, her life’s work has been dedicated to showing how women’s voices have been silenced throughout history and, this of course, includes the Sibyls.

Chicago’s best-known and most loved work is The Dinner Party. It consists of 39 place settings each representing a woman neglected by history. The vulvar and butterfly shaped ceramic place settings celebrate forgotten (female) goddesses, philosophers, priests, writers, doctors, painters, explorers and rulers. The triangular table sits on a Heritage Floor, which contains the names of a further 999 women throughout history, who have made a significant contribution to bettering women’s’ lives.

The Dinner Party
Judy Chicago 1974 – 79

A new book by Chicago , The Dinner Party: Restoring Women to History (with a foreword by Arnold L. Lehman and contributions by Jane F. Gerhard) was also published this year.

We the Sibyls salute Judy Chicago.

Photos:

Judy Chicago from Big Think Blog

The Dinner Party Seeprint2 Blog

By Kerry Cue

Because men have a history, it is difficult for them to imagine what it is like to grow up without one,

or the sense of personal expansion that comes from discovering that we women have a worthy heritage.

Along with pride often comes rage – rage that one has been deprived of such a significant knowledge.

Artists never grow old because …

there’s no use-by date for passion.

We the Sibyls salute Judy Chicago.

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HOME

Share this:

Like this:

By Kerry Cue

Because men have a history, it is difficult for them to imagine what it is like to grow up without one,

or the sense of personal expansion that comes from discovering that we women have a worthy heritage.

Along with pride often comes rage – rage that one has been deprived of such a significant knowledge.

Artists never grow old because …

there’s no use-by date for passion.

We the Sibyls salute Judy Chicago.

Share this:

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