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"So perish whoever shall leap over my battlements." - Romulus 
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Jos A Bank Plus Bloggi: Blogroll Me |
Thursday, July 08, 2004
Art of the Day XXVIII  At first glance, your eyes immediately leap to Bernhardt's head, the clearest, most crisp portion of the painting, singled out also for the shock of frizzly auburn hair. Much of the picture looks very soft, its brushstrokes almost impressionistic. But in fact, Bastien-Lepage has imbued his painting with incredibly fine and intricate details; you only need to look at her clothing ... the skirt of her dress patterned with velvet, flower-like leaves; sleeves like swan's feathers; soft ivory-white fur; and the large puff of bluish tulle at her throat. Everywhere are multiple nuances of elegant colour; the background is a mishmash of muted pastels and neutrals, and the whites are never quite whites, but mixes of blue, yellow, grey, and pink. I knew little of Sarah Bernhardt (1844-1923) when I first viewed this painting. Even then, she looked to me, though decked out in delicate feminine finery, like a woman who had her own way, who was bold, slightly eccentric and unwieldy when confronted by society. She seems entranced by the statue she holds -- something that seems she only just picked up on a whim, needing distraction -- admiring it with a strange peace, a contradiction of her sprightly, upright posture. Said to be the greatest actress of her day, Bernhardt was also a painter, a sculptor, the founder of her own theatre in Paris, and a cocaine addict. Occupied by thoughts of death, she sometimes slept in a coffin purchased when she was fifteen, lost her right leg in an amputation, and once asked Oscar Wilde to write a play for her (that being Salome). A personality, for certain. Posted at 01:20
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