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Lot Essay
Generations of artists have been preoccupied with documenting the sensuous curves and anatomical nuances of women in various states of undress, preparing themselves for a bath. Much of what we define as beauty has been mapped out by these artists, as they illustrate the infinite variety of shapes and sizes that make up the female sex.
At first glance, Jeff Koons' choice of subject matter for his sculpture Woman in Tub seems to originate from paths first used by Duchamp and Warhol, yet in truth, the artist has harked even further back art historically to the interests of generations of classically trained artists. Focusing on proportion, scale and anatomical correctness, these artists demonstrated the beauty and complexity of the female form.
In The Large Bather, 1808, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres chose to illustrate a scene from a Turkish bath house, the main figure in the foreground, her back towards the viewer, the light highlighting her soft curves and graceful frame. In the background, women in various states of undress, languidly mingle. In 1886, Edgar Degas sculpted a single languid figure in Le Tub, a full bronze sculpture of a woman lying in the tub, her legs raised, torso exposed, her arms extended washing herself. The heaviness of the medium counters the elegance of the reclining figure. Once again, the same theme arises in Pierre Bonnard's painting, Nude Crouching in Tub, 1918. A woman prepares her own bath, the figure crouching, her legs open as she balances herself to fulfill her preparations.
Other than the interest of similar subject matter, these three images are tied together by the shared presence of the subtle role of the male gaze. In Woman in Tub, Koons uses no subtlety--the viewer is forced to contemplate the pure sexuality and artifice of this screaming woman.
To find one's own art under scrutiny by another artist could be viewed as the ultimate art historical compliment, whether for the purposes of copying or otherwise. In Woman in Tub, Koons quotes generations of artists by his choice of subject matter, yet in the artist's typical fashion, the subject gets sexually charged to its maximum as an open legged woman with long dark hair, sits in the bathtub, fully exposed. A snorkel emerges from within the tub, which causes the woman to let out, what we can imagine to be a scream through her opened mouth, and grab her bare breasts in a gesture of protection.
Fascinated with the extreme character of products from modern culture, Koons is an artist that seems to delight in excess and artifice with an obsessiveness that boarders on fetishism. Once again Koons has mixed the banal or quotidian with High art subject matters, the classical with kitsch. By paralleling a classical quote from art history with a ceramic sculpture, Koons continues to provoke questions and challenge expectations in an era all but incapable of aesthetic surprise.
At first glance, Jeff Koons' choice of subject matter for his sculpture Woman in Tub seems to originate from paths first used by Duchamp and Warhol, yet in truth, the artist has harked even further back art historically to the interests of generations of classically trained artists. Focusing on proportion, scale and anatomical correctness, these artists demonstrated the beauty and complexity of the female form.
In The Large Bather, 1808, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres chose to illustrate a scene from a Turkish bath house, the main figure in the foreground, her back towards the viewer, the light highlighting her soft curves and graceful frame. In the background, women in various states of undress, languidly mingle. In 1886, Edgar Degas sculpted a single languid figure in Le Tub, a full bronze sculpture of a woman lying in the tub, her legs raised, torso exposed, her arms extended washing herself. The heaviness of the medium counters the elegance of the reclining figure. Once again, the same theme arises in Pierre Bonnard's painting, Nude Crouching in Tub, 1918. A woman prepares her own bath, the figure crouching, her legs open as she balances herself to fulfill her preparations.
Other than the interest of similar subject matter, these three images are tied together by the shared presence of the subtle role of the male gaze. In Woman in Tub, Koons uses no subtlety--the viewer is forced to contemplate the pure sexuality and artifice of this screaming woman.
To find one's own art under scrutiny by another artist could be viewed as the ultimate art historical compliment, whether for the purposes of copying or otherwise. In Woman in Tub, Koons quotes generations of artists by his choice of subject matter, yet in the artist's typical fashion, the subject gets sexually charged to its maximum as an open legged woman with long dark hair, sits in the bathtub, fully exposed. A snorkel emerges from within the tub, which causes the woman to let out, what we can imagine to be a scream through her opened mouth, and grab her bare breasts in a gesture of protection.
Fascinated with the extreme character of products from modern culture, Koons is an artist that seems to delight in excess and artifice with an obsessiveness that boarders on fetishism. Once again Koons has mixed the banal or quotidian with High art subject matters, the classical with kitsch. By paralleling a classical quote from art history with a ceramic sculpture, Koons continues to provoke questions and challenge expectations in an era all but incapable of aesthetic surprise.