The Easel

30th October 2018

Sex, Power, and Violence in the Renaissance Nude

We acclaim the “lissome goddesses” in Renaissance pictures but do we pick up on their embedded narratives? These works reflect the (misogynist) culture of their day. Beauty was ideally associated with submissiveness. Rape was thought to often involve female consent. And pictures of nudity were kept private and swapped between men – who were just being men.

Franz Marc and August Macke, 1909-1914

Picasso and Braque famously collaborated to produce cubism. A decade earlier two young German artists enjoyed a similar collaboration. Marc had been painting animals in vivid colours. Responding to his chaotic colourations, Macke joined in. Over just four years they became pioneering abstractionists. Then it all stopped with WW1; by 1916, both had been killed.