What does the artist look for when he represents his back figure? The viewer changes his point of view. As for the model, seeming not to be for anyone, it wins paradoxically in presence. Discover these striking representations through the collections of museums in France online on Mona Lisa, their collective catalogue.
Credits: this content was originally published on the website Joconde. It was constituted in 2012 by Carine Prunet of the Service des musées de France. The museum’s records are online on POP, an open heritage platform.
But while the artist seeks when he portraiture his back figure, thereby concealing his face or its lost profile to those who represent him as to those who look at him? The spectator is no longer taken to witness in the same way; his gaze on the stage is necessarily different, contemplating the figure without his knowledge.
Seeming not to be for anyone, the model wins paradoxically in the presence, especially when unique subject of the painting, it takes a stature to the striking monumentality that fills the picture.
Jean-Haffen Yvonne (1895-1993), Trois femmes en costume (étude de costume) [titre attribué], aquarelle, papier, couleur, entre 1930 et 1940, Dinan, maison d'artiste de la Grande Vigne / Photo : Claudine Pigot
Jean-Haffen Yvonne (1895-1993), Trois femmes en costume (étude de costume) [titre attribué], aquarelle, papier, couleur, entre 1930 et 1940, Dinan, maison d'artiste de la Grande Vigne / Photo : Claudine Pigot
Often this angle of view captures the woman’s intimacy to her toilet, reveals her naked, seated, elongated or standing upwatched by the spectator without his knowledge.
The play of viewpoints is exacerbated by the presence of a mirror or a body of water as at Henner.
Tournes Etienne, La Houppe, huile sur toile, 4e quart 19e siècle, 1ère moitié 20e siècle, Bordeaux, musée des Beaux-Arts / Photo Lysiane Gauthier
Tournes Etienne, La Houppe, huile sur toile, 4e quart 19e siècle, 1ère moitié 20e siècle, Bordeaux, musée des Beaux-Arts / Photo Lysiane Gauthier
Paradoxical in carving, whose proper is well that one turns around, the representation of back can be totally deliberate.
Rodin Auguste (1840-1917), ESCOULA Jean (praticien), Danaïde ; La Source (autre titre), ronde bosse, taille avec mise aux points, marbre, entre 1889 et 1890, Paris, musée Rodin / Photo musée Rodin, Hervé Lewandowski
Rodin Auguste (1840-1917), ESCOULA Jean (praticien), Danaïde ; La Source (autre titre), ronde bosse, taille avec mise aux points, marbre, entre 1889 et 1890, Paris, musée Rodin / Photo musée Rodin, Hervé Lewandowski
Image of an alangui Orient, theOdalisque, in the wake of Ingres, who added a few vertebrae to her, had a certain fortune.
The intertwined juxtaposition of three graces in profile, face and back, a composition that has been tirelessly revived since the Hellenistic period, exalts the fullness of life by making Joy, Abundance and Splendour inseparable.
Anonyme italien, Les trois Grâces, 17e siècle, Paris, musée du Louvre département des Arts graphiques / Photo RMN-GP
Anonyme italien, Les trois Grâces, 17e siècle, Paris, musée du Louvre département des Arts graphiques / Photo RMN-GP