An Admired Abjection
Jenny Saville is a revered figure painter who works with concept that strongly challenges societal assumption about the female nude. In this essay I will discuss her work as an example of Abject art, and reflect on its place in the history of the classical nude, in terms of painting up until the 1800s. I will also reflect on the impact this study has had on my own work.
In my exploration of Art, and in the creation of my own work, I work with two el ements. The first is an aestheticdraughtsmanship and skill. The second is a passionate ideology or concept that grounds work in the social history of it’s time. In my opinion it is the culmination of these two elements that come together to create great art. It was through my previous exploration of Jean Dubuffet’s nudes that I became aware of Jenny Saville’s work. As an example of an artist who brings together contemporary and classical technical skill and a powerful concepts, I found her a compelling subject. In terms of my own creative practice, this essay is an attempt to gain insight and add historical grounding to the culturally engrained tradition of life drawing, which I practice every week. Through my exploration of Saville’s work, I hope to refresh my appreciation of art addressing the human form.
Introduction to the Artist Jenny Saville is a contemporary British painter. She studied at Glasgow school of art after which her whole degree show of work was bought Charles Saatchi. The following two years were spent on commissioned works for his collection. Her work was included in the controversial ‘Sensation’ exhibition at the Royal Academy of Art in 1997. Although Saville’s work in recent years has developed to explore topics such as cosmetic surgery, trauma and gender, I will be concentrating on her female figure paintings (1992-2003). For further information on her development after this period please consult the appendix. Saville is unusual within the Young British Artists movement in th at whil e her subject matter is controversial, her traditional painting skills are universally admired. 1 Much of her paintings are based on her own body, as she finds herself to be a reliable model, and does not work from life. She is a scavenger- collecting information from photos, newspaper clippings, surgery viewings, even pornographic imagery. Once her drawings are completed, references become redundant,she moves from “anatomy of the body to the anatomy of paint." 2
Saville in her Studio
“Deploying an assured, preternaturally effortless painterly realism, her oversized paintings of oversized women were not just visually arresting, but smart.” 3 Cohen, New York Critic Saville paints big, in vast quantities of oil, scaling scaffolding to complete her pieces. Her paintings are visceral, bold and raw. Her classical training freed by blocks of colour, flashes of pentimenti shining through. Her figures simultaneously drop off into space and rise up from the canvas. Each crevice and crease so concisely laid down, that the women appear to breath before us. She focusses on the openings of the bodythe face and its orifices, genitals- and the physicality of flesh. Facing a Saville painting for the first time is like dropping into icy cold water. It is petrifying, it takes your breath away, you feel suffocated by the weight of it. You resurface and feel invigorated by her mastery, and refreshed by her originality. " The body is all things. Ugly, beautiful, repulsive, compelling, anxious, neurotic, dead, alive. And it is nothing. Eventually we expel ourselves. We rust away. Our own body rejects us. I don't find that tragic." 4 Saville In composition, figures lie foreshortened, or tower above us until we are childlike as viewers. Colours suggest gore without disclosing wether skin is broken. Fleshy flanks ripple. Saville does not just observe, she thinks. The blues and greys of extremities suggests the cold and bloodless buttocks of corpulence. Saville’s work is often compared to Freud’s, yet she suggests “ Freud’s women are dead bodies; they lie there. I don’t make those images. The women in my paintings are upright, they’re breathing." 5 She suggests instead comparisons with Bacon and De Koonings. It is this life in Saville's work that captivates me. She has taken a subject, the female form, that has been painted so many times, in so many periods, and communicates it afresh. Until I encountered her work I considered the nude as a subject to be overworked and indulgent- unrelated to my experiences or interests. She proved me wrong and I wonder at her work.
Abjection and the Traditional Female Nude Throughout this essay I will be comparing Saville’s work with the conventional female nude, of the european oil painting tradition up until the 1800s, and considering this with reference to Abjection theory in particular gaze, pose and pubic hair. I will go on to consider the concept of the idealized body - how this has changed over time and how Saville’s work challenges these assumed ideals.
What is Abject Art? An abject object is one that is prohibited, marginalized or excluded. It is also something that we simultaneously feel an an attraction or alliance to. These qualities underpin the power of the abject image to generate feelings of disconcertment, perturbing our perception of how things should be. 7 On a more complex level, it is a combination of aesthetic, psychological, philosophical and linguistic concepts. It was first presented by by George Bataille, a surrealist, and extended by Julis Kristeva in her extended essay Powers of Horror. “In practice the abject covers all the bodily functions, or aspects of the body, that are deemed impure or inappropriate for public display or discussion.” 8 While Saville evokes the classical and standardised forms of beauty within her work through the use of classical subject matter, her treatment of the female ‘nude’ challenges presumed societal norms. She presents the ominous and abject.
“I've become quite interested in the notion of monsters. How far do you have to go with a body that's supposed to be normal in order for it to become monstrous? ” Jenny Saville 9
Tr a n s c e n d i n g the Subject/ Object divide A fundamental precept of modern western philosophical thinking, it is considered that the world is made up of both objects (things, entities) which are presumed to exist, and subjects, who experience these objects. 10 In traditional nudes, a women’s body (object) is portrayed to a viewer or observer (subject). In Saville's nudes, this convention is challenged by the presence of herself as the object within the paintings whil e simultaneousl y being the subject- the creator and viewer. In this regard her work can be seen as essentially abject.
“ The subject, or self, is all that a person considers to be part of their personal identity. Under ordinary circumstances, there exists a clear delineation between this understanding of self, and everything else in the world, which we can call “objects.” The state in which this boundary between self and other, subject and object, is disturbed constitutes abjection” Kristeva 11 Blurring these boundries has the capacity to challenge the viewer at different levels in personal, aesthetic, social and political terms. This is because anything that transcends a state of order poses a threat. Anything that “resists classification or refuses to belong to one category or another emanates danger.” 12 In loss of the gendered prefix of the ‘nude’ , it could be seen that it’s object is assumed to be female and its viewer/ creator to be male. Therefore Saville offers an abjection to this presumed state purely by being a female viewer. Her work offers an Abjection by transcending the assumed boundaries between both object/ subject and male/female orders.
“one of the principle goals of the female nude has been the containment and regulation of the female sexual body.” Nead 13
Saville’s Palermo Studio
Propped (213.5 x 183cm) 1992
Memling’s ‘Vanity’ 1490 In her original installation of “Propped” Saville included a mirror opposite the painting. This further complicated the relationship between object/subject by incorporating the viewer into the piece. In Memling’s ‘Vanity’ a mirror is featured, seemingly to suggest that the viewer’s role has been removed from the him and been given to the object. She who is usually looked upon by him looks upon herself- but yet her body and form are still reserved for male satisfaction.
“You painted a naked woman because you enjoyed looking at her, you put a mirror in her hand and you called the p a i n t i n g Va n i t y, t h u s m o r a l l y co nde m n i n g th e wo m an w h o s e nakedness you had depicted for your own pleasure.” John Berger 14 Giovanni’s ’Naked Young Woman in Front of the Mirror’ 1515
A Change of Gaze The traditional nude’s gaze implies an ‘awareness’ of being seen by a male viewer. Her gaze is passive, reverent. Similar to the seductive gaze that which we see so often in modern advertising. 15 Saville’s nudes stare down at us from above, indifferent and powerful. In ‘Branded’ we are scrutinized with a loathing that is hard to place. In her thesis on Saville’s work, Castanda suggests, “The figure loathes herself because the viewer loathes her; society has conditioned us to survey that which is not congruent with what the male subject has traditionally regarded as beautiful.” 16 In nearly all her paintings Saville moves away from the traditional gaze and any possible sexualisation or passivity of her women. One notable exception is a development in her more recent work exploring gender transition. In *Passage (2004-2005) and *Matrix (1999) a more traditional gaze, one that directly engages with the viewer, is used. Perhaps to juxtaposition traditional posing with contemporary transgender figures or perhaps to engage the viewer in the implicit ambiguity.
From top left to bottom right: Ingres. Cesare. Rubens. Titan.
Venus Anadyomene Leda Three Graces Venus
Saville.
Passage Ruben’s Flap Closed Contact Plan
A Uniformity of Pose Conventional nudes are presented invariably, their smoothl y contoured bodies in a uniform of nakedness encompassed by their ‘pose’, often designed to present the female form to the viewer. In Bronzino’s ‘The allegory of Venus and cupid”, instead of presenting her body to cupid, in the way which one might in kissing a lover, Venus presents it still to the viewer, her true subject. Customary poses are lacking energy, limbs are limp and passive, and no activity is engaged in. There is no such uniformity in Saville's subjects. They distinctly occupy space, seeming very much alive. Grasping at themselves and pushing at the boundaries of their canvas. Each is expressed with a raw energy. They are brutally cropped and foreshortened, rarel y seen as whole. In my observations of Ken Clarke’s famous survey ‘The Nude’, the only examples of such cropping traditionally are in scenes of washing or bathing, where figures are cropped by water. In all other situations the body is seen as a whole subject. 17
Top row: Savilles Plan (1992) Shift (1997) Branded (1993) Bottom Row: Renoir. Baigneuse au griffon (1870) Titian. Venus and the Organ Player (1550) Titian. Sacred and Profane Love (1513)
A Shock of Sexuality Since Greek sculpture a pattern has emerged in traditional nudes by which women’s pubic hair is not depicted. The smooth vulva of a nude drawing the line between “Art and Beauty” and “Gross Sex”. 18 "Hair is associated with sexual power and passion. The women's sexual passion needs to minimized so that spectator may feel he has the monopoly over such passion" Berger 19 Even in today’s society, pubic hair is a taboo subject. In America, a ma jority of women between the ages of 18 and 27 remove all visible pubic hair. 20 It can be seen that Saville’s work, in which pubic hair is often a focal point, is Abject on this basis. Critics often comment on this in association with negative connotations, such as in Meagher’s discussion of the ‘aesthetics of disgust’, “At the center of the image is a mass of dark, scratchy pubic hair”. 21 Pubic hair is an ineffable facet of sexuality that we do not acknowledge fully within society and is seen as something abject and unpalatable that must be removed form our bodies and our Art.
Saville. Plan (1992) Shift (1997) Prop (1993) Memling. Vanity (1485) Rubens. Three Graces (1639) Cesare. Leda and the swan (1477) , Titan. Venus and the organ player (1576)
From Willendorf to Will Power The Changing Ideals of the Female Form We can gather knowledge about the idealized standards of beauty by looking at the art created in a certain period. 22 What is thought to be the earliest iconography of the human form, the ‘Venus of Willendorf’ is an image of idealized beauty. 23 Her’s is a figure of fertility- a bulbous belly, large labia and exaggerated breasts. This ideal, however, did not hold up once the prehistoric need for fat storage fell by the wayside. When we are considering a traditional nude, we are thinking of paintings created in Europe from the medieval period until the 1800s. The ideal body shape presented is often one which borrows elements from more than one woman’s body. This was thought by some figures, such a Durer, to present a humanist ideology. Berger however suggests that by doing so, we neglect the beauty and individualism of a discrete person. 24 It is unclear when the period of ‘modern art’ began and the nude was left behind, but Manet’s Olympia (1863) marked a definite change in tone for the nude. Gone was the demure passivity, replaced by fierce defiance and lack of desire. Others suggest that Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907) was the break through to be concerned with in terms of loosing a sense of femininity so central to european nudes previously. 25 But what does seem clear is that the traditional nude did not hold onto its influence on body ideals long after 1800. In what way has this changed since Rubens painted his voluptuous Venus's? The late 1800s saw a penchant for women to be "fashionably ill, pale, and thin."26 with tightly controlled hourglass figures maintained by corsets. Propaganda took hold in 1940s, introducing the neat waist and wide shouldered body type favored by Britains ‘land girls’ during the 1940s. Shortly afterwards, modern advertising kicked in, and the 1970s ‘aerobics’ figure emerged- athletic and toned. 27 What we see promoted by advertising today remains unattainable for most women - the hyperbolic curves of plastic surgery, or the emaciated look associated with high fashion.
Saville: ‘Fat’ and Abjection It was during time in the US that Saville developed an interest in painting larger women. She saw “Big white flesh in shorts and T-shirts. It was good to see because they had the physicality that I was interested in." 28 Her concept is not necessarily to celebrate the body, she is not a contemporary Reubens, and these are not, as some critics suggest, an attempt to create a “twentieth century venus of Willendorf”. 29 Saville paints these women because as a society, we find them hard to look at. She explains
"I don't make paintings for people to say we should look at big bodies again and say they are beautiful... it's more that they are difficult. Why do we find bodies like this difficult to look at?" Saville 30 Saville does not set out to draw ‘obese’ people in an objective sense. In fact, much of her work is based upon her own figure in an attempt to subjectify her work and our experience of it. Her work is an exposure of our ideals in that we see these figures as fat. Our thought processes are saturated by a body type that has only a very narrow bracket of ‘normal’ so that any change of perception, perspective or portrayal of the body calls for us to label it as abnormal.
" A large female body has a power, it occupies a physical space, yet there's an anxiety about it. It has to be hidden.the anxiety that comes from living with flesh". Saville 31 Within dominant western cultural norms fat its self is an abjection. In creating nudes perceived as corpulent and obese Saville is creating Abject art. Fat is seen as an addition to the core needs of the body, as an excess, surplus. It is “medicalized, pathologized, and transformed into (an) abject vision of the horror of flesh itself”. 32 Overweight people are excluded from fashion and are thought of as repugnant. Society admires instead signs of will power and obedience in a world of plenty- the emaciated prepubescent bodies of supermodels. Magazines, television, and omnipresent advertising will rarely, if ever represents fat bodies as “effective, as powerful, or as sexual”. 33 The corpulent body has become a symbol in society for Abjection, it is "something from which a person must escape, something that a person must cast off." 34
Conclusion Savill e's work enga ges our own prejudices and preconceptions about the female body to expose the narrow band of ‘normal’ that we accept. Exploring Saville’s work has presented me with the chance to engage in art and social theory that i would not have otherwise been exposed to. I have been greatly inspired by Saville. I feel that she is an incredibly strong young artists who has challenged a patriarchal art world from within, using the very tools they admire- strong technical skill and painterly vision. She remains grounded and versatile in the world of art celebrity and is truly passionate about her work.
Jenny Saville, Reproduction drawing I (after the Leonardo cartoon), 2009-2010
Studying Jenny Saville has given me, on reflection, a greater understanding of the aims and principles of my own work. In my first personal project I did large portraits of Big Issue vendors. Although I was pleased with the aesthetic of these works, there was something about them that did not sit comfortably. After studying Saville and the concept of Abjection, it has become apparent to me that the problem lay in a subject and object conflict. I really wanted to present these vendors as individuals. Despite this, I presented them as ‘objects’ for a subject to view, therefore failing to meet the challenge I set for myself. Saville has increased my awareness of the subtle importance of the relationship between artists and their subject matter. In my future projects I hope to embrace Saville’s honesty, energy and vigor to communicate to viewers with an aesthetic that does not compromise my concept. In my painting, Saville has inspired me to take more time over my work. Despite her painting’s effortless feel, they take her months to produce. They have hundreds of layers and are quite unrecognizable in their early stages. This has progressed my understanding of painting- it is not a simple drawing and ‘coloring in’ exercise, but a process.,
An example of my life drawing
My exploration of the traditional nude and abjection has opened my eyes to the rich history of painting the female form, and given me a deeper appreciation of the tradition of life drawing. Saville’s candid and raw portrayals of women are liberating to see. They have given me a new lease of life in terms of a passion for learning and determination to experiment and improve within my portrayals of the ‘nude’. My study has informed the development of my work encouraging me to attempt to capture not jus t an abs tract aes thetic, but to communicate information and experience. After all, it is clear that “These are not just bodies—they are our body politic.” 35
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When did modern art begin? The Gaurdian September 2008
Esther D. Rothblum. I'll Die for the Revolution but Don't Ask me Not to Diet:' Feminism and the Continuing Stigmatization of Obesity Los Angeles 1996 Nochlin, Linda.
Floating in Gender Nirvana, Art in America 88, no. 3 March 2000
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Word Count: 3,224 words not including references or photo titles.
References 1) Sylvester 1994 2) http://alexc-art.blogspot.com/2009/06/jenny-saville.html 2009 3) http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2005/oct/22/art.friezeartfair2005 4)ibid 5) Sylvester 1994 6)http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2005/oct/22/art.friezeartfair2005 p.5 7) http://www.tate.org.uk/collections/glossary/definition.jsp?entryId=7 8) ibid 9)Dunn 1997 p.24 10)Diogenes 2007 p.175 11) Zurek 2001 p.6 12) Nead 1992 p.6 13) ibid 14)Berger 1972 p. 51 15)Berger 1972 p. 64 16) Castaneda 2009 p.24 17) Clarke 1985 p. all 18) Hollander 1978 p.140 19) Berger 1972 p. 55 20) Weigle 2009 p.62 21) Meagher 2003 p.25 22) Castaneda 2009 p.30 23)ibid 24) Berger 1972 p. 62 25) Jones 2008 26) Esther 58 27) Costin 5 28)http://alexc-art.blogspot.com/2009/06/jenny-saville.html 29) Nochlin 2000 p.96 30) Castaneda 2009 p.33 31) ibid 32) Kent 1994 p.6 33) Kent 2001 p.132 34) ibid 35) Stevenes 1999 p.75