MPS N°8 - SOLITUDE AND ISOLATION

MPS MEN PORTRAITS SERIES n° 8 October 2020

SOLITUDE AND ISOLATION

menportraits.blogspot.com © Francis Rousseau 2011-2020

MEN PORTRAITS __________________________ SOLITUDE AND ISOLATION Diogenes is the example, the incarnate myth of self proclaimed social isolation. He was painted over and over again especially by romantic painters who could easily identify with his character, dark and lonely! The Greek philosopher, whose full name was Diogenes of Sinope (404-323 BC) is often depicted seated in his humble home in Athens' Metrono district as he lights his lantern in the middle of the day , before heading out, naked, brandishing it under the noses of the dumbfounded passers-by, insulting them with his famous sentence: "I'm looking for a man" which must be interpreted as: "Is there at least one man in this city who is good, wise and honest? " In this composition by french painter Jules-Bastien Lepage, the philosopher is represented alone with his lantern. Other painters, like Gérôme, have represented him with his dogs who according to legend were his only companions; they gave their name to the philosophical doctrine of Diogenes: cynicism (from the Greek kynikos, "like a dog").

This doctrine advocated, among other things, total sexual freedom, indifference to burial once the body is dead, equality between men and women, the denial of the sacred, the questioning of the city and its laws,the suppression of weapons and currency, self-sufficiency... We can see how modern Diogenes of Sinope was! Moreover, Diogenes considered love to be absurd: according to him, one should not become attached to anyone.

After his death, some Stoics, even though close to the cynical current, seem to have preferred to conceal and forget this heritage which was considered "embarrassing" and his work Politeia (The Republic) fell into almost total oblivion..

JULES-BASTIEN LEPAGE (1848-1884) Diogène, 1877 Musée Marmottan-Monet

ORTRAITS ____________________ LITUDE AND ISOLATION

In the status of monk there is a mystical loneliness represented both in the West and in the East ...…

PETER CHRISTUS (? – 1475//76 Portrait of a Carthusian Monk, 1446 The MET, New York

In the West, the figure of the solitary hermit monk is embodied by the Carthusian monk.

This portrait, which doesn't neglect the slightest detail of hair, beard or dress, innovated in its time in that it featured a trompe l'oeil frame that was an integral part of the work.

The monk thus found himself enclosed in his frame just as he was in the strict rule established in 1084 by Saint Bruno for this contemplative order.

Locked in his frame and locked in his monastery!

Yet this monk without tonsure and shaved around the mouth, was not an ordained monk but rather a lay brother perhaps during his long period of probation before total isolation.

The fly placed on the edge of the frame, a sign of decomposition in stilllives, has given rise to multiple interpretations.

In the East, the komusō were mendicant monks from the Fuke sect of Japanese Zen Buddhism, active during the Edo period (1600-1868).

The Komusō were distinguished by the tengai, a basket of reeds that they wore on their heads to show their lack of ego.

These monks were also known for their virtuosity playing the shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute). The pieces of music, honkyoku, which they performed in the streets, illustrated meditation (Suizen) which they practiced as a charitable gesture to achieving enlightenment, or to heal . After the Edo period, the Fuke sect was abolished; indeed the wearing of the basket guaranteeing the anonymity of the komusō tended to be diverted from its initial use to serving as camouflage for the samurai and ninjas.

The musical repertoire of the komusō survived the abolition of the sect, and it has been performed again in concert since the middle of the 20th century.

VASILY VERASHAGIN (1842-1904) Komuso Monk, 1904 The Russian State Museum, St. Petersbourg, Russie.

MEN PORTRAITS __________________________ SOLITUDE AND ISOLATION On the occasion of the Universal Exhibition of Paris of 1889, the French painter Rosa Bonheur invited Buffalo Bill, whose real name was William Frederick Cody (18461917) to come and stay in her vast domain of By in Seine-et -Marne. It must be said that the character, mythical symbol of the Conquest of the American West, had Heroic status! It was therefore a true living legend who arrived at Rosa Bonheur's with an unexpected gift: an entire Sioux outfit!

He had been assured that Mademoiselle Bonheur, a real tomboy who smoked cigars and wore pants, would highly appreciate this. And she liked it indeed, wearing her Sioux getup on numerous occasions, eliciting multiple comments ... which she loved.

It was during the visit in 1889 that Rosa Bonheur painted this portrait of the "great hero of the American West" whose nickname Buffalo Bill was due to two reasons.

The first, to his profession of selling bison meat to Kansas Pacific Railway employees after he himself had hunted the cattle, which was not particularly heroic!

The second was due to the fact that in a private duel with a certain Bill, he had managed to kill 69 bison in a single day against 48 for his opponent. Which wasn't particularly heroic either!

ROSA BONHEUR (1822-1899) Portrait of Col. William F. Cody aka Buffalo Bill, 1889 Buffalo Bill Historical Center

Still, when he arrived in France, Buffalo Bill was no longer a bison meat seller at all but the organizer of his own successful show, Buffalo Bill's Wild West in which all the great figures of the American West appeared, for example the great Indian chief Sitting Bull, performed at the foot of the Eiffel tower, attracting up to 3 million spectators... which had never been seen before! Rosa Bonheur portrays a double celebrity portrait here: that of the hero in a fringed leather jacket and Stetson riveted to his long hair, but also that of his white horse Isham, equally as famous. This portrait would allow the artist to be part of the delegation of French women presented and grouped together in the Women's Building during the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago.

The glory of Buffalo Bill would then shine onto the tomboyFrench painter ! But while Buffalo Bill's lonely fame never died out (he was the creator of the Yellowstone Natural Park), that of Rosa Bonheur, specializing in paintings of animals, quickly faded after her death, her painting being too far removed from modernism!

Some biographies associate her with the beginnings of feminism because of the emancipated life she led, which does not appear in this portrait of the King of the Machos either!

MEN PORTRAITS __________________________ SOLITUDE AND ISOLATION

HANS HOLBEIN LE JEUNE (149 -1543) An Unidentified Man c.1535Royal Collection Trust / Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

There is an isolation linked to anonymity just as there is a loneliness linked to fame.

This is precisely the case with this painting which questions the viewer not only with the timeless beauty of its model but with the fact that we do not know the identity of the young man painted by Holbein. From there, the imagination begins to soar. All speculations are possible and this is precisely one of the major interests in this type of portrait.

Who is he ?

The fact that the work is still in the British Royal Collection today may suggest that it was a gentleman of the court of Henry VIII, king for whom and for whose entourage, Hans Holbein the Younger painted many portraits. This portrait was not acquired by the Royal Collection, which means that it never left it. How then is it that we do not know (or no longer know) who he is? Specialising in portraits Hans Holbein the Younger became painter "valet de chambre" to Henry VIII in 1536, then very quickly, official painter to the English court. This portrait was therefore painted a year before this official post. It dates from the time when Henry VIII was married to Ann Boleyn, the second of his six wives, for whom he had just severed all ties with Rome and Spain. Could it be that this young stranger with such clear eyes and impeccable dress was part of the court of Ann Boleyn, a court that has remained famous for its exuberance, elegance, sophistication and taste for the fine arts? There are some probabilities…. Could it be that this young stranger with such a well-groomed beard was one of those poets or musicians that the queen loved so much .. too much even to the point of becoming pregnant with one of them, Marc de Smedt, and without any form of trial being sent directly to the scaffold! Could it be that this is the very the musician who knocked off a queen's head, a musician of whom no visual representation remains today? Guess! Because he could just as easily be a rich merchant...

This drawing has been said to be too finished not to be someone of some importance. And indeed, given the perfection in all areas (from drawing to colors and expressiveness) it's hard to believe that this young man was simply... nobody!

Only the model has the answer in his eternal solitude.

MEN PORTRAITS __________________________ SOLITUDE AND ISOLATION

JOHN SIMPSON (1782-1847) The Captive Slave, 1827 Art Institute of Chicago

Joseph, nicknamed the "Negro" (1793-1827) (renamed Joseph le Maure in 2019 by the Orsay Museum) was a very famous black model of the 19th century. Joseph left his native island of Santo Domingo in 1804, when Haiti gained independence. Arriving in Marseille, he went to Paris where he was recruited in 1808 as an acrobat in Madame Saqui's circus troupe. Great painters then noticed his athletic physique, which evokes both the “myth of the savage” and the hero of Antiquity. From 1818, Géricault, with whom he became friendly, launched his career as a model by giving his features to three characters from his famous Raft of the Médusa (see the 3 blue circles below). Géricault also painted many portraits of him. From 1832, Joseph was one of only three professional male models at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. As such, he received a salary of 45.89 francs and he didn't waste his time! He was present for all the sessions where the pupils were taught to render the various tones of black skin, previously painted in a uniform shade (except for Rubens).

On behalf of Ingres, Théodore Chassériau also painted several studies of Joseph. In 1838, Ingres in fact envisioned a Jesus casting out Satan where Joseph would lend his features to the demon. This work never saw the light of day, but Joseph's incandescent beauty and great charisma quickly made him a celebrity in Paris, where he decided to settle permanently.

In 1865, Adolphe Brune represented him for the last time, THEODORE GERICAULT (1791-1824) elderly, in a painting that bears his nickname Joseph the Negro. After this painting, Joseph didn't any In Portraitpose de Joseph c.1818-19 Getty Center order not to end up in an isolation that his difference would only accentuate, he agreed to help with small tasks for his great friend the Swiss painter Charles Gleyre, in his new Academy at 69 rue de Vaugirard where he was put in contact with the new generation of painters: Sisley, Monet, Bazille, Whistler and Renoir…

Such was the fate of the handsome Joseph.

THEODORE GERICAULT(1791-1824) Le Radeau de la Méduse Musée d’Orsay, Paris

MEN PORTRAITS __________________________ SOLITUDE AND ISOLATION

FELIX NUSSBAUM (1904-1944) Selbstportraẗ mit dem jüdischen Reisepass, 1940 MAHJ – Musée d'Art et d'Histoire du Judaïsme, Paris

Felix Nussbaum was a German Jewish painter usually attached to the New Objectivity school (Neue Sachlichkeit).

His work was inspired by the works of Giorgio de Chirico, Henri Rousseau and Van Gogh. Refugee in Belgium after the Nazis came to power, he was deported and murdered in Auschwitz. The precise date of his death is not known, but he was recorded at the Auschwitz camp infirmary on September 20, 1944, which suggests that he died between that day and that of the liberation of the camp, January 27, 1945.

Throughout his life, Félix Nussbaum represented himself in an impressive series of self-portraits, the most famous of which is this "Self-portrait with a Jewish Passport".

In all of his self-portraits, the pose is almost identical: three-quarter as in Albrecht Dürer's first self-portraits, he fixes a hard gaze on the viewer.

The gaze is central to this artist who lived from beginning to end the persecution of the Jews by the Nazi regime. We can interpret this look in several different ways. First, there is the gaze of one who calls to witness: always picturing himself apart in his group paintings, Felix Nussbaum is the one who incites the spectator to become aware of what is happening (has happened). He also places the viewer in an ambiguous position when he represents himself showing his passport, as if the spectator were the very author of his persecution, as if the spectator were a Nazi officer.

Behind the walls which isolate him: a landscape, an ordinary bourgeois building with windows lined with small curtains and then on the right of the composition, telegraph poles, a dead tree with cut branches, a solitary bird, a flowering almond tree, a large grey threatening gray cloud, maybe smoke ...

MEN PORTRAITS __________________________ SOLITUDE AND ISOLATION

It is well known that reading is a solitary pleasure!

The English painter Harold Knight in this painting by his colleague the painter Alfred Munnings seeks to express just that. Recognised as not being a supporter of Modernism, Alfred Munnings is best known for being one of the foremost British equestrian and war painters. Hired by the Canadian War Memorials Fund, he won several prestigious commissions after the Great War, which made him rich and famous.

In 1944, Munnings was ennobled to the rank of Chevalier, and the same year he was elected president of the Royal Academy of Art, a post which he held until 1949.

His presidency remained famous for his fierce opposition to all modernist artistic mouvements which he rejected as a whole.

It is therefore the portrait of this ultra-conservative artist,

HAROLD KNIGHT (1874-1961) Alfred Munnings reading alone outside on the grass (1911).

Private collection

showered with awards and honors (having refused none of them), specializing in paintings of cavalry charges painted with a vaguely impressionistic, but not too much, touch, that Harold Knight does here. He does not represent him with brushes in hand or in front of an easel retouching one of his tormented battles ... no he represents him out of context, we may say, obviously reading aloud in the open air in the direction of a invisible listener (the suspended left hand attests)!

One cannot imagine more a splendid isolation… one can hardly imagine a more factitious one either!

The amusing part of the story is that Harold Knight was before being elected painter to the Royal Academy in 1937 - a conscientious objector during the First World War - in other words, at the same time as Munnings was

performing so brilliantly on the battlefields! But at the time when this painting was created (1911), we are far from the battlefields !!! Good society still lived on in the carefree life of the late 19th century, and artists were more often concerned with detailing from every angle the sweetness of life of this era.

No one could imagine then that the assassination of an Archduke of the House of Habsburg deep in Serbia, would open the world stage to one of the greatest butcheries in history, literally dismember four of the most powerful empires on the planet and definitively turn the old world of "ladies warfare" into that of the horror of excessive chemical warfare.

Yes, we are definitely far from all of that in this painting, isolated in a rural tranquility that nothing seems to disturb….

In short, isolated from reality.

MEN PORTRAITS __________________________ SOLITUDE AND ISOLATION Collective isolation!

It’s paradoxical but it’s a reality: solitude within a group does truly exist!

This painting is a good illustration.

The men here appear to be together, but there is a strange sense of individuality.

How is this atmosphere created?

Although everyone is working towards the same goal - "On the Look Out" which is the title - each of them follow their own path from their own corner.

Everyone is on the lookout for something important that should appear in or on the sea... no doubt the return of a ship on the horizon.

The second time one approaches the canvas, it's the wave that seems to be leading the way.

The specificity of a "lookout" being to suspend a moment, a moment of extreme waiting that feeds on itself, everyone experiences it in their own way. Only one chooses to express it in a different way, thus illustrating by this external isolation, a flagrant internal isolation, a loneliness lived in the midst of a group.

EILIF PETERSEN (1852-1928) On the look out (A l’Affût), 1889 Bergen Kunstmuseum, Norvège

MEN PORTRAITS __________________________ SOLITUDE AND ISOLATION In the days of the USSR, sport was often viewed as an instrument of diplomacy.

It contributed to the praise of the good health of the country and the performance of its inhabitants…

The country had set up a popular physical culture (the fizcultura) in total opposition to the bourgeois practice of sport. With this new practice intended for the masses, the state wanted to shape the "new Soviet man": a strong man, with a healthy lifestyle, conveying a sense of the collective and a love of the Fatherland. The state began to create, under the leadership of the Ministry of Health, sports organizations capable of combining diet and sport. There followed therapeutic gymnastic programs specific to the workplace: to stimulate productivity, reduce absenteeism and spread good habits of hygiene...

OLEG LOMAKIN (1924-2011) Athlete Russian State Museum

Homo Sovieticus had to be balanced, productive and above all disciplined ...

From the 1920s, a change of program. The state now saw two avenues to exploit in sport: competition and the dramatization of the feat.

The athlete (already considered a future champion) very quickly became the new "normative hero" of the Soviet country and culture. Quite the image of the athlete opposite, all the more anonymous as he may never have existed! The idea was to produce champions in all possible sports. The state then launched a program of technical innovations, the most innovative aspect of which was the generalization of sports medical assistance.

The USSR therefore became a country very much at the forefront of scientific publications on medical moni-toring of sports performance.

From 1931, the regime also began to instrumentalize sports parades; they now become annual. In the processions, “fizcultura - ura ura” is sung in chorus over a whole series of choreographies.

From then on, the regime thought it had succeeded in demonstrating the superiority of its model and believed it could assert Soviet supremacy in the whole world and, finally, internationalize communist values.

Sport became a sublimation of war, a metaphor for the confrontation between the Western bloc and the Eastern bloc. The sports slogans of the time leave no doubt about the intentions: “Goalkeeper, prepare for battle.

You are a sentinel in front of your goal. Imagine that it is the border of the state ".

But on the contrary, this policy contributed to a greater isolation inside and outside the country.

MEN PORTRAITS __________________________ SOLITUDE AND ISOLATION

The myth of the lone sailor has been treated very often in the fine arts, including by the Soviet Realist movement.

In this painting, Henry Scott Tuke, describes a very particular and critical moment in life aboard for the sailor who sails alone: that of sleep.

But how and when to sleep at sea without letting the boat drift? That’s the whole point!

Usually sleep is split into several naps of 20 to 40 minutes, producing a type of sleep known to scientists as polyphasic sleep.

The advice to sailors who sail alone is generally to multiply these micro naps by 3 to 6 per 24 hours. The whole problem is to allow recovery both physically and psychically in such short times compared to the cycles of "normal sleep" on Earth.

HENRY SCOTT TUKE (1858 - 1929) Sleeping Sailor (1905) Private collection

Physical regeneration does not take place before 40 minutes on Earth and the "psychic regeneration" not before the 90 minutes which are necessary to attain deep sleep. The solitary sailor will therefore have to be cunning in order not to take risks. Polyphasic sleep with its range of 3 to 6 rest phases is the most suitable, provided that the minimum number of 3 nap phases per 24 hours is respected. Otherwise an accident is quaranteed. In fact, the dangers inherent in lack of sleep at sea become fatal risks when you are alone. The first risk is to be plunged into what is called "the inertia of sleep": the sailor literally finds himself caught up in sleep which makes him let go. The sailor then risks falling asleep for a normal cycle of 5 to 6 hours during which the boat is left to itself.

It is to avoid this fatal pitfall that the sailor in the painting opposite sleeps balanced on his mast, one leg dangling in the air, ready to fall and be immediately awakened if he slips into too deep a sleep.

The second danger is psychic.

These are the hypnagogic hallucinations that result from lack of REM sleep.

Sailors can have very disturbing visions ranging from the sight of a loved one on the boat, to that of other surrounding boats that do not exist or, like Ulysses, to that of mermaids and other improbable creatures appearing from the seabed.

These visions can literally make a sailor lose his mind. All the more so when it comes to a solo race where no one is there to take care of him.

MEN PORTRAITS __________________________ SOLITUDE AND ISOLATION

GUSTAVE CAILLEBOTTE (1848-1894) Homme au bain (1866) Museum of Fine Arts Boston

The loneliness of the intimate or personal is the one best understood and best accepted in Western societies. No doubt because everyone has experienced it, repeated as it is at many different moments.

The man in the bath by Gustave Caillebotte very elegantly expresses this need for isolation. The pants neatly folded over the chair and the boots neatly arranged as well as the meticulousness with which the painter describes the five wet footprints coming out of the tub and the way the figure wipes his back, rubbing it vigorously with his towel, express all that was most accomplished in this solitary ritual of "hygienic bathing" during the 19th century.

In Bernard Buffet's painting "Homme au cabinet", the expression is more direct, both in the title and in the composition, with a clear desire to "shock". The figure, trousers and underpants down to the ankles, appears naked facing the painter rather than a view from the back or in profile directed towards the toilet bowl with the seat down, which seriously lacks consideration for the person after him. The term "cabinet" used by Buffet fell more or less into disuse at the end of the 20th century and today rather designates a piece of furniture or an administrative structure attached to a lawyer, a notary, a doctor or a minister, rather than "bathroom or «toilets» !

BERNARD BUFFET Homme au cabinet (1947) Fond de Dotation Bernard Buffet Galerie Maurice Garnier, Paris.

MEN PORTRAITS __________________________ SOLITUDE AND ISOLATION The loneliness experienced while performing daily routines and rituals can be both a source of serenity and anxiety.

The regularity of returning to conscious reality after a night's sleep, every day at the same time (and possibly in the same place), the accomplishment of the same gestures for getting up, washing, dressing, layer after layer, brushing one's hair, putting on shoes… does not necessarily go without saying.

To the child, these routine actions often appear unbearable and are most of the time refused outright or experienced in a bad mood. It is only after a long education, repeated with obstinacy, followed with meticulousness, that the teenager and then the young adult adopt them as an immutable ritual until the end of their days ... at the best of times!

Because many never comply with these rituals, some skip steps, others can only perform the ritual if they are accompanied by their spouse or professionals (butlers, maids, nurses, etc.).

When the need to perform these rituals of autonomy no longer appears to a human being, he is considered to be entering a state of a melancholy, or even a deep depression.

Widowhood or divorce can accentuate this internal instability. This is why complying with these rituals at one and the same time like an automaton and also reflecting on each gesture performed, as recommended by a certain Zen philosophy, can be lifesaving.

MAXIMILIEN LUCE Matin, intérieur, 1890 The MET, New York

MEN PORTRAITS __________________________ SOLITUDE AND ISOLATION

Who is more lonely than an artist... especially when it comes to painting their own portrait?

What is the most difficult moment? The one where he begins the portrait, the one where he sees himself taking shape, or the one where he has to put on the finishing touches and finish it?

Only the artist can know! But the anxiety of this questioning (often unconscious though felt by many) ends up appearing in the end result.

This is what may have prompted some painters to do their self-portrait several times... sometimes compulsively like Dürer who produced a phenomenal quantity between the beginning of his career and the end.

How many times has a spectator looking at a self-portrait of his favorite painter said to himself: "He looks so anxious?" Maybe it is just the anguish of representing himself which prevailed? A legitimate anxiety knowing that we never perceive ourselves as we are.

This familiar reflection of himself that the painter sees in the mirror and which he will have to render as if it were that of a complete stranger, reveals itself full of surprises. Between the self-ideal that we often prefer to perceive and the reality of oneself that we often prefer to ignore, the balance is not easy to achieve.

The self-portrait touches on the question of identity.

PEDER SEVERIN KROYER (1851-1909) Self portrait, 1897 Collection Hirschsprung, Copenhague

The identity of oneself in relation to others and especially the identity of oneself in relation to oneself.

The question of "Who am I?" And even more the question of "Who am I now at this point in my life?" can quickly take on a dramatic an unexpected turn when tackling such a work.

A self-portrait is always a search for oneself, a quest in which one can easily get lost; one can take for example the self-portrait of Courbet painted as “demented”, his eyes bulging, both hands tearing his hair, no longer even thinking of representing his own hand which is painting, lost body and soul (literally!) in desperate search for his "me"!

It is perhaps for all these reasons that in all selfportraits, from Dürer, Rembrandt or Van Gogh, Botticelli to Raphael and Picasso this omnipresent doubt shows through so clearly, in the form of a direct and simple question: "Is that me?"!

Even in the painting opposite, by Peder Severin Kroyer, painter of the Danish bourgeoisie so respectful of the conventions of his time, doubt appears.

It’s the same loneliness, the same search for one's own existence that shines through today in the millions (not to say billions) of “selfies” posted on social media.

MEN PORTRAITS __________________________ SOLITUDE AND ISOLATION

In his "Prince" (1532), a true précis for ambitious people of all stripes who want to rub shoulders with the powerful, Machiavelli clearly warns the reader: "At the top there is no room for two. At the top one is alone ”.

This phrase attributed by Machiavelli to Cesare Borgia (1575-1507) son of Pope Alexander VI, could perfectly well have been uttered by Sigismund Malatesta (1417-1468), one of the other models which were used for the writing of the Prince. The loneliness linked to the exercise of power is expressed quite spectacularly in this splendid profile portrait of Sigismond Malatesta, famous prince and condottiere of the Renaissance, painted by Piero della Francesca, one of the artists along with Agostino du Duccio and Leone Battista Alberti who enjoyed the unfailing protection of the prince!

The rose on his coat of arms (symbolizing the love of letters and the fine arts) and the elephant (symbolizing ferocity) speak volumes about the person.

Sigismond Malatesta, illustrious descendant - albeit illegitimate - of the Malatesta family, lords of Rimini from 1295 to 1500, was certainly a prince but above all a mercenary (condottierre) in the service of the Venetian popes Eugene IV and Nicolas V (among others) fighting either Roman pontifical authority and the Ottomans or his close cousins, or the parents of his wives or even his own brother.

PIERO DELLA FRANCESCA (1412-1492) Ritratto de Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta Musé́e du Louvre, Paris

Given the degree of cynicism, it is nothing to attest that one finds oneself absolutely alone... even if one is constantly surrounded by a crowd of courtiers.

Sigismond has remained famous for his military genius perfectly suited to the advent of artillery, his almost permanent betrayals, his love of the fine arts (he was a great patron of the art of medals inherited from Antiquity and reactivated by Pisanello, his interest in Neoplatonic philosophy (Cyriaque d'Ancône was a regular at the Court of Rimini) and… for his dissolute mores, one of the areas where his great psychological loneliness was undoubtedly expressed the most sinister way! Excommunicated by the Roman Pope Pius II who considered him the incarnation of Satan, historians indeed recognize today that he indulged in "rape, adultery and incest". His sexual abuse even reached his own children, which he did not hesitate to avow! Often described as an "enemy of peace and wellbeing", Sigismond was fully aware of his sins and constantly boasted of them, as if to exorcise them, notably in his erotic Sonnets dedicated to one of his wives, Isotta. Recent research shows that he acted according to his ideals - those of the Renaissance being more complex than our simplistic view of Humanism - by remaining popular with his subjects, without ever being ousted from his principality of Rimini by the popes in Rome.

MEN PORTRAITS __________________________ SOLITUDE AND ISOLATION Trailblazers have a reputation for often being misunderstood loners, but in the case of Alan Turing, who became a true hero in the 21st century, the isolation was brought about on purpose by his "employers." A mathematician and father of modern computing, he had the misfortune to begin his career by enlisting in the British army in the service of ciphers during World War II. There, he was very quickly noticed (probably too much so) because he was the only one capable of deciphering the “top secret” messages of the Nazi machine Enigma, a considerable work which would not be revealed before 1970. Immediately after the war , he invented the very first computer and advanced work in the field of Artificial Intelligence ,the Turing tests, to such an extent that he is now considered the founder of modern computing. Yet this genius who, if he lived today, would be a billionaire and would have had the fate of the greatest of Silicon Valley, spent his life as a recluse, truly sequestered in isolation by the British army, who above all did not want his homosexuality to be known. Victim of a cabal and sued in 1952 for the same reason (homosexuality was then considered a crime in the United Kingdom), he chose, to avoid prison, to add an even more terrible isolation to his existing solitude, that of chemical castration by the intake of estrogen. Forced to undergo heavy medical treatment with hormone therapy throughout his life to cure this "evil that is homosexuality", he ended up committing suicide on June 8, 1954 by biting into an apple soaked in cyanide... an act which has been falsely born as the legend of the bitten apple which serves today as a logo for the Apple firm.

It was not until 2013 (yes 2013 !!!) that is, 60 years after his death, that Queen Elizabeth II “pardoned” him and recognized him as a posthumous war hero, elevating him to the rank of Officer. of the British Empire and a member of the Royal Society..

ALAN MATHISON TURING (1912-1952) Hero

MEN PORTRAITS __________________________ SOLITUDE AND ISOLATION

PHILIP DE LÁSZLÓ (1869 -1937).

Francis Wright Fabyan Jr. painted in 1931 Massachusetts Institute of Teechnology Museum, Boston

The fate of Philip de László is no less extraordinary than that of many of his models. Eldest son of a modest Jewish tailor from Budapest named Laub (changed to a more Hungarian sounding "László") Philip would become the most prominent social portrait painter of the early 20th century; he painted 2,700 portraits, from King Edward VII to Theodore Roosevelt, Franz Joseph I of Austria and his wife Empress Elizabeth (Sissi), Pope Leo XIII, Maharanee Indira Devi of Baroda, not to mention Marcel Proust, Armand de Grammont, Countess Greffulhe (who was the most elegant woman in Paris of her era) the Marquise de Noailles, the baroness Marguerite de Rothschild, etc ...

All the rich and famous of the first half of the 20th century, wherever they lived, had to have their portrait done by László who always managed to be available. When he really couldn't find the time, he used the very diplomatic excuse of being ill. In 1900, he married the wealthy heiress Lucy Madeline Guinness and in the process he was knighted by the Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary Franz Joseph I, which led to him being suspected of treason during the First World War. His paradoxical reputation as a painter of both elegance and truth never failed him until his last breath. Of these portraits, he said: "Everyone has the face which he turns towards the world, but behind this mask hides a jealously guarded inner ego which guards hopes and terrors, aspirations and limits, and which constitutes the atmosphere of his personality ”.

By having his portrait painted by Lázsló, Francis Wright Fabyan (1871-1936), a member of the Algonquin Club and a major figure in the Boston business community, entered, by the simple fact of this painting, the very closed circle of the great of this world! If Lázsló had agreed to paint him, his entry into a large international company was confirmed!

Born the youngest in a family of five children, to an industrialist father who was in his time the king of American textiles, at the head of the powerful Bliss, Fabayna & Co, Francis Wright Fabyan inherited neither the family business nor the family home, the famous Villa Fabyan, built by Franck Lloyd Wright in Geneva (Illinois). Never mind, rich enough to do what he wanted, he was one of the first well recognised administrators (and patrons) of MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) in Boston. As well as this he was a man known for both his great elegance and great beauty which is what Lázsló manages to render to perfection in this magnificent portrait that looks unfinished.

MEN PORTRAITS __________________________ SOLITUDE AND ISOLATION

ANTONIO MANCINI (1852-1930) Selfportrait with a Basket (circa 1883)

Mancini was not crazy even though his "Self-Portrait with a Basket on the Head" presents him as someone for whom everything is not completely right! Perhaps this is because all his life right until the end, he shunned fame as soon as it cast its shadow (which it did several times) prefering the sweetness of a carefree life… which he couldn't possibly afford! This is exactly the behavior defined by the expression "having your head in the basket".(avoir la tete dans le panier) For Antonio Mancini, it all began at an early age when his precocity and his remarkable artistic ability had him admitted at the age of 12 to the Academy of Fine Arts in Naples. There, under the direction of his masters (Domenico Morelli, Stanislao Lista and Filippo Palizzi) his art evolved rapidly. In 1872, aged only 20, he already exhibited two paintings at the Paris Salon. This illustrates clearly the talent of the young man! He decided to devote himself to portraiture and paintings of anecdotal genre. His style of painting therefore was closer to the "verist" current. His creations depict the poor, children, young girls, young circus artists, musicians he observes in the streets of Naples... so many subjects that have their place more often in the tabloids than on the walls of a living room, even if this current began to spread throughout Europe thanks to the various social movements and revolutions of the time.

Mancini remained in Naples until 1873, then moved to Paris where he worked for Adolphe Goupil (a prominent member of a dynasty of well-known Parisian art dealers and publishers, active from 1827 to 1920). Still in Paris, he also worked with Hendrik Willem Mesdag, who would donate many of Mancini's works to the Dutch State, as part of the Mesdag Collection (The Hague). During his successful stay in Paris, Mancini met the impressionists Edgar Degas and Édouard Manet, the latter not hiding his admiration for him. He also became a friend of John Singer Sargent who considered him "the best living painter". Coming from Singer Sargent that was no small compliment! These compliments for a painter of his age from such eminent artists would attract jealousy more than kindness. When he suddenly returned to Naples to be hospitalized for 4 years in a nursing home for a strange and serious nervous illness, he would be able to count his real friends on the fingers... of one hand! Destitute, he needed the help of his friends and art lovers to survive. Few would react. Only the most mundane and reputed to be the most superficial (like Singer Sargent) were present and allowed him, by their discreet attention, to continue! Not by giving him alms, but by selling his works left here and there, anywhere and everywhere, in the corridors of art galleries, friendly workshops, or in the sheds of certain dealers. So when Mancini came out of his Neapolitan nursing home and resumed his work by going back to Paris and especially to London, he realized that he had become a famous artist !

In London, thanks to the action of Singer Sargent, he was greeted as a real celebrity. It scared him so much that he left London! The pretext was that he missed the sun and the verve of his Naples too much. He returned there in 1879! Then on a whim (more than ever in the basket!) he moved to Rome. There, he obtained a contract with two patrons, Baron Otto Eugen Messinger and Fernand du Chêne de Vèr, the latter accommodating him in his own residence at Villa Jacobini (Casal Romito) in Frascati for nearly... eleven years, until 1918.

After the First World War, his situation stabilized and he once again reached the level of serenity necessary to paint. In 1929, he was one of the first members, appointed by decree, of the Reale Accademia d'Italia, founded three years earlier by Mussolini. Antonio Mancini died in Rome in 1930 and is buried near the right nave of the Basilica of Saints Boniface and Alexis on the Aventine.

MEN PORTRAITS __________________________ SOLITUDE AND ISOLATION

GUIDO RENI Polyphemus 1628c.

Musei Capitolini, Rome.

Polyphemus, the Solitary Cyclops, appears in Song IX of Homer's Odyssey when Ulysses and his companions come ashore in "the land of the Cyclops". Trusting in the immortal gods (who are incidentally their parents), these Cyclops do not practice agriculture and do not sail. Living on what nature provides them, they are shepherds, cheese eaters and great consumers of meat… even and including that of their fellow human beings, which suddenly makes them less likeable! On his return from the pastures and breaking all the rules of hospitality due to foreigners, the Cyclops Polyphemus locks his guests (Ulysses and his companions) in the cave where he lives, rolling a large stone in front of the entrance. That same evening, by way of dinner, he decides to devour two of Ulysses' companions... then the next morning, by way of breakfast, two more!

For Ulysses this is too much! He decides to intoxicate Polyphemus in an attempt to prevent him from causing more harm and offers him a barrel of a particularly powerful wine.

When Polyphemus asks Ulysses his name, to thank him for his gift (before devouring him no doubt) Ulysses answers: "My name is Nobody". Once the giant is drunk and asleep, Odysseus and his men use a stake to poke out the only operational eye that every Cyclops has in the middle of his forehead..

When the other Cyclops run up asking him who made him blind, Polyphemus can only answer: "Nobody"! Armed with this incomprehensible response, the Cyclops who, despite being the sons of Poseidon, did not invent gun powder - abandon their brother to his sad isolation. We know the rest: Ulysses took advantage of the giant's blindness to cling with his men to the belly of his sheep, thus getting out of the cave and joining their boat. But in a final mockery, Ulysses saw fit to reveal to Polyphemus his true identity: "I am Ulysses, the son of Laërte, the king of Ithaca" thus triggering - a little foolishly - the eternal fierceness of Poseidon, the god of the sea… and father of Polyphemus!

1892 - The MET Museum, New York

MEN PORTRAITS __________________________ SOLITUDE AND ISOLATION This painting which represents a generational isolation with the artist's father (the goldsmith Pierre Gérôme) sitting on his bench at a distance from the artist's son (the shy child on the threshold of the door) is infact an image of the painter's life.

Social distancing before its time!

Undoubtedly the most famous and most honored artist of his time (he had his bust in the courtyard of the Institut de France during his lifetime), Jean-Léon Gérôme, ended up in total solitude, mainly due to his incapability to understand the future.

Unanimously recognized for his multiple orientalist, historical, religious and above all mythological scenes, he was one of the main representatives of academic painting of the Second Empire.

From 1878, he also produced sculptures, in polychromy similar to medieval sculptures, often with genre scenes, figures and/ or allegories as their subject.

Promoted Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor, member of the Academy of Fine Arts, Gérôme was distinguished at all the universal exhibitions in which he participated to the point of becoming an official painter not only of the Second Empire but also of the entire late 19th century.

JEAN-LÉON GÉROME (1824 – 1904) Le père de l’artiste et son fils sur le seuil de sa maison de campagne , 1866-1867 Musée des beaux-arts de Rouen

Covered with honors very early on, he was also a professor at the School of Fine Arts for nearly 40 years, during which time he taught drawing. Jean-Léon Gérôme alone trained more than 2,000 students.

After having experienced during his lifetime unprecedented success and a notoriety of which we are unaware today, his violent hostility vis-à-vis the nascent avant-garde and mainly the Impressionist movement, which he considered as "the dishonor of French art“, threw him into almost total oblivion.

His work was rediscovered in the 20th century and experienced an unexpected renown by becoming a constant source of inspiration and documentation for cinema, especially the Hollywood and Italian Peplum genre. Given the documentary attraction of his work it comes as no surprise that his paintings were collected mainly in the United States, reaching a kind of climax in the early 1930s.

Post mortem, the pompous orientalist realism of Hollywood and its mythical productions would have consoled Gérôme for his "disappointment" with the emerging modernist movements which nevertheless led to the advent of cinematography ...

1892 - The MET Museum, New York

MEN PORTRAITS __________________________ SOLITUDE AND ISOLATION

FRANK ALBERT RINEHART (1861-1928) Portrait of the Indian Chief Vapore of the Maricopa Tribe, 1899 Boston Library, USA

Chief Vapore of the Maricopa tribe wears on his face, as tribal markings, tattoos of tears of blood, etched into his skin and running down his cheeks. He wanted to express by this sign the suffering that his Maricapoa tribe, very old and long established in its territory, had to undergo from the middle of the 19th century. Suffering of all kinds: deadly epidemics, famines, wars, isolation... all summed up better by these two features on his face than by a long narrative.

Originally, the Maricopa lived in small groups on the banks of the Colorado River. In the 16th century, they migrated to the Gila River to avoid attacks from the Quechans and Mojave peoples.

In the 1840s, epidemics decimated part of the population and they regrouped in confederation with the Pimas. In 1857 at the Battle of Pima Butte, they succeeded in defeating the Quechans and the Mojaves. In 1870 they became farmers and produced up to three million pounds of wheat. The drought and the diversion of water by the settlers subsequently caused such poor harvests that they had to abandon this peaceful activity.

At the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, the Office of Indian Affairs of the United States tried to assimilate them into American society, aided in this by Presbyterian missionaries.

In 1914, the federal government broke up the tribal farms into individual plots.

In 1926, the creation of the Pima Advisory Council enabled them to speak on behalf of the Pima and Maricopa communities.

In 1936, Pimas and Maricopas agreed on a constitution to restore self-governance. although the loss of the Gila River caused great suffering.

Skillful basket makers and weavers, they are best known for their traditional pottery which experienced renewed interest in the years 1937 to 1940. Their traditional symbol, the swastika, was abandoned in the 1940s due to its usurpation by the Nazis in Europe.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Maricopa tribe was isolated in two reserves formed by that of the Pima-Maricopa Indian Community of Salt River and that of the Indian Community of the Gila River. Their common language is Maricopa, a language of the Yuman language family and is related to the Yuman people elsewhere.

In 1990, the two tribes combined numbered 800 people.

MPS MEN PORTRAITS SERIES n° 8 © Francis Rousseau 2020 Translation © Ann Menuhin All rights reserved

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