Thursday 27 October 2011

Life In the IKEA Catalogue

My absolute phobia, I'll dream I'm trapped in there tonight. "Hjalp mej, I'm trapped in this 'Phluem'. "


Page 23 (English subtitles) from Jeroen Houben on Vimeo.

The Three Graces.

The Three Graces have long been a popular subject with artists. Lola's Loves recently showed a cheeky version of the painting by Regnault, I like the sculpture by Canova, 1817, in the V&A,



However, I recently found this one, by Cranach.
Lucas Cranach the Elder painted these three girls in 1531.


I love it. Far from the sweet girls of Canova, we  here have three who look like young thugs. These are the kids who'll block your path and steal your lunch-money. There's no abundance of sweetness.  Hat-girl's the ringleader, the alpha female, knee-bent girl's her lieutenant, and the one with her back to us is the muscle.
These girls are sharks.

Here, as a bonus, is Cranach's Venus. By the time he painted these, he was one of, or possibly the richest man in Wittenberg. I'd imagine his models did very well out of the deal. In the pic, they're probably idly plotting how to separate him from his gold.