Sunday 6 September 2015

06.09.15 "Kiss Me Again"

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"Kiss me again,
You know I'm so in love with you,
That I don't know what to do" 


Being the art lover that I am, I won't feel at home, until all our art work and photography is up on the walls. Is it just me? That's the moment I know I'm home. For now, it is adorning the radiator. I love love love these photographs, extra special as my brother took them, and I feel like I have a part of him with me, as I don't get to see him as much as I like. Not only that, but they are visual reminders of home. I believe so much in his talent, and really wish he were fortunate enough to be able to make a living from it. I have had this Eiffel Tower canvas for the longest time, and I really love the composition and sepia/ monochrome colouring. Best Post Office purchase ever!

Gustav Klimt The Kiss, 1907-08.
Klimt's work has always been interesting to me, his visual aesthetic is beautiful. I have always especially loved The Tree of Life, 1905. Whilst at university, I had a poster of The Kiss above my bed, and now the above print framed. I have slept below this work for the past 5 years now, and it's become a significant work for me, even receiving two birthday cards of it for my 25th.
I am a self labelled hopeless romantic, and for those who know me particularly well, that label is no surprise. However, romance is not something I seek in art, which was evident when I was looking in my art books for images for this post.  
The Kiss is one of three famous versions alongside Rodin and Munch, with Klimt's work being described as 'less pessimistic and less misogynistic than Munch's [...] and less pretentious than Rodin's'. (1)   The lack of nudity for a depiction of love in a painting is a real selling point for me. Intimacy does not always equal nudity, and a kiss is one of the most amazing acts of being close to somebody. The gold leaf detailing automatically makes it more special for me, it creates depth, shows the richness love brings, and having used gold leaf myself, the difficulty of the medium. Can Klimt do no wrong? This work is considered as famous as the Mona Lisa, although grander in scale and underrated in appreciation.

Edvard Munch The Kiss, 1892.
This expressionist work by Munch is a clear depiction of a kiss, although the aesthetic tones and appearance of the work is not visually appealing to me. The way the couple hold each other, is strikingly similar to Klimt's work, although it doesn't capture my interest. "[...] a man and woman are locked in a tender and passionate embrace, their bodies into a single undulating form [...]". (2) 
I have read many opinions from other spectators about this work, and believe my feeling of being underwhelmed would not go over well. 

Auguste Rodin The Kiss, 1901-04
Rodin's sculpture is based on real life lovers Paolo Malatesta and Francesca da Rimini, who were murdered on the discovery of their affair by Giovanni Malatesta. (Francesca's husband and Paolo's brother). The book that Paolo holds in his hand in the sculpture, is a nod to Dante's Inferno, a book of poetry about the Nine Circles of Hell, with Lust being inspired by their affair and telling the story of how their passion developed. It is thought that "it's blend of eroticism and idealism makes it one of the great images of sexual love." (3)
Is it considered a more passionate kiss due to the forbidden and wrongful nature? The couple in Rodin's work do seem more intimate than the couple in Klimt's work, as the woman depicted in Klimt's kiss is less forthcoming. Rodin's inspiration is an image of privacy and hidden adultery, compared to the public display of love by Klimt, which seems more natural.

Rene Magritte The Lovers, 1928
Rene Magritte is the first artist that I fell in love with, and helped me realise there was more than the practical art we made in school. Magritte's work is not autobiographical with depictions of events directly from his personal life, but I do strongly feel that aspects of his subconscious creep in.  
The fabric in this work prevents the lovers from expressing their love completely, although not a kiss in the traditional sense, if the fabric was lost, that would be the act expressed. "a barrier of fabric prevents the intimate embrace between two lovers, transforming an act of passion into one of isolation and frustration." (4) 
Looking at this work has made people question the true depth of intimacy we reach in our chosen relationships. "Some have interpreted [...] as a depicition of the inability to fully unveil the true nature of even our most intimate companions." Do we really ever get to the core? We can only take what we are given, and work on what we know. 
When Magritte was fourteen, his mother took her own live jumping into a river. When she was recovered, her dress was covering her head and was witnessed by him. Although this experience as unconscious inspiration is something he strongly denies, the image of the lovers separation seems like a comment on the first loss of maternal love he ever encountered.  "My painting is visible images which conceal nothing [...] they evoke mystery and, indeed, when one sees one of my pictures, one asks oneself this simple question, 'what does it mean?' It does not mean anything, because mystery means nothing either, it is unknowable."

Alfred Eisenstaedt V-J Day in Times Square 1945.
Quite possibly the most famous depiction of a kiss in photography. Eisenstaedt's picture of a sailor and woman in New York, 14th August, 1945 was published alongside three other captured kisses as part of a two page editorial in Life Magazine. (5) 
Service personnel kissing became a celebration depiction favored by photographers, and was therefore encouraged. Eisenstaedt's picture was an exception, instead he captured a spontaneous moment of intimacy celebrating the end of war on Japan, earning a full page display within the magazine. Kissing has long become a natural way of expressing a moment of rejoice, and although a moment of intimacy, one deemed accepted for public display. 

Aside from my Klimt print, I watched Never been Kissed for the millionth time this week, which also gave me the idea for this post, so of course I gathered my favourite kiss scenes from films too. Why not throw another entertainment medium in here besides art!



Never Been Kissed 1999
(Ultimate.)





Titanic 1997
(Favourite film EVER. But I refuse to ever watch it.)





Romeo & Juliet 1996
(Love at First Sight, definite hopeless romantic in me.)





The Notebook 2004 
(Couldn't be more of a girl if I tried, but in the rain? erm yes!)





(1) Gustav Klimt. Jane Rogoyska and Patrick Bade. 2011. Parkstone Press, NY. Pg 141
 (2) http://www.britannica.com/biography/Edvard-Munch#ref205798
(3) http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/rodin-the-kiss-n06228
(4) http://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/rene-magritte-the-lovers-le-perreux-sur-marne-1928
 (5) http://time.com/3517476/v-j-day-1945-a-nation-lets-loose/


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