Female Artists and the Nude Male, Part 6:

      This is a continuation of the larger essay.  I plan to post two more parts.  Part 1 can be found here: sta.sh/01cn2i7dcles.

       Born in France in 1964 the artist Isabelle Bonzom has worked in various medians such as watercolor or crayons on paper and oil on canvass.  Some of her works in oil on canvas which show the male nude are “Twisted” (2001), “Spiraled” (2002) and “The Origin of the World” (2001).  This last picture seems to have been inspired by Gustave Courbet 1866 painting of the same name, except that in Isabelle Bonzon’s painting the figure is male.  
      More of the artist’s male nudes can be found here.  Also at that site is the following statement attributed to Isabelle Bonzon: "I'm attracted by the representation of the male body, by its structure, allure and complexion. Because it is the other who interests me, the complementary relationships." 

      Ilse Haider was born in 1965 in Salzburg, Austria.  Many of her works involve a transfer of a photographic image to another median or the printing of a photograph onto materials such as ceramics, wood or wicker.  Literally her biggest work is a multi-dimensional image (it appears to be a series of enlarged photographs) of a reclining male nude called “Mr. Big” (2006 - 2012).  The first version of “Mr. Big” was completed in 2006 and is 520 by 280 by 120 centimeters (approximately 17 feet by 9 feet by 4 feet).  In 2012 Ilse Haider installed a second, larger copy of Mr. Big, measuring 900 by 300 by 420 centimeters (approximately 30 feet by 10 feet by 14 feet), at the Leopold Museum, Vienna, Austria.  Photographs show the work being located outside of the museum along what appears to be an entrance.  This instillation was part of the "Nackte Männer" (Nude Men) exhibition.  
      Here is a link that goes to a photograph of “Mr. Big” in his location outside of the Museum, with people around to show the scale of the work.  Here the work is shown off to the side, while here is the artist in front of her “Mr. Big.” 
      In 1999 Ilse Haider exhibited a series of imagines of naked men called “Mannlicher Akt” (Male Nude) and in 2002 she photographed herself along with four male nudes.  This photograph is called “The Consoling Camera.”

      Mariam Schulman is a female artist who uses the medium of watercolor in many of her paintings.  She paints all types of subject matter from city scenes to landscape to figures to abstracts to flowers.  Included in her paintings of figures are quite a lot of nudes, both male and female.  Her nudes generally show her subjects in quiet moments.  Four of her male nudes are “Very Interested”, “Comfortable” (2008), “Brooding” (2008) and “Diminished-Opinion” (2009).  Approximately 200 other nudes by the artist, both male and female, can be found here and her website can be found here.  
      Mariam Schulman was born in Philadelphia, in 1968 and as of 2013 lives in Westchester County, New York State.  Some of her non-nude works include this portrait with butterflies, this landscape entitled “See the Forest Through the Music” and “Preening Peacock.”  Here is a photograph of the artist.  
      One thing I like about Mariam Schulman’s work is the softness of her subjects.  Also, her figurative images have a quality of thoughtful solitude about them and they seem comfortable in their nudity.  I like Mariam Schulman’s paintings in general.

       Ellen Altfest is a female artist who has produced extremely detailed paintings of the male nude, among paintings of other subjects.  She was born in New York City in 1970.  The following was taken from an interview with the artist shown on the internet publication “Phaidon Newletter.”
      Explaining her method of work, she said:
      “It’s a lengthy process.  I have an idea, then look for a model who physically fits the painting I have in mind.  After I find someone, I spend a week or so working out the composition through preparatory drawing until it feels right and is correct.”
      She also stated: “Each painting presents its own specific challenge.  There is a lot of measuring and colour mixing.  There are often mistakes along the way; it’s not a straight path.  I work until the painting becomes the thing in front of me, or feels complete in itself.  This usually takes between four and 15 months.”
      She further explained that “I wanted to make paintings of men for a long time before I did.  I felt there was both something I wanted to say about men and something I had to learn.  But I had to do it in my own way and that was something that evolved over time.  Over the years the work has become more focused, detailed and smaller.  This is in part because the paintings are one-to-one scale and the parts of the body are small.  I began using tiny brushes in order to paint hair and pores and through this the level of detail has become condensed.”
      She states that:  “I work entirely from observation and I always fear this moment (the moment when the model threatens to quit), which could result in the painting being left unfinished.  I also make most of my work with natural light so the weather plays a big role in whether I can work on a painting on a given day.”
      I found an “Art in America” web article by Austin Considine in which the following was noted:
      “When the New York Times interviewed Ellen Altfest in 2005, it was for a story about the popularity of nude modeling sessions among young New York artists. For several years, Altfest had been painting richly textured still lifes with trees, cacti and twisted hunks of driftwood. Now, she said, she was considering forays into portraiture. There was just one problem with the sessions, she joked: all these naked women were getting a bit boring. When would they get to paint men?”
      The men in the paintings by Ellen Altfest have a lot of body hair and she shows it.  She is quoted in the “Art in America” article as saying “I think I enjoy in a weird way painting all that hair," the quote goes on with "I didn't want the ambiguity of the feminine. I wanted it to be very male, and to me, body hair is very male. I've always enjoyed painting texture and something smooth has been less interesting."
      Many of Ellen Altfest’s paintings focus on parts of the male body as their names suggest and in these paintings listed below the artist only show the model’s bare skin.  While all of the following are images of paintings they are quite graphic and detailed and most are close ups of the body part named:  “Profile” (2011), “Armpit” (2011), “The Torso” (2011), “The Back” (2008 - 2009), “The Bent Leg” (2008), “The Sleeping Man” (2007), “The Butt” (2007), “Reclining Nude” (2006-2007) and “The Penis” (2006).

       Born in 1971 in Saint Louis, Missouri, the artist Patricia Watwood describes herself as “. . . a contemporary figurative artist working in the classical tradition of oil painting” (see here).  The artist’s figurative works include both male and female nudes.  The following are three of her male nudes:  “Francisco,” (Oil on Canvas, 1999), “Vincent,” (Oil on Linen, 42 x 22 inches, 1999) and “American Nude,” (Oil on canvas, 46 x 28 inches, 2009).
      Patricia Watwood uses mythological themes in many of her paintings.  Three such examples that contain the male nude are: “Psyche’s Doubt, (Oil on Canvas, 2004), “Ganymede, (Oil on Canvas with gold leaf, 48 x 84 inches, 2007) and “Bacchus,” (Oil and gold leaf on canvas, 38 x 36 inches, 2008).
      In 2013 the artist presented a series of female nudes called “Venus Apocalypse.”  She wrote the following regarding this series” “I am not so much interested in women as a subject as I am in women as a presence.  I’m not trying to create an object so much as a force.”  This link goes to the “Venus Apocalypse” Catalog.  One thing I found interesting about two of the paintings in that series – one entitled “Venus Apocalypse” and another entitled “Danae” is that the artist has indicated the female model’s genitalia.  From what I can tell this is rare in the history of the female nude.  
      In addition to her figurative works, Patricia Watwood has also done still-lifes.  Her website can be found here.

      This is the Twelfth in my series of essays dealing with female artists.  The other eleven are “Three Female Artists,” “Lotte Reiniger” which told about a pioneering female film animator, “Three Female Sculptors,” “Self-Portraits by Female Artists, Part 1 and Part 2” and “Dorothea Lange” which told about a female photographer of documentaries, as well as Female Artists and the Nude Male, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5.  I plan to do more and if you are interested you can “watch me.”  Also, as always comments are welcomed.
      Tom,