World off art 8th edtion by henry m sayre chapter 23

WORLD OF ART
EIGHTH EDITION

CHAPTER

23

Love and Sex

World of Art, Eighth Edition
Henry M. Sayre

Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010
by Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliates.
All rights reserved.


Learning Objectives
1. Describe how the tension between
physical and spiritual love manifests
itself in different cultures.
2. Explain some of the different ways in
which desire has been imaged.
3. Discuss the kiss as an image of desire.


Introduction
• Sculptor Auguste Rodin had been
haunted by Dante's Divine Comedy,
and by the Inferno in particular.
• In The Kiss (Le Baiser), Rodin

transforms the couple into every man
and every woman—love personified.
• There is no more enduring theme in art
than the coupling of love and sex.


Auguste Rodin, The Kiss (Le Baiser).
1888–89. Marble, 5' 11-1/2" × 44-1/4" × 46". Musée Rodin, Paris.
Inv. S.1002. © Vanni Archive/Art Resource, New York. [Fig. 23-1]


Physical and Spiritual Love
• The Greek philosopher Plato argued
that sex should be permitted only for
purposes of procreation.
• Various forms of this attitude have
survived in Western culture today.
• In other cultures, sex and physical
passion are something to be
celebrated.


Sexuality in the Hindu World
1 of 2

• One of the most important figures in
the Hindu pantheon of gods is Shiva,
the destroyer.
• One of the most popular
representations of him shows him

seated with his wife, Uma.


Shiva Seated with Uma (Uma-Maheshvara).
11th century. Copper alloy, height 11-1/8". Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Samuel Eilenberg Collection, Ex Coll.: Columbia University, Purchase, Rogers Fund,
1987.218.1. © 2015. Image copyright Metropolitan Museum of Art/Art Resource/Scala,


Sexuality in the Hindu World
2 of 2

• A wall of even more erotic sculptures
rises alongside the garbhagriha at
Kandariya Mahadeva Temple in
Khajuraho.
• These sculptures probably represent
the idea of kama—meaning "desire" or
"longing."
• Sex, in this tradition, is a process of
enjoyment.


Erotic couples on wall of Kandariya Mahadeva Temple, Khajuraho, India.
ca. 1000 CE. Height of sculptures approx. 39".
© Fotofeeling/Westend61/Corbis. [Fig. 23-3]


Eros and the Idea of Love in Ancient Greece
1 of 3

• For the ancient Greeks, the idea of eros
embodies the same conjoining of
physical and spiritual love that the
Hindus represented with Shiva and
Uma.
• They believe love is ennobling; the
loved one becomes virtuous by being
loved.


Eros and the Idea of Love in Ancient Greece
2 of 3

• They also distinguished between
Common Love (simply physical) and
Heavenly Love, which is physical but is
also only in those who are capable of
rational and ethical development.


Eros and the Idea of Love in Ancient Greece
3 of 3

• The Greeks understood that love and
sex were intertwined in complex ways
and that the two were in some sense
compatriots.
 This can be seen in the sculpture of
Dionysus and Eros.

Dionysus and Eros, Roman copy of a statue attributed to Praxiteles
2nd century CE. Marble. National Archaeological Museum, Naples.
© 2015. Photo Scala, Florence, courtesy the Ministero Beni e Att. Culturali. [Fig. 23-4]


A Persian Tale
1 of 2

• The tales of love between man and
woman as a cosmic force for harmony
and justice had taken hold in Persia.
• In many of these tales, the woman
plays a role similar to the Greek god
Eros.


A Persian Tale
2 of 2

• One of the most popular of these tales
was the "Seduction of Yusuf and
Zulaykha," a retelling of the biblical
story of Joseph and the wife of Potiphar.
 The illustration by Bihzad of Zulaykha
depicts the palace as almost a labyrinth,
which is probably meant to reflect the
war of feelings and emotions that each
of the story's protagonists faces.

Bihzad, The Seduction of Yusuf, from a copy of Sadi's Bustan ("Orchard"), prepared for
Sultan Husayn Mirza at Herat, Persia (present-day Afghanistan).
1488. Ink and color on paper, 11-7/8 × 8-2⁄3". National Library, Cairo.
akg-image/Erich Lessing. [Fig. 23-5]


The Medieval Courtly Love Tradition
1 of 4

• Love, as something purely spiritual and
ennobling, would make its way to
Europe particularly in the tradition of
"courtly love" through the poetry of
troubadours.
 The primary feeling is one of desire or
longing, of a knight or nobleman for a
woman.


The Medieval Courtly Love Tradition
2 of 4

• Love, as something purely spiritual and
ennobling, would make its way to
Europe particularly in the tradition of
"courtly love" through the poetry of
troubadours.
 To love is to suffer, to wander aimlessly,

unable to concentrate on anything but
the mental image of the beloved.


The Medieval Courtly Love Tradition
3 of 4

• Love, as something purely spiritual and
ennobling, would make its way to
Europe particularly in the tradition of
"courtly love" through the poetry of
troubadours.
 Also in the courtly love tradition, the
smitten knight or nobleman must be
willing to perform any deed to win his
lady's favor.


The Medieval Courtly Love Tradition
4 of 4

• Love, as something purely spiritual and
ennobling, would make its way to
Europe particularly in the tradition of
"courtly love" through the poetry of
troubadours.
 This can be seen in the scenes on a
jeweled twelfth-century casket.

Casket with scenes of courtly love, from Limoges.
ca. 1180. Champlevé enamel, 3-5/8 × 8-1/2 × 6-3/8". The British Museum, London.
1859,0110.1. © Trustees of British Museum. [Fig. 23-6]


The Privatization of Sex in the West
1 of 2

• It could be argued that the Church
forced sex in the Western world to go
underground—it became a private
matter.
• Bronzino's An Allegory with Venus and
Cupid was intended to appeal to the
king's taste and demonstrate Florentine
intellectual cleverness through an
allegory that required unraveling.


The Privatization of Sex in the West
2 of 2

• This painting seems to offer an
admonition about the short-lived
rewards of erotic love.
• It also celebrates erotic love even as it
warns against it.


Bronzino, An Allegory with Venus and Cupid.

ca. 1540–50. Oil on wood, approx. 5' 1" × 4' 8-3/4". National Gallery, London.
© National Gallery, London/Scala, Florence. [Fig. 23-7]


Imaging Desire
1 of 3

• Eugène Delacroix's Odalisque was
painted to be looked at and enjoyed for
its visual and erotic impact.
 The figure in the painting is not a person;
she is an object of desire.
 She remains, forever, an image and a
fantasy.
 The painting is structured as if it were a
private space into which the viewer has
been admitted.