Art & the Pregnant Form Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Art & the Pregnant Form - Essay ExampleThrough the years, the way in which the gravid form has been represented, twisted and ignored has been a growing theme, coming into full flower in the modern art world in a variety of media. What is painted or sculpted and how this is done reveals much ab egress the prevailing attitudes of the time period in which the art work was created. From the fully clothed, questionable nature of early artists renditions of pregnant women to the fully nude and exposed form of todays pregnant sculptures, the art of the pregnant form has definitely advanced into the worldview. To gain an understanding of how this commute came about, it is necessary to learn more about some of the artists that have participated in this centuries long debate about how best to portray the multiple aspects of the pregnant fair sex her impending motherhood, her swelling form, her newfound tenderness. Among these artists are Jan van Eyck, Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, Lucien Fr eud, Marc Quinn and Ron Mueck. By looking at how these artists portrayed pregnant women as well as their motivations in doing so, we nominate begin to gain an understanding of how the cultural attitude toward pregnancy and the female form has changed.Jan van Eyck is the earliest of these painters, having painted his Giovanni Arnolfini and His Wife in 1434. This ikon has been largely acknowledged primarily due to the various examples of symbolism contained in the painting as well as for its unique perspective. However, left mostly out of the conversation is the idea that Arnolfinis wife is pregnant. Closer inspection indicates that Jeanne de Chanany is not actually pregnant but is instead wearing the voluminous clothing frequent for the early Renaissance period. Although many modern viewers mistakenly assume Giovanna is pregnant, art historians familiar with 15th century painting point out