Back to the Garden

Posted on November 21, 2023 by Art for Housewives

Genesis narrates how God created the heavens and the earth followed by the stars, the plants, and the animals. Then God picked up some dirt, gave it a form, blew air into it and, voilà, created the first man, Adam.

God placed Adam in a garden now known as Eden where there were many trees. God gave Adam permission to eat the fruit from all the trees save one, the Tree of Knowledge. But not all the fruit in the world could keep Adam from feeling lonely. God knew well how difficult it was to be alone. So God took one of Adam’s ribs and created Eve.

Now the instructions not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge were given to Adam before Eve’s creation. But once briefed on the fruit, Eve stayed away from it. That is, until the snake showed up. The snake criticized Eve for fearing the fruit but Eve replied that to eat the fruit meant risking one’s life. The snake told Eve she’d been duped because eating the fruit would not kill her but, instead, give her the power to distinguish between good and bad on her own. Finally convinced, Eve ate the fruit. It was so good that she offered some to Adam who, without hesitation, ate it, too.

After just one bite, the couple’s eyes were opened to reality and they realized, for the first time, that they were naked. Ashamed, they hid. But God found them and asked why they’d eaten the fruit. Adam cowardly dumped the blame on Eve. Eve, on the other hand, was more courageous than her husband and admitted that she’d eaten the fruit because the snake had been so convincing. God told Eve that he would eternally punish her and all other women as well by inflicting much pain on them when giving birth to their babies. As for Adam, his punishment was that of having to work and sweat if he wanted to eat. With that said, the couple was then eternally banished from the garden.

The story of Eve has had a profoundly negative effect on women and the way they are perceived. For over 2,000 years, the Bible has been interpreted from a patriarchal and misogynist point of view. For example, the patriarchs claimed that women were inferior because man was created first. However, in Genesis, animals were created before man. So, if we were to use the same logic as the patriarchs, it would mean that a donkey is superior to man.

The epistle of I Timothy prohibits women from speaking as they must “learn in silence with all submissiveness.” This epistle was written by Paul who, before his conversion, vehemently opposed Jesus and his followers. Paul never met Jesus and it was at least 40 years after Jesus’ death that the writings of the first gospels appeared.

Christian theologian and moralist, Tertullian, taught that women were the Devil’s gateway. But Jesus never said such a thing. To the contrary, he had the upmost respect for women and saw them as equals to men.

Eve has been blamed for the burden of Original Sin but it is a concept invented by theologian Augustine of Hippo (354 – 430 AD) and not the Bible.

The Milanese bishop, Ambrose, said women’s only importance was that of procreating whereas Thomas Aquinas claimed that women were “misbegotten males.”

In 1895, Elizabeth Cady Stanton decided that it was time to liberate the Bible from patriarchal bias. With the help of other women, Elizabeth wrote The Woman’s Bible, a collection of critical commentaries on Bible texts with the precise intent to question male translations and interpretations of the Bible that constantly presented women as inferior to men. Pity that many women did not want the book to be published fearing it would negatively affect the suffrage movement. Although the book became a bestseller, Elizabeth lost her influence on the women’s movement. Unfortunately, despite being Suffragettes, many women had not yet learned the importance of Synergy & Solidarity.


This misrepresentation of the role of women has done more than damage women’s feelings of self-esteem. Thinking that they are superior, there are those men who feel they have a right to command women and punish them for their “disobedience”. How many women have been murdered by a man who once told them “I love you”?

There is an obvious war on women going on today promoted by false and misogynist prophets. The patriarchal bias that prevails is destroying the world. Just look at the decadence and destruction that surrounds us—ecological catastrophes, wars and the slaughtering of little babies, poverty and homelessness. And hatred towards anyone who’s diverse from ourselves.

We do not need any more men with busted egos telling us what to do. What we women do need, however, is to reclaim our role as Cosmic Mothers who sustain and honor life.

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Related:

The Apostle Paul + Empathy and Ecofeminism
 GENESIS FROM EVE’S POINT OF VIEW + Five essential facts to know about femicide +  The Tree of Knowledge as Consciousness + First Council of Nicaea + Council of Trent +

Julian Jaynes and the Old Testament +

Femicide is up. American history says that’s not surprising + The great cosmic mother, rediscovering the religion of the earth online HERE +

Posted in Art Narratives, Beauty, Ecofeminism, female consciousness, Synergy and Solidarity | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Autumn Leaves

Posted on November 19, 2023 by Art for Housewives

Birds are magnificent architects and construct fascinating nests for their families. Bowerbirds, for example, build simple structures but decorate them with colored objects hoping to attract a companion. Barn swallows make nests from mud that are built onto man made structures such as barn rafters. Then there are the weaver birds such as the Baya capable of collecting long grasses and intricately weaving them into sophisticated structures worthy of AD Magazine. But the nests that I can most relate to because of their simplicity and practicality are those of the malleefowls.

The malleefowl is a stocky ground dwelling bird that’s the size of a chicken. Shy and solitary, the male, as with most birds, has the responsibility of constructing the nest.

Using his claws, the malleefowl tries to gather as much organic material as possible (such as leaves) to build a huge mound on top of a compost pile. It’s like a giant incubator because the decomposition of the organic material provides the heat necessary for the eggs to hatch. So all the momma bird has to do is lay her eggs then go. Because it’s the leaf litter that incubates the egg and not the mom.

While the malleefowl male is busy trying to keep the temperature of the mound stable, the female is busy laying eggs. An egg is laid about every five days or so and, during a normal season, she can lay up to 32 eggs.

But once the eggs are hatched, the chicks are left on their own. There will be no momma bird to bring them worms to eat. In fact, they will have no contact with adult birds and, as they grow older, will tend to ignore other birds unless it’s to mate or to fight over territory.

The malleefowl’s mound of leaves reminds me of John Everett Millais’s painting “Autumn Leaves” (1856). Four young girls are standing in front of a big pile of leaves meant to be used for a bonfire. Only the leaves produce little more than smoke.

Millais loved the smell of burning leaves. It reminded him of his childhood and how the smell of burning leaves represented the end of the season.

Millais painted this in his garden in Scotland after returning from his honeymoon with his new bride, Effie Gray. Effie had previously been married to art critic, John Ruskin, but the marriage had been annulled as it had never been consummated. Apparently, Ruskin had been repulsed by his wife’s pubic hairs. After all the Greek statues he’d seen and studied, he was not ready for the real thing.

The painting shows four young girls in front of a pile of leaves. The two girls on the right are his wife’s sisters, Alice and Sophie Gray. They are dressed in nice clothes whereas the other two girls are shown in working class clothing. It’s twilight and the day is ending. In many ways, the painting is about the transience of youth and beauty.

The protagonist here is Sophie Gray in the middle. Fifteen years younger than her sister, Effie, Sophie was very beautiful and became Millais’ favorite model during his Pre-Raphaelite period. But maybe too much emphasis was placed on her beauty as it caused her to have a distorted image of herself. She began to suffer from anorexia nervosa and her health rapidly declined. By 1868, Sophie was sent to an asylum. Although she later married and had a child, Sophie’s health continued to decline. Dramatically emaciated, her body broke down. She died of “atrophy of the nervous system” in 1882 at the age of 38.

Beauty is as ephemeral as burning leaves.

Holding On

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Related:

Effie or Effigy?

Video malleefowl building nest + 10 Birds That Build Beautiful Nests (Really Amazing) + ABOUT MALLEEFOWL +

The Beautiful and Ingenious World of Bird Nests +  Bowerbird + Which Birds Make Mud Nests? + TEXTILE IN THE TREES: WEAVER BIRD NESTS + Baya weaver +

Autumn Leaves (painting) +
Posted in art, Art Narratives, Drawings & Paintings | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Suzanne Valadon

Posted on November 16, 2023 by Art for Housewives

Napoleon III (1808-1873) was the last Emperor of France. He lost his majestic role in 1870 when the Prussians defeated the French army at the Battle of Sedan. Before his defeat, Napoleon wanted to reassert international French influence and tried to expand France’s colonial power. He even tried to create a Second Mexican Empire (seems that, despite the French Revolution, the French had a thing for Empires).

Napoleon dreamed of the modernization of France. This included the reconstruction of Paris by Baron Georges-Eugene Haussmann.  Haussmann’s plan to modernize Paris relied much on the creation of new boulevards which would help relieve traffic congestion. Obviously, to make room for the boulevards, existing buildings had to be demolished causing many people to lose their homes. And as the population of Paris continued to grow, the geographical boundaries needed to expand. The solution was to annex surrounding communes into the city.

For about a decade, Paris was a huge construction site.

Many previous residents of the area had to move to places like Belleville (where Edith Piaf was born) and Ménilmontant (where Maurice Chevalier was born) and Montmartre. In 1860, Montmartre and other communes became a part of Paris. And, as the rents were cheap and the area full of nosey cafes, artists began moving into the area. And the Bohemian spirit flourished.

Although born outside of Paris, Suzanne Valadon grew up and eventually died in Montmartre. Her real name was Marie-Clémentine and for years she went by Marie. But here I will refer to her only as Suzanne.

Suzanne was raised by her single mom who washed people’s dirty clothes to support herself and her daughter. Childhood was a different thing for the poor than for the rich. Suzanne had no time for childhood. For awhile she worked as a seamstress. Like Coco Chanel, Suzanne had learned to sew from the nuns. But Suzanne had too much energy to sit around stitching. Circuses were quite popular at the time and Suzanne set her heart on becoming a trapezist. Although petite, Suzanne was very agile and had much physical strength. Enthusiastic about her new career, Suzanne had a tendency to be a bit too audacious. This caused her to fall during a performance. Her back was hurt and she could no longer perform. Now she needed a new career.

Because of all the artists who’d moved to the area, there was much demand for artists’ models. Suzanne was not only beautiful, but she knew how to hold a pose. Modeling became her chief source of income. Now Suzanne was having a great time modeling and hanging out with the artists at the Lapin Agile drinking and dancing and being bohemian.  She was now a part of the avant garde Paris.

In 1883, eighteen year old Suzanne gave birth to Maurice. She wasn’t sure who the father was (some speculate Renoir but he denied it). Busy trying to earn a living, she’d leave her son in the care of her mom. Her mom, unfortunately, was an alcoholic and would often give little Maurice liquor to keep him quiet. By the time Maurice was a teenager, he was an alcoholic with mental health problems.

Around the age of nine, Suzanne began teaching herself how to draw but kept it a secret. Now, as an artists’ model, she was able to learn by watching the artists at work. While the artist looked at her, she looked back. She modelled for Toulouse-Lautrec who, once he saw her drawings, encouraged her to keep drawing. Suzanne was still going by Marie-Clementine but Lautrec changed that. Since Suzanne was always getting involved with older men, Lautrec started calling her “Suzanne” as in “Suzanne and the Elders”. And the name stuck.

One of Suzanne’s big concerns was her son’s mental instability that would continue to torment her for years. Hoping that it would help heal him, Suzanne taught her son how to paint.

Sexually, Suzanne was very uninhibited and had numerous overlapping lovers. For a few months she was involved with Satie who fell head over heels. Suzanne was also keeping herself entertained with Paul Mousis, a wealthy stockbroker whom she married in 1895. It was a radical change of lifestyle for her. For 13 years she lived in economic tranquility for the first time. She had a chauffeur and a maid and money enough to buy all the paints she needed. But Suzanne was not a bourgeois and grew bored with her affluent lifestyle. She wanted to go back to Montmartre where she felt at home.

Maurice had started trying to sell paintings. One day he brough home a friend, André Utter, a 23 year old artist. Suzanne, impressed by his looks, used André as a model for her Adam in the painting “Adam and Eve”. The rapport became sexual. Suzanne’s husband was not happy and the two divorced in 1913.

Now a new and bizarre menage is formed between Suzanne, her son, and her son’s best friend. André became part of Suzanne’s household and, in 1914, they married. Andrè was no longer Maurice’s friend but his step-father. The trio used to have many quarrels and drunken brawls to the point that they earned the name trinité maudite (cursed trinity).

And for many years, the trio continued like that.

Initially, Utter had been very good at selling paintings for Suzanne and Maurice. But then the dynamics started changing. Utter started messing around with the girls driving Suzanne wacko.

But Suzanne was now a recognized artist who could maintain herself with the sales of her paintings.

Suzanne died in Montmartre in 1938 at the age of 72. Her funeral drew quite a crowed, Even Picasso was there.

Suzanne the model:

Auguste Renoir – Dance at Bougival – painting of Suzanne Valadon – 1883

Berthe Morisot – Tightrope Walker – painting of Suzanne Valadon, 1886

Edgar Degas – The Tub – painting of Suzanne Valladon - 1886

Toulouse-Lautrec – The Hangover – portrait of Suzanne Valladon 1889

Related:

Renoir’s Art Model Was the Greatest Painter You Never Heard Of + Suzanne Valadon: Artist and Muse of Montmartre + The Blue Room painting +  Henri De Toulouse-Lautrec, Artist Of Montmartre +

Artists’ canteen: the Lapin Agile cabaret + WOMEN ARTISTS: Suzanne Valadon +

Old Montmartre in Photos and Paintings + Montmartre Then & Now + Montmartre, la leggendaria collina degli artisti di Parigi +

Synergy & Solidarity

Posted in art, Art Narratives, Beauty, Conditions of Possibility | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

O. Henry’s Leaf

Posted on November 5, 2023 by Art for Housewives

One is a lonely number. It’s static and goes nowhere on its own. To move, it takes two. That’s why we need interrelations because, without them, we cannot evolve.

Sue and Johnsy were two young artists living in the art colony not far from Washington Square. They’d moved in in May but by November, Johnsy had pneumonia and risked dying. As Johnsy had already convinced herself that she was going to die, the doctor said her only chance of survival was to find the will to live.

Looking out of her bedroom window, Johnsy could see an ivy vine growing on a brick wall across the way. Initially, the vine was full of leaves but, as it was fall, they started dropping with increasing rapidness until there was only one leaf left on the wine. Johnsy was convinced that once that leaf dropped, she would die.

Behrman was a fierce little old man who lived in the apartment downstairs from the two young women. He was an artist who’d never managed to create a masterpiece and, without enthusiasm, modelled for Sue to earn needed money. After 40 years as an artist, all he had to show for it was a blank canvas on his easel that was still waiting to be painted.

Sue told Behrman about Johnsy’s conviction that she would die once that last leaf fell from the vine. But the elderly artist just grunted.

That afternoon, Johnsy wanted to keep the window curtains open so she could watch the last leaf fall. Fortunately, Sue convinced her to go to eat then sleep instead.

When Johnsy woke up the next morning, she saw that the leaf was still hanging on. So she decided to try hanging on, too, and thought about how lovely it would be to paint the Bay of Naples.

The doctor was amazed at Johnsy’s quick recovery of will and health. Unfortunately, now it was Behrman who was dying. The janitor had found him helpless and in pain, his body wet and icy cold. It seems Behrman had spent the night out in the cold painting an ivy leaf on the wall so Johnsy would not know that the last leaf had already fallen.

Behrman is portrayed as a failure who wasted his time drinking gin instead of painting. But was Behrman really a failure? He may not have been a well-known artist but his painting of the leaf did something most paintings don’t do—it gave someone the will to live and in doing so saved their life. And is there anything more successful than that?

So why not give someone a leaf?

The story is that of O. Henry’s “The Last Leaf” and you can read it online for free HERE. 

Posted in art, Art Narratives, Daily Aesthetics | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Starry Starry Night

Posted on October 18, 2023 by Art for Housewives

The year I graduated from high school, Don McLean’s “Starry Night” peaked the music charts at number 12 in the U.S. I was charmed by the song but not enamoured. Had I known it was about Vincent Van Gogh, I might have felt differently.

In the fall of 1970, Don McLean was gigging in schools playing guitar and singing. At school one day, he came across Van Gogh’s biography. After reading it, McLean’s heart went boom. The story of the artist’s life really moved him and he couldn’t stop thinking about it. So he sat down and, while looking at a print of Van Gogh’s 1889 painting “Starry Night,” wrote this song on a brown paper bag. The bag is now buried in a time capsule (along with the artist’s paintbrushes) beneath Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum.

McLean, years later in an interview, would say he felt compelled to write a tribute to the misunderstood artist.

Now, I understand what you tried to say to me
And how you suffered for your sanity
And how you tried to set them free
They would not listen, they did not know how
Perhaps they’ll listen now.

Sometimes a work of art affects you so much that, mentally, you want to keep holding on to it. So you write a poem or some prose about it. This attempt to verbally represent something visual is known as Ekphrasis/Έκφραση.

Van Gogh’s art has inspired much ekphrasic writing. For example, Anne Sexton wrote an ekphrastic poem about Van Gogh’s painting. But I read Anne’s biography and prefer not to write about her. Charles Bukowski also wrote about Van Gogh. It’s short and starts out like this:

Van Gogh cut off his ear
gave it to a
prostitute
who flung it away in
extreme
disgust.

Donut Hole

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Related:  Ekphrastic Writing Responses: Vincent Van Gogh + 10 of the Best Ekphrastic Poems about Pictures + Introduction. The engaging eye: Ekphrasis and twentieth-century poetry + Vincent Van Gogh | The Starry Night | Saint Rémy, June 1889 | MoMa  + See 10 Songs Every Art Lover Should Know  + Burroughs and his `Van Gogh kick’  + Van Gogh and Kerouac + Julio Iglesias Vincent (Starry Starry Night) +

An analysis of W. D. Snodgrass‘s “Van Gogh: ‘The Starry Night’” +

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