The Apparition of the Virgin, Muses and Majas

The Apparition of the Virgin, Muses and Majas, 2009 (Lazaro Galdiano Museum, Madrid, 2009 - Photograph by Karen Knorr)

Knorr was commissioned to photograph two museums: the Louvre and the Lazaro Galdiano. She combines a contemporary representation of the female nude with historical representation such as the Virgin Marys and Aphrodites of these museums… The aesthetics of beauty is explored through unexpected appearance of women personifying the idealised figures of classical antiquity…

Au Théâtre

Jean-Louis Forain (French, 1852-1931): Au Théâtre, 1882 (Watercolor, pen and brown ink and black traces of graphite on paper) Here Forain captures a moment of contemporary life: a way of being, exchanging looks, and leaning slightly to catch what another person is saying about the show they have both just seen… To give the scene immediacy for the spectator, the four characters in the foreground are shown from the waist up and a female figure in the foreground is seen from behind. Forain owes his taste for this almost photographic framing to Degas…

Dancers Resting

Edgar Degas (French, 1834-1917): Dancers Resting c.1881-85 (Pastel on paper mounted on cardboard, - MFA, Boston) Here, the artist took his drawing of a seated dancer (at right) and added pieces of paper to create a larger composition, incorporating the figure of another dancer in a red shawl and the large expanse of floor in front of her. Degas left his rotations - perhaps measurements of the added strips - visible on the painting…