COLLECTION NAME:
Undergraduate Thesis Collection
Record
Title:
Jan Toorop and His Malevolent Portrayals of Women
Creator:
Daniel, Leigh Huntington
Subject:
Thesis (B.F.A.) -- Art History
Subject:
Savannah College of Art and Design -- Department of Art History
Rights:
Copyright is retained by the authors or artists of items in this collection, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Abstract:
"The late 1800s saw a rise in female imagery in art, most in a stereotypically delicate and effeminate manner. Dutch-Javanese artist Jan Toorop took a different approach to the depiction of women in his 1890s drawings The Three Brides, Fatalism, and O Grave Where is thy Victory?. His stoic and cold female figures present an opposing and malevolent perspective on the role of women in Toorop's mind. Using unique iconography and the framework surrounding the popular Symbolist and Art Nouveau movements at the time, Toorop created artworks depicting foreboding scenery and grim stories, with women at the forefront, suggesting his view of their place in society as immoral. His eerie serpentine figures and recurring symbols in his paintings and drawings serve as an honest manifestation of Toorop's fluctuating religious identity and internal struggles within the art movements of the era. While source material translated from Dutch to English regarding Toorop and his various works is scarce, a few scholars have dedicated much research to analyzing Toorop's life and artistic practice, adding to the understanding of the artist’s perspective on women in the late nineteenth-century. Most scholars do not touch on the topic of how Toorop depicts women, but the ones that do mostly agree his representation of the female form is negative, a conclusion that is supported by iconographic, stylistic, and artist analysis and research. Jan Toorop's representation of women in his artwork is not a typical one by any means, which exemplifies how different depictions of women in art, even unfavorable portrayals, are just as important as positive and 'stereotypical' depictions. This new perspective on women in the late 19th century adds to the ever changing and evolving conversation of the role of women in art." --Abstract
Keywords: Jan Toorop, Symbolism, Art Nouveau, 19th century art, women in art, iconography, The Three Brides, O Grave Where is Thy Victory?, Fatalism
Keywords: Jan Toorop, Symbolism, Art Nouveau, 19th century art, women in art, iconography, The Three Brides, O Grave Where is Thy Victory?, Fatalism
Publisher:
Savannah, Georgia: Savannah College of Art and Design
Date:
2019-03
Format:
1 online resource: 1 PDF (Thesis, 42 pages, color illustrations)