A possible clue to this is the cherry tree seen just outside of the window. Arnolfini is closest to the window and therefore it represents his work duties of traveling and providing for the family. Meanwhile, his wife stands closest to a bed and therefore it represents her duties of caring for the home. Carroll sees that her placement near a brush hanging on a statue of either Saint Margaret or Saint Martha also signifies her wifely duties. Their hand-holding can be explained as fides manualis and a sign of consent of Arnolfini signing his business rights to his wife.
Famous couples in art history
Art history is full of great love stories of artists who inspired each other, forming intense bonds and creating unforgettable art. Artalistic has selected five of these iconic duos in order to bring you a glimpse of their most iconic work and passionate partnerships. (Illustration: Marina Abramovic et Ulay).
5 famous couples in art history
This is part two of our series on famous artist couples. Part one was published a few months ago, feel free to read that article about five famous couples in art history before we embark on part two.
Niki de Saint Phalle (1930-2002) and Jean Tinguely (1925-1991) are both distinguished sculptors and one of the most famous couples in the history of art. They were married in July 1971, more than 15 years after they first met. Their first collaboration made waves in the art world, foreshadowing the extraordinary adventure they would embark on. Members of the New Realist group , their love matured as they reflected upon and shared their artistic processes.
Despite differences of opinion about their subject matter, they stayed together until Jean’s death, when he declared: “We are two sculptors attached to one another, who live in two very different worlds. Materially opposed, ideologically opposed and opposed through gender, masculinity on one hand, and a deep femininity on the other… This makes us fight, we fight each other.” Niki de Saint Phalle and Jean Tinguely made countless masterpieces, including the sumptuous Stravinsky Fountain next to the Centre Pompidou, Le Cyclop in Milly-la-Forêt, and possible their most well-known work of art, the Tarot Garden in Tuscany.
Christo & Jeanne-Claude
Christo (1935-2020) Vladimiroff Javacheff was born in Bulgaria in 1935. After the war, he studied fine arts, with a predilection for drawing. Fleeing the Communist regime, which imposed propagandist subjects on artists, he moved to Vienna, then to Paris in 1958. He met Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon (1935-2009) in Paris. Coincidentally, she was born on the same day as Christo, June 13, 1935! The couple spent time with the New Realists in the 1960s. At this point in art history, street art and outdoor art were becoming increasingly popular.
Christo started what would later become his signature style, wrapping objects. He started small and slowly moved on to more mammoth installations, beginning with bottles and furniture. Christo and Jeanne-Claude moved to New York in 1964 and they quickly became inseparable. They formed a complementary duo, Christo designing, Jeanne-Claude managing the logistics and overseeing increasingly monumental projects – wrapping famous monuments and objects in nature. To name but a few of this famous artist-couple’s major achievements: wrapping the Pont Neuf in Paris in 1985, the Reichstag in Berlin in 1995 and The Gates a 22-mile installation in Central Park in 2005.
Bodies Joining Forces
Archaeological movements and findings have given us records of the representation of dance in India more than 9000 years old. Egyptians visually choreographed illustrations of dance, as far back as 3000 BC. Historians have suggested in synchronicity that dance has played a pivotal role in transmitting history, well before the invention of written languages.
Dance is central to human expression. As such, dance has often earned the spotlight on visual art’s stage. And today, again.
Here, we use simple footwork to explore a few examples of the marriage between dance and fine-art in more recent history…just the past century or so.
As a young dancer, choreographer Martha Graham went to view a private art collection and saw, for the first time, a painting by Vassily Kandinsky. In its most abstract form – it struck her as a brilliant streak of red against a field of blue. Looking at this canvas, she said to herself, ”I will dance like that.” She determined to make a dance that would express this. Diversion of Angels is that dance, and the Girl in Red, dashing across the stage, is the streak of red paint bisecting the Kandinsky canvas.
“I will dance like that”
Collaborations between choreographer Merce Cunningham, composer John Cage, and visual artist Robert Rauschenberg deeply informed the postmodern experimentations of Judson Dance Theater. The collaborative relationship between Cunningham-Cage-Rauschenberg began in 1954 with Theater Piece No. 1, an untitled event organized by Cage at Black Mountain College. Rauschenberg would go on to design sets, costumes, and lighting for over twenty of Cunningham’s choreographies including Minutiae (1954), Summerspace (1958), Antic Meet (1958), and Travelogue (1977).
Alex Katz developed his highly stylized aesthetic in the 1960s and found his own, unmistakable resolution between formalism and representation. Since that time, the American painter has been continuously inspired by dance, influenced by his long-standing collaboration with the modern dancer and choreographer, Paul Taylor (1930-2018). Here, Katz explores the immediacy of gestures and movements through the medium of painting.
In the contemporary art world we see choreographers exploring this relationship within the museum setting. Sarah Michelson (b. 1964) is a choreographer living and working in New York. She asks, “where does dance reside in the dancer’s body?,” and, “what is the dancer’s relationship to performance?” For Michelson, dance is an act of devotion—a sentiment that spurred her series of the same name. Place and aesthetic is highly important to Michelson’s work. For her piece Dance 4, performed at the Whitney Museum, Michelson collaborated with curators Jay Sanders and Greta Hartenstein to create a dance floor made of 220 paintings, inspired by the architecture of the Whitney’s previous building on Madison Avenue.
More and more we are seeing a shift in the venue for contemporary dance performance. Getting rid of the stage aspect of dance breaks down the distinction between dancer and audience. Oftentimes, There are no seats, so viewers stand at different angles and move around to view the performance as they would a sculpture or installation.
Brennan Gerard and Ryan Kelly collaboratively make dance performance installations in museum settings to investigate the relation of a couple, and critically evaluate modes of intimacy. In their ongoing project P.O.L.E. (People, Objects, Language, Exchange) they incite conversation through a series of performances and public events in gallery spaces. The performers in the piece are New-York based dancers from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines, from street dance to subway pole dancing.
What resonates is that the merger between dance and art is widening the breadth of aesthetic possibilities with which we see the world, and often, radically. This perfect union allows us to explore our own identity and the function of our respective bodies within this shared space and existence.
Dance has made its grand entrance to the white cube, and it’s here to stay. Let’s continue to support this beautiful cross-pollination, one step at a time.
Stay tuned for an exciting announcement in the coming week that will allow you the opportunity to partake in the exploration of what happens when fine art and dance meet.
Thank you for reading this far. Questions or comments: [email protected]
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How Jan Van Eyck Created The Portrait
The Arnolfini Portrait is most famous for Jan van Eyck’s rendering of everyday objects in spectacular detail. This is seen ranging from the extremely fine lines of the dog’s fur to the immaculate brushwork, creating realistic imagery. One way he does this is through his use of light and shadow. By establishing a light source from the window on the left van Eyck has created three-dimensionality of the subject’s clothes, the room, and objects.
For example, in the images above, the light cast from the window creates a slight shadow just under the wooden frame. This light also creates a thin white highlight on top of the hat of Arnolfini as well as deep black shadows under the brim of his hat. Van Eyck is known as the father of oil painting and was one of the first painters to successfully use this medium. His layering of paint enabled him to change and manipulate the surface to create greater accuracy.
An artist signing their work may be commonplace nowadays, but during the Renaissance, this was a new phenomenon. Artists were considered tradesmen and the artist becoming a celebrity or person of importance started to emerge with artists such as Albrecht Durer, Leonardo da Vinci, or Jan van Eyck. Van Eyck rarely signed his signature on his paintings and the fact that this reads, “Jan van Eyck was here” instead of just his name or “created by” leads to its mysterious nature.
By attaching his name to the Arnolfini Portrait it showcases van Eyck’s self-awareness of his talent and the importance of being an artist during this time. One of the two unknown figures in the convex mirror is perhaps van Eyck himself. Artists during the Renaissance would sometimes hide self-portraits of themselves within their works and this is another possibility as to why the signature is placed above the mirror.
One thing that does not make sense to some viewers is Jan van Eyck’s use of perspective. Artists during the Renaissance were starting to show perspective by using horizon lines, vanishing points, and orthogonals. Flemish artists such as van Eyck used perspective based on several points rather than just one. Within the small room, there is no exact vanishing point where all the lines should meet up at the same point. The lines of the wooden floor and ceiling when stretched do not meet up at the same place.
Also note that the scaling of the people in comparison to the objects in the room also does not align. Arnolfini is near eye-level with a chandelier that is located on the ceiling. The mirror is also placed so low compared to the figures that they would have to bend down in order to use its reflection. While this does not make van Eyck’s painting any less brilliant, it is an important thing to note. This just creates more questions as to van Eyck’s unique approach to painting, why he painted them the way that he did, and what his intentions for this painting were.
Lasting Legacy Of The Arnolfini Portrait
After all of this time, people continue to add to the discussion of the possible meanings behind the Arnolfini Portrait. People are products of their time and, even though Panofsky never got to witness the same discoveries as us, it also shows that in the future there is a possibility of finding more evidence that will further change our perspectives of this portrait. Maybe no one is wrong in his or her assumptions about the meaning of this painting. Panofsky’s analysis that it represented their marriage during their brief time together can be just as possible as Koster’s idea that it represents her demise.
Perhaps it started out to represent the couple’s marriage or betrothal until the wife’s untimely death and Jan van Eyck changed the painting until its completion. It can also just as well demonstrate the lives of individuals aspiring to attain wealth and status during a time of innovation and change. What just might be Jan van Eyck’s greatest achievement is that people continue to admire, speculate, and discuss his work and legacy.
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By Adrienne Howell BA Integrated Studio Arts & BS Apparel Design Adrienne currently works as a photographer and visual artist in the Midwest. She earned degrees from Iowa State University with a BA in Integrated studio arts, focusing on drawing & painting, and a BS in Apparel Design with an emphasis on fashion and textiles.
