From Elizabeth Daingerfield Zwicky a couple of days ago, this arresting image she found on tumblr (viewable here):
(#1)
This is Andrea Hornick’s Madame Bonier de la Moson Luxuriates in the Protective Embodiment of Sun Bear; his Hibernation-Harnessed Fortitude Lends Her a Lack of Poise Needed to Play Diana the Huntress, 2014 (oil on linen, 20 x 17 inches), in an exhibition opening March 4th at Savery Gallery in Philadelphia. As with all of her work that I’ve now found, the title is something between a caption and a short story in itself.
From the Getty website about the original of #1:
(#2)
Portrait of Madame Bonnier de la Mosson as Diana (Constance-Gabrielle-Magdeleine du Monciel de Lauraille), 1742, by Jean-Marc Nattier (French, 1685 – 1766)
Madame Bonnier de la Mosson, a member of Parisian society whose literary salon was a popular meeting place for the most noted people of her day, appears as Diana, goddess of the moon, the forest, and the hunt. Jean-Marc Nattier depicted her seated in front of a dramatic sky and barren landscape, delicately holding a bow and arrow, wearing a revealing white chemise low on her shoulders, and wrapped in an exotic leopard skin.
In eighteenth-century France it was fashionable for aristocratic women to have their likenesses made in the guise of mythological or historical roles. Nattier, one of the leading portraitists of his day, specialized in these flattering allegorical portraits. During his career, he painted portraits of most of the circle of Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour in either traditional or allegorical guise.
From Hornick’s characterization of herself and her work on her homepage:
Andrea Hornick’s work is informed by authority as evidenced by the history of painting, issues of collecting and reproduction, historiography, and post-feminism, and shamanism. She works primarily in painting and her work has taken the form of painting, video, text, and performance. Her paintings have the common thread of technical, formal and conceptual relationships to historical paintings. Her current work centers on the addition of animal spirit guides to old masters’ portraits in the form of altered reproductions, painting into existing 17 – 19 century copies, and works on paper inspired by old masters’ drawings. Performance, collage, and text are woven throughout the work. Hornick divides her time between New York City and Philadelphia. She has shown extensively in New York and Los Angeles … Hornick has a B.A. from Oberlin College and an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute.
Another example, Lady Receives Guidance while Riding Liberation Generated Emotional Waves; Walrus’ Hug Ensures Endless Flow of Divine Love as Evidenced by Red Carnation; she Calculates her Stores of Affection. 2014 (oil on linen, 18 x 20 inches):
(#3)
(The emotional waves have become actual waves of water.)
Three more, in a set — for the women, the animals (giraffe, blessbucks, spotted hyena), and the amazing titles:
(#4)
An odd thing about these paintings for me is that the women’s faces are such focal points of the works that it takes me a while to notice the animals. I didn’t see the sun bear in #1 for quite some time, and it took me a few moments to take in the (actually very obtrusive) walrus in #3.
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