what a wet, rainy day. i skipped my 8am because i woke up tired, grumpy, and surrounded by dreariness. that left only jesus' class in the entire day, which of course is no problem! today we did Manet, and i found myself strangely intrigued, especially by his "Olympia". Alright, so i look at this painting and i'm like, hm, she's not really pretty, is she. her pose is an obvious quotation of Titian's Venus of Urbino, which i talked about once before, but this woman is much different. It was just so cool that the more i looked at it, and the more Jesus told me about the purpose behind it, the more i really appreciated it. The woman was a prostitute friend of Manet's, well known to Paris, and he shows her exactly as she is, completely realistic with no attempt to idealize her like the Venus. this painting shocked people because it was "too real", it was "naked", not "nude". i found that amusing. more importantly, though it's fascinating to compare the personalities of the two paintings (for comparison). The Venus is all soft curves, languid, shy-looking, and accessible, as though you could step into the picture and join her there on the bed. Olympia, in contrast, seems to be looking down at us rather commandingly, and her pose is alert, accentuated by that little black cat arching its back in the corner. Her message seems to be "stay away" as opposed to the venus' "come hither". Manet is making a really interesting shift in the portrayal of women, especially a well-known prostitute.

Tomorrow we're beginnning the impressionists. i have never really liked much of impressionism; i like van gogh pretty much, and some of monet (no flowers, though), but the others, cezanne and matisse, and the american impressionists like winslow homer, i just don't really get into. however i'm wondering if that will change once we start to study them. after all, i never liked the mona lisa until we discussed her hardcore for like an entire class, after which i really felt like i could appreciate her, and on first glance i wasn't too interested in manet, either. so now i'm all excited. i'm even thinking ahead to the class i'll be taking on modern art, probably junior year, wondering if maybe, just maybe, i might learn to appreciate some modern art once i learn the underlying principles. i'm loving this, i really am! i'm so glad i took that first art history course...my sister asked me what looking at "stupid pictures on a wall" could possibly contribute to life or the world. well, i think they contribute a hell of a lot, and it sure makes me happy. i got an A on last test, we got it back today, and that too made me really happy, more so than getting an A in my other classes, because it's an A in something i really really love. usually english would qualify but i hate that goddamned woman. check with me next semester, i foresee that creative writing will be my favorite class. :-)