Nouveau, meaning new or modern in French, is a take on art which embodies the French aesthetics of art. Leon Bakst in particular is an artist who combined this movement—art nouveau—with orientalist art. Often in his pieces he would portray a colorless figure with bright colors contrasting with the figure’s pose. In my piece, I tried to imitate this style with the monochrome painting of a body juxtaposed with vibrant, full-of-life yellow which makes the piece more exciting and life-like. Despite the sheer talent of Leon Bakst and skill with proportions, lighting, and creativity, his use of flow and dynamics in a piece is what I look up to most. In many of his pieces, his character’s pose is unique and dynamic as if to compliment the vibrant colors in his piece. These dynamics are not only influenced by the pose but by other aspects such as the background or cloth surrounding the figure. I tried to emulate this style with the dynamic background and differently positioned cut apart pieces.
In creating the figure in my drawing lighting and attention to it were most important to me. While working from the reference pictures that I took, I realized how dramatic the lighting was and took this to my advantage in drawing the work. It not only complimented the moody monotone drawing and background, but it further developed the narrative of the piece. In addition, my piece takes advantage of dynamics in that its pose and counterparts look like they would be in motion (the floating cut body parts and wet watercolor background). Finally, my piece tried to emulate Bakst’s use of simple line art around and on the figure to define its features more strongly. Though he only did this lightly, I used the outlining as a tool to help define the lighting and its contrast on the piece. Most importantly, this piece would lose all interesting factors if it did not include color. Though the majority of it is monochrome, the subtle additions of gold throughout the piece create subtle points of interest and contrast.
Cut apart and left to float in space, the figure in my piece represents how I’ve felt lately. Especially because of school and quarantine, my life and attention feel like they’re being spread out in various pieces and areas and left to float. Regardless of this, there still exists a centerpiece of myself: who I really am which is surrounded by the vibrant gold to symbolize life and the abundance of it. Though it’s unknown what Bakst’s purpose for his pieces are—whether it’s for aesthetics or it holds a deeper meaning—they both visually hold a similar amount of emotion and meaning behind itself. Finally, there is something to be said on the topic of nudity and the censorship of it. Though I chose to censor this part of my artwork, many people are uncomfortable with the topic of nudity or immature instead. The obvious pixilation makes the viewer think if it really is necessary to not include a certain body part as it’s an obvious interruption in the piece.
