연합뉴스
| yna@yna.co.kr 2023-05-08 14:53:24
By Do Gwang-hwan
SEOUL May 8 (Yonhap) -- For a long time in history, the act of "reading" was only possible for certain elite classes or individuals.
Being able to read meant authority -- it was rare to see women reading as they were kept away from the politics of power, not to mention that very few paintings of women reading survived those times.
Madame Pompadour, the mistress of Louis XV and the Marchioness de Pompadour (1721-1764) at the pinnacle of power, had numerous portraits of herself painted during the Rococo period that flourished the French aristocratic culture.
In her portrait by Maurice Quentin de La Tour (1755), Pompadour is depicted with sheet music in her hand and books as background props. It can be seen as a propaganda image of Madame Pompadour, who was influenced by the Enlightenment.
Later in history, Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732-1806), known as the last painter of Rococo, revealed “A Young Girl Reading” in 1776. His painting features an ordinary girl from a wealthy family reading a book, reflecting a daily life of an independent woman.
The girl's focused posture and flamboyant dress represent her elegance, and the cushion supporting her back provides visual comfort. Most importantly, her flashy yellow dress featured in the paint attracts viewers' attention. The well-set hairstyle and the ribbon also catch the viewers' eyes, and the book of an adorable size gives a sense of elegance.
In fact, A Young Girl Reading shows two very distinctive differences from Fragonard’s other pieces.
While he enjoyed depicting mockery and cheerful sensuality between men and women, this work represents a refined everyday scene. Another distinctive feature is the brushwork. At first glance, it bears the influence of Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919), known for Impressionism. Upon closer inspection, it appears rough. No wonder it is called "the precursor to Impressionism."
Meanwhile, the work "At a Book" painted in 1882 by Mariya Bashkirtseva (1858-1884), a female painter of Russian origin who flourished in France, is not flashy in color tones but is highly intense. The frontal face and hand posture while reading, along with the seriousness and concentration reflected in the hairstyle, blend harmoniously with the black background and black attire, enhancing the depth of focus in reading.
The image of her touching her head with her hand, carried away by thoughts, is considered an expression of self-awareness surging from within, seemingly a challenge to the era. How can one resist the desire to read after seeing this painting?
In Joseon period (1392-1910), patriarchal Confucianism was so deeply rooted that reading was forbidden to women. Female artist Yoon Deok-hee (1685-1766) was the only person to capture a female reading a book.
The painting's size is slightly larger than the palm, measuring 20cm×14.3cm. It was an era when it was extremely rare to see a depiction of a woman reading; in late Joseon period, the intensity of women's household labor was at its peak. Perhaps the artist wanted to paint it very much, even if she had to "hide" it in a humble size.
The place where the woman reads the book resembles a quiet backyard. She is sitting on a small low table in comfortable attire, and her smile seems to reveal the difficulty of finding peace in such times.
In the background, birds, flowers, and clouds greatly enhance the atmosphere of the
woman's reading scene. The richly adorned bamboo leaves also draw the eyes. What a cozy sense of satisfaction it conveys!
Yoon Deok-hee's great-grandfather is Yun Seon-do (1587-1671), famous for his work "Eobu Sasi Sa" (1651), and his father is Yun Du-seo (1668-1715), who painted splendid self-portraits.
In both Europe and Joseon, reading was perceived as the exclusive domain of nobles, bourgeois men, and yangban (the noble class), and books, especially for women, were considered impure.
In his book "Dangerous Women Who Read" (2005), author Stefan Bollmann (1958-) stated, "When you read books, you start thinking, and a person who thinks becomes independent, and an independent person steps outside the ranks and becomes an enemy."
In today's society, people are obsessed with digital devices. Unless they are looking at e-books, they temporarily set aside their iPads or smartphones and engage in reading to avoid becoming someone's "enemy."
If that is the case, what about writing, beyond just reading?
American writer Paul Auster, often mentioned as a nominee of Nobel Literature Prize, once said, writing is not a choice but something that
chooses you. It is a physical experience of engraving words that flow out of the body, one drop of sweat at a time, he said.
Here, a woman is writing. She is deeply immersed, as if her hand, pen, and notebook have become one. It is a timeless space where no one can disturb her. The work is "The Writing Woman" (1905) by Thomas Pollock Anshutz (1851-1912) from the United States.
It is a very rare depiction that portrays the "writing woman," who has long been excluded from the act of writing.
Jane Austen (1775-1817), the author of "Pride and Prejudice" (1813), had to hide her manuscripts to keep them a secret from her family, even in the shared living room.
George Eliot (1819-1880), who wrote "Middlemarch" (1872), regarded as one of the greatest novels in Britain, was actually named Mary Ann Evans. To avoid controversy, she used a male name starting with "George" as a pen name. The painting shows that women were obstructed from writing until the late 19th century.
Looking closely, the background of the painting does not seem to be the woman's own room. Could it be a corner of the living room, or even a kitchen? Therefore, her act of writing appears even pricier.
Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) emphasized in her seminal work "A Room of One's Own" (1929) that women's writing is an awakening of the self and requires "economic independence" and "a room of one's own."
Woolf's concept of "a room of one's own" should not be solely interpreted as a spatial issue. It is a discourse about subjectivity, where one can reflect on oneself and devote oneself to writing.
Woolf wrote in her diary, "I will not write to please people or to change their minds. I am now, and forever, the master of myself."
Indeed, writing is the act of making oneself the master.
Vanessa Bell (1879-1961), painter and Woolf's sister, depicted Woolf with a book in front of her.
(This article is translated from Korean to English by Joonha Yoo)
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