Standing Female Nude

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Nonetheless, Feminine Gospels (2002), as the title suggests, is a concentration on the female point of view. It is a celebration of female experience, and it has a strong sense of magic and fairytale discourse. However, as in traditional fairytales, there is sometimes a sense of darkness as well as joy. Birth, death and the cycles and stages of life feature strongly, including menstruation, motherhood and aging. Duffy’s beloved daughter Ella was born in 1995, and her experience of motherhood has deeply influenced her poetry (as well as inspiring her to write other works for children). Poems such as 'The Cord' and 'The Light Gatherer' rejoice in new life, while ‘Death and the Moon’ mourns those who have passed on: ‘[…] I cannot say where you are. Unreachable / by prayer, even if poems are prayers. Unseeable / in the air, even if souls are stars […]’. Standing Female Nude” is a monologue “spoken” by an artist’s model in a Paris studio. Her concern is to “make a few francs” while his is to create a work of art and a reputation for himself as a great artist. She admits to being “a river whore” who sells her body in more ways than one, but the two are using each other to an equivalent extent. First stanza Donald E. Gordon. Modern Art Exhibitions, 1900–1916: Selected Catalogue Documentation. Vol. 2, Munich, 1974, pp. 673, 699, 715. Carol Ann Duffy was born in Scotland (in 1955) but moved with her family to Stafford in the English Midlands when still a child. She knew from the age of 14 that she wanted to be a poet but she was 30 before she really “arrived” with her first major collection, “Standing Female Nude”. Since then her lively commentaries on modern life have won her a huge audience with the double result of her poems being regularly featured on school English syllabuses and the award (in 2009) of the Poet Laureateship, which she held until 2019. In the first stanza of this piece the speaker begins by informing the reader that she has been standing “Six hours like this.” Within the next few lines, it becomes clear that the speaker is an artist’s model, a woman in this case, who is posing nude for an artist. She also tells the reader that she is not being paid a huge sum, only “a few francs.” This gives a little more context to the poem, placing it in France, likely sometime in the early 1900s.

Anne Baldassari in Picasso et les maîtres. Exh. cat., Grand Palais and Musée du Louvre. Paris, 2008, p. 30, ill. Watch this video in which figure drawing models and students discuss their experiences of creating art together. Overall, the structure and form of “Standing Female Nude” work together to create a powerful and impactful poem that explores the complexities of beauty and vulnerability in the context of art. The Poem’s Historical and Cultural ContextThese drawings were bought by the Royal Academy in 1864 shortly after the death of the artist, William Mulready, as the Council felt 'assured that they could not place before the Students of the Life School finer examples to guide them in their study'. The Victorian art critic F. G. Stephens suggested that this set of drawings were among the best of Mulready's 'highly characteristic' studies. Williamstown, Mass. Lawrence Hall, Williams College. "An Exhibition of Works of Art Lent by the Alumni of Williams College," May 5–June 16, 1962, no. 97 (as "Nude," 1911, lent by William H. Alexander). These people, in real life, have no regard for her or the role she plays in society, but as soon as she is elevated through a male artist’s brush to the walls of a gallery she is the subject of admiration.

The critical reception of Carol Ann Duffy’s “Standing Female Nude” has been largely positive, with many critics praising the poem’s exploration of the female body and the artist’s gaze. Some have noted the poem’s feminist themes and its critique of the objectification of women in art. However, others have criticized the poem for its graphic descriptions and its use of the female body as a metaphor for artistic creation. Despite these criticisms, “Standing Female Nude” remains a powerful and thought-provoking work that continues to resonate with readers and critics alike. The Poem’s Contribution to Feminist Discourse New York. An American Place. "Exhibition of Four Americans: Dove, Marin, O'Keeffe, Stieglitz, and Picasso," October 17–November 27, 1941, no. 16. Philadelphia. Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. "Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings by Representative Modern Masters," April 17–May 9, 1920, no. 196 (one of the sevent untitled Matisse drawings lent by Stieglitz, either no. 153, 154, 155, 158, or 159). The poem comprises three free-verse stanzas of uneven length, with no rhyme scheme. The smooth flow representing stream of consciousness is achieved through enjambment, broken up by some choppy short sentences.Museum of Modern Art, New York. "Picasso: 75th Anniversary Exhibition," May 4–September 8, 1957, unnumbered cat. (p. 39). Joseph Low (Pepe) Karmel. "Picasso's Laboratory: The Role of his Drawings in the Development of Cubism, 1910–14." PhD diss., Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, 1993, pp. 54–55, 62, fig. 38, ill., as "Standing Nude". Jill Kyle in Sarah Greenough. Modern Art and America: Alfred Stieglitz and His New York Galleries. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art. Washington, D. C., 2000, p. 116. Second Williams College Alumni Loan Exhibition: In Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Williams College Museum of Art and Professor S. Lane Faison, Jr. Exh. cat., Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York. Williamstown, Mass., 1976, p. 23, no. 66, ill. p. 64. George Heard Hamilton. "The Alfred Stieglitz Collection." Metropolitan Museum Journal 3 (1970), p. 379.

Emily Braun in Cubism: The Leonard A. Lauder Collection. Ed. Emily Braun and Rebecca Rabinow. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2014, p. 150, no. 62, ill. p. 151 (color).Carol Ann Duffy’s poem “Standing Female Nude” was written in the 1980s, a time when the feminist movement was gaining momentum and women were fighting for their rights and equality. The poem reflects the struggles of women in the art world, particularly in the field of nude modeling. During this time, women were often objectified and reduced to mere objects of male desire in art, and their voices and experiences were often ignored. Marius de Zayas. How, When, and Why Modern Art Came to New York. Ed. Francis M. Naumann. Cambridge, Mass., 1996, pp. 24, 26, fig. 28. New York. An American Place. "Beginnings and Landmarks: "291," 1905–1917," October 27–December 27, 1937, no. 38. The last stanza of the ‘Standing Female Nude’is double the length of the previous. In the first lines, the speaker gives some hint about the artist’s identity. She says his name is “Georges,” a likely reference to Georges Barques. She knows that he has a great reputation in the country, but others think him a genius. Anne Baldassari. Picasso photographe, 1901–1916. Exh. cat., Musée Picasso. Paris, 1994, pp. 119–21, figs. 90–92.