Perfect match
| Perfect match |
|---|
| Allen Jones , 1966/1967 |
| Oil on canvas, in three parts |
| 361 × 93 cm |
| Museum Ludwig, Cologne
Link to the picture |
Perfect Match (German: "Ideal partner") is a vertical triptych painting by the British pop art artist Allen Jones from 1966/1967. The three individual paintings are arranged one on top of the other to form a total of 280.7 × 93 cm, which shows a female nude. The work is currently in the Museum Ludwig in Cologne, in 1968 it was presented at the 4th documenta in Kassel .
Image description
The work of art consists of three individual paintings (triptych), which, mounted one on top of the other, show the image of a woman wearing only a transparent mini skirt . This is painted as a contour and is given a three-dimensional character through shadow representations. The cut face is turned towards the viewer, while the body itself is shown in half profile on the left side of the body. The background is dominated by the color red, which contrasts with the black of the hair in the upper area. Blue and gray tones are added in the area of the middle part, in the area of the legs and yellow in the background. The lower area changes from yellow to red and on the other side to a bright green, which represents a strong complementary contrast to the red .
The upper part of the body is cut off directly above the mouth, so that only the mouth of the face is shown. The half of the face is flat compared to the body and is framed by black hair and strands of blue hair. The mouth is emphasized full and painted red so that it is clearly recognizable despite the red background. The neck is followed by the upper body, which has no arms and whose left shoulder is covered by the hair, which breaks up the otherwise continuous contour at this point. In the center of the picture above are the firm and erect breasts with clear and pointed nipples . The upper part tapers down at the waist .
The middle part begins directly above the buttocks and extends at the lower edge to the knees. Buttocks, vulva and thighs are covered by an implied mini skirt with firm folds, but clearly recognizable and clearly shown. Under the edge of the skirt, the background color changes fluently to yellow.
The lower part of the triptych begins below the knees and shows the lower legs and the feet with the woman standing on tiptoe (the position of the feet could also be indicated high-heeled shoes). Only the left lower leg is shown three-dimensionally through the play of shadows and colors, while the left foot merges into the green background at this point. The right leg is shown as a dark shadow, on the front of both legs the contours in the background are shown again in parallel.
interpretation
With “Perfect Match” Allen Jones created the ideal image of women based on male desires of his time, which was characterized by social and cultural upheavals. The focus is on the bulging breasts, the hips and the adjoining buttocks as well as the pubic area in the center of the picture behind a mini skirt, which shows it more and directs the gaze on it rather than concealing it, as well as the long legs, which are emphasized by the posture become. “The picture painted by Jones reduces the woman - in the sense of the then increasingly bold advertising - to the sex symbols, to the legs, the breasts, the red mouth and the full hair.” Due to the missing face, she is not granted any individuality.
The sharp contours, which Jones deliberately used to emphasize the subdued eroticism, in front of the bright red color, the cliché is further sharpened and exacerbated to the limit of caricature. The reproduction of the legs with the parallel representation of the contour gives the picture movement and is at the same time a reference to the futuristic - cubist movement representation of the nude, descending a staircase No. 2 by Marcel Duchamp .
The picture is characterized as a modern fetish image in which the artist "[created] a dazzling product of an artistic design with a commercial signal character, artificial to the erect nipples, shrill and vulgar like the magazines that distributed it at the time" ".
Classification in the overall work
Allen Jones was one of the main exponents of British Pop Art and became internationally known for his provocative work. The pictorial representation of sex, which was thematized by Jones, was a taboo until the 1960s, which was broken by him and Helmut Newton , among others . Jones works both in painting and as a sculptor, although his works very often have a strong erotic reference. In his sculptures in particular, he addressed sexual preferences and counterpoints them with symbols of female eroticism, as in this picture with subjects of woman's legs in high-heeled shoes.
The development culminated in his sexually provocative fiberglass sculptures, such as the work of art Chair , Tate Gallery (London), created in 1969, and other pieces of furniture in which women in pin-up poses were converted into furniture.
literature
- Perfect match. In: Klaus Honnef: Pop Art. Taschen GmbH, Cologne 2006, pp. 48–49, ISBN 978-3-8228-2216-6 ( Google books )
Individual evidence
- ^ Karl Ruhrberg, Schneckenburger, Fricke, Honnef: Art of the 20th Century. Benedikt Taschen Verlag, Cologne 2000, page 305: ISBN 3-8228-6029-8
- ↑ a b c Klaus Honnef 2006
- ↑ Dirk Schwarze: Guided tour through the 4th documenta (1968) Regiowiki of the Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung, accessed on July 21, 2009.
- ↑ a b Allen Jones . Portrait on the Tate Gallery websites.