COVE

"Sometimes womanly beauty is literally meant to be worshipped."

DISPLAY EXPLAINATION 

These images would be displayed in an open atrium room, with high glass ceilings stained like carnival glass. The room smells like fresh cut flowers. The room is square in shape, with one wall bearing the doorway, and the other three walls bearing the three works of art. Ambient light fixtures hang down giving extra illumination to the 3 works of art and the seating area in the center of the room. Ambient sounds of women laughing and talking from afar is played over hidden speakers around the room. 

Each artwork is depicted in their original dimensions. If it were possible they would all be the real versions of each painting. Venus Disrobing for the bath is displayed 79.9 inches but 35.8 inches.  The birth of Venus would be displayed in 120 inches by 86 inches., and The Bath of Psyche would be displayed in 74.5 inches by 24.5 inches. If the real versions of these paintings could be acquired for the instillation, they would each be painstakingly recreated by experts. It is important to the aesthetic and overall feel of the installation for the works of art to be as close in likeness as possible, even just screen printing would detract from the intended idea of the installation.  
 They are each framed with ornate gold leaf frames that would be created by hand. They are meant to take up space. The walls are washed in colors of dusty rose pink, peach, and ivory. There are cascading water instillations that frame each side of each artwork and run from ceiling to floor, filling the room with the sound of running water. The floor is paved with antique ceramic tiles reminiscent of a bath house. A walkway leads to the center of the room where three marble benches sit surrounded by large pots of live plants such as palms, ferns, flowers, and berry bushes and medium sized lemon trees. 

 Visitors to the gallery are meant to come into the room and rather than approach the paintings to view them up close, the guests should go to the benches, sit and view the art by pushing the foliage out of the way to view the paintings. This is a meant to immerse the guests in the role of being the sneaking viewer of these ladies. To gaze upon these heavenly beauties from afar without their knowledge. This is to put emphasis on the often Heavenly or mythical status of the characters within the paintings, to put them in a place unreachable but viewable from a distance. There is a level of immersion the guests at the installation must put themselves into to fully grasp the takeaway, but to do so I believe would be an added self-reflection. A little bit of role play with the environment can add to interest and intrigue. To gaze upon but never to touch such heavenly and virtuous ladies. The environment of the room is meant to imply reverence but where the viewers watch with adoration, lust, envy or appreciation them is purely left up to the individual.  

INNSTILATION NOTE 

‘Venus Disrobing for a bath’ Which was painted by Frederick Leighton in 1867 depicts the goddess of Grecian mythos Venus taking her robes off to enter the bath. The white robes already removed and about to strip off her last golden Sandle is painted in soft colors made softer by the almost wash of ivory across any trace of vibrancy. The birds and flowers included in the image are equally soft and dainty in depiction. While she stands the goddess of lust and love, she stands almost meekly within the canvas, reaching to modestly cover her more intimate space.  

‘Bath of Psyche’ painted in 1890 by Frederick Leighton, depicts the character Psyche in a state of undress before a bath. Similarly, she bears a white robe just like Venus disrobing for a bath’ although in this painting she is seconds away from shedding her white gown, while in the other painting she had already shed the garment. The colors of gold and blue so vibrantly strike out in contrast to the other two pieces in this exhibition. A statement on the vibrancy of adoration could be made, that the rose-tinted glasses do not always dull all other colors.  

‘The Birth of Venus’ Painted by William-Adolphe Bouguereau in 1879, depicts the same Grecian goddess of myth, Venus, standing naked above a body of water, surrounded by worshippers who gaze upon her with awe, wonder and adoration, behind her is an envoy of cherubs prepared to take songs of her beauty to the skies. The colors are not as vibrant in this painting as her two sisters in the instillation. But she would be the focal point by being the painting on the wall opposite the door, so the first painting people see upon entering.  

Of course, the naked bodies of woman both in real life and in myth have been objectified for centuries. For hundreds of years women were owned and regarded as property but the opposite sex. OIten such objectification often comes with tragedy, things stolen or robbed from the woman for having been objectified and owned and possessed. But I find that there is a power that can be owned, honed and controlled by women, sometimes for the simple power of casting a state of awe or adoration upon the viewer or coveter. Yes, the naked body can induce lust but does the same naked body induce wonder? Does it drive a person to their knees, grateful to have seen such a heavenly beauty?  

That is the line I try to draw and define within my instillation. That while the female body has been almost stolen from herself. It can still be possessed and controlled in a way that inspires transcendence beyond such trivial notions of lust and possessive desire. You are before something otherworldly and should take an appropriate amount time to soak in reverie and awe of the goddesses before you. The viewer is to get the idea that these bodies are beyond anything they could ever hope to desire from owning.  

MLA SOURCES 

Leighton, Frederic. Venus Disrobing for the Bath. 1867. 
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Paintings_of_nudes_by_Freder... 
ghton#/media/File:Frederic_Leighton_-_Venus_Disrobing_for_the_Bath.jpg. 
Accessed 27 Jan. 2024. 

Bouguereau, William-Adolphe. The Birth of Venus. 1879. Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Feb. 2025, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Birth_of_Venus_(Bouguereau)#/media/File:William-Adolphe_Bouguereau_(1825-1905)_-_The_Birth_of_Venus_(1879).jpg. Accessed 25 Feb. 2025. 

"Leighton, Frederick. Bath of Psyche. 1890." Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Feb. 2025, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bath_of_Psyche#/media/File:Frederic_Lord,_Leighton_-_The_Bath_of_Psyche_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg. Accessed 25 Feb. 2025.