Display Explanation:
This particular installation will be displayed in a circular museum room, secluded from additional exhibits. The room will be completely monochrome and a calming, regal, emerald green color. The color will be dark enough for the peaceful setting but vibrant enough to portray the naturalistic elements of the images. The entrance to the room and to the exhibit will be protected by a floor length, red, velvet curtain to provide an element of secrecy and mystery. Once guests enter through the long curtains, the room will be dimly lit with a soft, golden light and heated to a warm temperature to offer a safe, comforting atmosphere and appeal. Gentle, classical music would be playing to add to the serenity and to add to the peaceful experience for the guests. The atmosphere of the room would also be enhanced by aromatherapy elements. A diffuser would diffuse calming essential oils to calm the guests and bring about a peaceful environment. The images would be presented in a triangular, pyramid structure. The two images with the women covering their faces, Awakening. Spring and Kneeling Woman would be placed on easels in intricately designed gallery frames, bookending the image September Morn, which would be suspended from the ceiling. I would choose to suspend this image from the ceiling because the context of the image is a woman basking in a blissful September morning. I imagine this scene to be angelic and almost holy. I would hope to convey that heaven-like visualization through the image's suspension. I chose to have the other two images bookending September Morn in the pyramid structure because they radiate more privacy and secrecy surrounding the nude women presented in the images. In this display, I would hope to convey feelings of peace, serenity, comfort, and womanhood to the audience. My display would relate to nature and outdoor settings and the therapeutic elements those settings provide for people. The nature of nude women in this setting would hopefully eliminate any feelings of discomfort and sexualization and simply allow the audience to envision and experience a human being and woman in a natural, untouched space. The women hiding their faces in Awakening. Spring and Kneeling Woman allow the audience to disregard any emotion the womens' faces may express and focus only on her body, positioning, and control of her environment. A major element to this exhibit is that all of these women are in control of their own private settings. They are all alone in their environments, which provides them with free movement, expression, and mindset. I hope that this ideology will portray to the audience through the triangular, expressive design of the exhibit. This demeanor mirrors the presentation of the room and of the exhibit, which are both private, secluded areas. In these areas and in this exhibit, humans, especially women won't have to worry about their presentation or how they will be judged or read by men or other humans. The exhibit will simply radiate peace, serenity, and acceptance of all people in their own personal spaces.
Installation Note:
The first image in my installation is entitled Awakening. Spring and was painted in 1908 by Marian Slugocki. This image features a nude woman in solitude positioned in a field of vibrant flowers and greenery. She has long, brown hair pinned back to reveal her silhouette and position. She is standing with her hands covering her face, so the audience cannot interpret how she is feeling by any facial expressions. She is in a secluded setting with control over her environment. No one is intruding on this woman's space, she is able to simply connect with the nature surrounding her and embrace herself and her body. There is nobody surrounding her who will objectify her or desire her for her physical attributes. She is able to be in her space and express herself as a woman with no interruptions. The vibrant flowers are an expressive contrast the neutrals of the woman's body and hair. The scene maximizes her as the focal point and enhances her presence in nature. In this image, the woman radiates beauty, poise, and femininity by embracing her body and setting while still maintaining anonymity and secrecy so she will not be desired or objectified. The second image in my installation is entitled Kneeling Woman and was painted in 1884 by Edgar Degas. This image features a woman's silhouette and body as the focal point, but she is not looking at the audience. Rather, her face is hidden which I think creates a notion of privacy. To correspond with that notion, I think it imposes a question of whether or not the woman knows she is being watched. She is in a rather relaxed position in a comfortable setting that appears to be her bedroom. She is not addressing an audience but rather seems content and in control of her environment, which I think is similar to my assigned image, in which a woman's face remains hidden in a secluded outdoor environment. This image also stood out to me because of the colorful flowers on the wallpaper, which are similar to the flowers in my assigned image. I was drawn to the contrast between the simplicity and neutrals of the woman's body compared to the vibrancy and colorfulness of the flowers of my assigned image. The final image in my installation is entitled September Morn and was painted in 1911 by Paul Emile Chabas. In this image, a nude woman is standing in a body of water, basked by the sunlight of the morning. She is leaned over to ocnserve her modesty, which portrays a notion of purity and innocence. I chose to place this image in the center of my exhibit as the focal point because her face is revealed to the audience. Guests can gather what this woman is expressing and her placement in her environment. She has a peaceful but attentive look on her face. She appears to be entriely content in her surroundings, similar to the women in the other two images. I also chose to make this image a focus because it does not contain a vibrant contrast like the other images. It is simply a woman in her natural born state enjoying a relaxing, untouched environment where her solitude means she will not be sexualized.
MLA Entries:
Slugocki, Marian. Awakening. Spring. 1908. Private collection. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Marian_S%C5%82ugocki_-_Przebudz…. Accessed 24 Feb 2023.
Degas, Edgar. Kneeling Woman. 1884. Pushkin Museum, Moscow. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Degas#/media/File:Edgar_Germain_Hil…. Accessed 24 Feb 2023.
Chabas, Paul Emile. September Morn. 1911. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_Morn. Accessed 24 Feb 2023.