Standing Female Nude

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The structure and form of Carol Ann Duffy’s poem “Standing Female Nude” play a crucial role in conveying the themes of beauty and vulnerability. The poem is written in free verse, with no set rhyme scheme or meter. This allows for a sense of fluidity and movement, mirroring the movements of the model as she poses for the artist. Watch this video in which figure drawing models and students discuss their experiences of creating art together. Laura Moure Cecchini. "Baroque Futurism: Roberto Longhi, the Seventeenth ­Century, and the Avant-Garde." Art Bulletin 101 (June 2019), p. 37, fig. 3 (reproduction of Ref. Camera Work 1912).

Michael Marrinan. "Picasso as an 'Ingres' Young Cubist." Burlington Magazine 119 (November 1977), pp. 760–61, fig. 38. 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. Sarah Greenough, ed. My Faraway One: Selected Letters of Georgia O'Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz. Vol. 1, 1915–1933. New Haven, Conn., 2011, pp. 94, 727.

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Peter Read. Picasso et Apollinaire: Les Métamorphoses de la mémoire, 1905–1973. Paris, 1995, p. 115, ill. Standing Female Nude’ by Carol Ann Duffy speaks on the role of the artist model in the studio of a cold, and unfeeling painter who sees her only as a means to an end. Jean Jouvet, ed. Pablo Picasso, der Zeichner: Dreihundert Zeichnungen und Graphiken, 1893–1972. Zurich, 1989, p. 8, ill. New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Stieglitz and His Artists: Matisse to O'Keeffe," October 13, 2011–January 2, 2012, no. 27.

The speaker realizes that he is right about her body. She speaks of her breasts as hanging “slightly low” and as the studio as a cold place. The only source of warmth, or previous source of warmth, is the tea in a cup. Within the cup, she can see “the tea-leaves” that appear in the image, 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 Context Duffy’s more disturbing poems also include those such as ‘Education for Leisure’ ( Standing Female Nude) and ‘Psychopath’ ( Selling Manhattan) which are written in the voices of society’s dropouts, outsiders and villains. She gives us insight into such disturbed minds, and into the society that has let them down, without in any way condoning their wrongdoings: ‘Today I am going to kill something. Anything. / I have had enough of being ignored […]’ (‘Education for Leisure’). Anne Carnegie Edgerton. "Picasso's 'Nude Woman' of 1910." Burlington Magazine 122 (July 1980), pp. 498–502, fig. 52. The setting of Carol Ann Duffy’s poem “Standing Female Nude” is a small, cramped studio where the speaker, an artist, is painting a nude model. The studio is described as being “cold” and “dimly lit,” creating a sense of discomfort and unease. The model is also described as being “shivering slightly,” adding to the overall feeling of vulnerability in the setting. The use of such a confined and uncomfortable setting emphasizes the objectification and exploitation of the female body in art, as well as the power dynamic between the artist and model. The Speaker’s PerspectiveThe relationship between the model and the artist is a complex one, often fraught with tension and power dynamics. In Carol Ann Duffy’s poem “Standing Female Nude,” the model is portrayed as both vulnerable and powerful, as she stands naked before the artist’s gaze. The artist, meanwhile, is depicted as both exploitative and appreciative, as he seeks to capture the beauty of the model’s body on canvas. This dynamic raises important questions about the ethics of artistic representation, and the ways in which artists can both celebrate and objectify the human form. Ultimately, Duffy’s poem invites us to consider the complex relationship between art and the human body, and the ways in which this relationship can both empower and exploit those who participate in it. The Model’s Relationship with the Viewer

New York. Armory of the Sixty-ninth Regiment. "International Exhibition of Modern Art (The Armory Show)," February 17–March 15, 1913, no. 351. I was naked this morning. A creepy way to start this article, perhaps (I was in the shower!), but think about the statement as a plain fact. There’s a good chance that you too were naked this morning, along with millions of other humans. Life is experienced via our bodies and nothing else, which places the human form at the very top of the most primordial ideas and concepts in art.One way would be to talk about the difference between the model and the painter. The painter is more concerned with abstract, artistic notions, like "volume, space." Meanwhile, the model is focused on her "next meal." 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. More so, how does the model’s disdain toward art reflect her socioeconomic status. Are people from the working class and lower classes sometimes stereotyped as being too unsophisticated to appreciate art?