Manet Is My Pimp!

 

Edouard Manet that is, you know that about him, right? Besides being one of the first 19th Century artists to approach modern-life subjects, despite facing great controversy, he was the pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism...blah blah blah.... he kind of saved me, and he's my pimp, because lately I've been all...

....pathetic and dying on the floor like this Dead Matador (Manet 1864-65)...except instead of dying via a bulls horn, I've just been dying creatively. On the inside. It just happens sometimes, and then I eat lots of bacon and chocolate and stare off into space for long periods of time and mope around and whine to all of my friends, and write run-on sentences, and then all of a sudden it's all ok again. Because of pimps like Manet....and my friends...and the chocolate..



Anyway, these two drawings.......

....besides being highly romantical and therefore appropriate for our bedroom....

.....are my own drawings based on two of Manet's master drawings. Back in college, we had to do about 900 master drawings, and I always found myself inspired by Manet. Mainly because his sketches were great examples of simple and elegant line variation. To sketch so simply and accurately with just a few lines isn't easy. Let me tell you!

Somehow framing these drawings and hanging them up made me come back to life. Creatively. That's why Manet is my pimp, and I guess, since I'm naming pimps and all, the guy behind ArtWorks can be considered a superfly pimp, because he hooked me up with these silk mats and bamboo frames!! AND whoever grew that orchid....well...they're a pimp too!

I thought I created a clever combination with the drawings and the bamboo and silk by referencing a non-existent connection between Manet and Orientalism and/or Japonisme. Turns out it was Monet, not Manet, whose work was influenced by Japonisme in the late 1800's. Woops! I still think it would have been clever!

  So. That's why Manet is my pimp. AND that's why we're just gonna have to re-write his biography and say that he was indeed influenced by Japonisme.

You wouldn't guess he's my pimp just by lookin at him would ya??

P.S. You lovely followers and friends also saved me from being the dead matador :) You're the bestest for always checking out my blog, despite my lack of posts, and run-on sentences!