Photo by Gertrude Kasebier
I have been haunted by this photo ever since I laid eyes on it a few months ago. The contrast of this woman’s softness and aggressiveness have caught my attention and confused me all in one gasp. She is alluring and beautiful. She sits on, what I imagine to be, a bed with her shoulders bare. Even the small pitcher she is holding is begging the question, “Will you fill me up?”. But her eyes are not averted from the viewer. She is steadfast in her gaze, unrelenting, unashamed and strangely confident with the viewer. She is unwilling to hide her beauty and she is making the offering of herself plain and clear.
(Original Photo done by photographer Gertrude Kasebier–1852-1934)
drawing
This is to be my first subject in my series on feminity and woman. So, I decided to draw this woman over and over, to get down her shape, gesture, and to figure out her seated position hiding under her flowing dress. This is one of more than 20 drawings I completed as pre-painting practice.
I thought that the empty pitcher was slightly heavey-handed as a prop–and decided to put a burning candle in her hand instead… I wanted my re-created woman to be bringing something more to the table; an offering to her lover..She would be a giver not just a taker.
Sleepy-eyed and beautiful, I imagined the 10 Virgins in the Bible who were waiting for the bridegroom late at night, with the mission to keep their oil lamps burning while waiting on his return. There is an eagerness there that went along with the alluring Kasebier portrait. So I replaced the pitcher with the burning candle a subtle expression of self-sufficiency, a burning of her own, as an offering along with her willing vulnerbility.
Matthew 25 The Parable of the Ten Virgins
1“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. 5The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep. 6“At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’ 7“Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. 8The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’ 9” ‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’ 10“But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut. 11“Later the others also came. ‘Sir! Sir!’ they said. ‘Open the door for us!’ 12“But he replied, ‘I tell you the truth, I don’t know you.’ 13“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.”
