Tiffany Hale Final Project

My brayer, a tool used to distribute printmaking ink.

The inspiration for my final project was the Art Nouveau movement. At the turn of the 19th century, advertising design faced a miniature revolution. As cultural access to Japan opened for the first time in many decades,  Japanese Wood Block prints became all the rage. Most art of the 19th century was done in the effusive Rococo style. Rococo was marked by extreme opulence: everything was bright, ornately detailed and modeled (Trapasso). In comparison, abstraction was the defining quality of Japanese Wood Block prints. As opposed to extreme modeling and colorful details, Japanese Wood Block included simplified lines that denoted only the most necessary form.

Art Nouveau blended this abstraction with traditional exploitation of women in advertising. The new style was all the rage and infiltrated the streets of Paris; however, it used beautiful women to sell nearly everything. The premise of my printing project is to exploit the aesthetic of Art Nouveau to support new, unconventional types of beauty as opposed to reinforcing old standards. Below are some images from my printing process, and a description of the women I chose to portray and why.

Inks combined haphazardly during the clean-up process.

Dirty Martini (Linda Marriccini) was the first woman I chose to portray in my images. She's a world renown burlesque dancer, dance teacher, and pin-up model. What's most remarkable about Martini, besides her fantastic dance moves, is how effortlessly she breaks conventions. Typically in western culture, the svelte woman with a trim waistline and buxom breasts is revered as the ideal. Of course such body dimensions are not only the physical minority, they are impossible for most of the female population. Martini did not choose to attempt to change her body shape to fit with the conventions. In the video below, courtesy of PinUpPassion.com, Martini discusses body image as a woman of size:

Janelle Monáe is another woman I chose to idealize for this project. Monáe is a musical enigma. Her works combine hip hop, jazz, electronic, and rock and roll influences into an amazing combination of infectious hits. Monáe is also famous for her adherence to a strict dress code. Monae, when she appears in person, always wears a suit. It has become her uniform. When Monáe took the time to explain why she began wearing and continues to wear the suit, she explained:“When I started my musical career I was a maid, I used to clean houses. My parents—my mother was a proud janitor, my step-father who raised me like his very own worked at the post office and my father was a trash man. They all wore uniforms. And that’s why I stand here today in my black and white and I wear my uniform to honor them...This is a reminder that I have work to do, I have people to uplift, I have people to inspire” (Rivas). I am absolutely inspired by her music, and her dedication to providing a positive, intelligent example to young women.

Janelle Monae, courtesy of her website.

The third woman I chose to portray is not a reference to the woman herself, but to another artistic project that inspired me to rethink beauty and sexuality. Fashion photographer David Jay began capturing portraits of breast cancer survivors in an effort to raise awareness about detection and survival of breast cancer. The images hit the internet and the response was explosive. Thus, The Scar Project was born. I chose an image from his campaign, similar to the one featured below, to inspire a portrait of a survivor. I find health and that kind of strength something that is truly beautiful. 

The fourth woman I chose to portray was inspired by personal experience. When I first came to rutgers, I had only met one woman in my entire life who observed the religious tradition of Hijab. In my experience, I've learned the complexities, and the philosophy behind, Hijab. In an effort to promote the recognition as Hijab as a valid form of self expression and as a honorable choice, I portrayed a model wearing a Hijab for one of my images. I did not want to highlight her physical attractiveness in a measure of vanity; I wanted only to bring recognition that these women are among us and that they, too, deserve a place in the dialogue of feminine aesthetics. I credit Inayah, a retailer who sells Hijab fashions, with my inspiration and base image.

The first draft images on the drying rack.

Below are links to more Art Nouveau styled work with modern themes:

Shelly A. Russell (Illustrator and Designer) does several unconventionally themed Art Nouveau illustrations.

Adam Hughes pops up on my tumblr dashboard a lot, his work is definitely inspired by Art Nouveau aesthetics.

Tsuneo Sanda did fantastic illustration painting hybrids in Art Nouveau style for his "Skywalker" series.

Even BuzzFeed featured a great article about the prevelance of Art Nouveau style work by fans of popular television and movie series.

Works Cited

Trapasso, Eric. "A Brief History of Rococo Art." Artnet.com. N.p.. Web. 3 Dec 2013. <http://www.artnet.com/insights/art-education/history-of-rococo-art-rococo-painting.asp

Rivas, Jorge. "Janelle Monáe ." . N.p.. Web. 3 Dec 2013. <http://colorlines.com/archives/2012/11/janelle_monae_talks_about_being_a_former_maid_and_why_she_still_wears_a_uniform.html>.