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Audio Stop 218

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A woman wearing a sheer white blouse, short red and gold vest, and full-legged, patterned pants cinched below the knee lies back and looks at us with hooded eyes in this horizontal painting. Her shoulders lean back against an oversized white pillow, up along the right edge of the composition. Her body tips toward us, and her knees are bent so her feet are together in the lower left corner. Her right arm rests along the side of her body, and she props herself up with her other arm. That hand has a gold band on the ring finger. Her light skin is tinged with green on her face. Her head rolls slightly away from us so she looks down her cheeks at us with slitted, dark eyes through heavily lined lids. She has dark brows, and her rose-red lips are parted. The angle of her head creates a slight double chin. Gold hoops with dangling fringe or chains hang from her ears, and she wears three strands of dark beads around her neck. Her black hair is plaited in a thick braid that comes down over her left shoulder, closer to us. A cap made of gold-colored disks and red fringe sits on the far side of her head. The woman’s clothing is more loosely painted. We may see her breasts and pink nipples through her sheer, silver-gray tunic, which has long, voluminous sleeves. The short, bolero-style vest is strawberry red and gold, with narrow cap sleeves. A sea-blue sash around her waist is striped with overlapping burnt-orange and black lines. Her pants have flaring legs gathered with a button just below her knees. The pattern is of sage-green circles with swipes of rust-red in the center, suggesting flowers and vines against a black background. Her knees are spread open so her feet can barely be contained within the composition. Her teal-green slip-on shoes have the suggestion of flowers painted with dabs of yellow, black, and red, and a pompom atop each toe box. A red and gold cushion sits just beyond her feet. On it is a tray of oranges and an emerald-green jug. The pillow the woman leans on is propped against a short section of wall or piece of furniture painted with a border of roses. The room opens up beyond this, and has a turquoise and brown rug leading back to a cranberry-red sofa, on which a gray piece of fabric has been draped. The wall above is patterned with yellow and green diamonds and pink flowers against a laurel-green background. The artist signed the lower left, “A. Renoir. 70.”

Auguste Renoir

Odalisque, 1870

West Building, Main Floor — Gallery 81

小说家Laila Lalami和策展人兼法国绘画负责人Mary Morton讨论Renoir根据想象描绘的一名阿尔及利亚女子,以及围绕这一人物的历史和文化遗产。

Read full audio transcript

讲解员:
奥古斯特·雷诺阿特别擅长用丰富的色彩、闪烁的微光和精巧的构图迷住观者的感官。策展人玛丽·莫顿:

莫顿:
这幅画值得注意的一点是雷诺阿描绘这些精美布料的纹理时体会到的乐趣与挑战——天鹅绒、织锦、透明或半透明的胸衣、羽毛、黄金、金属、拖鞋,当然还有侍女微妙的表情、她的腿部姿势、她脚部的弧度——这些全都令观者陶醉其中。

讲解员:
这幅画的布局让观者仿佛置身于伊斯兰后宫。在当时的北非,这种空间极其私密,是女眷的闺房。但其实这是雷诺阿自己的工作室。

莱拉·拉拉米:
我了解到这幅画的画模其实是一位巴黎女性,不过这丝毫不让我感到意外。我叫莱拉·拉拉米,是一名小说家兼散文家。我常驻洛杉矶。

雷诺阿身为法国人,就算去阿尔及利亚人家里做客也不可能获准进入这么私密的空间。这幅画很明显带着一股渴望冲破屏障的执念。画中的女子几乎可以看成是某种供品。  

玛丽·莫顿:
雷诺阿大概借来了这么一件勉强算得上北非风的奇装异服。然后他用一些装饰品布置了一下自己的工作室。  
 
莱拉·拉拉米:
在我们观赏这幅1870年的画时,必然会想到雷诺阿作画的时代背景——当时法国入侵并占领了阿尔及利亚。  

我们倾向于觉得自己更加现代、更加开化,但是大家发现没有?画中这种看待女性的方式沿袭至今,丝毫未变。无论是阿拉伯女性、柏柏尔女性、穆斯林女性还是其他族群的女性,都在人们的幻想中设定为异类。  

玛丽·莫顿:
那么我们应该如何看待这一类用来加强被殖民者刻板印象的绘画?我认为重点在于不能避而不谈。我们需要利用这类文物,批判性地审视历史与过去。
 

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