Jules Joseph Lefebvre

Maurice Denis

Riverbank in Bloom, by Jerome Thompson.

Elements of the original garland from Empress Eugénie of the French’s ‘Feuilles de Groseillier’ parure, by Bapst (1855).

People have been doing that annoying and baffling thing where remove an original caption giving the title and artist of a picture (for what purpose?). So, to reiterate, and because history is important, this is a detail of Julia Margaret Cameron’s A Study after the Manner of Francia, photographed in 1865. The model is Mary Ryan. The print is in the collection of the National Media Museum at Bradford.

Jules Joseph Lefebvre (1834 - 1912) - Judith (1892).

Жюль Жозеф Лефевр  (1834 - 1912) - Джудит (1892).

1900s fashion by Atelier Nadar

Circa 1877

Mary Tucker with Apple Blossoms - Charles Rollins Tucker

I don’t believe in linear progress, but...

I thought about this a lot last year as I worked through, and slowed my progression for, two solo shows.

I think one of the problems with art shows is that a body of work seems to purport a moment of coherent and cohesive work, while much artwork can be seen (from the maker’s point of view) to be more in a progression– one work builds on the one before, but improvements in concept and idea and the natural incremental sharpening of skill mean that the first object made may well be weaker than the last. Arresting the progression of work to hammer it into one body impedes the flow and conceptualization and growth of the artist, who has “real-life” concerns (read: business/gallery) here interfering with the creation of work. Part of the (commercial) assumption of a gallery art show (and, frankly, something you’re told to make your collectors happy over the years, beyond just one show) is coherence bordering on homogeneity and stagnation.

Furthermore, it’s possible that “making a body of work”– that is, setting out to make one body– is a fool’s errand. Perhaps the artist can only make work, and later he (or someone else) can refer to it as a coherent whole, when it’s all done, when it’s all talking amongst itself(ves). 

Beware the artist for whom this doesn’t appear to be a problem, because he may be an entrepreneur with an art mask on.