Graf, Bündchen and the Enduring Message of Nemesis

As an avid tennis fan and an artist, I always thought that Steffi Graf had it all – beauty, attitude and intellect cocooned within the world’s best female tennis player I have enjoyed to watch.

Gisele Bündchen is the highest paid supermodel in the world. She has the attitude of a person who knows how to display attitude, strength and comfort with herself.

Sometimes Graf and Bündchen have very similar poses – their chin line, nose, eyes and hair seem to create the parameters for a beauty that goes beyond their looks.

… So, for whatever reason, a hare hide I had suggested that I paint the profile of a woman with such beauty. I think the shape of the hide and the various dendrite-like extensions gave me the idea for a profile and a message associated with it.

I started the sketch as such.  Compared to previous works, I decided to make her eye minimalistic and not the center of attention. Instead, I wanted the chin and nose to define the attitude.

But I realised that painting the boundaries of both a nose and a chin on bumpy, variably absorbent hide will destroy the curvatures I was intending to highlight. After a few tries on another hide I decided to just emboss the curves by running my painting knife (the dull blade of a letter opener) on the hide by pushing hard.

Now the curves are there, they are soft yet dominant.

Next, I wanted to use a squirrel tail and quail feathers to delineate the hair line and hair style. Interestingly, the strength of character I was aiming for my model got a slightly male (as my Canadian friend wrote after seeing the initial pictures) stereotype. The squirrel tail also gave a “native people” character that was not intended but that I liked very much. So, the hair style was now set!

To perhaps contrast the strength and apparent male-thought-off stereotype of this portraiture, I thought a soft and symbolic artifact should be added to the context. I had kept this butterfly, which I found expired on the ground, for a while and decided to make it part of the painting. 

I thought of a genie coming out of a broken clay amphora in the form of a butterfly.  I thought of the old Greek amphora upon which Nemesis was painted.  Nemesis is a complex character in mythology. One dimension of her deals with indignation and resentment, especially in men who have committed crimes but remained unpunished. Indeed, she is believed to be the mother of Helena during the Trojan War and accusing Paris of unethical/criminal conduct toward Helena.

All this made me think of Nemesis in the shape of a blue butterfly because sometimes Nemesis is depicted as a winged goddess.  But I have not read about  her personification as a butterfly before, so it is purely my imagination at works!  And, the broken amphora provided the exit toward my model who is also strong, attractive and mysterious.

My last touch was to add a raven feather to complete the message of rising in strength with grace and beauty.

October 10, 2019

© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2019