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Human love is the feeling that inspires one to do numerous deeds. Creative work is one of the kinds. Hundreds of poems, songs, sculptures, and other works of art were created in the name of love. The latter can not only serve as the driving force for this or that work being created but as an object of this work. The current paper is concerned with the analysis of two works of this type, namely, William Hogarth’s pair of paintings entitled Before and After (1731) and Egon Schiele’s painting Embrace (The Loving)1917.
William Hogarth is known as the first great English painter of modern times. He is called a moralist, as his works always contain some element of moralizing. Egon Schiele was an Austrian Expressionist painter known for very expressive, often erotic pieces of artwork that caused a sensation at that time.
The series of paintings by Hogarth suggests three versions of an image depicting a young couple before and after a sexual act. Seduction is the main theme of these paintings. The author emphasizes that though before and after sexual encounters people are different, seduction never loses its majestic power over them and they cannot resist the overwhelming desire to satisfy the needs of the lust.
Depicting this lust the painter made it rather attractive, as, with any other sin, lust possesses a treacherous charm that makes it more dangerous. The girl in the paintings is a charming one. By depicting her Hogarth created an image of an attractive look of sin. Thus, the work contains an element of moralizing: going by Aristotle’s statement that every animal is sad after sex, he claims that satisfaction of one’s sexual itch does not lead to a real satisfaction; this is a merely physical pleasure, sensual fulfillment, and not the ultimate fulfillment at all.
Egon Schiele’s work also focuses on the sexual relationship between man and woman. The Embrace (The Loving) 1917 presents a couple in an erotic pose. This pose is “of the least ambiguous kind” as if it is an illustration for some sex manual. (Danto 287) Arthur C. Danto claims that For Schiele, there were no implied choruses and violins in the background, no clouds of incense, no metaphysical lacework, no high-flown death and transfiguration to make the couples believe they were engaged in something of the highest spiritual sort. For him, sex was something done on soiled sheets in hard beds: it was draining and addictive, and his dried, emaciated men and women look as though they had fucked themselves, literally, to death (Danto 287).
The painting under consideration is a perfect example of the statement above. When speaking of immorality that the picture implies we cannot but remember the author’s own immoral nature, if we may say so. Schiele “was arrested for abducting and seducing a woman under the age of consent, but ultimately jailed for exhibiting explicit drawings.” (Naves 33) Schiele’s erotic figure study may be considered as an embodiment of his inner world; he perceived the outside world in such a way and revealed this perception with the help of the linear style emphasizing the attenuated anatomical structure of human bodies.
We can see that the works of the two authors we analyze differences in the messages that they bring to the viewers. If Hogarth’s works moralize, Schiele’s painting suggests a feeling of pride for the act that is being committed. In Before and After series the author presents bewilderment of the young couple first before having sex and then after their physical experience. In the Embrace, there is no sign of embarrassment, at the minutes of human passion that the author depicted people do not think of possible consequences they are just happy with what they have at the moment. Itch and not reason – this is what the man and the woman are ruled by at the peak of their passion.
We believe that each of the paintings serves as a symbol of lust. In this way or another, both authors praised this sin in their works. The use of bright colors seems to emphasize the importance of the problem covered. Equally expressive, the paintings strike the audience and make every viewer think over his or her attitude to sexual encounters once more. Seemingly simple, the works suggest a lot of questions answer. The pictures have always arisen different responses from different viewers, but the immortality of the problem raised guarantees the never-ending interest of the audience and its constant desire to feel and understand the mystery of passion that the authors skillfully depicted in their unfading works.
Works Cited
Bering, Henrik. “The Birth of Brit Art.” Policy Review (2007): 103+.
Danto, Arthur C. “Art; Vienna 1900.” The Nation. 1986: 287+.
Naves, Mario. “The Schiele Moment.” New Criterion. 2005: 33+.
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