Not Your Average Female Portrait
Ways in which you wouldn't normally view a woman
Curated by Lily Johnston

David Hockney, The Photographer and His Daughter Jim and Chloe Mchugh, 2005

If you had put this painting in front of me without me ever having seen it, I would probably say "there is a creeper in the room." An older man gazes at a teenage girl who wears a flimsy dress. But he doesn't just gaze, I would even argue that he gawks. Hand on chin, camera ready for action, and reclining in a favorite chair, the man admires youth and its beauty.

So why would David Hockney paint such an enticing photo of a man and his daughter? Right away, with giving away the major detail of father and daughter, it changes his expression to that of a creeper to an admiring father regarding his daughter and who she has grown up to be: a beautiful young woman.

For my last blog post, I wanted to go all the way back to the beginning and say that things are not always what they appear to be. This is the opposite of my argument, but nothing is ever one-sided, no matter how much I have argued for the sexual and uncomfortable side of women in paintings. While I still do believe both of their body language provides more than just a father/daughter relationship, that can just be their personalities and how they ultimately translate onto canvas.

The brush strokes glide quickly across the canvas in an almost last-minute-like feel. They surround the bodies, and it is almost as if that jar of paintbrushes relaxing on the table were the ones to do it, until they floated back.