Art History Hotties: Fisherman With a Net

Alexa Birt
Frederic Bazille, Fisherman With a Net, 1868

By ALEXA BIRT
Oh my god, Becky, look at his butt. His chiseled back and leg muscles, the proud and unashamed stance, it all just screams "art history hottie." Jean Frederic Bazille undoubtedly created this masterpiece with that in mind and does so by placing the man in the manliest of settings: a lush plot of prairie grass.

The man peers cheekily behind his shoulder, beckoning the viewer to gaze upon his bootyful presence. His confident posture contradicts the physical vulnerability the man bears, given his astonishing lack of clothing which seems to be in a mound off to the side of the painting. Maybe he's a bum and needs to hunt for food in order to survive? The fish net wrapped around his wrist and draped off to his left side certainly suggests this theory. Then again, it was considered normal in Europe to fish in the nude in 1868, the year these beautiful buns were born.

While he seems to be doing all the heavy lifting, in the rear of the painting, his friend sits on his laurels taking off his own clothes, perhaps adding to the clothing pile. In addition, his right arm seems to be peculiarly more muscular than the other one… it must be a real bummer living as a naked prairie man. The homosexual undertone in this painting must be in response to the opposition and repression of homosexuality present during the time in which this painting was created. Bazille never married either, and his intimate relationships with men suggest that he might have been gay himself, though it is never a good idea to make assumptions. Seeing that Bazille is now deceased, I guess we will never get to the bottom of this issue. I suppose we can only guess based on his artwork.

One thing's for sure, he was all about that bass.
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Summer Scene

1869
Frédéric Bazille, Summer Scene, 1869


 I’ve looked at this painting a lot of times, yet the hilarity of it never fails to amuse me. If you weren’t aware, or if the thought hadn’t already crossed your mind - Frederic Bazille was, most likely, gay.  What really gave it away for me was the blatant eroticism of a bunch of pale guys swimming together on a summer day. In a world dominated by female nudes and the male gaze, one could say Bazille’s Summer Scene was a breath of fresh air.

This painting is reminiscent of many bathing scenes (Manet, Cezanne, and Matisse) yet so different from all of them. The first difference: the men in Bazille’s painting aren’t naked. The act of bathing as ritual insists that participants must be fully unclothed in order to become clean. However, Bazille seems to have painted swimming trunks on his bathers almost like an afterthought. Perhaps he thought the Salon just wasn’t ready for casual male nudity yet, or perhaps he felt like the scene was just too suggestive. Bazille’s figures are appropriately covered, but the lack of nudity isn’t what gets me about this painting.

For me, the best (read: raunchiest) part of this painting is the poses of the men. The “sky’s out, thighs out” attitude of this painting makes it playful, yet beneath the playfulness is a seductive undertone. I’m sure you’ve noticed Mr. “Paint-Me-Like-One-Of-Your-French-Girls” in the center of the painting, carefully watching two strapping young men partake in a manly display of romping. And then there’s our friend leaning against the tree on the left, à la Calvin Klein advertisement. There’s something open, flamboyant and just fierce about these men. For now we can just enjoy the summer air on our bare backs and the cool water on our skin with these guys. 

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LGBT Artwork: The Improvised Field Hospital

Camille O'Leary
LGBT Artwork
From Lesbos to New York
Curated by Camille O'Leary

Frederic Bazille, The Improvised Field Hospital, 1865

Frederic Bazille had an unusual relationship with his much more famous contemporary Claude Monet. Bazille - also an Impressionist painter - was much more well off than his friend, and supported him financially, buying his paintings and providing canvases, paint, and other resources. However, Monet was undoubtedly the more skilled painter of the two, and generally took a dominant role as Bazille's mentor. At his suggestion, the two men took a trip to the small village of Chailly-en-Biere to hike and paint landscapes. Soon after Bazille arrived, though, Manet injured his leg. Bazille, a former medical student, rigged up a makeshift hospital bed for him in a local inn, with a counterweight to raise his leg and make him more comfortable. Bazille then painted this portrait of his mentor while he healed, an intimate work that documented their relationship.

Manet, domineering and confident in his own skills, can be seen here reduced to a position of dependence, chafing under the restriction of his freedom. After looking forward to the masculine pursuits of hiking and painting en plein air, he has been unceremoniously reduced to weakness. He stares at the viewer with a frustrated expression, looking curiously lost under the tangled bedsheets. The lines of the room bear down on him and trap him, crushingly heavy.

It's likely that this painting was far too personal to sell, especially since Monet was a well-known, recognizable figure. Monet painted many portraits of Bazille, and the Impressionists all often posed for each other when they couldn't afford models. However, this portrait is different; while we don't know exactly what the relationship between the two men was, they lived together for many years and had a close relationship. One detail in particular seems to sum up their relationship. The two sent a lengthy correspondence back and forth, and Bazille saved many, possibly all, of Monet's letters. And Monet? Monet saved none.

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