A 21st Century Olympia

In 1863, Manet exhibited his "Olympia" in Paris, and caused a scandal.  Instead of the coy, sentimentalized Venus figure of tradition, he chose to portray a contemporary flesh and blood woman, staring uncompromisingly out of the canvas at the viewer.

The modern museum-goer has long been inured to the realistic portrayal of the female nude, but still has a way to go with the nude male.


Here is my contribution to the evolution of the form.  The model stares out without apology or artifice; he is what he is.

Photography and Painting

When Manet's Olympia was shown in Paris it caused a sensation.  It depicted a successful courtesan in her boudoir, staring frankly and un-apologetically out of the frame. It was sexual liberation at its rawest, a hundred years before its time, and it shocked its audience to the core.


In recreating the picture, the main ingredient was this in-your-face sensuality.  I chose a model who had this quality naturally, and enhanced it in the direction of the pose.  


What you see is what you get.

The original:

"Olympia", Edouard Manet

Photography and Painting

At around the time I was experimenting with digital photography I had the idea of incorporating figures into the settings of some of my favorite paintings.  Many of them were female nudes, for which I began substituting male nudes.  Below is one of the first:

After Manet's "Luncheon on the Grass"

The model, Brandon, was posed to imitate the female figure in the original. Some of the drapery he is sitting on is real, the rest is painted.

Shot with an Olympus digital with one light source.

The original, by Edouard Manet