LA TECNOLOGÍA EXTENDIDA

by Virginia Catherall

the nude artform?

• If this figure were clothed, how would it change the meaning of the sculpture?

• How would the sculpture read if the figure were a nude male?

After the discussion, go to the activity below to reinforce the idea of nudity in art as symbolic.

Background information from the Springville Museum of Art (www.sma.nebo.edu)

Avard Tennyson Fairbanks (1897-1987) Payson/

Salt Lake City, Utah

Avard T. Fairbanks was born in 1897, in Provo, Utah. His initial instruction in art came from his father, John B. Fairbanks, who was an art teacher at Brigham Young Academy and also from his brother, J. Leo, who was a painter. Avard’s first sculpture, a rabbit in clay, was done when he was 12. The sculpture won first prize at the 1909 Utah State Fair, but the judge refused to give Fairbanks the medal because he said the contest was for pro-fessionals, not for boys.

His family decided Avard should go to New York to study, where his father was making private sale copies of the masterpieces at the Metropolitan Museum. The curator at the museum gave reluc-tant permission for Avard to make copies because he was so young (13). After seeing the quality of Fairbanks’ work, the curator apologized. After an article about him appeared in the New York Herald, calling him the “Young Michaelangelo of this mod-ern day,” he was allowed to model animals at the Bronx Zoological Gardens. A scholarship to study at the Arts Students League with James Earl Fraser soon followed. During this time, Fairbanks came to know several notable sculptors who gave him advice and critiqued his work.

He returned to Utah after a year and a half in New York because he wanted to study abroad. Avard created the sculpture Buffalo when he was 15, plan-ning to pay for his travels by sales of the sculpture, but enough funds came from sales resulting from attention garnered by a lion sculpture he made of butter for a creamery exhibit at the Utah State Fair.

While in France in 1914, he became the youngest artist to be admitted to the French Salon: he was

17. However, his studies in Paris were cut short by the start of World War I, so he returned to Utah where he finished high school and continued mod-eling in clay.

His first major commission was with his brother, J. Leo, to work on the statuary and friezes of the LDS Hawaii Temple. In 1918, he attended the University of Utah. Then, at the end of World War I, he was commissioned to do a war memorial called Victorious American Doughboy for the state of Idaho. This commission led to other commis-sions and to a teaching position at the University of Oregon. Among his other commissions were the Ninety-first Division Monument, Pioneer Family, Pony Express, and four marble busts of Abraham Lincoln.

In 1925, he earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Yale and was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship to study art in Rome and Florence the following year.

His Mother and Child was sculpted during this period. He became a member of the faculty at the University of Michigan’s Institute of Fine Arts in 1929 and while there, earned a Master of Fine Arts and also a Ph.D. in anatomical science.

Fairbanks always spent time researching his intend-ed subjects to find background information that allowed him to include accurate details. For exam-ple, Fairbanks studied historical details of Lincoln’s life as well as the president’s life mask in order to portray him accurately. The anatomical studies he had done in college helped him make his figures very accurate.

In 1947, he returned to Salt Lake City with his family and was appointed Dean at the University of Utah where he was given the responsibility of

organizing a college of Fine Arts. Considered an innovative and effective teacher, Fairbanks was, nevertheless, an “arch-conservative” artist. That conservatism resulted in departmental conflict as modernist teachers were hired but also resulted in a new generation of academically trained real-ist sculptors. Among Fairbanks’ most successful students were Ed Fraughton, Justin Fairbanks (his son), Alice Morrey Bailey, Grant Speed, and Clark Bronson.

Retiring as Dean of the College of Fine Arts in 1955, Fairbanks taught for another ten years. He continued to produce sculpture and to criticize modern abstractionism until he died at age 90 in 1987.

Avard Fairbanks believed art should be simple and understandable, not only to the educated and technically trained, but also to children and the untutored. He believed art should be uplifting and represent the finer qualities of life to all men and women. He received numerous important commis-sions and honors throughout his career.

In addition to his religious sculptures, small and large bronzes, marble carvings, medals, and relief panels, Fairbanks created hood ornaments for Chrysler Motor Co. He had been asked to design a hood ornament for the Plymouth, and had designed a mermaid, which was approved. After approval of his mermaid design, Fairbanks was asked to design an ornament for the Dodge car. The design he came up with was a ram. When management from Chrysler came to see the design, they asked Fairbanks what a ram had to do with Dodge.

Fairbanks replied that a ram was sure-footed, king of the trail and won’t be challenged by anything.

Then, humorously, he added, that if you were on a trail and a ram was charging you, you’d think

“dodge!” He got the commission.

Activity:

Divide the class into four groups. Have two groups choose Shauna Cook Clinger’s painting Prayers and two groups choose Nnamdi Okonkwo’s sculp-ture Repentant Magdalene. Have each group take a side as whether the nude figure adds to the symbol-ic meaning of the artwork or if the meaning could

be conveyed without a nude figure; then debate.

Some questions to think about:

Prayers:

• Does knowing that the Clinger painting is a self-portrait add to the symbolism?

• What impact do the fully clothed figures in contrast tot he nude have on the symbolism of the painting?

• Look closely at the body positions of the fig-ures in the painting. Do they have a role in the meaning of the painting?

Repentant Magdalene:

• What is the Christian Biblical story behind this sculpture? (look up Mary Magdalene on the internet for the story).

• Why would Okonkwo depict her nude?

• How does her pose add to the symbolism of the sculpture?

• How would the symbolism and impact of the piece change if there were color added to the bronze?

Have the class vote on who won each debate and why.

Background information from the Springville Museum of Art (www.sma.nebo.edu)

Shauna Cook Clinger (1954- ) Salt Lake City, Utah Shauna Cook Clinger was born on July 7, 1954, in Salt Lake City, Utah. She began her artistic train-ing under Harold Peterson. She was awarded a four-year Presidential Scholarship at the University of Utah, and while there, she studied under Doug Snow and Alvin Gittins. She graduated Magna Cum Laude in 1976. After graduation from the univer-sity, Clinger continued her studies with William Whitaker at Brigham Young University from 1978-1979.

Clinger has had many one-woman shows and group showings. One such show was at the Kimball Art Center in Park City, Utah. The show was titled,

“Seven Realists.” Her works also can be seen at the University of Utah Medical Center and at Utah State University. She has won awards for her paint-ings such as “Best of Show” at the Utah State Fair.

And, in the Fall of 1992, one of her paintings was shown at the National Museum for Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C.

Her work is described as having a sense of

“strength, sensitivity and quiet dignity.” Clinger has much experience as a portrait artist, and she focuses on and pays “attention to the human form.” Her paintings also have the characteristic of “vibrant color” and demonstrate her proficiency with oils.

Clinger’s first love is the human form. She believes the body is an embodiment of the spirit. In her work entitled The Prayers, Clinger’s theme is transformation. The person portrayed in this work is Clinger herself. She is undergoing transforma-tion, both literally and metaphorically, as seen in the four panels, or stages, of the work. Prayer, for Clinger, is a personal thing and a way an individual can express his or her hopes and desires. Clinger’s desire with this painting, as well as with all her works of art, is to be able to speak to all viewers on different levels. In fact, Clinger believes art is a

“mirror,” and in looking at a work, viewers should be able to learn something about themselves.

Nnamdi Okonkwo (1965- ) Orem, Utah Nnamdi Okonkwo

was born in Eastern Nigeria in 1965. He is the first of three sons and currently reside in Orem, Utah with his wife Deidra, son Jacob, and daughter Nkechi.

The rest of his fam-ily is still in Nigeria . As far back as

Okonkwo can remember he has always been drawn to art, especially drawing. It wasn’t until he was about 17 years of age that he realized that his artis-tic sensibilities were best expressed in the three dimensional art of sculpture. Around this same time he was introduced to basketball, which suited him well as he am six feet nine inches tall. Later, after obtaining a Higher National Diploma (equivalent to a Bachelor Degree) in painting in Nigeria,

bas-ketball became the avenue for him to come to the United States . He was recruited by BYU-Hawaii where he played from 1989-1993, and graduated with a BFA in Sculpture.

Immediately after that, he enrolled in the graduate program at BYU-Provo where he received an MFA degree in sculpture in 1997. While going to school in Provo, he met and married his wife, Deidra, who is from Idaho and graduated in 1996 with a Master of Accountancy. He now works full time out of his studio in Orem.

Assessment:

Have the students write a synopsis of their own opinion about the debate and whether their opinion changed or stayed the same after the debate. This not only helps assess whether the students took part in the activity and understood the learning goals, but it also allows the student to express his or her own opinion regardless of what side they took in the debate.

Extension:

You can extend the lesson to talk about how nudes in art are not only symbolic, they can be used to tell a story. Below are three images that use nudes to tell a story. All the stories are Christian in nature and can be looked up on the internet.

Other art that uses nudes to tell a story:

Trevor Southey, Eden Farm (1976) Trevor Southey, Pieta (1983) Mahonri Young, Adam

Sources:

Blair, Lorrie, “Strategies for Dealing with Censorship.” Art Education, September 1996 Braithwaite, Arlene, “The Rodin Show Reflects a Male Gaze.” Letter to the editor, University Journal, Southern Utah University, November 7, 1997.

Campbell, Rebecca, “Controversy in Education:

A Case in Point.” Utah Museum Association, 1997.

Cannon, Ann, “‘Nude’ and ‘Naked’: The Difference is More than Skin Deep.” Deseret News,

November 2, 1997.

Clark, Kenneth, The Nude, a Study in Ideal Form, Doubleday Anchor Books, 1972

Cole, Kelleigh and Kristen Sonne, “200 BYU Students Protest.” The Daily Universe, Brigham Young University, October 31, 1997.

Duncan, Carol, “Virility and Domination in Early Twentieth-Century Vanguard Painting,”

Feminism and Art History: Questioning the Litany, Harper & Row, 1982.

Fehr, Dennis Earl, Dogs Playing Cards:

Powerborkers of Prejudice in Education, Art and Culture. Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., 1993.

Garrard, Mary D., “Artemisia and Susanna,”

Feminism and Art History: Questioning the Litany, Harper & Row, 1982

Nicholson, Claudia J., “Teaching in the Curatorial Wake.” The Docent Educator, Spring 1997.

Nochlin, Linda, “Eroticism and Female Imagery in Nineteenth-Century Art,” Women, Art, and Power, and Other Essays, Harper & Row, 1988 O’Brien, Joan, “Still Moving the Nudes.” Salt Lake Tribune, October 17, 1997

Potempa, Ann, “Finding Art in the Nude Form.”

The Daily Herald, November 21, 1997.

Ross, Aden, “A Brief History of Nudity in

Utah.” Lecture given at the Salt Lake Art Center, November 6, 1997

South, Will, Making Waves: Controversial Art in Utah Exhibition Catalog, Salt Lake Art Center, Salt Lake City, UT

South, Will, “Nudity versus Lewdity - The Denuded Figure in Art.” The Arts Magazine, June 1993.

Trevor Southey, Pieta (1983) SMA

The Human Figure