In the 1980s, two Soviet artists-in-exile, Vitaly Komar and Alexander Melamid, painted the head of Josef Stalin, freed from its body and perched on a woman's hand. Judith on the Red Square was just the latest take on another historical moment that may also never have happened. Consider Komar and Melamid's version together with those below, then discuss with your team: what story inspired them, and how do their styles and meanings vary? Is there a difference between showing the act of the beheading and just its aftermath? And, if, as critics argue, they celebrate the trope of "female rage", should we still be studying any of them?
- The Book of Judith is a deuterocanonical book in the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, and it tells the story of Judith, a Jewish heroine who saved her people from the Assyrian oppressor Holofernes by beheading him. The story has been a beloved subject in art history, with many artists depicting the titular heroine choreographically decapitating the Assyrian general Holofernes. The book is believed to have been written in the late Hellenistic period, likely in the 2nd century BCE, and it is considered to be one of the earliest works of Jewish prose literature. The biblical Book of Judith contains stories of female saviors like Judith and Jael, who represent the underdog able to vanquish the oppressor.
- Judith's character is unique in that she combines piety, traditional womanly virtues, and strength . This has made the story of her beheading of Holofernes a fundamental narrative for artists exploring power dynamics and gender identity. Consequently, there is a rich array of artworks depicting Judith, which mainly fall into two categories: the femme forte (the strong and/or virtuous woman) and the femme fatale (the sexually dangerous woman).
- Well yes! female rage should be celebrated and studied. It stems from a variety of sources, including experiences of oppression, injustice, and discrimination. Female rage can manifest in a variety of ways, including verbal outbursts, activism, and creative expression. It is often seen as a form of resistance against societal expectations and inequalities that disproportionately affect women. Here’s 2 sources where you can understand about the female rage, in art and in media. A Brief History of Female Rage in Art also a fav Female Rage - YouTube.
**Judith Beheading Holofernes | Caravaggio**
- During the Baroque era, Judith beheading Holofernes became an opportunity for painters to indulge in gore; in works from this period, Judith appears as more of a violent assassin than a virtuous woman or seductress. In 1599, Caravaggio, for instance, painted an explicit depiction of the very moment Judith cuts Holofernes’s throat, his face looking up in disbelief as his body still struggles. Caravaggio’s Judith, who is young and blonde, looks almost awkward as she decapitates the Assyrian general.
**Judith Slaying Holofernes | Artemisia Gentileschi**
- The most well-known one out of all the paintings. Artemisia Gentileschi—the first woman to enter Florence’s Accademia delle Arti del Disegno—favored Judith, as well, and her treatment of the character (there are two known versions of the beheading of Holofernes, both with similar compositions, from 1612 and 1620) has been interpreted by historians to convey the artist’s female rage, both as a rape victim and as a woman in a male-dominated field. The paintings convey the physical exertion experienced by the three characters, and, in contrast to Caravaggio’s, show Judith unafraid of the task at hand. (For an extended knowledge on her painting Artemisia Gentileschi, Judith Slaying Holofernes (article) | Khan Academy)
**Judith and the Head of Holofernes | Gustav Klimt**
- Gustav Klimt’s 1901 version of Judith (which was mischaracterized as Salome for years, even though the frame distinctly bears the title Judith und Holofernes) ignores the once-prevailing heroic narrative to picture her mostly exposed, cradling Holofernes’s head in an expression of post-coital bliss. Here, Holofernes, whose head is cut out of the frame, is not the victim of a female warrior, but of a sheer seductress.
**Judith and Holofernes | Pedro Americo**
**Judith and Holofernes | Kehinde Wiley**
- In 2012, American artist Kehinde Wiley realized a more contemporary interpretation of the tale, depicting Judith as a black woman in a Givenchy gown. Holofernes’s severed head is here a white woman, a symbol of the need to vanquish white supremacy.
(i recommend comparing the artworks than its description it was based one, sorry pedro americo is kind of a nugu artist)
He could be a Super Junior (like the kpop band???)—in 2022, the 10-year-old Andres Valencia painted Invasion of Ukraine, a work modeled on Pablo Picasso's 1937 Cubist classic Guernica. Where Picasso portrayed, in fractured screams, the German bombing of a small Basque town, Valencia saw a chance to critique the similar horror of Russia's recent aggression. Examine both works and those below, then discuss with your team: how does each vary from the original, and to what end? Have any other artists created new works about Guernica based on the actual attack, rather than on Picasso's painting? Should Valencia have tried to find a more original approach, or was it a good choice to make his work a homage to an established masterpiece? And, would Valencia's painting be seen differently if he were an adult—or Ukrainian?
**Backyard Guernica and Saskatoon Guernica | Adad Hannah**
- “I began to pull together the people and materials to remake at full scale Picasso’s protest painting in a backyard in the American south. . . I decided to use the materials of protest signs: cardboard, foam, wood, and house paint and to build it quickly and with urgency. As we worked on the project, friends and families came by to see what we were doing, and it is through this network of people that we found the 20 participants who held the individual pieces of Backyard Guernica while we shot the video. The same meditative restraint that I have used for many years in my artworks bridges the gap between a motionless painting and the movement and sound of an actual protest.”
- Adad Hannah's installation is a nearly life-sized recreation of Picasso's painting Guernica. While Picasso's painting depicts the shattered aftermath of a bombing, Hannah's version is made using the everyday materials that are so common in our lives. This allows the viewer to see clearly how the work was put together, and highlights the fragility of our world. The installation is a powerful commentary on the effects of violence and war, and it invites the viewer to consider the impact of these events on our lives.