The subject
of October’s Art through Words was the portrait of Madame Moitessier by
Ingres. Sara Dibb led the session
assisted by Stephen Barrett.
In January, Sara
had drawn a perspective tactile diagram of Paris By Night by Pissarro and
repeated the idea with a tactile reproduction of the painting of Madame
Moitessier. This seemed to be a little
simpler and found total appreciation with all the visually impaired visitors
for whom such large scale tactile representations are a new experience. Some, like me, are familiar with the
thermoform representations which are smaller and require some familiarisation
with language of the senses in the artwork.
Tactile reproduction of Ingres's portrait of Madame Moitessier
Sara introduced
the painting with the reproduction and then introduced her tactile
version. Tracking the human body is
familiar enough but Sara’s tactile version neatly illustrates the odd
reflection in a mirror of the sitter. (I
was beginning to get the mirror touch or even mirror neurons references as a
witty remark but kept quiet.)
Ingres had
taken a long time to finish this picture and had run off another portrait in
between. The sitter has made an unusual
gesture with her right hand in jabbing her pointing finger into her head, thumb
hidden with remaining fingers pointing downwards. One of us suggested that Victoria Beckham
(Posh Spice) used this pose. I tried to
copy the gesture. She is abslument couvert de beaucoup de bling!
Following an
example of Empress Eugenie, the dress is of Lyons silk and has printed (not
embroidered) patterns. On the left there
is one of those oriental fans (table tennis bats) which I noted in the
paintings on show in the Impression Collection of Clark at the RA. (http://profwhitestick.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/royal-academy-from-paris-taste-for.html) The tactile diagram allowed us to follow the
detail of the picture and we were able to locate the expanded pieces with
references to “landmarks”
As well as
describing the picture, Sara also told us about its history and how it came
into the National Gallery by Sir Kenneth Clark (Civilisation) in 1936. There
is also an interesting story about the original frame for the picture which had
become separated and later reunited when on show in the National Gallery. The National Gallery is having a photographic
exhibition and a similar pose of someone in a Mary Quant outfit is positioned
next to the Ingres.
Our walk
through the gallery took us past the Turner Temeraire picture which I
recognised, though on the way back to the Sainsbury Wing I thought I could
detect a Cuyp landscape only for Stephen to say that it was by Claude. At least
I was in the right region with an Italianate landscape.
Sara had been
wearing a printed top much in the fashion of Madame Moitessier. I had been sitting next to Sara, but being
polite had not commented on it until Sara slipped it into the discussion around
the picture and photograph discussion.
Many thanks
to Sara for getting this tactile diagram prepared for us and to Stephen for
assisting us through the busy galleries.
Postscript:
There are
continued possibilities to study this picture in the comfort of one’s
home. A photo has been taken of the
tactile diagram of the picture with the reproduction of the Ingres
portrait. I can be noted touching the
reflection of the cheek of Madame.
Reflections on the cheek of Madame Moitessier
