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Eroticism (from the Greek ἔρως, eros—"desire") is generally understood to refer to a state of sexual arousal or anticipation of such – an insistent sexual impulse, desire,^[1] or pattern of thoughts, as well as a philosophical contemplation concerning the aesthetics of sexual desire, sensuality and romantic love. In her introduction to the women's erotic fiction anthology Totally Heterotica, erotic artist and lesbian theorist Susie Bright states: "The very word 'erotic' implies superior value, fine art, an aesthetic which elevates the mind and incidentally stimulates the body".^[2] As French novelist Honore de Balzac pointed out, eroticism is dependent not just upon an individual's sexual morality,^[3] but the culture^[4] and time^[5] that individual resides in as well.

Defining eroticism[link]

Because the nature of what is erotic is fluid,^[6] early definitions of the term attempted to conceive eroticism as some form of sensual or romantic love or as the human sex drive (libido); for example, the Encyclopédie of 1755 states that the erotic "is an epithet which is applied to everything with a connection to the love of the sexes; one employs it particularly to characterize...a dissoluteness, an excess".^[7] However, because eroticism is wholly dependent on the viewer's culture and personal tastes pertaining to what, exactly, defines the erotic,^[8][9] critics have often confused eroticism with pornography, going so far as to say: "[Eroticism] is simply high-class pornography; better produced, better conceived, better executed, better packaged, designed for a better class of consumer."^[10] This confusion, as Lynn Hunt writes, "demonstrate the difficulty of drawing...a clear generic demarcation between the erotic and the pornographic": indeed arguably "the history of the separation of pornography from eroticism...remains to be written".^[11]

Psychoanalytical approach[link]

For a psychoanalytical definition, as early as Freud^[12] psychotherapists have turned to the ancient Greek philosophy's "overturning of mythology"^{[citation needed]} as a definition to understanding of the heightened aesthetic.^[13] For Plato, Eros takes an almost transcendent manifestation when the subject seeks to go beyond itself and form a communion with the objectival other: "the true order of going...to the things of love, is to use the beauties of earth as steps...to all fair forms, and from fair forms to fair actions, and from fair actions to fair notions, until from fair notions he arrives at the notion of absolute beauty".^[14]

Approach in French philosophy[link]

Modern French conceptions of eroticism can be traced to The Enlightenment,^[15] when "in the eighteenth century, dictionaries defined the erotic as that which concerned love...eroticism was the intrusion into the public sphere of something that was at base private".^[16] This theme of intrusion or transgression was taken up in the twentieth century by the French philosopher Georges Bataille, who argued that eroticism performs a function of dissolving boundaries between human subjectivity and humanity, a transgression that dissolves the rational world but is always temporary,^[17] as well as that, "Desire in eroticism is the desire that triumphs over the taboo. It presupposes man in conflict with himself".^[18] For Bataille, as well as many French theorists, "Eroticism, unlike simple sexual activity, is a psychological quest...eroticism is assenting to life even in death".^[19]

Beyond heterosexuality[link]

Queer theory and LGBT studies takes the concept one step further, viewing psychoanalytical and modernist views of eroticism as both archaic^[20] and heterosexist,^[21] written primarily by and for a "handful of elite, heterosexual, bourgeois men"^[22] who "mistook their own repressed sexual proclivities"^[23] as the norm.^[24]

Theorists like Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick,^[25] Gayle S. Rubin^[26] and Marilyn Frye^[27] all write extensively about eroticism from a heterosexist, lesbian and separatist point of view, respectively, seeing Eroticism as a both a political force^[28] and cultural critique^[29] for marginalized groups, or as Mario Vargas Llosa summarized: "Eroticism has its own moral justification because it says that pleasure is enough for me; it is a statement of the individual's sovereignty".^[30]

See also[link]

References[link]

Marina Abramović
Abramović performing The Artist is Present, MoMA, May 2010
Born	(1946-11-30) November 30, 1946 (age 65) Belgrade, PR Serbia, FPR Yugoslavia
Field	Performance Art
Training	Academy of Fine Arts, Belgrade Academy of Fine Arts, Zagreb
Movement	Conceptual art
Works	Rhythm Series (1973–1974) Works with Ulay (1976–1988) Balkan Baroque (1997) The Artist is Present (2010)

Marina Abramović (Serbian Cyrillic: Марина Абрамовић; born November 30, 1946) is a Belgrade-born New York-based Serbian performance artist who began her career in the early 1970s. Active for over three decades, she has recently begun to describe herself as the "grandmother of performance art". Abramović's work explores the relationship between performer and audience, the limits of the body, and the possibilities of the mind.

Early life[link]

Marina Abramović's great uncle was Patriarch Varnava of the Serbian Orthodox Church.^[1] Both of her parents were Partisans^[2] during the Second World War: her father Vojo was a commander who was acclaimed as a national hero after the War; her mother Danica was a major in the army, and in the mid-sixties was Director of the Museum of the Revolution and Art in Belgrade.

Abramović's father left the family in 1964. In an interview published in 1998, she described how her "mother took complete military-style control of me and my brother. I was not allowed to leave the house after 10 o'clock at night till I was 29 years old. ... [A]ll the performances in Yugoslavia I did before 10 o'clock in the evening because I had to be home then. It's completely insane, but all of my cutting myself, whipping myself, burning myself, almost losing my life in the firestar, everything was done before 10 in the evening."^[3]

Abramović was a student at the Academy of Fine Arts in Belgrade from 1965–70. She completed her post-graduate studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, SR Croatia in 1972. From 1973 to 1975, she taught at the Academy of Fine Arts at Novi Sad, while implementing her first solo performances.

From 1971 to 1976, she was married to Neša Paripović. In 1976, Abramović left Yugoslavia and moved to Amsterdam.

Selected early works[link]

[edit] Rhythm 10, 1973

In her first performance Abramović explored elements of ritual and gesture. Making use of twenty knives and two tape recorders, the artist played the Russian game in which rhythmic knife jabs are aimed between the splayed fingers of her hand. Each time she cut herself, she would pick up a new knife from the row of twenty she had set up, and record the operation.

After cutting herself twenty times, she replayed the tape, listened to the sounds, and tried to repeat the same movements, attempting to replicate the mistakes, merging together past and present. She set out to explore the physical and mental limitations of the body – the pain and the sounds of the stabbing, the double sounds from the history and from the replication. With this piece, Abramović began to consider the state of consciousness of the performer. “Once you enter into the performance state you can push your body to do things you absolutely could never normally do.”^[4]

[edit] Rhythm 5, 1974

Abramović sought to re-evoke the energy of extreme body pain, in this case using a large petroleum-drenched star, which the artist lit on fire at the start of the performance. Standing outside the star, Abramović cut her nails, toenails, and hair. When finished with each, she threw the clippings into the flames, creating a burst of light each time. Burning the communist five-pointed star represented a physical and mental purification, while addressing the political traditions of her past.

In the final act of purification, Abramović leapt across the flames, propelling herself into the center of the large star. Due to the light and smoke given off by the fire, the observing audience didn't realize that, once inside the star, the artist had lost consciousness from lack of oxygen. Some members of the audience realized what had occurred only when the flames came very near to her body and she remained inert. A doctor and several members of the audience intervened and extricated her from the star.

Abramović later commented upon this experience: “I was very angry because I understood there is a physical limit: when you lose consciousness you can’t be present; you can’t perform.”^[5]

[edit] Rhythm 2, 1974

As an experiment testing whether a state of unconsciousness could be incorporated into a performance, Abramović devised a performance in two parts.

In the first part, she took a pill prescribed for catatonia, a condition in which a person’s muscles are immobilized and remain in a single position for hours at a time. Being completely healthy, Abramović's body reacted violently to the drug, experiencing seizures and uncontrollable movements for the first half of the performance. While lacking any control over her body movements, her mind was lucid, and she observed what was occurring.

Ten minutes after the effects of that drug had worn off, Abramović ingested another pill – this time one prescribed for aggressive and depressed people – which resulted in general immobility. Bodily she was present, yet mentally she was completely removed. (In fact, she has no memory of the lapsed time.) This project was an early component of her explorations of the connections between body and mind, which later took her to Tibet and the Australian desert. Following Rhythm 2, she set to develop the rest of the series of rhythm projects, continually testing her endurance.

[edit] Rhythm 0, 1974

To test the limits of the relationship between performer and audience, Abramović developed one of her most challenging (and best-known) performances. She assigned a passive role to herself, with the public being the force which would act on her.

Abramović had placed upon a table 72 objects that people were allowed to use (a sign informed them) in any way that they chose. Some of these were objects that could give pleasure, while others could be wielded to inflict pain, or to harm her. Among them were a rose, a feather, honey, a whip, scissors, a scalpel, a gun and a single bullet. For six hours the artist allowed the audience members to manipulate her body and actions.

Initially, members of the audience reacted with caution and modesty, but as time passed (and the artist remained impassive) people began to act more aggressively. As Abramović described it later:

“What I learned was that... if you leave it up to the audience, they can kill you.” ... “I felt really violated: they cut up my clothes, stuck rose thorns in my stomach, one person aimed the gun at my head, and another took it away. It created an aggressive atmosphere. After exactly 6 hours, as planned, I stood up and started walking toward the audience. Everyone ran away, to escape an actual confrontation.”^[6]

Works with Ulay (Uwe Laysiepen)[link]

In 1976, after moving to Amsterdam, Abramović met the West German performance artist Uwe Laysiepen, who went by the single name Ulay. They have the same birthday, in different years.

When Abramović and Ulay began their collaboration, the main concepts they explored were the ego and artistic identity. This was the beginning of a decade of influential collaborative work. Each performer was interested in the traditions of their cultural heritages and the individual’s desire for ritual. Consequently, they decided to form a collective being called “the other”, and spoke of themselves as parts of a “two-headed body”.^[7] They dressed and behaved like twins, and created a relationship of complete trust. As they defined this phantom identity, their individual identities became less accessible. In an analysis of phantom artistic identities, Charles Green has noted that this allowed a deeper understanding of the artist as performer, for it revealed a way of “having the artistic self made available for self-scrutiny.”^[8]

While some critics have explored the idea of a hermaphroditic state of being as a feminist statement, Abramović herself denies considering this as a conscious concept. Her body studies, she insists, have always been concerned primarily with the body as the unit of an individual, a tendency she traces to her parents' military pasts. Rather than concern themselves with gender ideologies, Abramović/Ulay explored extreme states of consciousness and their relationship to architectural space. They devised a series of works in which their bodies created additional spaces for audience interaction. In "Relation in Space" (1976) they ran around the room – two bodies like two planets, mixing male and female energy into a third component called “that self.” "Relation in Movement" had the pair drive their car inside of a museum for 365 laps; a black liquid oozed from the car, forming a kind of sculpture, each lap representing a year. (After 365 laps they entered the New Millennium.)

In discussing this phase of her performance history, Abramović has said: “The main problem in this relationship was what to do with the two artists’ egos. I had to find out how to put my ego down, as did he, to create something like a hermaphroditic state of being that we called the death self.”^[9]

To create this “Death self,” the two performers devised a piece in which they connected their mouths and took in each other’s exhaled breaths until they had used up all of the available oxygen. Seventeen minutes after the beginning of the performance they both fell to the floor unconscious, their lungs having filled with carbon dioxide. This personal piece explored the idea of an individual's ability to absorb the life of another person, exchanging and destroying it.

In Imponderabilia (1977, reenacted in 2010) two performers, both completely nude, stand in a doorway. The public must squeeze between them in order to pass, and in doing so choose which one of them to face.

In 1988, after several years of tense relations, Abramović and Ulay decided to make a spiritual journey which would end their relationship. Each of them walked the Great Wall of China, starting from the two opposite ends and meeting in the middle. As Abramović described it: “That walk became a complete personal drama. Ulay started from the Gobi desert and I from the Yellow Sea. After each of us walked 2500 km, we met in the middle and said good-bye.”^[10]

Abramović conceived this walk in a dream, and it provided what she thought was an appropriate, romantic ending to a relationship full of mysticism, energy and attraction. She later described the process: “We needed a certain form of ending, after this huge distance walking towards each other. It is very human. It is in a way more dramatic, more like a film ending … Because in the end you are really alone, whatever you do.”^[10]

Abramović reported that during her walk she was reinterpreting her connection to the physical world and to nature. She felt that the metals in the ground influenced her mood and state of being; she also pondered the Chinese myths in which the great wall has been described as a “dragon of energy.”

[edit] Seven Easy Pieces, November 2005

Abramović performing Bruce Nauman's "Body Pressure." Guggenheim Museum, November 2005.

Beginning on November 9, 2005, Abramović presented Seven Easy Pieces at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. On seven consecutive nights for seven hours she recreated the works of five artists first performed in the 60s and 70s, in addition to re-performing her own "Lips of Thomas" and introducing a new performance on the last night. The performances were arduous, requiring both the physical and the mental concentration of the artist. Included in Abramović's performances were recreations of Gina Pane's Self-Portraits, which required lying on a bed frame suspended over a grid of lit candles, and of Vito Acconci's 1972 performance in which the artist masturbated under the floorboards of a gallery as visitors walked overhead. It is argued that Abramović re-performed these works as a series of homages to the past, though many of the performances were altered from their originals.^[11]

Here is a full list of the works performed:

• Bruce Nauman's Body Pressure (1974)
• Vito Acconci's Seedbed (1972)
• Valie Export's Action Pants: Genital Panic (1969)
• Gina Pane's The Conditioning (1973)
• Joseph Beuys's How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare (1965)
• Abramović's own Lips of Thomas (1975)
• Abramović's own Entering the Other Side (2005)

[edit] The Artist Is Present, March–May 2010

Abramović performing in "The Artist is Present" at the Museum of Modern Art, March 2010.

From March 14 to May 31, 2010, the Museum of Modern Art held a major retrospective and performance recreation of Abramović's work, the biggest exhibition of performance art in MoMA's history.^[12] During the run of the exhibition, Abramović performed "The Artist is Present," a 736-hour and 30-minute static, silent piece, in which she sat immobile in the museum's atrium, while spectators were invited to take turns sitting opposite her.^[13] A support group for the "sitters", "Sitting with Marina", was established on Facebook^[14] as was the blog "Marina Abramović made me cry".^[15] In September 2011, a video game version of Abramović's performance was released by Pippin Barr.^[16]

Later life[link]

Marina Abramović purchased a theater two hours north of Manhattan in Hudson, NY, intending to establish a nonprofit organization, Marina Abramović Foundation for the Preservation of Performance Art. She will use the space to work and develop ideas with video and post-production equipment and there will be a second property to house resident artists.^[17]

In 2009, Abramović was featured in Chiara Clemente's documentary Our City Dreams and a book of the same name. The five featured artists – also including Swoon, Ghada Amer, Kiki Smith, and Nancy Spero – "each possess a passion for making work that is inseparable from their devotion to New York," according to the publisher.^[18]

Abramović is also the subject of an independent feature documentary movie currently titled "MARINA" that is based on her life and performance at her retrospective "The Artist is Present" at the Museum of Modern Art in 2010. The film will be broadcast in the United States on HBO.^[19]

In January 2011, Abramović was on the cover of Serbian ELLE, photographed by Dushan Reljin.

Prizes and awards[link]

• Golden Lion Award, XLVII Venice Biennale, 1997
• Niedersächsischer Kunstpreis, 2003
• New York Dance and Performance Awards (The Bessies), 2003
• International Association of Art Critics, Best Show in a Commercial Gallery Award, 2003
• Honorary Doctorate of Arts, University of Plymouth UK, 25 September 2009
• Cultural Leadership Award, American Federation of Arts, 26 October 2011
• Honorary Doctorate of Arts, Instituto Superior de Arte, Cuba, 14 May 2012

See also[link]

• Avant-garde
• Experimental theatre
• Fluxus
• Richard Foreman
• Happening
• Dick Higgins
• Intermedia
• Allan Kaprow
• Elizabeth LeCompte
• Ontological-Hysteric Theater
• Performance art
• Richard Schechner
• Speculations: An Essay on the Theater
• The Flea Theater
• The Wooster Group
• Mac Wellman

Bibliography[link]

Works by Abramović and collaborators[link]

• Artist Body: Performances 1969–1998, artist, Abramović; authors Abramović, Toni Stooss, Thomas McEvilley, Bojana Pejic, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Chrissie Iles, Jan Avgikos, Thomas Wulffen, Velimir Abramović; English ed. (Charta, 1998) ISBN 978-88-8158-175-7.
• The Bridge / El Puente, artist Abramović, authors Abramović, Pablo J. Rico, Thomas Wulffen (Charta, 1998) ISBN 978-84-482-1857-7.
• Performing Body, artist Abramović, authors Abramović, Dobrila Denegri (Charta, 1998) ISBN 978-88-8158-160-3.
• Balkan Baroque, (Pierre Coulibeuf, 1999)
• Public Body: Installations and Objects 1965–2001, artist Abramović, authors Celant, Germano, Abramović (Charta, 2001) ISBN 978-88-8158-295-2.
• Marina Abramović, fifteen artists, Fondazione Ratti; co-authors Abramović, Anna Daneri, Giacinto Di Pietrantonio, Lóránd Hegyi, Societas Raffaello Sanzio, Angela Vettese (Charta, 2002) ISBN 978-88-8158-365-2.
• Student Body, artist Abramović, vari; authors Abramović, Miguel Fernandez-Cid, studenti; (Charta, 2002) ISBN 978-88-8158-449-9.
• The House with the Ocean View, artist Abramović; authors Abramović, Sean Kelly, Thomas McEvilley, Cindy Carr, Chrissie Iles, RosaLee Goldberg, Peggy Phelan (Charta, 2004) ISBN 978-88-8158-436-9; the 2002 piece of the same name, in which Abramović lived on three open platforms in a gallery with only water for 12 days, was reenacted in Sex and the City in the HBO series' sixth season.^[20]
• Marina Abramović: The Biography of Biographies, artist Abramović; co-authors Abramović, Michael Laub, Monique Veaute, Fabrizio Grifasi (Charta, 2004) ISBN 978-88-8158-495-6.
• Balkan Epic, (Skira, 2006).
• Balkan Erotic Epic, as producer and director, Destricted (Offhollywood Digital, 2006)
• Seven Easy Pieces, artist, Abramović; authors Nancy Spector, Erika Fischer-Lichte, Sandra Umathum, Abramović; (Charta, 2007). ISBN 978-88-8158-626-4.

Critical and academic studies[link]

• Laurie Anderson, “Marina Abramović,” Bomb Summer 2003: 25–31.
• Patrick Anderson, "How to Stage Self-Consumption," So Much Wasted: Hunger, Performance, and the Morbidity of Resistance. Durham: Duke University Press, 2010. pp. 85–109.
• Klaus Biesenbach (ed.), Marina Abramović: The Artist Is Present, Exhibition Catalog with essays by Klaus Biesenbach, Arthur C. Danto, Chrissie Iles, Nancy Spector, and Jovana Stokić, Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2010
• Aline Brandauer,. "Marina Abramović: Double Blind." Sculpture, July/August 1995, pp. 23–27.
• A Daneri, et al., (eds.), Marina Abramović, (Charta, 2002)
• Jovan Despotovic, Marina Abramović, ’Fin de siecle’ – Balkans way, Borba, Belgrade, September 6–7, 1997, p. 17
• Jennifer Fisher, “Interperformance: The Live Tableaux of Suzanne Lacy, Janine Antoni, and Marina Abramović,” Art Journal 56 (1997): 28–33.
• Charles Green, “Doppelgangers and the Third Force: The Artistic Collaborations of Gilbert & George and Marina Abramović/Ulay,” Art Journal 59.2: 36–45.
• Shogo Hagiwara, “Art Hurts: Blood and Pain are Abramović’s Media,” The Daily Yomiuri April 1, 2004 p18.
• Janet Kaplan, “Deeper and Deeper: Interview with Marina Abramović,” Art Journal 58:2 (1999):6–19.
• Zoe Kosmidou, “A Conversation with Marina Abramović,” Sculpture Nov. 2001: 27–31.
• Tom Lubbock, “Visual Arts: Caught In the Act; It’s Video But Not As We Know It,” The Independent September 2, 2003.
• Thomas McEvilley, “Performing the Present Tense,” Art in America April 2003: 114–117; 153.
• Thomas McEvilley, "Art, Love, Friendship: Marina Abramović and Ulay, Together & Apart," book, Documentext (McPherson & Company), 2010.
• Asami Nagai, “Art in Harmony with Nature,” The Daily Yomiuri July 24, 2003, p. 13.
• Anna Novakov, “Point of Access: Marina Abramović’s 1975 Performance Role Exchange,” Woman’s Art Journal Fall 2003/Winter 2004: 31–35.
• Jennifer Phipps, “Marina Abramović/Ulay/Ulay/Marina Abramović,” Art & Text 3 (1981).
• Theresa Smalec, “Not What It Seems: The Politics of Re-Performing Vito Acconci's Seedbed,” PMC: Postmodern Culture 17 (1) 2006^[21]
• “Writing Art,” Art Monthly 1999 230:13–17.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiversity has learning materials about Performance art

• Marina Abramović: The Artist is Present at MoMA
• Artfacts.Net profile with major exhibitions and public collections.
• Coulibeuf, Pierre. Balkan Baroque 1999 (video). "The autobiography, both real and imaginary, of Marina Abramović...."
• Interview with Bernard Goy for Journal of Contemporary Art, June 1990
• Marina Abramović, The Hero (for Antonio) – 2001. Vejer de la Frontera, Spain: NMAC Foundation.
• Marina Abramović, Human Nests – 2001. Vejer de la Frontera, Spain: NMAC Foundation.
• Marina Abramović Institute, San Francisco, California, USA.
• Marina Abramović: Seven Easy Pieces, November 9–15, 2005, 5PM to 12AM. New Way: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.
• Mediateca Media Art Space documentary archive with biography, works, and references.
• Rosenberg, Karen. Provocateur: Marina Abramović (interview). New York magazine, December 4, 2005.
• Lisson Gallery Marina Abramović artist page. Including works, bio, exhibitions and catalogues
• Sean Kelly Gallery artist page with biography, works, press, exhibitions, and catalogues.
• Spector, Nancy. Marina Abramović, Rhythm 5, 1974, published 1994. Guggenheim collection online.
• "Marina" the feature documentary film
• Interview, March 2010, with Robert Ayers at A Sky filled with Shooting Stars.
• Arthur C. Danto, "Sitting with Marina", New York Times, 2010/05/23
• Vice magazine interview, November 2010.
• 2011 James T. Demetrion Lecture: "How Performance Art is Entering the History of Art", press release, March 9, 2011, Hirschorn Museum, Washington, DC, USA; lecture April 5, 2011.
• Conversation: Marina Abramovic, interview with Jeffrey Brown, PBS Newshour Art Beat, April 8, 2011; transcript and video. Link: The Hirshhorn conducted a Twitter forum with Abramovic in late March; Q&A here.
• Tate: Meet the Artist: Marina Abramovic The artist talks about her performance practice. January 29, 2009.
• | EAI Artist biography and list of video works.

June Mansfield Miller (January 28, 1901 – February 1979 ^[1]) was the much-written-about and discussed second wife of Henry Miller.

Early life[link]

She was born in Bukovina, Austria-Hungary (of Romanian Gypsy origin as mentioned in Sexus) as either Juliet Smerth or Juliet Smerdt, the daughter of Wilhelm and Frances Budd Smerth. She emigrated with her family to the United States and arrived there on July 10, 1907, aged five.

She would reside in New York City for much of the rest of her life, excepting a tour of Europe and stints in Paris.

She attended public school in New York. In Sexus, Henry Miller writes that June claimed she graduated from Wellesley College, but in Nexus, he writes that she never finished high school. Kenneth Dick, after interviewing June, quotes her as saying "My formal education amounted to about three and a half years of High School. I was working on a scholarship to Hunter College." Somewhere around 1917–1919, she went to work as a taxi dancer at Wilson's Dancing Academy (later, in 1931, renamed the Orpheum Dance Palace) in Times Square.

Life with Henry Miller[link]

In 1923 at Wilson's, she met Henry Miller when she was 21 and he was 31. Henry Miller left his first wife to marry June in Hoboken, New Jersey on June 24, 1924.

In October 1926,^[2] Jean Kronski, an artist and poet, moved in with them at June's urging. June, who was bisexual, cultivated a very close relationship with Jean, often preferring Jean's affections to Henry's. This phase of her relationship with Jean is the central piece of Henry's autobiographical novel Crazy Cock.

This living arrangement soon fell apart and Jean and June left for Paris together in April 1927. However, two months later they started to quarrel, and June returned to Henry in July. June and Henry subsequently left for a tour of Europe, settling in Paris.

In 1931, June met writer Anaïs Nin, who quickly became obsessed with her and, just as Henry Miller did, used her as a biographical archetype in many of her subsequent writings. June and Nin became involved in a flirtatious and perhaps sexual relationship, and June would figure prominently into her published and unpublished diaries, upon which the movie Henry & June was based. She was portrayed by Uma Thurman.

Later life[link]

June and Henry divorced by proxy in Mexico in 1934.

After divorcing Miller, she married Stratford Corbett (probably) in 1935, who worked either for the New York Life Insurance Company or as a public relations officer for the U.S. Government; neither has been confirmed. Stratford left her in 1947 for the actress Rita La Roy Corbett. Her life deteriorated at this point and she lived in a series of cheap hotels around New York City, such as the Hotel Continental on 95th Street. She was in touch with Miller during this period through the post, and he sent her money through friends and bookstores such as the Gotham Book Mart.

During the 1950s, June was admitted to psychiatric wards where she received electric shock treatments, during which she broke several bones after falling off the operating table. She never fully recovered. In 1954 she began volunteering as a social worker. In 1961 she met Miller again; he was shocked at her deterioration, and the two never rekindled their relationship.

In the late 1960s, June moved to Arizona with one of her brothers. There she is believed to be buried, but no location has been confirmed.

Although she expressed a desire to write an autobiography, she never wrote anything other than letters. However, she had enormous literary influence over the works of her ex-husband Miller and Anaïs Nin. She died in Arizona in 1979.

References[link]

• Kenneth C. Dick, Henry Miller: Colossus of One
• Robert Furguson, Henry Miller, A Life
• Henry Miller, Crazy Cock (formerly titled Lovely Lesbians), (as 'Hildred')
• Henry Miller, Tropic of Cancer (as 'Mona')
• Henry Miller, Tropic of Capricorn (as 'Mona')
• Henry Miller, The Rosy Crucifixion
• Henry Miller, Sexus
• Henry Miller, Plexus
• Henry Miller, Nexus
• Anaïs Nin, The Diary of Anaïs Nin
• Anaïs Nin, Henry and June, from A Journal of Love: the Unexpurgated Diary of Anaïs Nin, 1931–1932
• Anaïs Nin, House of Incest (as 'Sabina')
• Anaïs Nin, Incest: The Unexpurgated Diary of Anais Nin, 1931–1932
• Anaïs Nin, A Spy in the House of Love
• Stephen Starck, June Scattered In Fragments

External links[link]

• June Mansfield Miller: Biography
• June Mansfield Miller: Bibliography

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2012)

Boris Vallejo, April 2005.

Boris Vallejo (born January 8, 1941^[1]) is a Peruvian-born American painter. He immigrated to the United States in 1964, and he currently resides in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He frequently works with Julie Bell, his wife, painter, and model.

Vallejo works almost exclusively in the fantasy and erotica genres. His hyper-representational paintings have graced the covers of dozens of science fiction paperbacks and are featured in a series of best-selling glossy calendars. Subjects of his paintings are typically Sword and sorcery gods, monsters, and well-muscled male and female barbarians engaged in battle. Some of his male figures were modeled by Vallejo himself, and many of his later female characters were modeled by his wife. His latest works still retain heavy fantasy elements, but lean more towards the erotic rather than pure fantasy themes.

Artwork[link]

Vallejo commenced painting at the age of thirteen and had his first illustration job at the age of sixteen. After emigrating to the United States in 1964, he quickly garnered a fan following from his illustrations of Tarzan, Conan the Barbarian, Doc Savage and various other fantasy characters (often done for paperback fiction works featuring the characters). This led to commissions for movie poster illustration, advertisement illustration, and artwork for various collectibles - including Franklin Mint paraphernalia, trading cards and sculpture. Along with Bell, Vallejo presents his artwork in an annual calendar and various books. Vallejo's work is often compared to the work of Frank Frazetta, not only because it is similar stylistically but also since Frazetta painted covers for paperbacks of some of the same characters.

Vallejo's preferred artistic medium is oil paint on board, and has previously used digital media to combine discrete images to form composite images. Preparatory works are pencil or ink sketches, which have been displayed in the book Sketchbook. He and Julie Bell have worked on collaborative artworks together, in which they sign the artwork with both names.

Vallejo has created film posters for numerous fantasy and action productions, including Barbarella (1968), Knightriders (1981), Q (1982), and Barbarian Queen (1985). He has also illustrated posters for comedies, notably National Lampoon's Vacation (1983), European Vacation (1985), and Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters (2007), co-created with Bell.^[2]

Personal life[link]

Vallejo is married to fellow artist Julie Bell, whose artistic style is very similar to Vallejo's. He has two children from a previous marriage to artist and writer Doris Vallejo as well as two stepsons. His son, Dorian Vallejo, also has produced work in the fantasy genre but now works primarily as a portrait painter. His daughter, Maya Vallejo, is a professional photographer. His stepsons, Anthony Palumbo and David Palumbo, are both painters for fine art galleries as well as illustrators in the science fiction/fantasy genre.

Popular culture[link]

The Ween song "Vallejo" is a tribute to the artist.

Books[link]

Several books of collections of his works are available, such as:

• Imaginistix (2006)
• The Fabulous Women of Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell (2006)
• The Ultimate Collection (2005)
• Twin Visions (2002)
• Fantasy Workshop
• Sketchbook
• Superheroes
• Dreams: The Art of Boris Vallejo (1999)
• Fantasy Art Techniques (1985)
• Mirage (1982, reprinted 1996 & 2001)
• The Fantastic Art of Boris Vallejo (1980)
• Titans

A yearly calendar of 13 paintings by Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell is produced by Workman Publishing.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Boris Vallejo Official Web Site.
• Boris Vallejo at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database.
• Ural.net
• Boris Vallejo' Gallery on Inside Your ART

This article appears to be written like an advertisement. Please help improve it by rewriting promotional content from a neutral point of view and removing any inappropriate external links. (April 2012)

Jack Vettriano OBE born Jack Hoggan (born 17 November 1951), is a Scottish painter.

Early life[link]

Jack Vettriano grew up in the industrial seaside town of Methil, Fife. He left school at 16 and later became an apprentice mining engineer. Vettriano did not take up painting as a hobby until the 1970s, when a girlfriend bought him a set of watercolours for his 21st birthday.^[1] His earliest paintings, under his birth name "Jack Hoggan", were copies or pastiches of impressionist paintings – his first painting was a copy of Monet's Poppy Fields.[1] Much of his influence came from studying paintings at the Kirkcaldy Museum and Art Gallery in neighbouring Kirkcaldy. In 1984, Vettriano first submitted his work to the Shell-sponsored art exhibition in the museum.^[2] In 1987, he left his wife of eight years, Gail, and stepdaughter, and his job in educational research, and moved to Edinburgh. There, he adopted his mother's maiden name, gave away his suits to a neighbour and started dressing as an Edwardian dandy – "brogues, braces, long hair; the only thing missing was the cane." He applied to study Fine Art at the University of Edinburgh, but his portfolio was rejected.^[3]

Career[link]

Vettriano's breakthrough year was 1988, when he felt ready to display his paintings in public and submitted two canvases for the Royal Scottish Academy annual show. Both paintings sold on the first day and Vettriano was approached by several galleries who wanted to sell his other work. He moved to Edinburgh, changing his name to Vettriano, adding an "a" to his mother's maiden name.

Further successful exhibitions followed in Edinburgh, London, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, and New York. His paintings are reminiscent of the film noir genre, often with romantic or nude themes.

His original paintings now regularly fetch six figure prices, but he is thought to make more money from the sale of reproductions. According to The Guardian, he earns £500,000 a year in print royalties. Each year a new set of limited edition prints are published, and his most popular work, The Singing Butler (which does not actually show a butler singing), sells more posters and postcards than any other artist in the UK. On 21 April 2004 the original canvas of The Singing Butler sold at auction for £744,500 — in 1992 when Vettriano painted the picture and submitted it for inclusion in the Royal Academy summer show, it was rejected.

In November 1999, Vettriano’s work was shown for the first time in New York, when twenty-one paintings were displayed at The International 20th Century Arts Fair at The Armory. More than forty collectors from the UK flew out for the event and all twenty-one paintings were sold on the opening night to British collectors.

In 1996, Sir Terence Conran commissioned Vettriano to create a series of paintings for his new Bluebird Club in London. The seven paintings inspired by the life of Sir Malcolm Campbell hung in the Club for ten years. Heartbreak Publishing, Vettriano's own publishing company, is to produce a special Boxed Set featuring signed, limited edition prints of all seven paintings to mark the 75th anniversary of Sir Malcolm Campbell's final World Land Speed Record.

The Bluebird paintings were put up for sale at Sotheby's on 30 August 2007 and made more than £1m. The most expensive was Bluebird at Bonneville, bought for £468,000 at a Sotheby's auction held at the Gleneagles Hotel in Perthshire. This painting is considered the "most iconic" of the series.^{[citation needed]}

Vettriano has studios in Scotland and London. He was represented by the Portland Gallery, London from 1993 to 2007 and counts Jack Nicholson, Sir Alex Ferguson, Sir Tim Rice and Robbie Coltrane amongst his collectors.^[1] To date, five books have been published about Jack Vettriano, the most recent of which is entitled 'Studio Life' and was published in March 2008.

In 2008 Vettriano painted a portrait of Zara Phillips MBE (horse rider and granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II) as part of a charity fund-raising project for Sport Relief 2008. The painting is entitled 'Olympia' and it is to be auctioned later this year at a charity fund-raising auction along with works by Sir Peter Blake, Rankin, Gerald Scarfe and Stella Vine. All proceeds from the charity auction will go to will go to Sport Relief, an initiative of Comic Relief, a charity registered in England no. 326568. The portraits project was featured in a BBC programme Sport Portraits shown on March 10, 2008.

In February 2009, Vettriano launched his own publishing company, Heartbreak Publishing, to publish and promote work by other artists and to distribute his own published works directly to his fans and collectors.

In March 2010, 'Days Of Wine And Roses', was opened by First Minister, Alex Salmond, at the Kirkcaldy Museum in Fife, Scotland on 27 March 2010 and received more than 48,000 visitors during its five week run there. The exhibition then transferred to Heartbreak, in London.

On Wednesday 24 March 2010, Sir Jackie Stewart presented Vettriano with the Great Scot of the Year Award. The award ceremony was held at the Boisedale Club in London and other nominees included Kirsty Young, Sharleen Spiteri, Ian Rankin and Kenny Logan. The award led MSP Ted Brocklebank to file a Motion in Parliament calling for Vettriano's contribution to Scottish culture to be recognised.

In April 2010 Seven out of ten paintings by Vettriano failed to sell at Sotheby's spring auction of Scottish pictures. Those that sell sold for half their previous prices. The Scotsman suggested collectors who bought his paintings as investments could be seriously out of pocket if they put their purchases back on the open market. ^[4]

In December 2010, Vettriano was asked by First Minister, Alex Salmond to create his official Christmas card which was sold at auction for the benefit of four Scottish charities. "Let's Twist Again" was auctioned at an auction in February at The Old Course Hotel in St.Andrews with the First Minister attending. With the painting and Limited Edition sales combined, just under £100,000 was raised for the four charities.

In February 2011 it was announced that Vettriano's self-portrait, "The Weight" would be displayed at the re-opened Scottish National Portrait Gallery from November 2011.^[5] First Minister, Alex Salmond said: “I warmly welcome the announcement that "The Weight" by Jack Vettriano will go on display at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. Jack truly deserves this honour. He is a wonderful artist of considerable talent and achievement and this is a magnificent tribute to the special place he holds in the hearts of people in Scotland.”^[6]

In May 2011, "The Ballroom Spy" opened at Heartbreak - a new exhibition by Vettriano in collaboration with the photographer, Jeanette Jones.^[7] In July 2011, the exhibition transferred to the Royal West Academy of Arts in Bristol which was viewed as a controversial choice by many.^[8]

In January 2012, the luxury menswear brand, Stefano Ricci, launched their Spring Summer 2012 collection with a campaign inspired by the work of Jack Vettriano. Their SS 2012 catalogue, entitled 'Stefano Ricci - a tribute to Vettriano', features images by Vettriano and photographic re-interpretations shot by Fredi Marcarini and featuring clothes and accessories from the Ricci 2012 collection. A short film about the 2012 Vettriano campaign has been presented by Ricci to commemorate the collaboration.

In February 2012, Vettriano's most famous painting, "The Singing Butler", went on display at the Aberdeen City Art Gallery as part of an exhibition entitled, 'From Van Gogh to Vettriano'. Richard Demarco has written an analysis about "The Singing Butler" for The Scotsman.

Criticism[link]

According to The Daily Telegraph he has been described as the Jeffrey Archer of the art world, a purveyor of "badly conceived soft porn",^[9] and a painter of "dim erotica",^[10] Sandy Moffat, head of drawing and painting at Glasgow School of Art, said: "He can’t paint, he just colours in."^[11] Richard Calvocoressi, when director of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, said: "I’d be more than happy to say that we think him an indifferent painter and that he is very low down our list of priorities (whether or not we can afford his work, which at the moment we obviously can’t). His ‘popularity’ rests on cheap commercial reproductions of his paintings."^[12] In The Scotsman George Kerevan wrote "He suffers all the same criticisms of the early French Impressionists: mere wallpaper, too simplistic in execution and subject, too obviously erotic."^[13] Alice Jones wrote in The Independent that Vettriano has been labelled a chauvinist whose "women are sexual objects, frequently half naked and vulnerable, always in stockings and stilettoes."^[14] Regarding the criticism, sculptor David Mach has said: "If he was a fashion designer Jack would be right up there. It’s all just art world snobbery. Anyway, who cares, he probably makes more money than Damien Hirst anyway."^[15]

Use of reference[link]

In October 2005, after the original of The Singing Butler sold for £740,000, research revealed that Vettriano had used the artists' reference manual The Illustrator's Figure Reference Manual to form his figures,^[16] using a then unknown pose by London based struggling Irish actress Orla Brady for the 'lady in red.'^[17] Vettriano is self-taught, and said he used such sources in his early years, as he did not have the financial resources to hire models.

Collaborations[link]

Alongside fellow Fifer, author Ian Rankin, Vettriano put in a cameo appearance in a video with Scottish indie band Saint Jude's Infirmary made for BBC Scotland's 'The Music Show'. The video was filmed on Portobello Beach in Edinburgh and included visual references to two of Vettriano's most famous paintings, Elegy for a Dead Admiral and The Singing Butler.^[18] The lyrics of the track Goodbye Jack Vettriano were written by band member, Grant Campbell, while he was homesick, away in Rotterdam and on seeing a Vettriano print on a pub wall.

Vettriano became a fan of the band after hearing their first album, Happy Healthy Lucky Month, and was inspired by the lyrics of Goodbye Jack Vettriano to create a painting which featured as the cover of the band's second album, ^[18], for which both Vettriano and Rankin have contributed spoken word pieces.

In May 2008, Vettriano collaborated with Formula One legend, Sir Jackie Stewart, on a triptych of paintings entitled Tension, Timing, Triumph - Monaco 1971. The paintings were unveiled by HSH Prince Albert of Monaco at a private reception at the Hotel de Paris in Monaco on 21 May 2008. The paintings will hang in Sir Jackie's private collection in the UK and the images have been published as a limited edition print, which both men have signed.

Following on from the previous year's event in Monaco, Vettriano was invited to create a series of paintings to celebrate the centenary of Tuiga, the Yacht Club of Monaco's flagship yacht. The paintings were first shown in an exhibition, Hommage à Tuiga, in Monaco but will be available to a much wider audience when they are shown as part of a touring exhibition that opens at the Kirkcaldy Museum in Fife in March 2010.

Vettriano worked with the Italian photographer, Fredi Marcarini, on a series of photographs for the Homage A Tuiga exhibition. The two artists had met in Milan in November 2008, when Vettriano was invited by the Swan Group as guest of honour to their Gala Dinner to celebrate the launch of their new magazine, in part inspired by the women in Vettriano's paintings. Vettriano was interviewed for the Swan Group's 'Monsieur Magazine', for which Marcarini took a series of photographs of Vettriano in his London studio. The two artists styled a tripytch of portrait shots, which have been subsequently released as a special edition by Heartbreak Publishing.

In May 2011, Vettriano embraced his love for Ballroom Dancing and collaborated on the exhibition "The Ballroom Spy" with the photographer Jeanette Jones. Vettriano had been a fan of Jones work for sometime and welcomed the opportunity to create new work on the dancing theme. His publishing company, Heartbreak Publishing released a brand new Limited Edition, "Anniversary Waltz" for the exhibition.

Philanthropy[link]

^{[verification needed]}

In January 2008 Vettriano donated a painting,Study for Bluebird at Bonneville, to a charity auction at the London Art Fair to raise funds for the Terrence Higgins Trust.^[19] The painting, which was one of the studies for the iconic painting Bluebird at Bonneville, was sold for £32,000 and was the highest achieving lot of the night.

In 2004 Vettriano set up a scholarship for St Andrew's University to fund a student who would not be able to attend university otherwise. The scholarship is awarded every four years, the first recipient of which began their studies in September 2004. The endowment follows his financial contribution towards refurbishing the Students Association's Old Union Coffee Bar in 2002 and his involvement in student fashion shows. He was made a Doctor of Letters by the university.^[20]

In September 2001, Vettriano donated a painting, Beautiful Dreamer to a charity auction, which was held at Sotheby’s in aid of Help the Hospices.^[21] In 2008, a rare drawing he made of that subject sold for £22,000 at a charity auction in aid of the Oriel Plas Glyn-y-Weddw Gallery in North Wales in July, helping to keep the gallery going.^[22]

Jack Vettriano donated a portrait he painted of Zara Phillips MBE (horse rider and granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II) to Sport Relief 2008. The painting, entitled Olympia went to a charity fund-raising auction along with works by Sir Peter Blake, illustrator Gerald Scarfe and Stella Vine. The portraits project was featured in a BBC programme Sport Portraits shown on March 10, 2008. The painting was sold at Bonhams for £36,000.[2]

In March 2009 Vettriano donated a self portrait, 'The Weight (study)', to the Lighthouse Gala Auction in aid of the Terrence Higgins Trust. The painting, which was inspired by a photograph taken by Fredi Marcarini at Vettriano's London home, was sold for £21,000 on the night.

Anne Magill and Jack Vettriano both donated paintings to this year's Terrence Higgins Trust Lighthouse Gala auction, which took place at Christies' on Monday 22 March 2010. Vettriano's painting, entitled 'Queen of Diamonds II', is the study for a larger painting which is to feature in Vettriano's forthcoming exhibition. The painting was sold for £26,000. Magill's painting, entitled 'Still', sold for £8,000 and is one of a series of studies of performers preparing to go on stage which will feature in Magill's forthcoming exhibition, which is to open at a major new gallery space in London later this year. Anne Magill is now represented by Heartbreak Publishing.

Last summer, The Elephant Parade took over London, with a full herd gathered on Wednesday 1 July for a special gala event and auction. Vettriano's elephant, 'The Singing Butler Rides Again', was the highest bid for Lot of the night,selling to a phone bidder for £155,000. The auction itself raised over GBP £4 million.

British Airways asked if Vettriano would create a postcard as part of their campaign for Sports Relief. The postcard "Wish You Were Here" raised over £2000 for the charity.

In March 2011, Vettriano donated a painting for the Lighthouse Gala Auction in aid of the Terrence Higgins Trust. Vettriano’s painting, entitled, Sunshine and Champagne II, is the study for a larger painting of the same title that featured in Vettriano’s Homage a Tuiga series of works, created to mark the centenary of the Yacht Club of Monaco’s world-famous yacht, Tuiga. The painting raised £29,000 on the night.

Books[link]

There are numerous books that have been published on Vettriano and his work. They include:

Fallen Angels Published by Pavilion Books, October 1999 (ISBN 978-1-86205-364-9)

Lovers and Other Strangers Text by Anthony Quinn Published by Pavilion Books on 30 October 2003 (ISBN 978-1-86205-630-5)

Jack Vettriano: A Life Text by Anthony Quinn Published by Pavilion Books on 25 October 2004 (ISBN 978-1-86205-646-6)

A reduced format of Jack Vettriano: A Life was published in 2007.

Studio Life Foreword by Ian Rankin Photographs by Jillian Edelstein Text by Tom Rawstorne Published by Pavilion Books on 28 March 2008 (ISBN 978-1-86205-743-2)

Women In Love Foreword by Jack Vettriano

A Man's World Foreword by Jack Vettriano

Personal life[link]

He grew up very poor in Methil, Fife, with his mother and father and older brother, in a small spartan miner’s cottage. He had to share a bed with his brother and wore handed down clothes. From the age of 10, his father sent him out delivering papers and milk, cleaning windows, picking potatoes any job that could earn money. His father took half his earnings.^[23] At 36, he left his wife of eight years, Gail, and stepdaughter, and moved to Edinburgh. There, he adopted his mother's maiden name, gave away his suits to a neighbour and started dressing as an Edwardian dandy – "brogues, braces, long hair; the only thing missing was the cane."^[24] Divorced from his first wife, Vettriano divides his time between homes in London, Kirkcaldy and Nice, France. In 2004 he was awarded the OBE. He has claimed inspiration for his paintings in "25 years of sexual misbehaviour".^[25] In 2010 he told The Independent "I live in a world of heartbreak... I just seem to be more creative when I'm in some kind of emotional distress.", and said "It's been four years of soul-searching – nicotine, alcohol, anti-depressants, temazepam," ^[26]. He likes to gamble on the horses, but only bets what he can afford to lose.^[27] He has set up the Vettriano Trust, and plans to leave his money to it to do good work. ^[28] He is a fan of the singer Rebecca Poole.^[29]

Drunk Driving and Drug Possession[link]

In February 2012 Vettriano admitted drug possession and driving at twice the legal alcohol limit at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court He was banned from driving for 18 months and fined £600 for the driving offence and £200 for class B drug possession.^[30] Vettriano was stopped in Kirkcaldy on January 8 following anonymous reports of erratic driving. He smelt of drink and was slurring his words.^[31] He told the officer "'You know who I am. We can sort this out."^[32][33] When he was searched at a police station, after failing a breath test, a gram of speed with a street value of £30 was found "by his ankle"^[34]. Vettriano claimed that the amphetamine was cocaine.^[35] It was his first offence, and his solicitor, John Gilbertson, said: “He could have walked and should have walked. Instead, he decided to take the car. It was a bad decision and a foolish decision. He has asked me to apologise to the court for that.”^[36]

References[link]

• Reid, Melanie (2007-08-29). "Because I’m worth it". London: The Times. http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/visual_arts/article2341809.ece. Retrieved 2007-09-08. 
• Gordon Smith, W (October 1994). "Fallen Angels". Pavilion Books. 
• Quinn, Anthony (June 2000). "Lovers and Other Strangers". Pavilion Books. http://www.anovabooks.com/book/978-1-86205-630-5. 
• Quinn, Anthony (October 2004). "Jack Vettriano: A Life". Pavilion Books. http://www.anovabooks.com/book/1862057249. 

Notes[link]

• [3]
• [4]
• [5]
• [6]
• [7]
• [8]

External links[link]

• Jack Vettriano's official website
• Jack Vettriano's Official Publishing Website
• Jack Vettriano's new gallery