APPROPRIATION IN ART

By Arnel Mirasol

Candy Serpents, acrylic on paper, 22 X 22 inches, 2008

Picasso's painting Two Women Running on the Beach (below) inspired me to do the painting above, to which I originally gave the title, A & E After Discovering the Joy of Sex. A and E is, of course, Adam and Eve. I asked a friend, May Reyes, if the title was risque, and she answered that it was. So, I re-titled this work Candy Serpents, a title I thought innocuous enough, that now, I no longer fear being branded blasphemous by the prudes out there. The colorful line drawings of serpents on the other hand, were exact copies of the doodles done by my younger son, Kai, when he was nine years old.

Two Women Running on the Beach (The Race) by Pablo Picasso

But that's not the point I'm driving at. I just wish to state my view regarding appropriation in art. Being influenced or inspired, borrowing from, or even "stealing" from the art of other artists is nothing new. Painters have been doing that for centuries, and I must say that I see nothing wrong in it. That is as long as you give credit to the artists who have inspired or influenced you. What is also important is that you give a new twist or look to your version of a painting by another artist. Picasso, who's touted as the most inventive artist of the 20th century was not immune to appropriation. The neck and head of the left-hand figure in Two Women Running on the Beach, which inspired my version, was borrowed from Ingres's painting of Thetis in the painting Jupiter and Thetis (below).

Jupiter and Thetis by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres

Another Picasso work, Three Women Bathing" (below left) was also inspired by the naked figures in another Ingres painting, The Turkish Bath (below right); although those figures of course were all subjected to Picasso's trademark distortion.
 

Three Women Bathing by Pablo Picasso

The Turkish Bath by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres

Picasso also did several variations of Delacroix's Women of Algiers series, and his own interpretations of El Greco's painting Portrait of Jorge Manuel, Velasquez's Las Meninas, and David's Rape of the Sabine Women.

Olympia by Edouard Manet

We can also trace the lineage of Manet's famous Olympia (above). The immediate ascendant of that painting is Titian's Venus of Urbino (below right),  which was inspired in turn by an earlier painting, the Sleeping Venus, by Titian's illustrious colleague who died young, Giorgione (below left).

Venus of Urbino by Titian

Sleeping Venus by Giorgione

Even Paul Gauguin's Nevermore (below right), and my own painting My Serenade (below left) were variations also of that Titian masterwork.

Nevermore  by Paul Gauguin

My Serenade, oil on canvas, 35 X 35 inches, 2009, Jules Felix collection

Another Manet painting, the Le Dejeuner sur l'Herbe (below right), was also inspired by another Giorgione painting - the Concert Champetre (below left).

Breakfast on the Grass by Edouard Manet

Concert Champetre by Giorgione

Salvador Dali, also joined the "fray", so to speak, when he did an unabashedly near exact copy (below right) of Vermeer's The Lace Maker (below left).

The Lace Maker , a copy by Salvador Dali

The Lace Maker by Jan Vermeer

So, I advise all artists out there who crave to appropriate, borrow or copy the work of another- do so, by all means, but please, do not claim what painting you'll come up with as 100% your own. Give credit where credit is due; do not forget to mention the artwork and the artist who have inspired or influenced you. And do it promptly, please. Do not wait until someone pointed out to you that you just copied someone else's work before admitting that you did : that would be very embarrassing. That is how we artists get away with borrowing or stealing the ideas and output of other artists - by promptly pleading guilty to the "crime."