June 15, 2012

Searching for "ample art," I found a cool blog called judith2you.

"Ample art" was the ridiculous phrase used by the pool reporter to describe the room Sarah Jessica Parker had had prepped to receive the President of the United States and 50 of his glamorous friends. Here's the blog post about that. Trying to summon up a picture of "ample art," I thought of those big fat nudes by Botero. I did an image search on his name, which I used as a link in that blog post. But I clicked on the most obvious big fat nude, and it took me to a post at judith2you: "Judith meets Botero." It' a post comparing that Botero to a painting by Marco Palmezzano called "Judith with the Head of Holofernes." The blogger, Judith, comments on the the maid, who "put herself in danger in the midst of the Assyrian Army, she had to carry the bucket with a lifeless head stuffed in rotting meat...."

What is this blog? "That's Judith to you" is what you say when you're named Judith and someone presumes to call you Judy. The blogger's name is Judith, and she says in the sidebar:
... it's time to own my name. to be Shakespearean and wonder "What's in a name?" to learn about the artwork inspired by the name. to contemplate how a widow in a gleaming gown can decapitate a brute - and not muss her nails. join me in the bumpy ride through history and art and social change, all in the name of Judith.
She's been blogging for a year and has blogged about one a day, which substantiates the claim to being a real blog (as I see it). I've written before — I think! — about the idea of choosing one word, setting up a Google alert for it, and blogging based only on that word. What would your word be? In this case, the blogger has chosen her own name, and she's limited her subject to art, although she hasn't limited herself to the news of the day.

Here's her second post, where she contemplates the apocryphal, biblical character Judith:
... the reasons her story have persisted are as varied and complex as the artists who have depicted her.  “strength in weakness” is an overly simplistic explanation: Judith embodies (in political terms) “the people v. tyranny”, (in feminist terms) ”righteous woman vs. marauding man” and (in County Music terms) “git-er done gal v. skunk-drunk asshole.” not to mention, she was not afraid of a little blood and gore to make her point nor adverse to using her feminine charms to advance her true purpose.

... here is a woman you can admire. the men in her city were ninnies, ready to give up and be killed or enslaved. but she looked at her resources, figured she could seduce the guy, made a plan to freak everybody out by detaching and then displaying his head – and it worked. think of all the ways it could have gone wrong —

One - she couldn’t seduce the guy because (a) she over-estimated her charms or (b) he wasn’t interested in her type of womanhood or (c) he wasn’t interested in womanhood at all. “Sorry little lady but you’re just not my type.”...
More at the link! I did a search for Caravaggio — because I knew Caravaggio's painting of the beheading scene — and was delighted to find the Thanksgiving post "Judith demonstrates technique in how to carve a turkey without mussing your gown."

6 comments:

edutcher said...

If memory serves, the feminists adopted Judith because of the I-hate-men overtones in her story, but she was also a judge of Israel.

Ann Althouse said...

Trying to summon up a picture of "ample art," I thought of those big fat nudes by Botero.

You could have also Googled Rubens, Titian, Renoir, or Jordaens.

As The Blonde is also larger than life, I'm a fan of "ample art".

ricpic said...

Didn't Judith slice off Holoferne's head? Interesting that the Judith/Holoferne "relationship" has rung womens' bells in every age, not least in our age. I guess he had it coming to him. Yeah, that must be it.

cassandra lite said...

Caption to a Kliban cartoon from his second collection, 35 years ago:

"Callous sophisticates laughed at Judy's tiny head."

Shanna said...

There used to be some awesome fat statues in DC round about 1996/1997 as part of a collection at the Smithsonian. I think they were columbian?

RonF said...

I just went to a concert a couple of weeks ago by Vox 3 where an aria based on this story was performed. It was the first time I'd heard the story in detail. If you live in the Chicago area, BTW, keep an eye on that site and try to make a couple of their performances. They are a group of early 30-something performers that vary between art song concerts in churches and cabarets in bars. They are tremendously talented and I enjoy both.

jungatheart said...

Cool site, and a great find by Judith:

https://judith2you.
wordpress.com/2012/
06/08/judiths-stream-of-consciousness/