The Light, The Line, The Liberation
Words by Sam Rakestraw
In 1911, the Austrian expressionist artist Egon Schiele and his lover were exiled from southern Bohemia. Schiele was driven away by the small town of Český Krumlov, where his mother was born, because they didn’t take too kindly to his Bohemian lifestyle, nor his artwork. Trained and disciplined by fellow Austrian master, Gustav Klimt, Schiele came to artistic prominence through his intensely erotic pieces which depicted twisted and contorted figures. It was these such drawings that were seized by Austrian authorities in 1912. After another relocation, Schiele employed teenage girls as models in one instance and was arrested for seducing one of them. That charge was dropped, but Schiele was nonetheless charged with displaying erotic material in a place accessible by children.
If these laws still stood on June 1, 2019, then Michael Gilman, owner of Glencoe’s Signature of Art, would have been charged. In collaboration with Galerie Fledermaus, the art and frame store held a small gallery showcasing a collection of symbolist and expressionist paintings, all revealing the female form in one shape or another. Some of the pieces in Galerie Fledermaus’s collection included lifetime prints of Klimt and Schiele.
Director of Galerie Fledermaus Jerry Suqi said, “there is naked and nude art.”
Naked art was once considered more acceptable then nude art. Klimt’s paintings would be examples of “naked art.” Throughout time, artists have often depicted biblical figures like Judith or the mythological character Danae as naked in drawing and sculpture. The purpose of Klimt’s art wasn’t to shock, but to continue capturing the viewer’s attention with beautiful divinity. At the time, Schiele’s art was shocking. With titles like “Masturbating Woman Surrounded,” it’s clear that he wasn’t paying homage to sacred goddesses or mythological figures. He drew “nudes” with the intent to seduce.
During the Vienna Succession, the erotic artist had plenty to fear: censorship, dismissal, and persecution. Times have changed, and the human need to experience art from decades past has been accepted. As guests toured Gilman and Suqi’s gallery, children chased each other around playfully; while they caught their breath, they took a few seconds to admire a painting. The more colorful, abstract pieces captured their attention more so than the anatomical ones.
It can be a question of where to draw the line, or as Buffalo Grove painter Voyetk Glinkowski said, the line is irrelevant. “The only thing that artists and art can work off of is light,” he said. The “light” is Glinkowski’s artistic philosophy, in which the painting’s subject matter is considered an obstacle in the light’s way. Some obstacles—a naked woman, for instance—may be harder for the light to pass, but in the end, it will shine through. No amount of censorship could stop it. Glinkowski’s artistic adventure with the light is a never-ending story because of the light’s eternal presence. It’s this story and adventure that is showcased in his art, he said.
“Very often, I provide some form of theater-going with painting,” Glinkowskis said. “I do not want my paintings to serve for decorative purpose only. There is so much to be fixed in this beautiful world around us.”
