Lucie Spartacus
Lucie Spartacus well-known for her work within linocuts, which she used to explore women in 19th century in "classical poses" that attract an audience's eye to her work of representing female empowerment. Her real name is Camille but hides behind the name of 'Lucie Spartacus' as an vague and concealed reference to a 19th century artist she took inspiration from. She was particularly inspired by 19th century art, history, literature and the style of portraiture in that time period using photography from this period and generally carving out the stencils of bold classical women. She created these lino cuts cutting away from a block of linoleum creating a stencil of these images of 19th century women, and inking and printing the uncut areas. Previously I have had the opportunity to work with linocuts in GCSE and I decided for this project for it to be an appropriate way to experiment with different printing styles of my work.
Spartacus sad her inspirations for her work was stemmed from the historic culture of 19th century, and she also claims to have inspiration within the realm of printmaking such as Felix Vallotton. Vallotton was a swish and french painter and printmaker. He played an important role in the development of modern woodcut art. A majority of his worked portrayed the day to day life in paris and played as a social critique, concealed by his use of a decorative surface. He used his work as a form of activism, a way of holding up a mirror to society and confronting topics such as oppression, mass consumption and the hypocrisy of marriage through a comedic and humoristic style.
Below are some examples of Vallotton's woodcuts:
I want to explore into the world of lino printing whist also exploring and researching the world of feminism and the representation of women in media. I feel like my research into Spartcaus' work has helped me understand a more conceptual understanding behind my project. As her work explored how women were represented in the artistic world of portraiture in the 19th century, which to a modern audience allows us to evaluate the progression and journey of the presentation of femininity in wider society and how it has been morphed into a more fluid and free structure as time has progressed. This is very significant to my work as I want to explore how women and different waves of feminism have built and supported the lives of women today. The technical process of lino printing/ linoleum art has also allowed me to experiment with different forms of printing that allows me to mix both mediums of art and photography to create a piece of work. I hope to be able to continue my research into different mediums of printing through the experimentation of lino printing as an attempt to create a series of images inspired by Lucie Spartacus' monumental lino pieces.
