I am Stuck!

I am Stuck! Franz Von Stuck, that is. Today we are going to Germany, Bavaria to be precise. That's where Mr Stuck was born although his town was Munich. That's where he spent most of his life. Mr Stuck got lucky in his art. He got extremely popular and acclaimed during his life time and then with the first World War got completely forgotten and then remembered again in the 1960's.

Stuck's subject matter was primarily drawn from mythology, inspired by the work of Arnold Böcklin. He also drew a lot of  seductive female nudes but what I discovered about Stuck was that he paid close attention to the frames for his paintings and generally designed them himself with such careful use of panels, gilt carving and inscriptions that the frames must be taken as an integral part of the overall piece.

Now about this painting, it was created in 1903. The title is "Wounded Amazon".  What strikes me about this painting is the originality of the angle and the choice for colour.

The piece was painting in such way that we can only see from her point of view. We don't know what is happening beyond her shield and it kind of creates a special bond between her and the viewer.

Indeed, we really are feeling the blow with her. The hurt seems both physical and emotional. She stands her head low and her profile hidden from us as if her pride had taken a hit. 

This painting really conveys how low is her spirit at the moment and to me, the fact that we can sympathise with her, is what I call success in a painting.

And then, although you see almost no blood coming from her wound the red from the inside of her shield is so vibrant that's nearly all you can see in the painting. So maybe there is an analogy there about being hit twice or maybe that's just the Art critic having too much imagination.