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ispeakcute

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Gustave Courbet, Le Sommeil,1866.

Le Sommeil [The Sleepers], which depicts two women entwined in a post-coital embrace, caused a stir when it was first shown in the 1870s. The police were called in, and the painting was not shown again until the 1980s. But its brief showing had an influence on a number of contemporary artists, and helped challenge the taboos associated with lesbian relationships. For modern audiences it’s a good reminder that people in the 19th century were not ignorant of lesbian relationships, as we tend to believe. And it’s pretty damn sexy, don’t you think?

They called the police on this lesbian painting.

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toastoat
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The best part is, the lesbian embrace isn’t even the biggest thing that made the painting so controversial, it was the art style. People in the artistic community at the time were wholly familiar with sapphic relationships being portrayed in art, but were used to these scenes being portrayed in the ‘academic art’ style, which consisted of smooth, simplistic, idealised versions of the nude female form. This often went hand in hand with the depiction of Roman & Greek allegories to illustrate certain ideals (think Cabanel’s Birth of Venus). Courbet’s journey into realism was met by heavy critique from the academic movement, as the women he painted were, well, more realistic. Leaving in details such as the rolls of fat around the ribs acted as a blunt reminder to the audience that these were not euphoric goddesses caressing in ecstasy, but ordinary women having a nap together after making love. Other realist paintings suffered the same controversy, Manet’s Olympia is a perfect example, where the problem was not that the painting depicted a nude woman in an erotic pose, but the fact that she was just an ordinary courtesan, given an identity & portrayed in a place of power & control. Realism humanized the female form in art, & removed it from its previous role as a representation of the ideal.

So what disgusted people about the painting wasn’t so much that Le Sommeil depicted two women, but rather that it depicted two ‘real’ women.

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hazeldomain

Artist: So I painted a couple of lesbians in bed. 

Men: Niiiiiiiiiice

Artist: They have cellulite

Men: I AM CALLING THE POLICE

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Here is the final piece of my Botanical Witch project for this years Inktober! Day 31! I knew my Korilakkuma persona; Kaoru for this piece because she was the top picked OC of mine to draw from the peeps over on Instagram. The last prompt was originally Cannabis but since I have a big following of kids under the age of 18, I didnt feel right drawing it so I went with my favorite flower which are Sunflowers! I did this piece in full colour since it took me till 4 days into November to get this done and felt everyone deserves to see at least one piece entirely in colour. Haha Anyways, hope everyone enjoyed their Inktober this year, I know I did!

If you buy the original, there are some goodies I've added along with free shipping on this piece!

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Botanical Witchtober pieces; Days 1 thru 6. If you buy the originals, there are some goodies I've added along with free shipping for each piece!

I'm saddened inktober is done and gone but happy at the same time cause this is the first time, in the 3 years I've participated in Inktober, that I actually managed to first the whole list. I went with a botanical prompt because plants are something I really wanted to get better at and this list was perfect for it! I also learned some new tricks with copics too that I'll for sure be using in future pieces. Anyways, hope y'all like these! ♡

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