Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Maruja

Many friends of this blog are fans of the art of the study sketch, as I certainly am. One of the masters of that art was, of course. Sir William Russell Flint—also a devotee to the female figure.

This is a 1935 painting called Maruja the Strong, depicting "a semi-naked young woman demonstrating her incredible strength to a group of Spanish peasants. The fact that she can lift, outstretched from her arms, what we perceive as full jugs of water, denotes not only her strength, but also her beauty and vigor.

The title, Maruja the Strong, is a play on words, as Maruja is not only a variant of the female name Maria, but is also a slang word in Spanish for 'good wife'."

And for the fans of the art, below is the study sketch for Maruja.

And a similar sketch of 'peasant' women.


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3 comments:

  1. Dr. MVMJuly 20, 2010 at 10:33 PM

    Wow.

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  2. Sam GJuly 21, 2010 at 4:54 AM

    Damn. I need to brush up on my sketching skills. ;P

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  3. M. D. JacksonJuly 21, 2010 at 6:28 AM

    I am a fan of flint and of the preparatory sketches and of the female form, so this post is all that for me.

    I am also a smartass so I can't help wondering which jugs the spanish peasants are more impressed with.

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