NAKED JULY: "Woman & World" by Dina Cormick

Though it spins and hurls swiftly through space in its orbit around the sun, sometimes the world seems stationary and crushingly heavy like a boulder. Times like these, it more resembles Jupiter than Earth. 

Though it is mostly covered with water, sometimes the world seems red hot, as if on fire. Times like these, I perceive it as crimson-colored, somewhat like Mars, but more like blood. 

Dina Cormick is a feminist artist who grew up in Zambia and has lived her adult life in South Africa. She creates highly accessible, emotionally expressive works that address issues of social justice. Learn more about Cormick and her work on her website.

"Seated nude facing right and meditating" by Max Kurzweil

The title says she's meditating, but she appears quite sad to me. A couple days ago I wrote about another Kurzweil woodcut of a woman in despair. But Der Polster was very different from this black and white beauty.

One thing they have in common is the sharp, elegance of the design. Kurzweil might be interested in the human psyche, but unlike many of his more crude and expressive Die Brucke contemporaries, he won't sacrifice polish and form for emotional emphasis.

Because of these priorities, it is easy to see this picture of a woman as a beautiful object even more so than as something which evokes empathy or sympathy. And there's something just a tad creepy in that, not least of all because it seems true to life.

"Bathing Beauty" by Maekawa Senpan

The room she occupies is sturdy and small, yet made airy with light hues and tall ceilings.This stark but lovely image harmonizes the organic and geometric. Lines of floor boards, wall panels, and beams form patterns that recede in a predictable manner. And yet the subtle textures of wood grain and unevenly applied ink along with the curves in the woman's body and water ripples breath life into the picture.

I hear the sound of the water flowing and smell the scent of pine. The woman's isolation is downplayed by her skin colored the same warm, washed-out hue as the bare wood  of the room. Instead of being the main focus of the scene, her presence is part of a particular location and moment. She sits on the edge of a tub, her legs submerged in water, and appears as firmly planted as a tree. The tub is set into the floor and perfectly square. Squares often symbolize plains, fields, and the earth itself. Natural light from a narrow window is brightly reflected in the pool. The bather sits opposite to the window, sitting up straight and facing the only source of light. It is as if she is in a shrine, facing an altar. The window, or perhaps what lies beyond it would be the object of worship. Though this image depicts an interior scene, I feel that it is about what is outside.