La baigneuse

Fernando Botero's stereotypically rotund figures are perhaps nowhere more effective than in his sculptural works. For it is here that the flatness of his pictorial surfaces gives way to a sense of mass and form that harks back to the artist's study of the Renaissance masters - Giotto, Michaelangelo, Raphael, and Uccello. But seemingly unsatisfied by the lessons learned from those preeminent forerunners, Botero exaggerates the corpulence and overall volume of his sculptural figures to create a reality that far surpasses representational conventions or any desire to render a 'truth' grounded in 'reality.' Yet Botero's Amazonian figures, like his La baigneuse, are indeed grounded, if not by their ability to convey a 'truthful' representation, then surely by their disproportionate scale and voluminous presence. And, while Botero is quick to dismiss his subject matter as a mere vehicle for the study and exploration of plasticity and form, it is nearly impossible to ignore the overwhelming presence of the female form throughout the artist's prodigious career, or to understate its signifying potential given its prevalence and status in the history of art and image making.

Far from being mere objects of affection or desire, Botero's women do not quietly occupy space but rather they demand it. They return our gaze and assert their independence and sexuality while revelling in their voluptuousness. And, while the artist's women reflect a sense of continuity and lineage within the history of art, the demure sitter's pose, at once concealing and revealing her assets, simultaneously asserts and eschews tradition and social mores while challenging more pervasive and socially acceptable representations of beauty and female 'perfection'.