When I was taking lessons in painting during my college days, I had special leaning for the figurative drawings and painting. I would love to see people painted doing any activity: the men and women painted walking on seashore, women with fans and hats, the children playing their innocent games. These were the forms artists wish to paint. These figures help us studying the human form of the male and female figures.Russian Venus -by Boris Kustodiev
In addition to the symmetrically drawn and painted anatomy of the figures, the artists would care much about the outfits of the men and women they paint. Starting from the renaissance time, the painting of cloth-less bodies of females and males has been a preferred theme for paintings. The women painted without clothes would attract the attention of more viewers. In recent times the paintings of women wearing bikini or swimsuits are also getting more artistic acclamation.
Many artists have tried not to embarrass the viewers’ eyes by ignoring convention. It is because most of the artists wish to engage the viewers in aesthetic side of the painting and not other aspects like voyeurism or eroticism. However when we see the painting or sculptures of Venus cupping hand on her womanhood, we would not assume an element of modesty in the artwork.
In the above painting of Venus, the Russian artist Boris Kustodiev (1878-1927) had tried to go with the convention by arranging a bunch of leaves in the hand of the Venus. She is trying to hide her womanhood, the vagina, by placing the green leaves. Venus is the Goddess of love, so most of the artists loving figurative painting have tried painting her. Boris Kustodiev has done his artistic duty very well. Here the above female figure is painted without clothes. Attractive part is the colour used in depicting skin and the marvellous use of brush strokes in painting the long hair of Venus.
Portrait of Renee Notgaft
In the painting titled as Portrait of Renee Notgaft, he had tried showing the modesty of a woman. Here the lady looks confident about her neat beauty and stature. Boris Kustodiev has used the colours matching the status of the lady.
Imagine a boy whose father is a teacher in Grammar School. Imagine him studying theology in his youth. And finally he became a well-known painter of Russia. Yes, the boy was Boris Kustodiev and he was born in
