Sister Lucia Treanor, FSE

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Conor Mullin

WRT 150-43

27th of October 2009

Fisher’s Leda

“So mastered by the brute blood of the air,

Did she put on his knowledge with his power

Before the indifferent beak could let her drop?”

Excerpt from “Leda and the Swan”W.B. Yeats

Leda is a painting by Tim Fisher, an artist and professor at Grand Valley State Universitythat is on display on the second floor of Building A at the Pew Campus in downtown Grand Rapids. (See Appendix A.) The work portrays the modernist interpretation of Leda’s encounter with Zeus who had come to earth in the form of a swan. He rapes Leda who begets Helen and Clytemnestra. The scene is one that has been painted by many artists including da Vinci, Dalí, and Cézanne. Fisher’s rendition introduces modern concepts to the tale, which highlight unexplored notions and moral standards that are generations removed from his predecessors. His piece is an amalgamation of different styles that include landscape, portraiture, and surrealism. As surrealism is most evident in the painting, this paper will discuss the work in the context of both the surrealist movement and previous paintings of the same scene.

The evaluation of an art piece is entirely subjective in nature. The merits and faults are subject to the viewer’s eye,and the frame of reference that must be considered when analyzing a painting, can easily be overlooked. The semantics of art is part of a language that can rarely be fully comprehended. Three aspects of the work of interest are: its symbolism, its surrealistic cast, and its employment of color. For each of these, I will evaluate the painting in the context of the authorities within the art world: symbolism will be regarded in correlation to the classical tale of Leda, surrealism within the context of the surrealist manifesto by André Breton and some writings on the progression of the movement since its inception in 1924, and color will be compared and contrasted to previous works evoking Leda and Zeus. Fisher’s Leda has obvious commonalities with some acknowledged surrealist works and I intend on illustrating these similarities. The artist did not openly admit that a specific surrealist piece had inspired his painting, but there is clear evidence of common principles and style.

Tim Fisher is currently a professor of still life drawing at Grand Valley State University, who has just completed an exhibition for the ArtPrize festival. He currently has four paintings on display at Grand Valley. He was very gracious in donating his time to be interviewed and in answering emails that contributed immensely to my understanding his work.

Fisher told me when interviewed, that the symbolism used in evoking his scene of Leda and Zeus is fitting to his novel perspective of the story. He shows a new depiction of womanhood and liberation from chauvinism in his rendition of Leda (Fisher Interview). He highlights the fall of Zeus by overthrowing his chauvinistic guises. Finally, he bringsvicissitude and modern morality to the scene by depicting the consequences of a violent struggle.

Fisher’s Leda is a modern woman. In previous depictions, she is naked and thus an object of sexual desire. Here, she is fully clothed except for a tear in her dress revealing a brightly colored nipple. All sexuality has been removed. In the past she has often been portrayed as submissive or coy, but in Fisher’s piece she is dominant in the scene, posing in a powerful position. Clearly, in her rejection of Zeus’ advances, she is a symbol of modern femininity.

Zeus had never before been portrayed as a vanquished suitor in classical painting. He had come from the heavens on multiple occasions and in multiple forms to seduce or rape many female characters from the classics. Each of these incarnations is represented in Leda. Zeus had come as a bull to Europa and thus Minos was born. In fathering Epaphus, hehad come as a thick, shape shifting fog, seducing Io. He adopted the form of a swan to inveigle Leda. The classics tell us that from this union, Clytemnestra and Helen of Troy were born. Zeus was also represented on ancient Greek coins. Each incarnation represents a different desire for women: the bull is strength; fog is mystery; the swan is beauty; and the coin is wealth (Fisher Interview). The artist feels that these traits are no longer representative of a woman’s desires. He cleverly subverts each of these fancies. The bull is hanged from the tree; the swan is drowned in a shallow pool; the fog is now a wisp of smoke trailing out from her lips; and in her right hand, Leda toys with a coin across her knuckles. (See Appendix C.) He has removed the archaic power he held over women and instead given it to Leda.

Fisher subtly uses indicators to depict the rape. Many of the classical painters were more explicit when revealing the swan’s aggression. Fisher shows the consequences of violence to symbolize the conflict. Leda’s dress is stretched, she has a black eye and the wine on the table has been spilt. This symbolism is consistent with the representation of a modern woman. He avoids showing her when weakened or oppressed and instead reveals her as a victor from the struggle. Zeus lies dead in the shallow pool at her feet.

Fisher’s use of symbolism in Leda is both novel and creative. He lends his own world view to the classical tale, depicting the revolution of the role of woman in society by referencing the conflict without showing it. He manages to show the death of past chauvinism and the birth of modern female independence, at once, through a symbolism that is at once transparent and surrealistic.

There are clear parallels that can be drawn to Salvador Dalí’s surrealist work. Although Dalí also painted a rendition of this tale (Leda Atomica), the merits of his piece are not so clearly in parallel with Fisher’s version as hisMetamorphosis of Narcissus. (See Appendix D.) This is one of the standout surrealist pieces that has numerous characteristics from which, parallels can be drawn to Leda. The Metamorphosis is a piece wherein three representations of Narcissus are illustrated in one portrait. There is a statue in the background, the central slouching figure in the pool, and a rock formation in the foreground. Fisher does similar things with Zeus and holds the same mocking tone for the Greek god that Dalí shows towards Narcissus. Dalí’s statue is ignored and isolated, the worst thing that can happen to Narcissus whose vanity dictates that he must be adored. In a like manner, Fisher depicts Zeus as a gold coin, beingdismissively handled across Leda’s knuckles. The forlorn character in the pool is similar to Fisher’s drowned swan.

The structural outlines are similar between the two pieces. Each details a surrealist portrait in the foreground before an expansive pastoral landscape. The location of the shallow pool within the frame and the actions taking place therein are reminiscent of Dalí’s pool in Narcissus. The mimicry within Dalí’s Narcissus shows that the naked figure in the pool is near death by depicting him as a stone fossil. Both paintings succinctly relate the proximity of sexuality to death.

Simon Wilson, a critic of the Surrealist Movement, has noted that sexuality and death are often intermingled in surrealist works (Wilson 42). This is very true for Fisher’s piece. The unseen attempted rape is a direct precursor to the death of Zeus (Fisher Interview).

Surrealism is a movement that has a variety of origins in the automatic artistic expression of many artists including writers, painters and sculptors. It was not until André Breton composed a Surrealist Manifesto in 1924, that the movement showed a consistent focus. Though Breton left the movement open to reinterpretation, Fisher’s work shows some correlation with the goals of the movement. Cesare Sesto and Paul Cézanne, artists from the 16th and 19th centuries respectively, had rendered the tale of Leda and Zeus. (See Appendices BE.) Sesto was a noted scholar of Leonardo da Vinci. Similarities in their renditions of Leda suggest that they may have painted the subject at the same time. (See Appendix F.) By subverting the explanation of the encounter in Sesto’s, Cézanne’s and da Vinci’s paintings (wherein Leda is submissive to Zeus’ seductions), Fisher gave birth to a modern rendition of the classical character that was more compliant with the surrealist tradition. This adheres to Breton’s statement that surrealism must “Seek[…] truth which does not conform to convention” (Breton 1). There is little evidence of convention in Fisher’s Leda.

Another marker of Fisher’s surrealist approach to this painting is the similarities that Leda has with Winged Domino (Portrait of Valentine) by Roland Penrose. (See Appendix G.) Penrose was described by Breton as “Surrealism in the flesh” (Wilson 42). Both Leda and Valentine share an unconventional bluish skin tone and green-brown wavy hair. The personification of Leda may not have been directly inspired by Penrose, but the underlying values of surrealism have caused the two paintings to arrive at a startlingly similar portrayal of womanhood. There are many other color subversions evident in Leda. Her skin is a dull blue color, her hair is green and her dress is a bright orange brown. She is not a typical everywoman but a unique individual. Through this coloring juxtaposition, she has been removed from the history of all other artistic renditions. Her unnatural coloring references her sickly condition. She is exhausted from the confrontation. This is a notableadjacency to the renditions by Sesto and Cézanne where Leda is inviting Zeus to seduce her as revealed by her coy blush.

The bright color of Leda’s exposed nipple can be interpreted as an affront to the viewer. It makes the rape more apparent and desexualizes the victim (Fisher Interview). Her portrayal in such colors is consistent with her independence from beingcontinuously viewed in a sexual context. Thus, the painting style and classification can be evaluated based on the color palate used by the artist. Color can also be used to depict symbolism and semantics in painting when given a certain pretext for the piece. Fisher uses color variations to communicate with the viewer of the piece. The artist admitted that he does not like to be personally associated with any of his paintings, so making such liaisons can be quite difficult (Fisher Interview).

We are brought back to the notion that evaluating artwork is an intricate task given the subjective nature of judgment. I am deeply moved when viewing this piece of art but I cannot discern exactly what it is specifically that I like or dislike. I feel joyous sense of justice where Fisher’s Leda let “the indifferent beak drop” into the drowning pool. Fisher’s sense of justice and morality are similar to my own and so, in finding a common perspective, modern artwork displays a sense of purpose and relevance that may be absent from classical paintings. However, as I have analyzed Fishers paintings I have found that something is lost in defragmenting a painting into its individual components. The internal associations that refer to the artist, to other paintings or to other sections of the paintingmust be perceived and integrated together for this painting to be fully appreciated. Nonetheless, it was onlythrough reducing the painting to its components that I have come to realize the value of the whole.

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Cited Works

Breton, André. The First Surrealist Manifesto. 1925. Surrealism. Waldberg, Patrick. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1971. 66-75. Print.

Cézanne, Paul. “Leda au Cygne.” 1880 – 82. Oil on Canvas. Lincoln University, Philadelphia.

Dalí, Salvador. “The Metamorphosis of Narcissus.” 1937. Oil on Canvas. Tate Modern, London.

Da Vinci, Leonardo. “Sketches from Leda.” c.1500. Charcoal on Paper. Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnica, Milan.

De Sesto, Cesare. “Leda and the Swan.” c.1515. Oil on Canvas. Wilton House, Salisbury.

Fisher, Tim. “Leda.” 1996. Oil on Canvas. GVSU, Grand Rapids.

Fisher, Tim. Personal interview. 16 Oct. 2009.

Penrose, Roland. Winged Domino (Portrait of Valentine). 1935. Oil on Canvas. Farley Farm, East Sussex.

Raynal, Maurice. A History of Painting: From Picasso to Surrealism: 174-77. Geneve: Albert Skera, c.1950. Print.

Wilson, Simon. Surrealist Painting: 31 - 42. Oxford: Phaidon, 1976. Print.

Yeats, William Butler. “Leda and the Swan.” A Vision: Collected Works of W.B. Yeats. Ed. Catherine E. Paul and Margaret Mills Harper. New York: Scribner, 2008. 179. Print.