Jean-Léon Gérôme, Slave Market (ca. 1867)
Reversely the hand and especially one or more fingers can accentuate the erotic dimension of the mouth. This effect we notice in pin-ups and in pornography but also in 'official' serious art. Fine examples are Jean-Léon Gérôme's Slave Market, painted around 1867, and the recent Twenty London East-One by Gilbert & George (2003), in which someone holds one or more fingers in the mouth of another person. A remarkable non-erotic version is Madonna with Child and Angels by Masaccio (1426).
GAAP! p. 54-55.
Gilbert & George, Twenty London East One Pictures (2003)
Reversely the hand and especially one or more fingers can accentuate the erotic dimension of the mouth. This effect we notice in pin-ups and in pornography but also in 'official' serious art. Fine examples are Jean-Léon Gérôme's Slave Market, painted around 1867, and the recent Twenty London East-One by Gilbert & George (2003), in which someone holds one or more fingers in the mouth of another person. A remarkable non-erotic version is Madonna with Child and Angels by Masaccio (1426).
GAAP! p. 54-55.
Masaccio, Madonna with Child and Angels (1426)
Reversely the hand and especially one or more fingers can accentuate the erotic dimension of the mouth. This effect we notice in pin-ups and in pornography but also in 'official' serious art. Fine examples are Jean-Léon Gérôme's Slave Market, painted around 1867, and the recent Twenty London East-One by Gilbert & George (2003), in which someone holds one or more fingers in the mouth of another person. A remarkable non-erotic version is Madonna with Child and Angels by Masaccio (1426).
GAAP! p. 54-55.
Jules Dalou, Innocence (ca. 1876)
John Henry Cardinal Newman wrote in his diary (January 21st, 1863):
Till the affair of No. 90 and my going to Littlemore, I had my mouth half open, and commonly a smile on my face, - and from that time onwards my mouth has been closed and contracted, and the muscles are so set now, that I cannot but look grave and forbidding.
The closed and contracted mouth Newman ascribes to the loss of childish wonder, openness. Maybe there is something in it. Look at the girl's head by the French sculptor Jules Dalou that he gave the title Innocence (ca. 1876): she has her mouth slightly opened and she looks with a somewhat sideways glance to the right into the future.
GAAP! p. 188.
Ernie, with his continually opened mouth and his clearly visible tongue - he even points at it - is popular, because he is 'fun'. Bert, with his closed and slightly contorted mouth, is not popular because he is 'serious'. Bert, the straight man, has the thankless job of making Ernie extra popular through contrast. This typical open mouth posture we will, and in honour of Ernie, designate as EG, which stands for Ernie's Gape.
GAAP! p. 189-90.
Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Yawning Man (ca. 1564)
The open mouth signified being uncivilised because uncontrolled. The handbooks of etiquette that appeared from the late Middle Ages leave no doubt about the importance of the form of affect-control. The open mouths that were depicted show us therefore uncontrolled emotion. Thus the Yawning Man by Pieter Bruegel the Elder must be understood as a picture of failed affect-control.
GAAP! p. 192.
Richard Kern, Action, 2007:195
If the eyes are opened and look at the spectator or even stare at him then the erotic effect turns into sexual aggression. Such an aggressive-inviting mouth we see in the photograph by the American artist Richard Kern.
GAAP! p. 54.
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