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The Harlot and the Painter
I wonder if any of you British munchkins watched the TV movie “A Harlot’s Progress” last week? It imagined the story of the creation of William Hogarth’s series of paintings by that name. Although in reality he never admitted whether his Harlot was real or fictitious, in the film she is the infatuated artist’s very real flesh-and-bones-and-breasts muse. He sees her in a tavern by chance, as she is being recruited into her first brothel, and he sketches her on a scrap of paper, and carries on sketching her over the length of her calamitous career.
I’m somewhat obsessed by fictional relationships between artists and their models/muses. A painter creates a girl’s image, but what effect does this have on the real girl sitting in front of him? And what about the effect she has on him? If the painting goes on to be successful, does this mean that while he created her likeness, she has created him as an artist? Pygmalion created Galatea, but without Galatea they would have been no Pygmalion. (Forgive me the personal pronouns here: they reflect my sexuality, not my views on gender in art.)
In the film the obsession is mutual. Just as Hogarth can’t leave Mary alone even when his career and family life dangle over the precipice, so she is addicted to the energy that flows between them when he paints her, even if at other times he can be unrepentantly nasty.
As usual (see “Girl with a Pearl Earring” and “My Fair Lady” for other examples) fierce artistic energy translates into lust, and this does no good to the humans. (Though, arguably, it is of some benefit to their art.) Hogarth is married to a woman who expects fidelity, and yet he falls. Mary has way too much sex outside her modelling hours, and yet she responds to him, an ugly troll though he is, and a mean creature though he can sometimes be. Much guilt follows, as do increasingly disturbing paintings of Mary’s increasingly miserable life.
She dies, providing him with the subject for the final painting in the series, and on the back of it he gains all the recognition a penniless artist could dream of. So, you see? Who has created whom in the end?
It was a rather unsettling film, all in all, and I couldn’t tell you which scenes carried a more intense sexual charge: the many explicit episodes of full-on sex, or the scenes where Hogarth observed, sketched and painted his harlot.
(Actually, yes, I can tell you; in fact, I pretty much have.)
P.S. In case you’re wondering, there were plenty of kinky overtones in this film, including various shots of whips, rough sex, and a good long shot of a Georgian brothel’s resident dominatrix.
P.P.S. Man, was this painter guy ever *annoying* at times! “Oh, Mary, I love you! This means I want to fuck you hard, with no regard to your pleasure, with my eyes closed the whole time. Afterwards I’ll be wrecked with guilt, and you’ll be crying. Oh, and unlike the other men who do the very same thing, I won’t pay you for it. It’s love, you know.”
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6 Responses to “The Harlot and the Painter”
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We out in the colonies have not had the pleasure of this movie. Thank you for the very incisive review. I watched Girl In Pearl Earring again the other night, on the telly, previously on the big screen. I was just struck by how beautiffully Scarlett played the part. Not a foot or a gesture or a curtsy was wrong. And not surprisingly Lost In Translation is my next favourite. Anyway a Harlot’s progress sounds wonderfully gritty and one hopes to see it one day.
No, we didn’t. I agree about the Girl with the Earing, though. It is kinky in a refreshingly implicit way, to the point that it’s almost uncomfortable to watch with other people. And it had its own CP scene too.
Dame Ninette de Valois created a ballet (still occasionally in the rep of the Royal Ballet) based on Hogarth’s series from “A Rake’s Prgress”
http://www.artoftheprint.com/artistpages/hogarth_william_arakesprogresscompletesetofeight.htm
Just revived for distribtion are Emmanuelle Béart’s contortions, some of the most uncomfortable torture ever captured on screen in Jacques Rivette’s four hour long La Belle Noiseuse (1991).
Now this subject is worth of a dissertation. But if you ever do decide to carry out your promise Adele, I know a filmmaker who’d love to produce the movie.
R
MichaelDavid - Yep, it was gritty alright, worlds apart from the underlying tenderness in the relationship in “The Girl with a Pearl Earring” (which is one of my favourites, too; I love Scarlett!)
Amber - That’s right, that CP scene just gives the film that extra little dash of spice. :) And the scene where he pierces her ear was one of those electrifying moments where I appreciated watching it alone. (And then raced over to my best friend’s, and watched it with her again, this time getting a kick out of her reactions. *g*)
Redhead - You’re a fount of useful artistic knowledge, my friend. (What promise am I carrying out, though? Remind me? ;) )
I have been thinking much lately about Galatea and her relationship with Pygmalion, since I wish to re-form my wife in the image of a porn star, a role she plays in different degrees of acceptance.
Good luck, Tom. :)