Between Fiction and Art History: Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Year 2022, , 1 - 55, 28.06.2022

Gül Cevahir Altun

https://doi.org/10.26650/sty.2022.1066848

Abstract

Written and directed by French director Céline Sciamma, Portrait of a Lady on Fire
(2019), Sciamma’s fourth feature film, is set toward the end of the 18th century
and tells the love story between Marianne, a painter who travels to an island in
Brittany for a marriage portrait commission, and Héloïse, the aristocratic model
of the portrait. For the upper classes in a monarchy-ruled Europe, marriage was
one of the most effective means of protecting and strengthening economic and political interests. The painting of the portrait of Héloïse, who does not want to actualize the marriage arranged by her
mother and therefore refuses to pose for the painter, echoes the tradition of marriage: the continuation of the lineage
to which the inheritance and the privileges of the family name will be passed down, which also demonstrates the
function of the portrait in this tradition. Sciamma, a political and feminist director, centers the portrayal of marriage
in her screenplay. The social positions of the women painter, the male and the female gaze, and the stereotypes of
the passive female model reduced to a muse—all of which have been the subjects of feminist art history critique
since the 1970s—along with the female experience, such as abortion, that is rendered invisible, bring together the
emphasis on gender and solidarity, also visible in her other films. In the second half of the 18th century, women became
more active in shaping the cultural world through their involvement in art production, commissioning, collecting,
art critique, and authorship. During this time, the argument for challenging gender roles was brought forward under
the ideology of Enlightenment, which steered the century to determine gender roles of women through the idea of
the “course of nature,” before the French Revolution arrived. This study, which focuses on how Sciamma interprets
through a feminist perspective in her Portrait of a Lady on Fire, the institutional structure surrounding female artists
in France in the 18th century and the painting concept in which women are glorified as mothers and wives, aim
to examine and compare the themes of the film that intersect with relevant examples selected from Western art.

Keywords

Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Marriage Portrait, Héloïse, Abortion, Nude

Kurmaca ile Sanat Tarihi Arasında: Alev Almış Bir Genç Kızın Portresi

Abstract

Fransız yönetmen Céline Sciamma’nın senaryosunu yazıp yönettiği dördüncü
uzun metraj filmi Alev Almış Bir Genç Kızın Portresi (2019), 18. yüzyılın sonlarına
doğru, evlilik portresi siparişi için Bretonya’da bir adaya giden Marianne adındaki
ressam ile portrenin modeli aristokrat Héloïse arasında yaşanan aşkı konu
edinir. Evlenmek istemeyen ve bu nedenle ressama poz vermeyi reddeden
Héloïse’in portresinin yapım süreci, monarşiyle yönetilen Avrupa’da mirasın
ve aile adının taşıdığı ayrıcalıkların aktarılacağı soyun devamı anlamına gelen
evlilik geleneği ve portrenin bu gelenek içindeki işlevini yankılar. Politik ve
feminist bir yönetmen olan Sciamma evlilik portresi merkezinde inşa ettiği
senaryoda, 1970’lerden itibaren feminist sanat tarihi yazınında konu edilen
sanatçı kadınların toplumsal konumu, eril bakış, esin perisine indirgenen edilgen
kadın model kalıbıyla birlikte kürtaj gibi kadınların yaşamından görünmez
kılınan deneyimleri, diğer filmleriyle ortaklaşan toplumsal cinsiyet ve dayanışma
vurgusunda bir araya getirerek yorumlamıştır. Kadınların sanat üretimi, eser
siparişi, koleksiyonculuk, sanat eleştirmenliği, yazarlık gibi kültür dünyasını
şekillendiren birden çok alanda aktif bir üretimle var oldukları 18. yüzyılın ikinci
yarısı ile Devrim öncesi Fransa’da aynı zamanda yüzyıla yön veren Aydınlanma
düşüncesinin belirleyiciliğinde, kadınların “doğaları gereği” ideal rollerinin ne
olması gerektiği tartışması yürütülmüştür. Bu çalışmada, Sciamma’nın Alev
Almış Bir Genç Kızın Portresi’nde 18. yüzyılda Fransa’da sanatçı kadınları kuşatan
kurumsal yapı ile kadınların anne ve eş kimliğinin yüceltildiği resim anlayışını
feminist perspektifle nasıl yorumladığına odaklanılarak, filmde sanat tarihiyle
kesişen temaların Batı sanatından seçilen ilgili örneklerle karşılaştırılarak
incelenmesi amaçlanmaktadır.

Keywords

Alev Almış Bir Genç Kızın Portresi, Evlilik Portresi, Héloïse, Kürtaj, Uzanan Çıplak

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