Venus vs. Nini  

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"La femme nue sortira de l'onde amère ou de son lit, elle s'appellera Vénus ou Nini. On n'inventera rien de mieux."--Pierre-Auguste Renoir cited by Albert André

English:

"The nude woman, whether she emerges from the waves of the sea,or from her own bed, is Venus, or Nini, and one's imagination cannot conceive anything better."--translation by Walter Pach

Venus of Urbino (1538, detail) by Titian. The frankness of Venus' expression is often noted; she makes direct eye contact with the viewer
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Venus of Urbino (1538, detail) by Titian. The frankness of Venus' expression is often noted; she makes direct eye contact with the viewer

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The Venus and Nini are two terms of art to denote the female nude. The two archetypes are best illustrated by comparing the Sleeping Venus (c. 1510) by Giorgione, who is the "Venus", to the Venus of Urbino (1538) by Titian, who is the "nini". The first is divine, the second is a mere mortal.

The trope of the "Venus vs. Nini" was coined by French painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir who said of the distinction, "The nude woman, whether she emerges from the waves of the sea,or from her own bed, is Venus, or Nini, and one's imagination cannot conceive anything better" (quoted in Pach 70).

Contents

Differences between the Venus and the Nini

The difference between Giorgione's painting (Venus) and Titian's painting (Nini) is in their gaze, Giorgione's Venus looks away with her eyes closed, Titian's Venus, painted 28 years later, looks the spectator straight in the eye.

The locale is different too. Giorgione's Venus is set in a pastoral environment, Titian's Venus is depicted in the interior of a palazzo.

Furthermore, Giorgione's Venus conjures a mythical being which never really wears any clothes because she lives in a fictional universe, Titian's Venus is your girlfriend, or the model you get intimate with or the call girl who has received you.

Both are female nudes but with regards to the differences enumerated above art critics label the first kind Venus and the second Nini. Idealization vs. homeliness. Remoteness vs. proximity. Hard-to-get vs. available.

Difference in modern art

In modern art, pubic hair marks the dividing line between a Venus and a Nini, as Gilles Néret noted.

References

« Les sujets les plus simples sont éternels. Qu'une femme nue sorte des flots ou de son lit, qu'elle s'appelle Vénus ou Nini, on ne peut rien inventer de mieux. » --Renoir

See also





Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Venus vs. Nini" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

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