manbehindthecurtain

One musical group I am a great fan of is E Nomine (see my post “Top 13.5 Favourite Bands/Musicians” for more details) which combines electronic music, Gregorian chanting and the gravelly, ominous voice of a German pastor. And it was through an E Nomine video on youtube that I discovered the artwork of one Victoria Frances.

Victoria Frances is an Italian illustrator, who has done posters, calendars and other such items, as well as quite a few illustrated books. According to Wikipedia (where I do most of my research for this blog) her influences include Brom (author of The Child Thief), Gothic Romanticism and the Pre-Raphs, all of which I love. You can definitely see their influence in her works, which basically combine everything I consider to be beautiful. Each of her paintings are dark, mysterious and aesthetically pleasing.

First of all, one of the reasons I find her art so appealing is due to its subjects, most of which are female. In my opinion, Victoria Frances’ artwork portrays the ultimate in feminine beauty. They are sensuous without being slutty, and practically all of them possess an ethereal, otherworldly quality. Unlike the materialistic falseness of those tanned, buxom ladies without a thought in their heads that most people seem to favour, these women are connected to both the natural and the supernatural. They belong to a time when true beauty was recognised and seen as a sacred, cherished thing, rather than the cheap and sleazy, oversexualised way it is seen in modern times. Here, sexuality is hinted at rather than being thrusted into our faces. Also, quite a few of these women are waifs, and being a waif myself, I have a fondness for waifishness.

Another aspect I enjoy is the style and look of her paintings. As I’ve already noted, Victoria Frances combines a great many things I like or am interested in, and this includes Angels, Faeries, the Victorian Era, harlequins and pierrots, thorns, old castles, the Medieval times, graveyards, ravens and so on. You can find all of that in Victoria Frances’ artwork. This really adds to the beauty of the women in her pictures, making them seem all the more detached from our modern society.

So anyway, that’s all I can think of to say about Victoria Frances. I’m seriously thinking of purchasing one of her books on Amazon; hopefully, there are English translations of them. I think I might do some posty-wosts on other artists I like in the future; Brom as well as Brian Froud are two I wouldn’t mind gushing about. What do you, my readers (all 5 of them) think?

Oh, and tomorrow I’m planning to write something on the Addams Family, if you’re interested.