“Woman Creates Man, Man Recreates Woman”

American living in Paris portrait artist Kathy Burke just stopped by on route to her beautiful atelier in the Marais with two croissants and a beautiful pink brochure of an upcoming exhibition entitled “…Et La Femme Créa l’Homme” (Woman Creates Man). Starting Thursday, March 4th and running through April 8th, at the Espace Belleville (4, boulevard de la Villette, 19th) 42 women artists’ works will be shown…”42 regards de plasticiennes sur l’homme” (a woman’s vision of man).

The works are as broad a spectrum as the women who created them…from acrylic painted portraits such as Burke’s, to bronze sculpture, mixed media, watercolor, photography and others…by women artists from France, other parts of Europe (both eastern and western) and the U.S. All are images and portraits of men — certainly as many shown nude as you would see if these were male artists portraying women. It’s about time that men had their eyes opened to how women see them, n’est-ce pas?!

If you’ve ever posed for a portrait, whether the artist is painting, illustrating or photographing, the result is not who you see yourself as, but who you are through the eyes and talents of the artist. Many of you noticed there is a new photo of me at the bottom of the newsletter by Theo Robinson. I know you’ve noticed because I’ve received literally dozens of letters from readers about it (sure makes a girl feel good) and that really startled me! I wondered about the powers of perception — how we perceive ourselves vs how others see us.

Theodore D. Robinson is a portrait artist and photographer who lives and works from a large contemporary industrial-style loft bathed in light in the 11th arrondissement. I came to know him through his quest for advice on the purchase of the loft above his (when he does, he’ll be renting out his to some lucky person). He suggested a portrait session one Saturday afternoon just for fun. Using natural light, he shot about 200 photos in three different settings using a sophisticated digital camera and his raw talent.

Et Voila! Man has recreated woman! That’s how I felt when I saw how he was able to portray me so differently than I saw myself or how anyone else had been able to. Both Kathy Burke and Theodore Robinson are American artists living in Paris whose talents we can admire and become intimate with — through the exhibitions of their work and by making use of their ability to change our point of view, of others and of ourselves.

A la prochaine…

Adrian Leeds
Editor, Parler Paris
E-mail: [email protected]

P.S. Theo is our official staff photographer at the upcoming Living and Investing in France Conference! Aren’t we lucky? For more information about Artists in Paris, including Burke and Robinson (who you can commission to do your own portrait!), visit /parlerparis/art/index.html