Manet's Olympia / Mel Ramos
About this Item
Record Details
- Accession Number
- 1991/2.102.1
- Title
- Manet's Olympia
- Artist
- Mel Ramos
- Artist Nationality
- American
- Artist Life Dates
- born 1935
- Medium and Support
- collotype on wove paper
- Object Creation Date
- 1974
- Object Creation Place
- North and Central America (continent)
- United States (nation)
- Creation Place 1
- North and Central America (continent)
- Creation Place 2
- United States (nation)
- Credit Line
- Gift of Dr. Reuven Bar-Levav
- Style/Group/Movement
- Pop Art
- Inscription
- Signed and dated in pencil, l.r.: Mel Ramos 74 Inscribed in pencil, l.l.: 90/200
- Dimensions
- 50.9 cm x 67.4 cm (20 1/16 in. x 26 9/16 in.)
- Century
- 20th century
- Primary Object Classification
- Physical Description
- A female nude reclining on a bed wearing one yellow slipper on her left foot, a gold bracelet on her right arm and a black ribbon tied in a bow around her neck. An African American woman in a blue dress stands behind her holding a bouquet of yellow and white flowers. A small monkey sits at the foot of the bed. All subjects look directly at the viewer.
- Subject Matter
- This work borrows its subject matter, title and composition directly from Manet’s Olympia painted in 1863, which depicts a nude mistress, or more likely a prostitute, reclining on a bed; behind her is an African American woman, presumably a maid, presenting her with a bouquet of flowers, while a black cat sits at the foot of the bed.
- In this work, Mel Ramos blurs the line between the fine art tradition of the aestheticized female nude and contemporary pornography, suggested by his hyper-realist treatment of the nude, revealing her tan lines, her blonde bob, and her quasi-seductive gaze, similar to what one might find in any number of pin-ups girls. Ramos updates not only the reclining nude, but also the older black servant, who becomes a young woman with a stylish afro. He further exoticizes the scene by replacing Manet’s black cat, a common 19th century symbol for prostitute, with a small monkey that, along with the two women, makes direct eye contact with the viewer.
- Primary Keywords
- african american
- appropriation
- baby
- beauty
- eroticism
- figures
- figures (representations)
- flowers (plants)
- lovers
- monkeys
- nudes
- pop art
- portraits
- prostitutes
- realism
- women
- Secondary Keywords
- aesthetic concepts
- animals and creatures
- artistic concepts
- associated concepts
- buildings and the land
- child
- concepts in the arts
- family
- forms of expression
- herbaceous plants
- historical, theoretical and critical concepts
- how we live
- international post-1945 styles and movements
- landscapes (environments)
- mammals
- modern american styles and periods
- modern and contemporary art
- modern north american styles and movements
- natural landscapes
- objects we use
- people
- people (agents)
- people and culture
- people and occupations
- people by activity
- people by gender
- people by occupation
- people in service occupations
- philosophical concepts
- plants
- post-1945 fine arts styles and movements
- psychological concepts
- relationships
- settlements and landscapes
- social science concepts
- styles and periods
- styles and periods by region
- the americas
- vegetation and vegetation components
- vegetation components
- visual works
- visual works by subject type
- woody plants
- Rights
- If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit https://umma.umich.edu/about/services/request-image/ for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.
Technical Details
- Collection
- University of Michigan Museum of Art
- Image Size
- 1235 x 913
- File Size
- 101 KB
- Record
- 1991/2.102.1
- Link to this Item
-
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-1991-sl-2.102.1/1991_2.102.1.jpg
Rights and Permissions
Related Links
Portfolios
- In public portfolios
Cite this Item
View the Help Guide for more information.
- Full citation
-
"Manet's Olympia; Mel Ramos." In the digital collection University of Michigan Museum of Art. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-1991-sl-2.102.1/1991_2.102.1.jpg. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed June 12, 2024.