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Conor Mullin
Sister Lucia Treanor, FSE
WRT 150-43
27th of October 2009
Fisher’s Leda
“So mastered by the brute blood of the air,
Did she put on his knowledge with his power
Before the indifferent beak could let her drop?”
Excerpt from “Leda and the Swan” W.B. Yeats
Leda is a painting by Tim Fisher, an artist and professor at Grand Valley State University
that is on display on the second floor of Building A at the Pew Campus in downtown Grand
Rapids. (See Appendix A.) The work portrays the modernist interpretation of Leda’s encounter
with Zeus who had come to earth in the form of a swan. He rapes Leda who begets Helen and
Clytemnestra. The scene is one that has been painted by many artists including da Vinci, Dalí,
and Cézanne. Fisher’s rendition introduces modern concepts to the tale, which highlight
unexplored notions and moral standards that are generations removed from his predecessors. His
piece is an amalgamation of different styles that include landscape, portraiture, and surrealism.
As surrealism is most evident in the painting, this paper will discuss the work in the context of
both the surrealist movement and previous paintings of the same scene.
The evaluation of an art piece is entirely subjective in nature. The merits and faults are
subject to the viewer’s eye, and the frame of reference that must be considered when analyzing a
painting, can easily be overlooked. The semantics of art is part of a language that can rarely be
fully comprehended. Three aspects of the work of interest are: its symbolism, its surrealistic
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cast, and its employment of color. For each of these, I will evaluate the painting in the context of
the authorities within the art world: symbolism will be regarded in correlation to the classical tale
of Leda, surrealism within the context of the surrealist manifesto by André Breton and some
writings on the progression of the movement since its inception in 1924, and color will be
compared and contrasted to previous works evoking Leda and Zeus. Fisher’s Leda has obvious
commonalities with some acknowledged surrealist works and I intend on illustrating these
similarities. The artist did not openly admit that a specific surrealist piece had inspired his
painting, but there is clear evidence of common principles and style.
Tim Fisher is currently a professor of still life drawing at Grand Valley State University,
who has just completed an exhibition for the ArtPrize festival. He currently has four paintings
on display at Grand Valley. He was very gracious in donating his time to be interviewed and in
answering emails that contributed immensely to my understanding his work.
Fisher told me when interviewed, that the symbolism used in evoking his scene of Leda
and Zeus is fitting to his novel perspective of the story. He shows a new depiction of
womanhood and liberation from chauvinism in his rendition of Leda (Fisher Interview). He
highlights the fall of Zeus by overthrowing his chauvinistic guises. Finally, he brings vicissitude
and modern morality to the scene by depicting the consequences of a violent struggle.
Fisher’s Leda is a modern woman. In previous depictions, she is naked and thus an
object of sexual desire. Here, she is fully clothed except for a tear in her dress revealing a
brightly colored nipple. All sexuality has been removed. In the past she has often been
portrayed as submissive or coy, but in Fisher’s piece she is dominant in the scene, posing in a
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powerful position. Clearly, in her rejection of Zeus’ advances, she is a symbol of modern
femininity.
Zeus had never before been portrayed as a vanquished suitor in classical painting. He
had come from the heavens on multiple occasions and in multiple forms to seduce or rape many
female characters from the classics. Each of these incarnations is represented in Leda. Zeus had
come as a bull to Europa and thus Minos was born. In fathering Epaphus, he had come as a
thick, shape shifting fog, seducing Io. He adopted the form of a swan to inveigle Leda. The
classics tell us that from this union, Clytemnestra and Helen of Troy were born. Zeus was also
represented on ancient Greek coins. Each incarnation represents a different desire for women:
the bull is strength; fog is mystery; the swan is beauty; and the coin is wealth (Fisher Interview).
The artist feels that these traits are no longer representative of a woman’s desires. He cleverly
subverts each of these fancies. The bull is hanged from the tree; the swan is drowned in a
shallow pool; the fog is now a wisp of smoke trailing out from her lips; and in her right hand,
Leda toys with a coin across her knuckles. (See Appendix C.) He has removed the archaic
power he held over women and instead given it to Leda.
Fisher subtly uses indicators to depict the rape. Many of the classical painters were more
explicit when revealing the swan’s aggression. Fisher shows the consequences of violence to
symbolize the conflict. Leda’s dress is stretched, she has a black eye and the wine on the table
has been spilt. This symbolism is consistent with the representation of a modern woman. He
avoids showing her when weakened or oppressed and instead reveals her as a victor from the
struggle. Zeus lies dead in the shallow pool at her feet.
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Fisher’s use of symbolism in Leda is both novel and creative. He lends his own world
view to the classical tale, depicting the revolution of the role of woman in society by referencing
the conflict without showing it. He manages to show the death of past chauvinism and the birth
of modern female independence, at once, through a symbolism that is at once transparent and
surrealistic.
There are clear parallels that can be drawn to Salvador Dalí’s surrealist work. Although
Dalí also painted a rendition of this tale (Leda Atomica), the merits of his piece are not so clearly
in parallel with Fisher’s version as his Metamorphosis of Narcissus. (See Appendix D.) This is
one of the standout surrealist pieces that has numerous characteristics from which, parallels can
be drawn to Leda. The Metamorphosis is a piece wherein three representations of Narcissus are
illustrated in one portrait. There is a statue in the background, the central slouching figure in the
pool, and a rock formation in the foreground. Fisher does similar things with Zeus and holds the
same mocking tone for the Greek god that Dalí shows towards Narcissus. Dalí’s statue is
ignored and isolated, the worst thing that can happen to Narcissus whose vanity dictates that he
must be adored. In a like manner, Fisher depicts Zeus as a gold coin, being dismissively handled
across Leda’s knuckles. The forlorn character in the pool is similar to Fisher’s drowned swan.
The structural outlines are similar between the two pieces. Each details a surrealist
portrait in the foreground before an expansive pastoral landscape. The location of the shallow
pool within the frame and the actions taking place therein are reminiscent of Dalí’s pool in
Narcissus. The mimicry within Dalí’s Narcissus shows that the naked figure in the pool is near
death by depicting him as a stone fossil. Both paintings succinctly relate the proximity of
sexuality to death.
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Simon Wilson, a critic of the Surrealist Movement, has noted that sexuality and death are
often intermingled in surrealist works (Wilson 42). This is very true for Fisher’s piece. The
unseen attempted rape is a direct precursor to the death of Zeus (Fisher Interview).
Surrealism is a movement that has a variety of origins in the automatic artistic expression
of many artists including writers, painters and sculptors. It was not until André Breton
composed a Surrealist Manifesto in 1924, that the movement showed a consistent focus. Though
Breton left the movement open to reinterpretation, Fisher’s work shows some correlation with
the goals of the movement. Cesare Sesto and Paul Cézanne, artists from the 16th and 19th
centuries respectively, had rendered the tale of Leda and Zeus. (See Appendices B & E.) Sesto
was a noted scholar of Leonardo da Vinci. Similarities in their renditions of Leda suggest that
they may have painted the subject at the same time. (See Appendix F.) By subverting the
explanation of the encounter in Sesto’s, Cézanne’s and da Vinci’s paintings (wherein Leda is
submissive to Zeus’ seductions), Fisher gave birth to a modern rendition of the classical
character that was more compliant with the surrealist tradition. This adheres to Breton’s
statement that surrealism must “Seek […] truth which does not conform to convention” (Breton
1). There is little evidence of convention in Fisher’s Leda.
Another marker of Fisher’s surrealist approach to this painting is the similarities that
Leda has with Winged Domino (Portrait of Valentine) by Roland Penrose. (See Appendix G.)
Penrose was described by Breton as “Surrealism in the flesh” (Wilson 42). Both Leda and
Valentine share an unconventional bluish skin tone and green-brown wavy hair. The
personification of Leda may not have been directly inspired by Penrose, but the underlying
values of surrealism have caused the two paintings to arrive at a startlingly similar portrayal of
womanhood. There are many other color subversions evident in Leda. Her skin is a dull blue
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color, her hair is green and her dress is a bright orange brown. She is not a typical everywoman
but a unique individual. Through this coloring juxtaposition, she has been removed from the
history of all other artistic renditions. Her unnatural coloring references her sickly condition.
She is exhausted from the confrontation. This is a notable adjacency to the renditions by Sesto
and Cézanne where Leda is inviting Zeus to seduce her as revealed by her coy blush.
The bright color of Leda’s exposed nipple can be interpreted as an affront to the viewer.
It makes the rape more apparent and desexualizes the victim (Fisher Interview). Her portrayal in
such colors is consistent with her independence from being continuously viewed in a sexual
context. Thus, the painting style and classification can be evaluated based on the color palate
used by the artist. Color can also be used to depict symbolism and semantics in painting when
given a certain pretext for the piece. Fisher uses color variations to communicate with the
viewer of the piece. The artist admitted that he does not like to be personally associated with any
of his paintings, so making such liaisons can be quite difficult (Fisher Interview).
We are brought back to the notion that evaluating artwork is an intricate task given the
subjective nature of judgment. I am deeply moved when viewing this piece of art but I cannot
discern exactly what it is specifically that I like or dislike. I feel joyous sense of justice where
Fisher’s Leda let “the indifferent beak drop” into the drowning pool. Fisher’s sense of justice
and morality are similar to my own and so, in finding a common perspective, modern artwork
displays a sense of purpose and relevance that may be absent from classical paintings. However,
as I have analyzed Fishers paintings I have found that something is lost in defragmenting a
painting into its individual components. The internal associations that refer to the artist, to other
paintings or to other sections of the painting must be perceived and integrated together for this
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painting to be fully appreciated. Nonetheless, it was only through reducing the painting to its
components that I have come to realize the value of the whole.
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Appendix A: Leda (1996) by Tim
Fisher
GVSU Pew Campus
Building A
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Appendix C: Close up of Fisher’s Leda
with Gold Coin (representing Zeus in the
form of wealth)
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Appendix E: Leda and the Swan (15151520) by Cesare Sesto.
Cesare Sesto was a student of Leonardo
da Vinci. This painting is said to be a
copy of one by da Vinci. The original is
lost.
In Sesto’s version Leda is consenting and
sexualized as seen by the embrace.
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Appendix F: Head of Leda (1505) by
Leonardo da Vinci.
This is a sketch of Leda and the Swan, a
painting that is known to have existed
but was probably destroyed. This sketch
is evidence that Cesare Sesto was a
student of Leonardo and that the subject
of Leda was frequently painted in
Renaissance Italy.
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Appendix B: Leda au Cygne (1880-82)
by Paul Cézanne.
This rendition of Leda & the Swan
modernized the tale somewhat by
revealing signs of aggression to the
scene. Here Zeus is biting the hand of
Leda. She is still characterized as weak
and submissive.
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Appendix D: Metamorphosis of
Narcissus (1937) by Salvador Dalí.
The similarities between Leda and
Metamorphosis are clear. The subject is
from classical tales, there are multiple
renditions of the principle character
(statue, character in the pool and rock
formation) and the formats are similar
(surrealist portrait before a pastoral
landscape with elements of still life.)
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Appendix G: Winged Domino (Portrait
of Valentine) (1935) by Roland Penrose.
The use of color in Leda is inspired from
this depiction of Penrose’s everywoman.
The
surrealist
trait
of
subverting
normality, and placing woman at the
center of the piece is evident in each
piece.
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Cited Works
Breton, André. The First Surrealist Manifesto. 1925. Surrealism. Waldberg, Patrick. New
York: McGraw-Hill, 1971. 66-75.
Print.
Cézanne, Paul. “Leda au Cygne.” 1880 – 82. Oil on Canvas. Lincoln University, Philadelphia.
Dalí, Salvador. “The Metamorphosis of Narcissus.” 1937. Oil on Canvas. Tate Modern,
London.
Da Vinci, Leonardo. “Sketches from Leda.” c.1500. Charcoal on Paper. Museo Nazionale
della Scienza e della Tecnica, Milan.
De Sesto, Cesare. “Leda and the Swan.” c.1515. Oil on Canvas. Wilton House, Salisbury.
Fisher, Tim. “Leda.” 1996. Oil on Canvas. GVSU, Grand Rapids.
Fisher, Tim. Personal interview. 16 Oct. 2009.
Penrose, Roland. Winged Domino (Portrait of Valentine). 1935. Oil on Canvas. Farley Farm,
East Sussex.
Raynal, Maurice. A History of Painting: From Picasso to Surrealism: 174 - 77. Geneve: Albert
Skera, c.1950. Print.
Wilson, Simon. Surrealist Painting: 31 - 42. Oxford: Phaidon, 1976. Print.
Yeats, William Butler. “Leda and the Swan.” A Vision: Collected Works of W.B. Yeats. Ed.
Catherine E. Paul and Margaret Mills Harper. New York: Scribner, 2008. 179. Print.