Ayanna Nahmias, Editor-in-ChiefLast Modified: 00:31 AM EDT, Sunday, 7 August 2011

An Odalisque (Turkish: Odalık) was a female slave in an Ottoman seraglio. She was an assistant or apprentice to the concubines and wives, and she might rise in status to become one of them. Most odalisque were part of the Imperial Harem, that is, the household, of the sultan.

Many artists, especially classical artist such as Jean August Dominique Ingres, who in 1814 painted the Grand Odalisque, often portrayed female nudes in this style. Hence the original use of the word as a noun has morphed within the field of paintings into an adjective which used to describe a particular style of portraying a female nude.

Two of into my favorite artists, Amedeo Clemente Modigliani (July 12, 1884 – January 24, 1920 and Fernando Botero Angulo (born April 19,1932 - present), depict stylized Odalisque at opposite ends of the spectrum. Both artists portray women in exaggerated proportions, Modigliani chose to elongate his figures, while Botero chose to accentuate corpulence. I find in each a more natural, albeit caricature, portrayal of women because these artists do not seek perfection through idealization.

Whereas the nudes of the great artists like Michaelangelo strive to not only portray physical perfection of the body types of their age, it seemed as if the artists sought to imbue the canvas with the very essence of the model's soul. By contrast, Modigliani and Botero seek to explore other aspects of painting and the female nude.

Modigliani was born into an Italian-Jewish family from Livorno, Italy. He moved to Paris in 1906 where he met a female poet, Anna Akhmatov who became the inspiration for many of his paintings."

"One of the key-elements of Modigliani's portraitism were the slated heads, derived from Byzantine cariatides because of the horizontal placement of the eyes and mouth coupled with the curvature of the nose. The portraits subtlety is due to Modigliani's unique talent, but its essence, the facial constructions one of the most important artistic inventions of modern art." Source: Paintings.Name

Such directness in figurative portraiture forms the basis for abstract art, and in fact, Picasso would later use this mask-like depictions of the human face in many of his paintings.

Born in 1932 in Medellin, Colombia, as Fernando Botero Angulo, he has worked in landscapes and still-lifes, but his fame rests on paintings and sculpture of human figures with almost comically exaggerated, rounded features. Colombians have loved him for decades, at least since he won first prize at the Salon de Artistas Colmbiano in 1959, and find his work emblematic of their nation’s identity.

The Latin American artist is often quoted as saying that he paints "the world as he sees it." His work though in the style of caricature is immediately recognizable, and captivating or repulsive depending upon the viewer's perception of corpulence. For those who like 'Zaftig' women, Botero's preference for bigger, richer, models versus thin and emaciated body types that are currently in vogue, makes his work fascinating and engaging.

For students of art history, even a cursory review of his work reveals a Baroque influence. One could reasonably argue that Botero uses the distortion of proportion as commentary on social mores and the stature of the subject.

Perhaps the tendency of Baroque art toward abundance and heightened proportion helped form his signature style. But for his part, Botero claims not to have known or understood the sources of his art when he began painting, calling it entirely intuitive.

Botero’s Baroque inspiration was recognized in the title of a major exhibition of his work, “The Baroque World of Fernando Botero,” which toured museums in North America from 2007 through 2008. The accompanying catalog, published by Yale University Press (2007), is the most extensive study of his life and work to date. Featuring 100 works from the artist’s private collection, the volume provides an informed review of his considerable body of work. Source: Antique Trader