60 × 50cm

oil on canvas

2021

Part of a series of paintings from 2021 exploring the artist’s model, female nudes and the interior.

These nudes were painted from vintage reference photographs for artists, these artist models were photographed by Bertram Park, in a publication co-authored by Yvonne Gregory and C. Montague Ellwood in 1926. The authors of ‘Living Sculpture’ frame their work in scientific and anthropological terms, building on the reputation of art schools (particularly the Slade) for drawing from life as the foundation of good art. Touching also on neo-classical art history references, ideals of beauty, narrative and a legacy of allegorical bodies. These women are anonymous muses, adaptable to the artists purposes, photographed for convenience, and reproduced anonymously here.

I have placed the model in an interior inspired by Vilhelm Hammershöi (1864-1916). Hammershöi was a Danish painter of interior spaces populated by plainly dressed women, often painted from behind preserving their anonymity. His interiors have an evocative stillness, they are contemplative spaces of calm intimacy.