Sunday, July 13, 2014

NAKED JULY: "Nude At Bath" by Walter Zeising

She glances back at the basin, her hand placed firmly on a pile of linens, weight shifting back to her heels, and savors another few moments of cleansing.

I found this gem on Harris Schrank Fine Arts which included the blurb:
"Much of Zeising’s work consisted of complex city scenes, often etching, in black and white, so this woodcut is a bit of a departure for him."

Indeed, on further inspection I was able to find many beautiful etchings of city scenes, but nothing else at all like this. I'm a sucker for skillfull contour drawings of nudes that are able to so effectively describe the weight and curves of a specific body with such economy of line. I'm captivated by the subtle contrast between of blue against yellow and orange, and the way her pale complexion leads into the soft linens, leading the eye into the foreground, then skipping over to the basin and up to perhaps a mirror or window. But more than anything, I'm wondering why she looked back and what she's thinking.

No comments:

Post a Comment