Charles Kvapil

The Bathers

circa 1920s

'Nude Viewed from the Back', oil on canvas, by Charles Kvapil (1937). The world of art has for centuries depicted nudes in one form or another. Kvapil's wonderfully alluring versions may likely be inspired by Courbet and Cézanne. This nude appears on a chair with her back to the artist and viewer. There are plush reds, sensuous pinks and darker, patterned curtains...

'Nude Posing on the Sofa', oil on canvas, by Louis Latapie (circa 1940s). From a long line of renowned paintings whose subject is reclining nudes, this ext...

A series of four paintings - acrylic on stretched canvas - unframed, by Canadian artist Damien Smith (born 1969). This unique series depicts four characters in a New York City erotic gay bar...

'Woman with Blue Eyes', oil on board, by Peter Robert Keil (1985). A topless redhead gazes out to the viewer with her intense blue eyes. A mysterious blue hand sneaks into view from ...

'The Bather', oil on board, by Charles Kvapil (1934). The world of art has for centuries depicted bathers in one form or another. Kvapil's wonderfully allur...

'Abstract Figure 3'- an explosion of cubist colour (2014). This work is filled with energy. The seemingly randomly-placed lines, geometric shapes and colours transform before the vie...

Julius EXNER (Copenhagen, 1825 - Copenhagen, 1910) Model stripping Oil on canvas H. 122 cm; L. 74 cm Signed and dated 1842 lower right Exhibition: most likely Charlottenborg Salon of 1845, under number 110, titled Modelfigur, awarded with a silver medal Provenance: Emilio Fernando Bolt (c.1860 - 1944), acquired from the artist around 1900, then by descent Our painting was produced as part of the summer sessions organized between 1839 and 1850 by Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg (1783-1853), the master of Danish painting of the first half of the 19th century, in his private studio-apartment on the ground floor. floor at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. The master brought together a few students there between June and September, rented one or two models for the season, which were painted from different angles, the artists (including Eckersberg himself) sitting side by side. Eckersberg used to paint a fairly small version, the pupils of the larger formats. The work fits more generally into the legendary context of the research and reforms carried out by Eckersberg concerning the studies of nudes and in particular of female nudes, to make this exercise a genre of painting in its own right. Following his two-year stint in Jacques-Louis David's studio in Paris in 1811, Eckersberg had been made aware of work on the nude and in particular on live models, in natural light, while in Denmark the drawings were then only made from casts of antique models or other mannequins. In 1822, when he had been a professor there since 1818, it was he who had the Royal Academy of Copenhagen authorize the study of nudes, no longer in the evening by candlelight, but in natural light; from 1833, it was still he who allowed students to work on nude female models, even if the official authorization of the Academy did not take place until 1839. It was this same year that he instituted his summer sessions, on a private basis, to orient his painting and that of his students towards a new conception of the representation of models: even if the nude remains the real theme, it does not however, this is more than just an academic exercise. The subject is placed in a contemporary interior, with a rather sophisticated decor, and occupied with an intimate activity (it is this type of intimate vein that we will find later in Degas or Cassatt for example); thus in our painting, the young woman is supposed to take off her clothes to wash. The objective is that the viewer forgets that the master and his students are painting a model during a posing session, and that he instead has the impression of being alone with the model, but invisible, almost like a voyeur in spite of himself. Moreover, in these paintings, the model never looks towards the spectator, inducing a psychological distance with him, whereas model and artist are actually physically very close. On the other hand, it is not a question of idealized nudes either, even if Eckersberg, proof of his debt to the antique, chooses fairly classic models and poses. The sensuality is real and very present, with dreamy, even innocent, and timeless expressions (the models do not seem to have a defined age), suave and slow attitudes and movements, and especially with clothes that hide or reveal skillfully parts of the female body: upper buttocks, pronounced hips... Made by an artist under 20, our sensual painting is probably one of the most beautiful and spectacular produced by the students of Eckersberg during these summer sessions. With a perfect balance between the firmness of an ancient statue (it recalls the Venus de Milo) and the softness of the feminine forms, highlighted by a harmonious palette, it captures the attention with many details: the almost photographic folds white clothing...

Alejandro Casanova Entanglement in Red and Blue 130 x 89 cm oil on canvas The Spanish artist Alejandro Casanova lives and works in Tenerife, where ...

Alejandro Casanova Playing around 100 x 100 cm oil on canvas The Spanish artist Alejandro Casanova lives and works in Tenerife, where he moved afte...

Artwork unframed 60 x 50 x 3 cm What are people's criteria for judging beauty? A beautiful face? A different existence? A feeling of pleasure? Or just follow what others say and make yourself feel the same way? People say the Winged Victory is very beautiful. Admirers come to the Louvre from all over the world. A lot of them just to take a picture to prove they saw it and say to friends, look, this is Winged Victory, how beautiful! Is it really that beautiful in her mind ? not necessarily. If it has head, do you still think it is beautiful? I am afraid many people will have a negative opinion. What is it that blurs the eyes of human beings and makes people's judgments of beauty vary widely? The painting uses knife...

Oil on canvas by Charles PICART LE DOUX (1881-1959), France, 1939. The Beautiful Girl. With frame: 85.5x72.5 cm - 33.7x28.5 inches ; without frame: 73x60cm - 28.75x23.6 inches. 20F f...

Joaquim Sabaté Casanova - Stained glass window with a nude woman - Oil on canvas Oil on canvas - Hand signed - c.1990 Oil measures 92x65 cm. Frameless. Quimet Sabaté will enter the...