Painter and Model (in atelier)

In addition to producing brilliantly coloured plein-air paintings of subjects basking in sunshine, at Nagyb�nya Ferenczy also worked inside his studio, producing works of more restrained colouration. This particular work made in 1904, was the first in the series of nude paintings, which took up most of his attention in his last creative period.

The theme of Ferenczy’s “snapshot”, which was actually carefully composed, was a painter instructing his model how to pose: with palette in his hand, the artist directs the nude model how to sit on the armrest of a chair. The colours are restrained and the picture has a homogeneous grayish-brown tone, in which only lighter masses of the two figures stand out. The painting’s unity is primarily based on the rhythm of the lines. The shaped line starting at the head of the painter runs along the arms and returns to the head of the model, encircles it and finally runs down along the curving line of the body. In addition to this curving line, the impersonal face of the female figure is also emphasized by the lavishly decorated picture frame glittering in the background.