The Bather with Outstretched Arms

1980-1981

Graham Nickson

Associated Names
Graham Nickson

Painter, British, 1946 - 2025

This painting shows a person standing on the water's edge. By the person’s feet are small stripes of yellow, perhaps indicating a surface they are standing on. The person has their arms outstretched to the sides, and they are leaning slightly to the right. We see them from behind. They have light skin, short, dark hair, and are wearing a white swimsuit. In front of them is a vast body of blue water, with thin line of darker blue indicating a distant landmass. The sky above is the same blue shade as the water, although it becomes slightly more purple at the top of the painting.
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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    Liquitex on museum board (five panels)

  • Credit Line

    Gift of John and Laurie Adams

  • Dimensions

    overall (five panels): 254 × 302.8 cm (100 × 119 3/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    2015.155.1


Artwork history & notes

Provenance

(Susan Caldwell, Inc., New York);[1] purchased 1982 by John and Laurie Adams, New York; gift 2015 to NGA.
[1] The dealer lent the painting to a 1982 exhibition that travelled to New York, Guildford in England, and Venice.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1982

  • New Drawing in America, The Drawing Center, New York; Sutton Place, Guildford, Surrey, England; Museum of Modern Art, Venice, 1982, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

Bibliography

1982

  • Terenzio, Stephanie, and Jack D. Flam. Graham Nickson: Drawing into Color. Exh. cat. William Benton Museum of Art, Storrs, Connecticut, 1982: 27, fig. 47 (not in the exhibition).

Wikidata ID

Q46640353

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