A nude, pale-skinned woman sits facing away from us on a surface with bunches of blue and green-toned fabrics in this vertical painting. The woman’s right knee and torso angle away from us to the right, but she turns her head a bit to our left so we see the underside of her chin. Her brown hair is pulled up loosely into a high bun. Her right hand rests on fabric bunched on that leg, and her other hand disappears on the far side of lemon-lime green and celestial-blue pile of cloth near the lower left corner of the painting. The background is mostly golden yellow, perhaps a curtain, with some vertical pleats in moss green along the left side. The woman is lit from our right so the edges of her right arm, breast, torso, leg, and neck glow. The scene is loosely painted but has an overall soft, blended look. The artist signed and dated the painting in the top right corner, “Childe Hassam 1912.”
Childe Hassam, Nude Seated, 1912, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.156

Human Body

The human form is often the foundation of academic artistic training—but accurately depicting anatomy is no easy feat. Many works show the artist’s admiration for the beauty of the human body. Others try to accurately capture a person in motion.

  • A muscular, nearly nude Black man reclines on a lion’s skin in this freestanding bronze sculpture. In this photograph, his head is to our left and his feet extend to our right. His face tips down, and he has short, curly hair, a furrowed brow, and a small, rounded nose. His full lips are closed, and he has hollows in his cheeks. He leans onto his right elbow, closer to us, which rests on an object, perhaps a basket. His right knee is raised so that foot is flat on the ground. He clutches the bent leg just below the knee with his other hand, and his left leg stretches long. The lion’s head, with eyes closed, rests beneath the bent knee. Long fur, hair, or another material hangs from a rope around the man’s waist. He and the pelt rest on a narrow rectangular base. The dark patina of the bronze has been burnished or rubbed gold in some areas, especially along the ridges of the man’s muscles and on the extended foot.
  • This free-standing bronze sculpture shows a nude, cleanshaven man looking at a bunch of grapes he holds up in one hand as a faun, a boy with goat’s legs, looks on. In this photograph, the man’s lean, muscular body is angled to our left, and we see his face in profile. He has a straight nose, and his lips curl up in a smile. A leafy vine wraps around his thick, wavy hair, and another bunch of grapes hangs at the back of his neck. He holds the other bunch of grapes up high in his right hand, to our left. He holds a shallow dish in his other hand, with that bent elbow tucked near his ribcage. He stands with most of his weight on his left leg, to our right, so his hips and shoulders gently twist upward to the raised hand. The toes of his other foot rest behind him, his heel raised. To our right, the child-like faun comes up to the man’s hip. He has chubby cheeks and a small nose but muscles are defined in his torso and arms. He also has grape leaves on his head, with clusters of grapes at each ear. Wide-eyed and with an open smile, he gazes up toward the bowl and grapes that the man holds. A fabric strap is knotted on the faun’s right shoulder, and it runs diagonally across his body to his left hip where he holds two more large bunches of grapes and leaves. His upper thighs are covered with dense, wavy hair, while his lower legs are mostly bare, ending in cloven hooves. The pair stand on a circular base with bunches of grapes around the faun’s feet and hanging over the edge. The bronze is dark brown with bright white reflections where the light falls across the smooth surfaces. Touches of muted green patina are visible in some spots. The entire piece stands on a square, stone base marbled with tan and cream white, and the background is light gray.
  • Shown from the knees up, a nearly nude, young woman with pale pink skin stands with her hands on her upswept, chestnut-brown hair in front of a pile of cloth, probably clothing, in this vertical painting. Blended brushstrokes give the painting a soft, almost blurred look. She stands with her body angled slightly to our left and her head tipped forward under her hands, which work in her hair. Her cheeks are flushed and her wide, pink lips are closed. Her round breasts are firm, and a piece of bright white fabric is bunched around her upper thighs below a smooth pubic area. Garments in the pile of fabric behind her are petal pink, vivid white, ruby red, and buttercup yellow. The area behind and around the woman and fabric is loosely painted with sage green, caramel brown, and golden yellow. Touches of yellow on a field of green to our right suggest grass and flowers. The artist signed the work with dark paint in the lower right corner: “Renoir.”
  • This carved ivory statue shows a mostly nude man standing on a square base with his hands bound to one side as he looks over the other shoulder. In this photograph, his wrists are tied together to our right, and he looks off to our left with his face tucked close to that shoulder. He has a curly beard and long wavy hair, which is pushed back over his shoulders. His lips are parted and his brows gathered. Both feet are planted on the base but most of his weight rests on his straight right leg, on our left, and the other knee is bent. This makes his right hip, on our left, jut out as his torso angles to our right. A loincloth drapes around his hips and ties at his right hip, on our left. His torso, arms, and legs are muscled, and veins stand out on his hands and arms. Some cracks are visible along the surface.
  • A nude woman with long, dark brown hair and peach-colored skin reclines against a denim-blue cushion in this stylized, horizontal painting. The painting is done mostly with areas of mottled color outlined in delicate black lines. Shown from the knees up, the woman lies with her legs to our right, and her hips tipped forward so her body faces us. She looks at us with dark, almond-shaped eyes under thin, arched brows. Bangs gather across her forehead, and her dark hair seems to be pulled back. Her head is tipped to our right, and she has an upturned nose, smooth cheeks, a pointed chin, and her smiling coral-red lips are closed. She holds the back of her left hand to her cheek and props herself up on her other elbow. Her rounded breasts have rust orange-colored nipples, and the contours of her body are smooth. There is a patch of dark hair at her groin, and her legs are pressed together. The blue pillow she rests on overlaps a white cloth or second pillow. The rest of the background is painted a terracotta brown with loose brushstrokes, so the setting is undefined. The artist signed the painting in dark letters in the upper right corner: “modigliani.”
  • A nude, pale-skinned woman sits facing away from us on a surface with bunches of blue and green-toned fabrics in this vertical painting. The woman’s right knee and torso angle away from us to the right, but she turns her head a bit to our left so we see the underside of her chin. Her brown hair is pulled up loosely into a high bun. Her right hand rests on fabric bunched on that leg, and her other hand disappears on the far side of lemon-lime green and celestial-blue pile of cloth near the lower left corner of the painting. The background is mostly golden yellow, perhaps a curtain, with some vertical pleats in moss green along the left side. The woman is lit from our right so the edges of her right arm, breast, torso, leg, and neck glow. The scene is loosely painted but has an overall soft, blended look. The artist signed and dated the painting in the top right corner, “Childe Hassam 1912.”

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Portraits

Portraits represent people, either real or imagined, attempting to capture their appearance or essence. Some artists explored the human form and emotions through portraits of loved ones. Others made a living depicting wealthy or important people. And artists like Rembrandt van Rijn and Vincent van Gogh frequently used themselves as models.

Two nude women, painted in vibrant coral peach and bubblegum pink, stand under a red umbrella in a landscape in this stylized, vertical painting. The scene is painted with areas of flat or streaked color with visible brushstrokes throughout. The women and umbrella take up most of the picture. The woman on our left stands facing our right almost in profile. Her skin is vivid peach. Slashes of red outline her breasts, groin, and legs. Her hair, eyes, and eyebrows are painted with black strokes. She stands on one leg and stretches the other in front of her to overlap the far foot of the other woman. The first woman hooks her arm through the elbow of the other, who stands facing us to our right. This second woman has vivid pink skin also outlined in red. Her face is a darker shade of pink, resembling a mask, and her eyes are parallel strokes of black and blue. Her left arm, on our right, hangs by her side, and she holds the umbrella with the other arm. She either wears a hat or her hair is painted with alternating bands of black, red, and brown, and there is a red flower or bow to one side. Black lines in the candy-red umbrella suggest a rib on the underside and the handle. Cobalt-blue branches of a tree above the women has blue and green leaves. The landscape beyond them is made up of bands of acid green, yellow, saturated blue, and cool green.

Expressionism

German expressionists used art to respond to the cultural and political upheavals of the early 20th century. They were dissatisfied with social conventions and rejected academic standards of beauty. Instead, they embraced bold distortions; angular, simplified forms; and unnatural colors.