[Nude Model and the Artist in the Studio]

In this untitled etching by Raphael Soyer, a nude woman stands beside a dark screen, grasping its edge as if about to enter its enclosure. Cast-off clothes are draped over the screen. She looks toward a short man in profile, just visible at the left edge of the image. This figure is probably the artist himself, holding several stretched canvases under his arm. Instead of being presented in a formal pose, the nude appears to be conferring with the artist, presumably just before or after a modeling session. By severely cropping the artist's body and dedicating the right half of the composition to the dark tones of the flat screen, Soyer focused attention on the centrally placed nude. Portrayed in an unguarded moment, as if unaware that she is the subject of the image, she is distinctly unidealized: a no-longer young woman with rather unkempt hair, heavy features, and a sturdy body.

In the 1930s, Soyer began to make drawings, paintings, and prints of nude models in his studio. He usually captured them in informal poses, often in the act of dressing or undressing, to heighten the spontaneity and casual intimacy of his images. By showing the artist apparently entering the scene in this work, Soyer emphasizes the process behind the creation of images of the nude. In its informality and assertion of the model as an ordinary woman, Soyer's print recalls George Bellows's earlier painting Nude Girl, Miss Leslie Hall (TF 1999.5), in which the model is shown as if dressing herself following a posing session.