Study of Female Nude, in Profile with Prop
Artist
Susan Watkins
(American, 1875 - 1913)
CultureAmerican
Dateca. 1897
MediumConté crayon on paper
Dimensions24 1/2 × 19 in. (62.2 × 48.3 cm)
Overall, Frame: 35 1/8 × 28 1/2 × 2 in. (89.2 × 72.4 × 5.1 cm)
Overall, Frame: 35 1/8 × 28 1/2 × 2 in. (89.2 × 72.4 × 5.1 cm)
Credit LineBequest of Goldsborough Serpell
Object number46.76.005
Not on view
DescriptionOne of a collection of miscellaneous drawings and oil sketches. This is a study of a female nude in left side profile. Her legs slightly bent, she rests her hands on a stool with three legs. Her hair is up. Two drawings are on the wall behind her.Label TextSusan Watkins American (1875-1913) Studies of Female and Male Nudes, ca. 1897 Conté crayon on paper Goldsborough Serpell Bequest 46.76.001, .004, & .005 The ultimate aim of academic art training in nineteenth- century Paris was the convincing depiction of the human form. Both in the government-run École des Beaux-Arts and in private Paris ateliers such as Raphael Collin's, pupils gained mastery in this area by drawing and painting from nude models posing in life classes. Traditionally known as académies, these simple life drawings and oil sketches were generally viewed not as finished works of art, but as ephemeral student efforts-studio studies that were often neglected or damaged through continued use, and even destroyed over time. Though Watkins' académies show the wear and tear typical of their type, they remain remarkably poetic evocations of the male and female form. In drawings like these, she gained a thorough knowledge of the figure-its anatomical logic, its luminary and expressive possibilities, and even its potential for movement. In the process, Watkins laid the groundwork for the figures that would populate her mature Salon portraits and genre paintings. ProvenanceThe artist, Susan Watkins Serpell, bequeathed to her husband, Goldsborough Serpell, 1913; Bequest of Goldsborough Serpell to the Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences, 1946; Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences transferred to the Chrysler Museum, 1971. Exhibition History"The Gentle Modernist: The Art of Susan Watkins," Waitzer Community Gallery, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., May 15, 2002 - March 2003. "Women of the Chrysler: a 400-Year Celebration of the Arts," Large Changing Gallery, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., March 24 - July 18, 2010.
