Female Nude on Couch 1910

This drawing of a nude on a couch was made by Everett Shinn on a sheet of paper with graphite. You can see his hand move across the page, feeling the form of the model, mapping it out, almost like how you might trace constellations in the night sky. Shinn finds a pose that’s both classical and informal, her hair up, her body arching, with one arm extended for balance. I like to think of him thinking through the dark and light as he works—building form by massing tones, pressing harder and softer to give volume and weight to the figure. It reminds me of Degas, of course, but also of the Ashcan School, of which Shinn was a part, with its focus on everyday life. Shinn did a lot of theatrical subjects. I wonder if he saw this woman as performing? The pose is so self-possessed, so confident. It’s beautiful how artists are in an ongoing conversation. Each gesture and movement they make inspires new ways of seeing, thinking, and experiencing the world. And we get to be a part of the conversation too!