Dimensions: support: 1016 x 1270 mm frame: 1190 x 1452 x 77 mm
Copyright: © Tate | CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED, Photo: Tate
Curator: Dod Procter's "The Orchard," housed here at the Tate, presents a reclining nude figure amidst foliage. It’s quite a large canvas. The artist was born in 1892 and died in 1972. Editor: The dappled light across the figure immediately strikes me. The whole scene has a dreamy, almost hazy quality, like a memory. What sort of materials did she use to achieve that effect? Curator: Procter worked with oil on canvas. Examining the brushwork, it seems she built up layers of thin glazes. This was around the time when it was common for women artists to engage with decorative art and design. Editor: That's interesting! How do the politics of the time affect the public's reception of this work? Curator: During this period, nudes by female artists were often viewed through a different lens. Procter actively engaged with modernist ideas and aesthetics. Editor: It’s as if the artist really wanted to offer a vision of rest and peace. Curator: I'd agree; it's a fascinating piece that invites reflection on both artistic and social contexts.
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This was painted from life in the artist's garden at North Corner, Newlyn, Cornwall. The model is probably Eileen Mayo, a London-based professional model whom Dod Procter invited down to Cornwall and made the subject of several other paintings. All the other paintings of Mayo show her in an interior, this is the only canvas which depicts her nude in the open air. Procter produced numerous paintings of nude women and young girls during the decade 1925 to 1935 which were highly acclaimed for their objectivity and simplicity. What was, and still is, unusual is that these female nudes were painted by a female artist. Gallery label, August 2004
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