1922
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : Mondrian Brancusi O'Keeffe Russia and Eastern Europe Bird Illustration art
See also : Mondrian Brancusi O'Keeffe Russia and Eastern Europe Bird Illustration art
1920-1922 Mystic Suprematism by Malevich
2015 SOLD for $ 38M by Sotheby's
In 1915 the Suprematism of Kazimir Malevich shakes forever the theories of art. To be pure, art should excite feelings without referring to a message. It is neither figurative nor religious nor political.
Malevich developed a new grammar reduced to three basic filled shapes, simple enough to escape a semiotic interpretation : rectangle, oval and cross. The perfect rectangle and oval are the square and the circle.
The black square on white is the seminal flagship and the masterpiece of Suprematism. Centered on a canvas where it fills most of the available surface, the square becomes a flying artefact independently from its supporting fabric and generates a mesmerizing feeling. Faced with such a spatial illusion, we are tempted to reduce the famous white square on white from 1918 down to no more than an additional experiment.
In the early phase, other works by Malevich still make concessions to competing movements. His cohorts of stripes more or less parallel in various colors seek to express the movement as in the Futurism in an assembly which appears hand made as in the Synthetic Cubism or in the Constructivism.
On November 5, 2015, Sotheby's sold for $ 38M Mystic Suprematism, oil on canvas 100 x 59 cm painted between 1920 and 1922, lot 8.
A black cross is flying in front of a deep red oval. The pole of the cross and the oval are coaxial. The pole is a quadrangle that slightly tapers downward, bringing an effect of forward tilting. The additional small black line that runs across the lower part of the pole is used for balancing, allowing the viewer to decide if that indefinable abstract object is or not about to fall.
Suprematism is already announcing the major trends of abstract art of the second half of its century, which will use the expressive role of the colors. It is unfortunate that Malevich did not experience the importance of large size. To go further than Suprematism, wait for Rothko.
Malevich developed a new grammar reduced to three basic filled shapes, simple enough to escape a semiotic interpretation : rectangle, oval and cross. The perfect rectangle and oval are the square and the circle.
The black square on white is the seminal flagship and the masterpiece of Suprematism. Centered on a canvas where it fills most of the available surface, the square becomes a flying artefact independently from its supporting fabric and generates a mesmerizing feeling. Faced with such a spatial illusion, we are tempted to reduce the famous white square on white from 1918 down to no more than an additional experiment.
In the early phase, other works by Malevich still make concessions to competing movements. His cohorts of stripes more or less parallel in various colors seek to express the movement as in the Futurism in an assembly which appears hand made as in the Synthetic Cubism or in the Constructivism.
On November 5, 2015, Sotheby's sold for $ 38M Mystic Suprematism, oil on canvas 100 x 59 cm painted between 1920 and 1922, lot 8.
A black cross is flying in front of a deep red oval. The pole of the cross and the oval are coaxial. The pole is a quadrangle that slightly tapers downward, bringing an effect of forward tilting. The additional small black line that runs across the lower part of the pole is used for balancing, allowing the viewer to decide if that indefinable abstract object is or not about to fall.
Suprematism is already announcing the major trends of abstract art of the second half of its century, which will use the expressive role of the colors. It is unfortunate that Malevich did not experience the importance of large size. To go further than Suprematism, wait for Rothko.
Kazimir Malevich’s “Mystic Suprematism” represents the artist at his most radical and powerful http://t.co/ZVK8UCMZxo pic.twitter.com/9iGywjP92q
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) September 18, 2015
1922 Oiseau dans l'Espace by Brancusi
2005 SOLD for $ 27.5M by Christie's
Brancusi has no desire for a figurative representation of nature. The theme of the bird appeals him because the flight is an ascending link from earth to sky. The ultimate outcome is the Oiseau dans l'Espace, designed in the 1920s in the continuation of the Colonnes sans fin. The abstraction is total, except that if the bird was placed on its side it would look like a later childish fish by Calder.
A previously unknown example came out of its crate, where it had been installed by its owner Léonie Ricou preparing a move to Brussels. A protector of artists and poets, Mme Ricou had been the designated model of the abstract wooden figure titled Portrait de Madame L.R. sculpted by Brancusi between 1914 and 1917.
This newly surfaced Oiseau in a gray-blue marble with white veins on a limestone socle and pedestal is one of the smallest, with 85 cm high for the marble and 122 cm overall. Its proportions are remarkably balanced, with a superb polished stone which has been perfectly preserved by its long-term storage. It is possibly the very first Oiseau dans l'Espace, even before the 137 cm Etude, already closer to the sky, dated 1922.
This seminal piece was sold for $ 27.5M by Christie's on May 4, 2005 from a lower estimate of $ 8M, lot 7.
Brancusi and his Birds were ahead of their time. An anecdote is famous in the history of art. In 1926 a bronze sent to the United States for an exhibition was intercepted by customs officials, refusing to qualify it as a work of art which would have exempted it from import tax. It was reclassified in the category of kitchen utensils while awaiting the final decision, which will fortunately be favorable to the artist and will set a precedent for the legal recognition of abstract sculpture.
A previously unknown example came out of its crate, where it had been installed by its owner Léonie Ricou preparing a move to Brussels. A protector of artists and poets, Mme Ricou had been the designated model of the abstract wooden figure titled Portrait de Madame L.R. sculpted by Brancusi between 1914 and 1917.
This newly surfaced Oiseau in a gray-blue marble with white veins on a limestone socle and pedestal is one of the smallest, with 85 cm high for the marble and 122 cm overall. Its proportions are remarkably balanced, with a superb polished stone which has been perfectly preserved by its long-term storage. It is possibly the very first Oiseau dans l'Espace, even before the 137 cm Etude, already closer to the sky, dated 1922.
This seminal piece was sold for $ 27.5M by Christie's on May 4, 2005 from a lower estimate of $ 8M, lot 7.
Brancusi and his Birds were ahead of their time. An anecdote is famous in the history of art. In 1926 a bronze sent to the United States for an exhibition was intercepted by customs officials, refusing to qualify it as a work of art which would have exempted it from import tax. It was reclassified in the category of kitchen utensils while awaiting the final decision, which will fortunately be favorable to the artist and will set a precedent for the legal recognition of abstract sculpture.
1922 abstract painting by Mondrian
2009 SOLD for € 21.5M by Christie's
Without desiring it, Piet Mondrian is a distant successor to the Iconoclasts. This mystic finds inspiration in theosophy.The artist can express the mystery of the world by abandoning completely the figuration.
Unlike Miro, Mondrian does not invite the viewer to interpret. He seeks his own way, which is as unresolved and endless as that of Kafka's surveyor.
Malevich had understood that the quintessence of art is pure white. Mondrian adds strictly horizontal and vertical thick black lines. Their conjunction can generate an interrupt, but the strictly orthogonal angles attract no fantasy.
The world is not made up of black and white but of colors. The three basic pure colors are enough to announce all its diversity. Red, yellow and blue each one fills a dedicated area bounded by the black lines.
After joining van Doesburg, Piet Mondrian is the theoretician and soon the leader of the Neo-Plasticism, linked with the De Stijl movement. In the wake of Malevich's Suprematism, he starts a quest for purity through a total abstraction.
Mondrian's abstract style, rigorous and thorough, is repetitive, even though the position of horizontal and vertical lines and of colored boxes is always different. The inevitable edge of the canvas disrupts the will of the artist to reach infinity. He experiments a diamond position of the canvas.
The oil on canvas from the Saint-Laurent collection, a straight 80 x 50 cm painted in 1922, is a simple composition on a grey background. The space is divided into four parts: the top has three boxes including a blue one and a very thin red stripe, a narrow stripe on the right goes down in two boxes in turn yellow and black, two cases in the lower left repeat the pattern of the top, and a wide empty box holds the dominant center of the canvas to the left edge.
It was sold for € 21.5M from a lower estimate of € 8M on February 23, 2009 by Christie's in cooperation with Pierre Bergé et Associés.
Unlike Miro, Mondrian does not invite the viewer to interpret. He seeks his own way, which is as unresolved and endless as that of Kafka's surveyor.
Malevich had understood that the quintessence of art is pure white. Mondrian adds strictly horizontal and vertical thick black lines. Their conjunction can generate an interrupt, but the strictly orthogonal angles attract no fantasy.
The world is not made up of black and white but of colors. The three basic pure colors are enough to announce all its diversity. Red, yellow and blue each one fills a dedicated area bounded by the black lines.
After joining van Doesburg, Piet Mondrian is the theoretician and soon the leader of the Neo-Plasticism, linked with the De Stijl movement. In the wake of Malevich's Suprematism, he starts a quest for purity through a total abstraction.
Mondrian's abstract style, rigorous and thorough, is repetitive, even though the position of horizontal and vertical lines and of colored boxes is always different. The inevitable edge of the canvas disrupts the will of the artist to reach infinity. He experiments a diamond position of the canvas.
The oil on canvas from the Saint-Laurent collection, a straight 80 x 50 cm painted in 1922, is a simple composition on a grey background. The space is divided into four parts: the top has three boxes including a blue one and a very thin red stripe, a narrow stripe on the right goes down in two boxes in turn yellow and black, two cases in the lower left repeat the pattern of the top, and a wide empty box holds the dominant center of the canvas to the left edge.
It was sold for € 21.5M from a lower estimate of € 8M on February 23, 2009 by Christie's in cooperation with Pierre Bergé et Associés.
1922 Guitare sur un Tapis Rouge by Picasso
2024 SOLD for £ 10.7M by Sotheby's
Guitare sur une table painted by Picasso in 1919 is a mixed style in which the mandolin shaped instrument is displayed beside a sheet of staves in a flattened trompe l'oeil that includes a joyful blue sky through a window. This oil on canvas 100 x 81 cm was sold for $ 37M by Sotheby's on November 14, 2022, lot 108.
Guitare sur un Tapis Rouge, painted in 1922, is another variant in his quest for a flat geometry in exuberant colors, in a post war global quest of a return to quietness that was also exercised by Braque, Gris, Léger and by the austere purisme of Ozenfant. This oil on canvas 80 x 116 cm was sold for £ 10.7M by Sotheby's on June 25, 2024, lot 25. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Guitare sur un Tapis Rouge, painted in 1922, is another variant in his quest for a flat geometry in exuberant colors, in a post war global quest of a return to quietness that was also exercised by Braque, Gris, Léger and by the austere purisme of Ozenfant. This oil on canvas 80 x 116 cm was sold for £ 10.7M by Sotheby's on June 25, 2024, lot 25. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
1922 Lake George Reflection by O'Keeffe
2016 SOLD for $ 13M by Christie's
After meeting with Stieglitz, Georgia O'Keeffe is occupied as a model for the photographer and her creative activity is slowing. Each summer they spend some time together in the Stieglitz family country house at Lake George in upper state New York. Still attentive to abstraction, Georgia observes how nature uses geometry to construct landscapes and flowers.
On May 19, 2016, Christie's sold for $ 13M from a lower estimate of $ 8M Lake George Reflection, oil on canvas 147 x 86 cm probably painted during the summer of 1922, lot 14 estimated $ 8M.
The theme is a classic landscape whose colors are more expressive than realistic. Georgia conceived that a reflection of the mountain in the water can be perfect if the weather is fine. The shore of the lake separates the picture into two halves of identical width.
And hop ! At its first exhibition in January 1923, the artist positions it orthogonally as a vertical work. The observer sees what he wishes to see : a symmetrical abstraction, a New York street lined with skyscrapers, the inside of a flower revealing the pistil, or a sexual symbol. The double meaning is revealed by the title of the work : it is a view of Lake George.
In 1913, Kandinsky had promoted non-figurative art with his story of a watercolor viewed after a fall over. In 1912, the double meaning of the Octopus photograph by Coburn anticipated the surrealism by more than ten years. The image of Lake George by O'Keeffe is a reflection in water and a reflection on the artistic language.
A view of Lake George in the autumn of 1922 attests for the quest of the artist for the geometric perfection of landscapes, here with two rows of trees in strong contrast. This oil on canvas 41 x 69 cm was sold for $ 3.44M by Christie's on November 19, 2024, lot 41A. Mountain and water are in saturated colors.
On May 19, 2016, Christie's sold for $ 13M from a lower estimate of $ 8M Lake George Reflection, oil on canvas 147 x 86 cm probably painted during the summer of 1922, lot 14 estimated $ 8M.
The theme is a classic landscape whose colors are more expressive than realistic. Georgia conceived that a reflection of the mountain in the water can be perfect if the weather is fine. The shore of the lake separates the picture into two halves of identical width.
And hop ! At its first exhibition in January 1923, the artist positions it orthogonally as a vertical work. The observer sees what he wishes to see : a symmetrical abstraction, a New York street lined with skyscrapers, the inside of a flower revealing the pistil, or a sexual symbol. The double meaning is revealed by the title of the work : it is a view of Lake George.
In 1913, Kandinsky had promoted non-figurative art with his story of a watercolor viewed after a fall over. In 1912, the double meaning of the Octopus photograph by Coburn anticipated the surrealism by more than ten years. The image of Lake George by O'Keeffe is a reflection in water and a reflection on the artistic language.
A view of Lake George in the autumn of 1922 attests for the quest of the artist for the geometric perfection of landscapes, here with two rows of trees in strong contrast. This oil on canvas 41 x 69 cm was sold for $ 3.44M by Christie's on November 19, 2024, lot 41A. Mountain and water are in saturated colors.
1922-1923 Jaillissement by Kupka
2021 SOLD for £ 7.6M by Sotheby's
Frantisek Kupka is a colorist, like Kandinsky or Mondrian. Living in Paris since 1896, he is passionate about the relationships between colors in post-impressionist painting. He will seek to express momentum, rotation, vibration. The bright blue, which always seeks to dominate, will have to be circumscribed.
For Kupka, synthetic cubism is not a lasting solution because it remains focused on the object. In 1910-1911, his masterpiece, showing his wife's head buried amidst vertical structures, redefined the relationship between the figurative and its environment, as Klimt was doing in Vienna.
The figurative aspects then disappear from his work, but he still likes to draw inspiration from Gothic cathedrals to express the strength of verticals.
Le Jaillissement is a suite of three opuses painted in 1922-1923. The artist gives the preeminence to the verticals rather than to the confrontations between verticals and horizontals.
Jaillissement I is a tight network of stacked shapes. The similarity to a skyscraper seen from below is however obvious. In the second opus, the artist reinforces this illusion by adding a horizon line and removing the colored spots in the foreground. Jaillissement II, oil on canvas 126 x 86 cm, was sold by Sotheby's on March 25, 2021 for £ 7.6M from a lower estimate of £ 1.5M, lot 146.
For Kupka, synthetic cubism is not a lasting solution because it remains focused on the object. In 1910-1911, his masterpiece, showing his wife's head buried amidst vertical structures, redefined the relationship between the figurative and its environment, as Klimt was doing in Vienna.
The figurative aspects then disappear from his work, but he still likes to draw inspiration from Gothic cathedrals to express the strength of verticals.
Le Jaillissement is a suite of three opuses painted in 1922-1923. The artist gives the preeminence to the verticals rather than to the confrontations between verticals and horizontals.
Jaillissement I is a tight network of stacked shapes. The similarity to a skyscraper seen from below is however obvious. In the second opus, the artist reinforces this illusion by adding a horizon line and removing the colored spots in the foreground. Jaillissement II, oil on canvas 126 x 86 cm, was sold by Sotheby's on March 25, 2021 for £ 7.6M from a lower estimate of £ 1.5M, lot 146.
1922 pair of screens by Qi Baishi
2012 SOLD for HK$ 70M by Sotheby's
The war had led the Japanese on the mainland : they hoped to conquer or at least to dominate China. In 1922, the Chinese political situation is so dilapidated that the Japanese do not need any more their demonstrations of strength.
Qi Baishi, who was to become one of the outstanding artists of the twentieth century, was already at the top of his artistic and technical abilities. A pair of screens that demonstrates both his skills and the eclecticism of his inspiration was sold for HK $ 70M from a lower estimate of HK $ 15M by Sotheby's on April 3, 2012, lot 1251.
These are two large gold screens 148 x 132 cm, each of them being folded by the middle. The art of the screen is typically Japanese. This pair had been commissioned by a Japanese lieutenant general and was immediately shipped to Japan.
The two topics have nothing in common: a river landscape with willows, in black ink ; begonias, in ink and colors. However, their decorative balance is so successful that they should not be separated. This is a superb example of combined Chinese and Japanese harmonies in the early years of the Republic of China.
Qi Baishi, who was to become one of the outstanding artists of the twentieth century, was already at the top of his artistic and technical abilities. A pair of screens that demonstrates both his skills and the eclecticism of his inspiration was sold for HK $ 70M from a lower estimate of HK $ 15M by Sotheby's on April 3, 2012, lot 1251.
These are two large gold screens 148 x 132 cm, each of them being folded by the middle. The art of the screen is typically Japanese. This pair had been commissioned by a Japanese lieutenant general and was immediately shipped to Japan.
The two topics have nothing in common: a river landscape with willows, in black ink ; begonias, in ink and colors. However, their decorative balance is so successful that they should not be separated. This is a superb example of combined Chinese and Japanese harmonies in the early years of the Republic of China.
1922 Daybreak by Parrish
2006 SOLD for $ 7.6M by Christie's
Away from the artistic trends, Maxfield Parrish is now recognized as the pioneer of fantastic art. Professional illustrator of children's books, prolific author of posters and calendars, he uses a sharp line and bright colors to evoke fairy themes.
Daybreak, executed in 1922, is his biggest hit, a favorite image of Americans to whom it provides an idea of paradise.
The artwork is carefully composed according to the Golden ratio. In the background, the light of dawn bathes a landscape of mountains. In the foreground, between two big endless columns, two maidens wake up. One of them, recumbent, is dressed in a light coat like the antique Greeks. The other is standing, and leans over her friend. She is nude. The mountain is a view over the upper Connecticut river near the artist's home.
The original picture was prepared with a glazing technique that provided a luminous surface. The paint had been applied from the tube in multiple layers over a white ground.
This oil on board 67 x 114 cm was sold for $ 7.6M by Christie's on May 25, 2006. Coming back in the same auction house on May 20, 2010 on occasion (as gossiped) of the marital problems of a filmmaker, it was sold for $ 5.2M. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Daybreak, executed in 1922, is his biggest hit, a favorite image of Americans to whom it provides an idea of paradise.
The artwork is carefully composed according to the Golden ratio. In the background, the light of dawn bathes a landscape of mountains. In the foreground, between two big endless columns, two maidens wake up. One of them, recumbent, is dressed in a light coat like the antique Greeks. The other is standing, and leans over her friend. She is nude. The mountain is a view over the upper Connecticut river near the artist's home.
The original picture was prepared with a glazing technique that provided a luminous surface. The paint had been applied from the tube in multiple layers over a white ground.
This oil on board 67 x 114 cm was sold for $ 7.6M by Christie's on May 25, 2006. Coming back in the same auction house on May 20, 2010 on occasion (as gossiped) of the marital problems of a filmmaker, it was sold for $ 5.2M. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
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1922-1923 Le Pâtissier de Cagnes by Soutine
2005 SOLD for £ 5M by Christie's
Soutine put all his energy into his art. Unlike Modigliani, he varied his themes. The rotten meats brought to the artist some sensorial communion with his environment by their unbearable odor. For the human dimension, Soutine chose to highlight the humblest employees of hotels and restaurants. These men have their own petty and miserable life beyond the disguise of their job. They are ugly and unintelligent in their tightly buttoned ill-fitting uniforms.
Soutine was hypersensitive. He did not plan to withstand the emotional stress of a sitting session with one of his few friends and could not become a worldly artist. Pastry cooks, hotel boys and valets interested him because he had no sympathy for them. Soutine never commented his art. I cannot imagine that he spent time in front of such guys. He was possibly working from memory.
On December 1922 the US collector Albert Barnes registers his Barnes Foundation as an educational institution dedicated to promoting the appreciation of fine arts and arboriculture.
In January 1923 Barnes is in Paris for acquiring additional paintings for his project. He is overwhelmed by a Pâtissier with huge ears at the home of the dealer Paul Guillaume and purchases it. In the same trip Barnes buys about 50 artworks to Soutine, about 20 for his collection and the rest for dissemination through resale, enabling the artist to reach fame and to greatly improve his life conditions.
The portrait of another baker boy with a sad serving gaze, huge protruding ears and a pointed chin was executed by Soutine ca 1922-1923, probably for trade by Zbo. The line is sharper in an increased physical distorsion. The overcoat is an excuse for a study of the shades of red and green within the white and the handkerchief for a blood red.
Titled Le Pâtissier de Cagnes, this oil on canvas 65 x 50 cm was sold for £ 5M from a lower estimate of £ 3M by Christie's on February 7, 2005, lot 30.
Another Petit pâtissier from the same period, 73 x 54 cm, is kept at the Musée de l'Orangerie.
Soutine was hypersensitive. He did not plan to withstand the emotional stress of a sitting session with one of his few friends and could not become a worldly artist. Pastry cooks, hotel boys and valets interested him because he had no sympathy for them. Soutine never commented his art. I cannot imagine that he spent time in front of such guys. He was possibly working from memory.
On December 1922 the US collector Albert Barnes registers his Barnes Foundation as an educational institution dedicated to promoting the appreciation of fine arts and arboriculture.
In January 1923 Barnes is in Paris for acquiring additional paintings for his project. He is overwhelmed by a Pâtissier with huge ears at the home of the dealer Paul Guillaume and purchases it. In the same trip Barnes buys about 50 artworks to Soutine, about 20 for his collection and the rest for dissemination through resale, enabling the artist to reach fame and to greatly improve his life conditions.
The portrait of another baker boy with a sad serving gaze, huge protruding ears and a pointed chin was executed by Soutine ca 1922-1923, probably for trade by Zbo. The line is sharper in an increased physical distorsion. The overcoat is an excuse for a study of the shades of red and green within the white and the handkerchief for a blood red.
Titled Le Pâtissier de Cagnes, this oil on canvas 65 x 50 cm was sold for £ 5M from a lower estimate of £ 3M by Christie's on February 7, 2005, lot 30.
Another Petit pâtissier from the same period, 73 x 54 cm, is kept at the Musée de l'Orangerie.
1922 Nu sur Fond Rouge by Matisse
2017 SOLD for £ 4.4M by Christie's
Henri Matisse was throughout his career a lover of color. When he settled in Nice after the First World War, he began to consider Orientalist reverie as a pretext for the most colorful arrangements.
Henri sees his future odalisque in 1920. Henriette Darricarrère is 19 years old. Her forms are sculptural : she is tall, and harmoniously muscled by the practice of dance. She is proud of her body and enjoys to dress up. She also accept the very long pose sessions required by the artist. Matisse has no sexual desire for his models and Henriette is warmly greeted by his family. Until 1927 she was his favorite model.
Torse de Jeune Fille is an early figure of Henriette as an odalisque, painted in 1921 or possibly 1922 with a terminus ante quem in February when it was acquired by Bernheim-Jeune.
The young brunette viewed in three quarter length is straight standing in front of a Mauresque hanging. Her muscular torso is nude down to the belt. The raised arms let know that she is not shaved thereunder.
This oil on canvas 60 x 50 cm passed at Sotheby's on November 18, 2024, lot 125. Please watch the short video shared by the auction house.
Nu sur fond rouge, oil on canvas 56 x 34 cm painted in 1922 was sold for £ 4.4M by Christie's on June 27, 2017, lot 18.
Henriette is standing in the nude in full length. The hands resting on the back of the head provide her a fresh and innocent attitude despite the shameless full front nudity. The slightly shiny color of her skin is realistic. The colorful carpets and draperies confirm the artist's quest for orientalism.
Henri sees his future odalisque in 1920. Henriette Darricarrère is 19 years old. Her forms are sculptural : she is tall, and harmoniously muscled by the practice of dance. She is proud of her body and enjoys to dress up. She also accept the very long pose sessions required by the artist. Matisse has no sexual desire for his models and Henriette is warmly greeted by his family. Until 1927 she was his favorite model.
Torse de Jeune Fille is an early figure of Henriette as an odalisque, painted in 1921 or possibly 1922 with a terminus ante quem in February when it was acquired by Bernheim-Jeune.
The young brunette viewed in three quarter length is straight standing in front of a Mauresque hanging. Her muscular torso is nude down to the belt. The raised arms let know that she is not shaved thereunder.
This oil on canvas 60 x 50 cm passed at Sotheby's on November 18, 2024, lot 125. Please watch the short video shared by the auction house.
Nu sur fond rouge, oil on canvas 56 x 34 cm painted in 1922 was sold for £ 4.4M by Christie's on June 27, 2017, lot 18.
Henriette is standing in the nude in full length. The hands resting on the back of the head provide her a fresh and innocent attitude despite the shameless full front nudity. The slightly shiny color of her skin is realistic. The colorful carpets and draperies confirm the artist's quest for orientalism.
