Female nude, standing, hands clasped at chin 1930

Curator: Welcome. We’re standing before “Female nude, standing, hands clasped at chin,” a 1930 sketch by Rupert Bunny. It's rendered in pencil, a quick study on paper. Editor: My first impression? There's an innocent sort of curiosity in her posture. Like she's caught in a moment of pondering some private, possibly mischievous, thought. Curator: That's lovely. You know, Bunny, an Australian artist who spent much of his career in France, often explored the female form. It appears deceptively simple, yet there's a confidence in that single line. She seems self-assured, doesn’t she? Editor: Absolutely, and that specific pose - hands clasped under the chin, that classic "thinking pose"— is heavily laden with the symbol of melancholy and internal reflection since the Renaissance era. Perhaps, here, Bunny sought to update that motif, to bring it to a modern subject who seems comfortable with her vulnerability. Curator: Indeed! And how about the lack of embellishment, just that confident contour? Do you find the bareness empowering, or is there something lost by not knowing her world? Editor: The spareness adds to its emotional impact. The figure floats freely. She is freed, liberated from visual expectations of a classical goddess. It suggests the purity of form, but I suppose one might consider the psychological impact. It makes me want to flesh her out, clothe her with narratives... Curator: Precisely the allure of the sketch—an open-ended visual whisper begging for an artistic response. It suggests she is beyond the reach of societal restraints and expectation of the other person and the culture it represents. I love this conversation the image starts and the ideas we bring to the artwork. Editor: I agree completely, seeing what our memory recalls while engaging with this pencil. It is also like a reminder about seeing beauty without the extra "stuff" that often gets in the way of art as it makes contact with society, if I can say so. Curator: I am quite grateful to encounter that nude drawing once again as a starting point of thought and artistic discussion.