Nude, Crimea 1916

Robert Falk painted this reclining nude, probably in oil on canvas, sometime in his Crimean period. The palette is subdued, earthy, lots of ochre and brown, but there’s this gorgeous red too, that feels like a secret thrill. Falk wasn’t trying to trick you into thinking this was real; the planes are all angular, like he’s building the figure out of geometric shapes. The brushstrokes are visible and kind of chunky, especially in the background. I’m really drawn to the little pops of pink and orange around her head, which stop the painting becoming too samey. It's like he’s gently nudging your eye around the composition, encouraging you to really look. Falk was part of the Jack of Diamonds group in Russia which included Malevich, so he's definitely plugged into what was going on in Europe at the time. Like Cezanne, he’s interested in volume, but he has his own take. There's a kind of awkwardness about the pose, which I find really endearing. It feels more honest and less like a classical nude.