Seated female nude clasping her knees 1920

Rupert Bunny made this nude study with just a few lines in what looks like pencil on paper. I love how the lines feel tentative. You can almost see Bunny circling a form, trying to nail it. What’s she thinking, I wonder? She's slumped a bit, tired or maybe lost in thought, but she’s also holding herself together. It reminds me of a Degas drawing, just the pose, but looser, more intimate. Bunny must have been looking at impressionist painters like Degas or Manet and thinking about ways to see the body anew. Bunny’s searching lines don’t pin her down. She’s not a generic nude, but a particular woman, caught in a moment. And that’s what drawing is, right? It’s a way of looking, a way of thinking, a way of feeling with your hand. And, sometimes, the more you look, the more possibilities open up.