Nude on a tiger skin 

Editor: So here we have James Jebusa Shannon’s “Nude on a tiger skin," an oil painting that gives off a feeling of exotic languor. The pose seems deliberately arranged, theatrical almost, which makes me wonder, what statements about the female form was Shannon trying to convey to his intended audience? Curator: This piece brings to mind the long history of the female nude in art and its complicated relationship with the male gaze and ideas of the "exotic." Do you see this work in line with how female nudes have historically been depicted in Western art? Editor: That's interesting to consider, because it has some of that feeling but it also has an overt sensuality that goes a bit beyond what one usually sees. And of course the title sets an exotic tone! Do you think Shannon was trying to push back against the common artistic expectations of his time? Curator: Shannon would have been exhibiting in a late Victorian or early Edwardian context where ideas of empire, orientalism, and the "other" were powerfully circulating through popular culture and the art world. The presence of the tiger skin does indeed lean heavily into the exotic, doesn't it? This brings in a whole network of assumptions. What do you think the inclusion of such imagery communicated to viewers at the time? Editor: Perhaps a sense of danger or forbidden desire? This really makes me see the artwork in the light of the political moment, and raises so many additional questions about the statement Shannon was making. Curator: Exactly! Thinking about who was able to see this image, and what kind of ideas it might reinforce or challenge, can give us an exciting window into the artwork and the past.