The truth 1903

Ferdinand Hodler made this confronting nude with oils in Switzerland. There is a formality to the arrangement, but also an eccentricity in the mark making. Hodler seems to be concerned with a linear rhythm, and this is the architecture that structures the piece. I want to talk about the way Hodler renders skin tone. Take a look at the legs, the pale flesh that suggests the woman in the center is bathed in light, contrasted with the rosy, almost sunburned flesh of the figures to either side of her. The legs become a series of hatched marks which gives the whole form a feeling of volume, yet without becoming sculptural, as such. Hodler reminds me of Paula Modersohn-Becker, another artist who made similar compositional choices, using stark nudes to convey a deep emotional truth. There is nothing casual in the work. It feels like a brave exploration of how truth can often exist alongside fear.