Percy Shakespeare - Seated Nude (Summer) (1933)

Percy Shakespeare - Seated nude (Summer)
  • Title: Seated Nude (Summer)
  • Artist: Percy Shakespeare (English, 1906-1943)
  • Date: 1933
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 75 x 60 cm
  • Location: Dudley Museum, England
  • Photo credit: Dudley Museums Service on ArtUK.org

Percy Shakespeare’s "Seated Nude (Summer)" (c.1933) shows a single nude grown girl or young woman seated on the ground in an outdoor, sunlit setting. The figure is the clear focus of the canvas: the surrounding landscape is kept fairly simple so that your eye returns again and again to the nude figure. She is not looking at the viewer ; she is keeping her eyes down, looking sideways, avoiding the stare of the viewer. The large bracelet she is wearing is her only ornament as she is kneeling/sitting on a colorful gown on top of a white cloth lying on the grass. Her downward look, flushed cheeks and head turned make her look uncomfortable witht the situation

The warm, open air setting place her firmly in summertime, which gives the scene an easy, unhurried atmosphere. Emotionally, the painting feels quiet and contemplative. The nude is not presented as a mythological goddess or a pin-up; she seems like an ordinary young woman momentarily absorbed in her own thoughts, with the summer day unfolding around her. That mix of everyday life with a slightly idealized calm is very typical of Shakespeare’s work: he was fascinated by modern figures at rest—reading, sunbathing, listening to music, etc.

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