1) and the shaping of the figure bears relation to the artist as well. John Currin’s embrace of art historical references is evident in the present lot.The black background that the figure is framed by is reminiscent of the paintings of Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1472 – 1553 (see fig. Part of what makes John Currin’s works such as Standing Nude, 1993 so compelling is the strange relationship of their contemporary daring with his affinity to older paintings. When John Currin’s exhibition of middle-aged women, such as our present lot, opened at Andrea Rosen Gallery in 1993, it was a radical move. Bryson, John Currin, NewYork, 2006, p.18). For artists as different as Pablo Picasso, Francis Picabia, and Aleksandr Rodchenko, nothing represented more clearly than the portrait the antiquated values of the old bourgeoisie” (N. Getting rid of the portrait – driving the last nail into its coffin – had been part of the Modernist agenda from the early years of the twentieth century. Currin’s strategy was like a wager against the history of Modern Art.The territory of the portrait, in particular, was by now discredited as to constitute something like a “no go” area within contemporary painting. “For by the 1990s the figurative image, centered on the body and the face, had reached something of a nadir of historical viability. When John Currin first emerged on the art world in the early 1990s it was not a climate warm to painting, let alone figurative painting. From the lines in her face we can surmise that the woman is probably middle-aged – not the typical age of the nude figures we find on museum walls.This painting is a bold tour de force, which the artist has built his reputation on. Her elongated proportions nod back to Mannerism or German Renaissance painters. In the painting, the nude figure of a short-haired brunette stands dramatically against a black background that moves the viewer to focus on the wiry perfection of the subject’s silhouette. ![]() ![]() The present lot, Standing Nude, 1993, is a prime example of Currin’s radical use of fresh subject matter within the genre of portraiture. John Currin is renowned for combining historical references and challenging subject matter in paintings that are simultaneously traditional and completely contemporary.
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