Portrait Artist Forum - "Nude" or "Naked"?

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- - "Nude" or "Naked"? (http://portraitartistforum.com/showthread.php?t=679)

I can't remember laughing that hard with all my clothes on.

Wow, that last story is hard to get past!

I always find it amusing when artists insist the models get "naked" so that they can study the underlying form before painting the overcoat. The fall of light on the overcoat is what is being painted. That would be like a landscape painter saying,"I'll need you to take off the siding so I can see the wood framing of your house before I can paint it." or "I can't possibly do a painting of that blue car until you peel off the body so I can study the chassis." That would sound silly wouldn't it?

Painters have gotten away with it for years! and we still do!

Pardon me, I guess the ladies haven't been able to respond to this because they went to Little Italy for some homemade Marinara sauce. :sunnysmil

Dream on guys...

In case you wondered, this post began with the following exchange:
Steven Sweeney's post:

Quote:

...Daniel Greene tells a story that I haven't figured out yet how to use, but I'm working on it.

He was doing a pastel of a young woman in a long dress and he was having trouble getting her posture and gesture right, and finally he asked the woman (a professional model) if she would pose nude so that he could get the anatomy right. She did, he did, and then the dress was painted over the correct anatomy. I suspect that you'd have to be an artist of Greene's stature to pull this off, so to speak....

My reply was that I doubt we will ever hear the following version of THIS old story:

Quote:

"He was doing a pastel of a dignified old judge in a long robe and he was having trouble getting his posture and gesture right, and finally he asked the judge (a professional of some stature) if he would pose nude so that he could get the anatomy right. He did, Greene did, and then the robe was painted over the correct anatomy. I suspect that you'd have to be an artist of Greene's stature to pull this off, so to speak...

I still laugh hard when I think of how Boldini convinced the Duchess of Marlborough (I think it was) that she would have to pose for weeks in the nude for him before he could possibly paint her wearing a full flowing dress. Sargent painted her directly clothed and did a much better job.