Nude landscape I

Nude landscape I

Watercolor painting--United States--20th century. [LCSH]
Surrealism [LCSH]
Self-portraits [LCSH]
Female nude in art [LCSH]
Women in art [LCSH]

Pen and watercolor painting depicts a surreal scene painted from the artist's perspective looking down at her unclothed body re-imagined as a natural landscape. The figure is lying on her back, her knees up and slightly separated; her left arm, visible from the elbow up, and her left hand appear as a brown tree trunk. Trees in this painting feature detailing in black ink on the trunks; the leafy crowns are mostly green, with blue, yellow, and brown highlights and they are outlined in back ink. One tree is growing from the left thumb, while a smaller, leafy offshoot projects from the right side of the arm, between elbow and wrist. The woman's body, visible from the neck down, is painted in shades of greens and yellows, with some detail work in pen on the chest. Breasts, ribs, and stomach resemble rolling terrain and a tree grows up from the pubic area. A bright pink and orange sun, outlined in black ink, is either setting or rising between her thighs; orange paint has smudged slightly from the top of the sun into the sky, which has been left unpainted and is thus the off-white color of the watercolor paper itself. Another smudge, this time pink, appears about 4 centimeters above the top of the sun. Additionally, some blue pigment appears in the background, about 5 centimeters from the top of the paper, and runs from the midline of the paper to the right edge; it is unclear whether this mark was made intentionally by the artist. Beneath the woman's body, the land is green and blue, with dark blue silhouetting along the edges of the body and along the horizon. Approximately one to two centimeters along the bottom edge of the painting are left empty, except where the artist has titled the painting Nude Landscape I (bottom, left corner) and signed her name (as J. Gillett) in the bottom, right-hand corner. There are several strips of invisible, acetate tape along the left edge of the painting, as well as tape along the bottom and across each corner except the top left. There is some slight discoloration of the paper itself, which is obvious in places that were left unpainted. The paper was clearly removed from a spiral bound pad, which was bound at the top; the tabs from the spiral binding are largely still attached. The paper is somewhat crinkled in a few places, as well and a small chunk is missing from the top left corner. The paper is medium-lightweight with a medium grain and is portrait-orientation, taller than it is wide.

Gillett, Janice

1966-1969?

All rights held by Acacia Williams

Medium: watercolor on paper

Extent: 20.6 x 39.5 cm

English

Physical object

JG_0016