Across
centuries : Any period of art history as long as the card
shows at least a female nude (partial or complete).
From antiquity
:
Dancing
girls Thebes, Egypt c 1400BC
(Right):
Flying figure Fresco from Herculaneum, Italy
(Far
right): Chamber of Arione Palermo, Italy
through the Middle Ages to the Renaissance :
The
Virgin
and the Child
by
Dieric Bouts (15th c)
Birth
of Venus
by Sandro Botticelli(16th
c)
Lying
Venus
by Tiziano Vecellio(16th
c)
... to our modern area :
Diane sortant
du bain by Boucher (1742)
Nude woman with necklace
by
Pablo Picasso
(1968)
La
grande odalisque by Ingres (1814)
Te
Arii Vahine by Paul Gauguin (1896)
Across
cultures : Anything outside Western art is welcome.
Female
spirit Autralian aboriginal art (bark)
(Right):
Black cat Japanese woodblock print
(Far
right): Girls bathing Indian miniature Kangra 18th c
The media used : Whatever the medium used by the artist to
create the original work (oil, ink,pastel,lino cut, drawing, etching,
watercolour, cut out, collage,etc ...).
Oil After the Bath byRenoir (1910)
Ink Dancing by Yoshiaki Fujiwara (1998)
Pastel After the bath, woman wiping the back of her neck by Edgar Degas (1898)
Lino cut Nude with braceletby Henri Matisse (1940)
Red chalk Venus and Psycheby Raphael (1518-20)
The style used : From the simple figurative renditions of the
female nude to some more abstract forms ....
Dada,
Surrealism Jokkmokmadchen by Willi Baumeister (1941)
Surrealism . La folie des Grandeursby
Rene Magritte (1962)
Abstract
expressonism The visit by
Willem De Kooning (1966-67)
Semi-abstract . Woman in a bath
by Brett Whiteley (1964)
The positions of the model : The subject can be standing, seated, reclining.
She can either face the viewer or have her back to us. In most cases
she is totally naked, but I also take cards with partially clothed
subjects. Some cards only show part of the body ; that is so because
the painter decided to treat only that particular part of the model's
anatomy.
Full back view . The bathroom by Fernando Botero (1989)
Seated partially clothed Study of nude with coat by Marcel Grommaire (1929)
Front view . Girl with reeds by Ernest Hebert (1871)
Partial view of upperbody Blonde woman
with bare breasts by Edouard Manet (c1878)
The situations
: Fairly often the model is depicted on her
own. However she may also appear with someone else or as part
of a group.
Group of
female bathers Bathers by Paul Cezanne (1894-1905)
As part of a scene .Serie 347 by Pablo Picasso (1968)
A
couple of women .Two friendsby
Tamara de Lempicka (1923)
As part of a group Le dejeuner sur l'herbe by Edouard
Manet (1862-63)
The type of cards
: Any single card : from the old "vintage"
(sometimes black and white) postcards, including linen cards,
to chromes (modern/continental) postcards. The vast majority of
my cards were bought from art museums and galleries, casually,
over the years. Card shops have been the second largest source
for my collection. More recently a handful of free commercial
cards (or rackcards) have also become available.
Old vintage cards are,
as a rule, smaller in size than standard modern cards (obtained
from traders
or by swap) La casta Susanna by Guido Reni (early XVIIth century)
Modern colour cards (obtained mostly from
art museums, card shops
or by swap)
Manao Tupapau by Paul Gauguin (1941)
Free promotional cards
or rackcards cards (obtained on the odd chance)
Abandon by David Laity (1997)
What I am NOT interested
in :
postcards showing reproductions of sculptures
postcards showing reproductions of photographs
postcards with large white borders and
a rather small picture in the middle
postcards with embossing
cards of the greeting type (usually sold with an envelope)
