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/Currin and Cranach
Renaissance/Modern Nudes
John Currin's Nice n' Easy is one of several paintings that use Renaissance nudity as a reference point. Not classical nudity (derived from Greco-Roman sculpture), not Baroque nudity (like Rubens' voluptuous heroines), but the specific, slightly strange, slightly surreal elfin nudity of Lucas Cranach the Elder, a German painter from the 16th century.
Cranach's nudes are distinctive. Often set against a black or dark blue background, his subjects strike limp-wristed poses with a dramatic sway of the hips. Their limbs are long and angular, their bodies are narrow at the chest and round at the belly and hips, their fingertips are long and thin.
Currin's Nice n' Easy most likely uses Rachel Feinstein - Currin's wife - as a model, though here she's transformed through Currin's fusion of the old with the new.
Cranach's nudes are distinctive. Often set against a black or dark blue background, his subjects strike limp-wristed poses with a dramatic sway of the hips. Their limbs are long and angular, their bodies are narrow at the chest and round at the belly and hips, their fingertips are long and thin.
Currin's Nice n' Easy most likely uses Rachel Feinstein - Currin's wife - as a model, though here she's transformed through Currin's fusion of the old with the new.
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John Currin, Nice n' Easy (1999)
- 12/12/2010
