Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/andre-dunoyer-de-segonzac-1043" aria-label="More by André Dunoyer de Segonzac" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">André Dunoyer de Segonzac</a>
Nude with a Newspaper
Bequeathed by Frank Hindley Smith 1940
actions: postures and motions
actions: processes and functions
adults
female
newspaper - non-specific
nudes
objects
people
reading, writing, printed matter
reclining
sleeping
woman
<p>This one of a series of preparatory studies for a larger painting entitled 'The Bathers'. The theme of a nude seen in foreshortening and with a newspaper over the face clearly intrigued the artist as he later made a number of figures in similar poses. The presence of the newspaper obscuring the model's face allows attention to focus on the artist's attempts to render the three-dimensional reality of the figure's body, seen here from an angle which denies much spatial recession. His attempt to unify figure and ground through both composition and the textural qualities of the paint is a distinguishing characteristic of Dunoyer de Segonzac's modern realism.</p><p><em>Gallery label, September 2004</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
Nude with a Newspaper
support: 924 × 600 mm
Bequeathed by Frank Hindley Smith 1940
<p>This one of a series of preparatory studies for a larger <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a> entitled 'The Bathers'. The theme of a nude seen in <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/f/foreshortening" title="Glossary definition for 'Foreshortening'"><span>foreshortening</span></a> and with a newspaper over the face clearly intrigued the artist as he later made a number of figures in similar poses. The presence of the newspaper obscuring the model's face allows attention to focus on the artist's attempts to render the three-dimensional reality of the figure's body, seen here from an angle which denies much spatial recession. His attempt to unify figure and ground through both <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/composition" title="Glossary definition for 'Composition'"><span>composition</span></a> and the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/i/impasto" title="Glossary definition for 'Impasto'"><span>textural</span></a> qualities of the paint is a distinguishing characteristic of Dunoyer de Segonzac's <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/m/modern-realism" title="Glossary definition for 'Modern Realism'"><span>modern realism</span></a>.</p>
Display caption
2004-09-03T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>André Dunoyer de Segonzac</b><span> 1884-1974 </span>
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<p><span><a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/dunoyer-de-segonzac-nude-with-a-newspaper-n05070" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N05070</span></a> </span><b>Nu au Journal</b><span> (Nude with a Newspaper) 1921 </span>
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<p><span>Inscribed 'A.D. de Segonzac' b.l.</span>
<br/><span>Oil on canvas, 36 3/8 x 23 5/8 (92 x 60)</span>
<br/><span>Bequeathed by Frank Hindley Smith 1940</span>
<br/><i>Prov:</i><span>
Frank Hindley Smith, Southport (purchased from the artist through the Independent Gallery, London, 1923)</span>
<br/><i>Exh:</i><span>
</span><i>Paintings, Drawings and Etchings by André Dunoyer de Segonzac</i><span>, Independent Gallery, London, October 1923 (14); </span><i>Dunoyer de Segonzac</i><span>, Independent Gallery, London, June 1927 (23)</span>
<br/><i>Lit:</i><span>
Paul Jamot, </span><i>Dunoyer de Segonzac</i><span> (Paris 1929), pp.190-2, 232 (as a study for 'Les Baigneurs' and dated 1921); Paul Jamot, </span><i>Dunoyer de Segonzac</i><span> (Paris 1941), pp.154, 180 (as a study for 'Les Baigneuses') </span>
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<p><span>The artist wrote (12 August 1955) that this picture was painted at Chaville, in the greenhouse in the garden, which he used at that time as a studio. Later he added (20 March 1970): 'The <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a> of the "Nu au Journal" belongs to a series of preparatory studies for the painting "Les Baigneurs" which is exhibited at the Musée d'Art Moderne in Paris, in the room which I occupy. It is the preparation for the lying figure which one sees in the right foreground of the big picture. This painting owned by the Tate Gallery is one of the first that I painted at Chaville on this theme. I think that the date 1921 given by Paul Jamot is probable. I afterwards painted other nudes in the same pose.' A similar figure appears both in 'Les Baigneurs' and 'Les Baigneuses', both of which were exhibited at the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/s/salon" title="Glossary definition for 'Salon'"><span>Salon</span></a> d'Automne of 1922, but in these the woman lies rather differently with her hips to the right and the legs inclined to the left. There is another painting of her alone which is more directly related to the large pictures and would appear to represent an intermediate stage (repr. C. Roger-Marx, </span><i>André Dunoyer de Segonzac</i><span>, Paris 1925, pl.9). </span>
<br/></p>
<p><span>The theme of the nude seen in <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/f/foreshortening" title="Glossary definition for 'Foreshortening'"><span>foreshortening</span></a> with a newspaper over her face evidently interested him very much as he also used it for an <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/e/etching" title="Glossary definition for 'Etching'"><span>etching</span></a> (Aimée Loiré and Pierre Cailler, </span><i>Catalogue de l'Oeuvre gravé de Dunoyer de Segonzac</i><span>, Geneva 1958, Vol.1, No.135, as made in 1924) and for at least two <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/d/drawing" title="Glossary definition for 'Drawing'"><span>drawings</span></a> of 1923 and 1924 which show the nude lying on a couch instead of in the open air. </span>
<br/></p>
<p><b>Published in:</b>
<br/><span>Ronald Alley, </span><i>Catalogue of the Tate Gallery's Collection of Modern Art other than Works by British Artists</i><span>, Tate Gallery and Sotheby Parke-Bernet, London 1981, p.197, reproduced p.197 </span>
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Catalogue entry
2004-09-15T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
actions: postures and motions actions: processes and functions adults female newspaper - non-specific nudes objects people reading, writing, printed matter reclining sleeping woman