Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/sir-matthew-smith-1958" aria-label="More by Sir Matthew Smith" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Sir Matthew Smith</a>
Model Turning
Purchased 1936
actions: postures and motions
adults
arts and entertainment
clothing and personal items
couch
cushion
domestic
drapery
emotions, concepts and ideas
enclosure
female
furnishings
interior - non-specific
interiors
model
nudes
objects
people
reclining
twisting
universal concepts
woman
work and occupations
<p>The paintings of the nude made by Smith in the winter of 1923-4 in Paris were a breakthrough to a new facility with colour. The use of such a harmony is French in style, and Smith was one of very few British artists to paint in this way.Here the dark skinned model is dressed only in a red skirt, pulled up above her knees, and lies on a couch on blue and mauve cushions. The black background and absence of light give a feeling of enclosure, cutting out anything but the confrontation with the nude, made dramatic by the vigorous brushstrokes and unstable pose. The body is 'modelled' in colour, like the surface of a sculpture in clay - not by outline or flat areas, but with the ups and downs along the surface.</p><p><em>Gallery label, September 2004</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
11 February 2002 – 21 April 2002
2002-04-21
11 February 2002 – 21 April 2002
2002-04-21
2002-02-11
Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery (Norwich, UK)
http://www.museums.norfolk.gov.uk
2002-02-11
The Body in the Twentieth Century
Tate partnerships & programmes
4 August 2008 – 12 December 2010
2010-12-12
4 August 2008 – 12 December 2010
2010-12-12
2008-08-04
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2008-08-04
Image and Paint
Collection based display
Model Turning
support: 648 × 806 mm
frame: 850 × 1020 × 85
Purchased 1936
<p>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>paintings</span></a> of the nude made by Smith in the winter of 1923-4 in Paris were a breakthrough to a new facility with colour. The use of such a harmony is French in style, and Smith was one of very few British artists to paint in this way.</p><p>Here the dark skinned model is dressed only in a red skirt, pulled up above her knees, and lies on a couch on blue and mauve cushions. The black background and absence of light give a feeling of enclosure, cutting out anything but the confrontation with the nude, made dramatic by the vigorous brushstrokes and unstable pose. The body is 'modelled' in colour, like the surface of a <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/sculpture" title="Glossary definition for 'Sculpture'"><span>sculpture</span></a> in clay - not by outline or flat areas, but with the ups and downs along the surface.</p>
Display caption
2004-09-02T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>N04852</b> MODEL TURNING <i>c.</i> 1924</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Inscr. ‘MS’ t.l.
<br/>Canvas, 25 1/2×31 3/4 (65×81).
<br/>Purchased from the artist through Arthur Tooth &amp; Sons (Clarke Fund) 1936.
<br/><i>Exh:</i> Tooth's, October–November 1929 (16); <i>Pictures for Collectors</i>, Tooth's, January 1932 (29); Tooth's, November 1936 (13), as ‘Nude’; Tate Gallery, September–October 1953 (23), and Arts Council tour, November 1953–February 1954 (15).
<br/><i>Repr:</i> John Rothenstein, <i>The Tate Gallery</i>, 1962, p.257.</p>
<p>Painted in Paris <i>c.</i> 1924.</p>
<p><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Mary Chamot, Dennis Farr and Martin Butlin, <i>The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture</i>, London 1964, II
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-07-20T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
actions: postures and motions adults arts and entertainment clothing and personal items couch cushion domestic drapery emotions, concepts and ideas enclosure female furnishings interior - non-specific interiors model nudes objects people reclining twisting universal concepts woman work and occupations