NUDO FEMMINILE

NUDO FEMMINILE IS PARTICULARLY STRIKING WITHIN SEGANTINI'S PICTORIAL CORPUS, AS IT REPRESENTS THE ONLY EXAMPLE OF THE NUDE THE ARTIST HAS EVER PAINTED. INTERESTINGLY ENOUGH, THE SITTER IS THE PAINTER'S WIFE, BICE SEGANTINI, AND, AS ANNIE-PAUL QUINSAC POINTS OUT, 'LA SOMIGLIANZA DEL VISO DELLA DONNA CON QUELLO DI BICE SEGANTINI COSTITUISCE LA PROVA PIU'FORTE DELLA AUTENTICITà DEL QUADRO' (OP. CIT., P. 100). IN IN RICORDO DI GIOVANNI SEGANTINI (OP. CIT.), GOTTARDO SEGANTINI DOES NOT MENTION, HOWEVER, THAT THE MODEL WAS HIS MOTHER: INDEED, HE SHARED HIS FATHER'S MODESTY, AND RESPECTED HIS MOTHER'S 'NATURALE RISERVATEZZA' (OP. CIT., 1982, P. 100), THUS HE WOULD NOT OPENLY NAME THE MODEL FOR NUDO FEMMINILE. SEGANTINI'S RETICENCE IN DEPICTING HIS WIFE'S BODY IS MIRRORED IN THE CHOICE OF THE COLOURFUL, ALMOST SURREAL BACKGROUND, WHICH DRAMATICALLY CONTRASTS THE BRIGHT WHITNESS OF THE BODY: 'PROBABILMENTE QUEGLI ORNAMENTI VISTOSI DOVEVANO REDIMERE LA NUDITà [DELLA DONNA], [E] SI SCONTRANO ... CON LA SENSUOSA PLASTICITà DELLA MODELLA, DI PER Sé AFFASCINANTE' (OP. CIT.,1982, P. 100). SEGANTINI, HOWEVER, DID NOT INDULGE IN THE IDEALISATION OF HIS MODEL, AND HE FAITHFULLY PORTRAYED BICE'S LITTLE IMPERFECTIONS AS WELL AS HER BEAUTY. THE RESULT IS A VERY ORIGINAL CANVAS, WHERE BICE IS AT THE SAME TIME A SENSUOUS FEMME FATALE, HOLDING BACK HER THICK HAIR IN THE MOST OBVIOUS GESTURE OF SEDUCTION, AND A PURE, STATUESQUE BEAUTY, REMINISCENT OF INGRES' CLASSICAL ICONS.