Tamara de Lempicka, Portrait of Suzy Solidor, 1933

Here is a cubist, or art deco, nude, done by a Polish artist in Paris in the 30’s.  The model is her younger American lover, Suzy Solidor.  Sitting by a window with the sun shining on her very attractive body, the city behind her, she has a lazy look, perhaps vaguely amorous, perhaps reflective of something happy, mildly sensuous – a good meal, a sunny walk in spring along the Seine, the simple joy of being naked in front of someone she loves….  Her blond hair sits on her head like a Lego-man's, and her nipples are bright red – although the red of the lips and nails are brighter – the intense color is a bit fake, a bit jarring. Her dress or robe has fallen off her shoulder and she has stopped its fall, but makes no effort to restore it.  (Or, did she pull it down so we could see?)  She is quite relaxed about our close study of her body.  In contrast with sensuous Suzy, in the background is the harsh, grey city.  The world we live in is cold and industrial, but what’s important is the lover, the friend, the warmth of human relations.

so much depends

upon

a red wheel

barrow

glazed with rain

water

beside the white

chickens.

-- William Carlos Williams

It is humans who give the world its beauty, meaning, and organization.

I should add that while there may be promise in her gaze, promise is for someone else not for us.

“I have heard the mermaids singing each to each; I do not think that they will sing for me.”

-- T.S. Eliot

Man Ray took this photo of Solidor.  The photo makes it clear that Suzy’s hair was cut like a lego-man’s.  Lempicka portrayed her lover quite realistically although the impression is one of abstraction.