Judith Roth's Dans Le Boudoir

We have seen the “semi-nude-female-in-relaxed-setting” subject everywhere throughout different mediums of art and periods of time. Judith Roth’s Dans Le Boudoir is a twist to one of the most common subject matters in the history of painting, as well as an homage to French painters, such as Lautrec and Manet, who commonly painted this type of subject.

Like the famous Olympia or the Reclining Nude, Roth’s subject is the main focal point in a wide canvas with an array of colorful hues, but there is a not-so-subtle darkness about Roth’s painting. The not very idealized female subject sits and looks away from the viewer in a three quarter, position. The model’s accentuated shady facial features make the painting a bit more discerning than your regular depicted nude, in addition to her intense severity in expression. Roth’s painting style references the heavily emphasized outlines of Paul Cezanne and hints at post-impressionist and expressionist era ideas, which had originated in France.

By Alana Voldman