Art UK has updated its cookies policy. By using this website you are agreeing to the use of cookies. To find out more read our updated Use of Cookies policy and our updated Privacy policy.

Reclining Woman

© by permission of the copyright holder. Image credit: British Council Collection

How you can use this image

This image can be used for non-commercial research or private study purposes, and other UK exceptions to copyright permitted to users based in the United Kingdom under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised. Any other type of use will need to be cleared with the rights holder(s).

Review the copyright credit lines that are located underneath the image, as these indicate who manages the copyright (©) within the artwork, and the photographic rights within the image.

The collection that owns the artwork may have more information on their own website about permitted uses and image licensing options.

Review our guidance pages which explain how you can reuse images, how to credit an image and how to find images in the public domain or with a Creative Commons licence available.

Notes

Add or edit a note on this artwork that only you can see. You can find notes again by going to the ‘Notes’ section of your account.

This painting belongs to the period when Smith returned to live in Paris from 1922 and is one of a succession of nudes that constituted one of the major achievements of his painting career. These works demonstrated an immediate, sensuous response to the model, a fusion of painterly skill and instinct in which the forms are given an almost sculptural amplitude. Colour is usually high-key with brilliant accents in details of features or jewellery, although this particular canvas shows a richer, more sombre palette than most at this time. Smith was not afraid to impose a heightened colour range at the expense of literal transcription and it is this quality which gives his work its strength, coupled with the spontaneity of the loose, rapid brush work, drawing with an assurance almost unique in England at the time.

British Council Collection

London

Title

Reclining Woman

Date

1924

Medium

oil on canvas

Measurements

H 54 x W 65.4 cm

Accession number

P50

Acquisition method

purchased from the Mayor Gallery, 1948

Work type

Painting

Inscription description

tlc: MS

Tags

This artwork does not have any tags yet. You can help by tagging artworks on Tagger.

British Council Collection

British Council, 1 Redman Place, London, Greater London E20 1JQ England

View venue