Seated Nude

Painted in 2005, Seated Nude is a poignant example of the endearing and monstrous portraits that lie at the core of George Condo’s practice. Rendered in oil on canvas, Condo presents us with a seated nude figure, its slouched, languid body depicted side-on as it turns to look at us. Anonymous and androgynous, the sitter’s face is devoid of all features, and their long, angular limbs positioned to conceal any signs of sexual identification. Gleaming black stockings, or perhaps thigh-high boots, lend the figure an air of erotic burlesque. In almost cartoon-like proportions, its protracted neck, mouse-like ears, and wild shock of hair are jarringly comedic, a feature which contrasts with the background’s Old Masterly depiction of light. As if lit from the right, the background shades from a radiant golden yellow to an area of deep umber, dappled with quick brushstrokes which throw the figure into spatial relief. ‘My painting is all about this interchangeability of languages in art’, Condo notes; ‘one second you might feel the background has the shading and tonalities you would see in a Rembrandt portrait, but the subject is completely different and painted like some low-culture, transgressive mutation of a comic strip’ (G. Condo, quoted in J. Belcove, ‘George Condo interview’, Financial Times, 21 April 2013). Outlandish yet psychologically captivating, Seated Nude is a magnificent example of George Condo’s skilful marriage of humour, caricature and the grotesque, and an amusing and masterful embodiment of his celebrated portrait practice.