Walter Richard Sickert

Woman Washing her Hair

1906

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Not on display

Artist: Walter Richard Sickert 1860–1942
Medium: Oil paint on canvas
Dimensions: Support: 457 × 381 mm
frame: 622 × 548 × 75 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Bequeathed by Lady Henry Cavendish-Bentinck 1940
Reference: N05091

Display caption

Sickert was committed to painting everyday life, and here he shows the woman in circumstances in which she might naturally be naked. This sets her apart from the artistic tradition of female nudes, which were conventionally shown inactive and with little context.Sickert learnt much from the French artist Edgar Degas, including such ‘through the key hole’ views. In this way the woman is shown as if we have glimpsed her without her knowing we are there.This is one of a series of nudes Sickert painted in his studio in Paris in autumn 1906.

Gallery label, May 2007

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