When I saw this Ruth Bernhard photo, it was amazing to me that is was originally taken in 1967. Ruth Bernhard did to nude photography, what Ansel Adams did to landscape photography; she put it on the map and defined a new standard. The fact that she was a woman in a mostly-male industry commands further respect. Her photographs depict her models in the nude, but in such elegant, graceful poses that the nudity is secondary to the emotions that it stirs in the viewer.
It inspired me to paint it in pastels and try to capture that same sense of introspection and that touch of sadness.
Ruth Bernhard’s Perspective II (1967) in soft pastels, on beige archival drawing paper, approx. 7″ x 10″. Original available (just contact me) and archival art prints of many sizes available here.
