MASP

By Luciano Migliaccio
Painted in Cagnes around 1910, Seated Bather Drying Her Right Leg is part of a series of nudes, whose prototype is the Wounded Bather, from 1909 (Paris, private collection). The opulent contours of the young girl practically take up the entire space of the painting, “to the point of bursting out of it,” according to Renoir himself (André, 1928, pp. 44-45). The presence of Titian and above all Rubens may be noted in the anatomy of the nude as well as in the painting technique. Camesasca (1989, p. 166) observes that the painter uses a concise palette with pink and white for the flesh. Renoir attenuates the coloring with opaque shadings that were subsequently scraped, allowing the basic color to stand out at the brightest spots. Denis (1922, p. 113) observed that the artist devoted special attention to the neutral hues, to the grays, which make the other colors “sing” and simultaneously add a sense of unity to the work. The stroke seems to lend an undulating movement to the contours, which suggests not only the volume and the effects of light, but also a series of curves and luminous highlights on the surface of the canvas, creating a path to be followed by the viewer. (House, 1985, p. 330). This technique indicates that, during this period, Renoir was not indifferent to Art Nouveau. Millard (1976, p. 82) likens Renoir’s Bather to Degas’ sculptures, such as Woman Bathing. According to Camesasca (p. 168), the figure is likely to have derived from a famous ancient sculpture representing a boy removing a thorn from his foot, in the Museo Capitolino in Rome and famous for its many reproductions.

— Luciano Migliaccio, 1998