Liegender weiblicher Halbakt

Lovis Corinth's Liegender weiblicher Halbakt (Reclining Female Half-Nude, 1885) belongs to his early studies combining the reclining nude with the partially dressed figure — a subject category that occupied considerable space in late nineteenth-century European painting. The half-nude reclining figure offered both the technical challenges of the academic nude and the additional interest of the transition between dressed and undressed areas — the specific visual experience of cloth, flesh, and their meeting.

The reclining half-nude combines the compositional challenges of the reclining nude (horizontal orientation, foreshortening) with the additional technical requirement of rendering fabric in relationship with flesh. Corinth handles the transition between dressed and undressed areas with academic care. His palette for this subject combines the warm flesh tones of the nude areas with the specific color of whatever garment covers the figure's lower body. The handling is competent early academic work showing his strong foundation.