Azalées Blanches (White Azaleas)
Social Media Share Tools
Object Details
- Artist
- Romaine Brooks, born Rome, Italy 1874-died Nice, France 1970
- Exhibition Label
- Azalées Blanches was one of Brooks's first paintings of the female nude and the earliest in which she presented an openly erotic figure. The female nude was a ubiquitous subject for Brooks's male contemporaries, but in 1910 a female artist's depiction of the theme was relatively unusual. Brooks's inclusion of this frankly sexual work in her debut exhibition at Durand-Ruel Gallery in Paris was a provocative gesture. Referring to this moment in her unpublished memoir, Brooks wrote, "I grasped every occasion no matter how small, to assert my independence of views." Audience members also recognized Brooks's challenge; a reviewer compared it to Édouard Manet's iconic modern nude Olympia (1863).
- The Art of Romaine Brooks, 2016
- Credit Line
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist
- 1910
- Object number
- 1966.49.5
- Restrictions & Rights
- Usage conditions apply
- Type
- Painting
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 59 1/2 x 107 in. (151.1 x 271.7 cm)
- See more items in
- Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection
- Department
- Painting and Sculpture
- Smithsonian American Art Museum
- Topic
- Figure female\nude
- Figure female\full length
- Architecture Interior\domestic\house
- Object\flower\azalea
- Record ID
- saam_1966.49.5
- Metadata Usage (text)
- Not determined
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/vk7e70112ad-921b-4982-bc4f-bfe3fe04a188
There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page .
International media Interoperability Framework
IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more.