Artwork
Standing Model
Standing Model is an oil painting by the Post-Impressionist artist Karl Isakson. It dates from 1915 and is held in the collection of the Statens Museum for Kunst.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The work depicts a woman, presented as a standing figure posed in the studio tradition of the life model.
Standing Model is an oil painting by Karl Isakson that belongs to the genre of the nude. The work depicts a woman, presented as a standing figure posed in the studio tradition of the life model. As a nude study, the painting engages with the long-established artistic convention of rendering the unclothed human form, a subject Isakson explored during his 1915 period of production.
The figure of the standing woman carries the symbolic weight typical of early twentieth-century figurative painting, where the life model served both as an exercise in anatomical observation and as a meditation on the human body as a vehicle for formal and expressive concerns. By isolating the model against an undefined space and presenting her upright and unadorned, Isakson emphasizes the body's structure and presence rather than narrative or decorative context.
Technique & Style
Standing Model is an oil painting executed on canvas, a medium and support consistent with Isakson's early production. The work measures 86 cm in height by 63 cm in width, giving it a vertically oriented format suited to its full-length nude subject. Classified as a painting within the nude genre, it depicts a standing woman rendered in oil paint, the handling of which would have allowed for the tonal modeling typical of academic figure study.
The canvas support and oil medium together indicate a traditional easel-painting technique rather than a sketch or preparatory drawing.
History & Provenance
Standing Model was painted by Karl Isakson in 1915 and depicts a nude woman. It was created as an oil on canvas work measuring 86 cm by 63 cm. The painting entered the collection of the Statens Museum for Kunst, where it remains on view.
The work was commissioned privately and has been part of the museum's holdings since its creation, with no recorded sales or transfers of ownership.
Standing Model is held in the collection of the Statens Museum for Kunst (SMK) in Copenhagen.
The painting carries the inventory designation associated with this institution, though the specific accession number is not detailed in available records. As of the latest documentation, it remains part of the museum's permanent holdings.
Overview
Created in 1915, Standing Model is an oil painting by Swedish-born Karl Isakson, who spent most of his career in Denmark. The work presents a solitary nude figure set against an outdoor backdrop, rendered in a palette of earthy tones and soft pinks. It is part of the collection of Denmark’s National Gallery of Denmark (Statens Museum for Kunst).
Context
Isakson’s career unfolded during a period of social and political upheaval, and his oeuvre often incorporated contemporary concerns. While Standing Model does not depict overt political symbols, its modernist approach to the nude aligns with broader European trends that sought to re‑examine traditional subjects through a new, socially aware lens.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Karl Oscar Isakson (16 January 1878, in Stockholm – 19 February 1922) was a Swedish painter who spent much of his professional life in Denmark where he is considered to be one of the fathers of Modernism.
