Wood Nymph

The Bathing Pool

Chicago area artist, Joseph Tomanek was best known for his paintings of nude figures against lush foliage or marine backgrounds. Of the difficulty of posing nudes in Chicago, he said, "In Paris you can rent little gardens studios and pose your models there in privacy. Here, if I work out of doors, I have to pose the girls in bathing suits. Take them to the forest preserves, and they complain about the mosquitos. Even on my studio roof I get no privacy. An airplane pilot spots you and swoops down to satisfy his curiosity, but at my summer home at Ogden Dunes, I have overcome these little difficulties." (Gilbert)

Often he used several models for one nude painting, one for the face, another for the feet and another for the body. His favorite model was his wife, a small brunette whom he met when she modeled at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Extract taken from a biography by Askart.com