Untitled (Nude with bird)

Joyce Wahl Treiman

Joyce Wahl Treiman was a Figurative artist at a time when nonrepresentational Abstract Expressionism was the style of the time – though she was known for her penchant for doing the opposite of what was popular. She called Figurative the "lonely arena" and, indeed, much of her work explored themes of isolation, though not always in the negative sense.

Treiman was drawn to the works of the French Impressionists and early Expressionists, whose styles she would intentionally imitate when portraying contemporary subjects and settings. In this untitled lithograph, Treiman depicts a nude woman lying on the floor of an interior, head toward the viewer and legs pointed away. The viewer is kept from a feeling of voyeurism by Treiman’s frank, almost careless linework, somehow still balanced and elegant, and by the coffee table alit upon by a bird in the foreground, pulling the composition into a strangely warped perspective.