Lydia Figes, ‘Seven Questions With Sahara Longe’
Lydia: Your painting Three Graces appropriates the mythological tale that has been depicted by many artists throughout the centuries, from Botticelli to Raphael. But why select this subject matter?
Sahara: The subject matter of the Three Graces is all about idealised beauty – so I wanted to see my own version. I began by looking at the Rubens Three Graces and then used photographs of friends and my mother for the faces. The female nude is the most beautiful and satisfying thing to paint. There is something incredibly rhythmic about creating the female form – from painting curves and being more fluid with your brushwork, to capturing the texture of skin, which I finished with a shiny glaze. While painting all three female figures together I was thinking about the harmony of the curves and overall composition. I personally find painting the male nude less satisfying – it's somehow less poetic.i
i Lydia Figes, ‘Seven Questions with Sahara Longe’, Art UK, 28 October 2021, online.
