Young Woman
Bernard Meninsky (1891–1950)
Worthing Museum and Art Gallery

Transcript

Young Woman by Ukrainian-British artist Bernard Meninsky. He was born in 1891 and his family emigrated to Liverpool when he was just a baby. He was active roughly between 1912 and 1950. In his painting the woman’s gaze seems deep in thought and she is showing an amount of skin that would have been modest at the time. Her flushed red cheeks could be a sign of health, embarrassment, or heavily applied rouge. She appears to be standing in front of a decorative screen that seems to be covered in abstract leaves or flowers. The city’s identity is a mystery, but there is something theatrical about her, and Meninsky also designed sets for ballets, so she could be someone from that world. The very loose style reminds me of the modernist art of the cultural collective known as the Bloomsbury Group, which included artist Vanessa Bell, who lived not far away in Charleston near Lewes. If he does seem to be influenced by the Bloomsbury Group, modernist work was causing a furor when it was exhibited during his art student days. He studied at Liverpool School of Art, the Royal College of Art, and the Slade in London. However, he was most inspired by the French Post-Impressionist Paul Cézanne. Meninsky had long battled with poor mental health and sadly took his own life in 1950.