ver since I discovered the drawings of Leonardo da Vinci, I have loved drapery studies. I was always fascinated by the texture of cloth anyway, being a very tactile person. And I love to see all the "faces" in crumpled up bits of cloth.
I used to draw drapery studies very often, but how to actually paint them, without becoming too Academic or boring? Well, I was lucky enough to acquire two ancient life-size articulated Mannequins, a male and a female named Mr. and Mrs. Frank due to the sum I paid for them in Paris, in francs. It is they who enabled me to be able to paint even very large Drapery Studies that in fact looked more like "real pictures" (like compositions) instead of just "studies," due to the amazing character of Mr. and Mrs. Frank. I was of course pleased beyond words that these works always proved so popular that I could paint as many as I liked and even earn my living by them. When you really enjoy painting something, it is a fantastic feeling to find that there are those who love what you do and you can actually manage to earn your living doing it. Because costumes, or clothing, have become so relatively less romantic or flowing than they were up until say a hundred years ago, I sometimes get hungry for that kind of "old-fashioned" Beauty, so have to paint something accordingly.
The "Door-Frame" evolved as a means of painting many panels in one work. I did this in Bali, as I felt my work was about to go through a major change - as indeed it did, and I became a Surrealist - and I wished to pay tribute to all the subjects that had caused me unspeakable pleasure throughout my life, and in fact had even supported me.
I made one Door-Frame for each of these subjects, Still-Life, Flowers and so on, and I worked on them for about 4 years. There were 7 altogether. To my chagrin, all were stolen except for the Drapery one - which was by chance the first one I did , and my personal favourite - and the Still-Life one which was later lost to a series of terrible shenanikins by so-called art dealers. I am delighted to have the opportunity here to show the Drapery Door- Frame and some of my favourite details from it.
Since many of my Mannequin paintings were so well shown in the book, I show here only one, actually the only one I ever painted since the publication of the book.
Mr. Frank was in a very brooding mood, and I loved the drapery of the robe he was wearing, so I just couldn�t resist...
