Ilona

This photograph is a classic nude portrait, with excellent lighting and texture beautifully highlighting a deceptively complex scene.

The model is pretty yet emaciated, her ribs brought into sharp furrows above and below her breasts and her belly hollowed out. Her hip juts out at an acute angle, a bone blade cutting the quality white linen or cotton cloth. Her face looks wan and pale, her eyelids listless, and the gaps between her teeth suggesting a less than impeccable dentition. Her hair is clumped in thick curls, perhaps a little greasy and unkempt, while her thin arm reaches towards her temples as if to quell a headache, and her upper lip is slightly raised in a light sneer.

Incongruously, the woman wears long knee socks reminiscent of a Japanese schoolgirl, perhaps as part of some fetish play.

The overall impression is of a weak and ill woman, aware yet uncaring of the attention lavished upon her. She is tired of our attention, perhaps tired of life.