Art: Nude’s Triumph

Sir Gerald Kelly, 78, painter and past president of Britain’s Royal Academy, is a salty soul who once sat before the microphones of the BBC and described a Rembrandt self-portrait as “a bloody work of genius” and abstract art as “a kind of measles.” Last week Sir Gerald pulled off a bloody triumph of his own. Up on the walls of the Royal Academy’s galleries were 291 of his works in a special one-man exhibition, the fourth in the academy’s history to be given a living artist. Included was a large (60 in. by 50 in.) nude, The Sphinx, which the Royal Academy had banned for 27 years as too shocking.

The long banned Sphinx, now owned by Mrs. Alfred G. Kay of Palm Beach, Fla., was visibly stronger in flesh tones than mystery (see cut). Recalled Sir Gerald: “I put a devil of a lot of hard work into that picture. It took me four years, on and off, to paint. The model who posed for it would not have been everyone’s cup of tea. She had a stocky figure, long-limbed and healthy looking, but no grace or elegance. It was an arduous pose, and she behaved like an archangel though she ached like the devil afterwards.”

When The Sphinx was finished, Sir Gerald showed it to Sir William Llewellyn, then Royal Academy president, heard him say, “By Jove, my dear chap, it’s wonderful. You really must send it in.” Comments Sir Gerald wryly: “Well, I sent it in, but it jolly soon came back.” Reason was the academy’s unwritten law prohibiting any work that might cause offense or annoyance to the viewer’s religious or moral scruples. The academy’s particular concern was that Queen Mary, peering at The Sphinx strait-lacedly, might deem it beyond the pale of propriety, though, says Sir Gerald, “For the life of me, I couldn’t see anything about it to shock anybody.”

Twenty-seven years later the still quite proper Royal Academy had no objection at all to The Sphinx. What did Sir Gerald think of her now? Said he: “Oh, what a whopping big picture. It’s too large. Terribly difficult to use.”