This energetic drawing demonstrates the artist’s expertise in cross-hatching, a technique used to create light and shadow through parallel and intersecting lines. The right side of the model’s torso is comprised of closely drawn lines, achieving a darker tone and a sense of density, while the sparsely drawn lines, as seen on the model’s hair, thighs and left side, create a lighter tone. Greco harnesses the negative space of the paper and the effects of chiaroscuro, the contrast between light and dark, adding a sense of volume to his two-dimensional subject. Greco’s ability to create a soft, organic form through the use of harsh geometric lines displays his sensibility to the sculptural process and three-dimensional modelling. The sheen on the ink, along with its opaque black tone, suggests it is India ink, a material often combined with shellac to increase durability. Blotches of ink in the lower left reveal the quick speed at which he worked.

This study, executed in 1954, precedes his famous series of bronze ‘Bathers’, the first of which, ‘Large Bather I’, won him the City of Venice prize at the 1956 Venice Biennale. Six further full-scale sculptures of this theme, all modelled in slightly varying poses in fitted bathing suits were produced until 1968 and can be found in the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna in Rome, the Museo Emilio Greco in Orvieto, the Museè Royal des Beaux Arts in Brussels, and the Storm King Art Center in the United States.

Greco took his inspiration for this series from the striking discovery in the 1950s of the Villa Romana del Casale, a Roman villa from the early fourth century AD. The excavation revealed 3,500 square metres of well-preserved ancient mosaics believed to have been made by North African craftspeople, including a mosaic scene of ten women dressed in two-piece loincloths, oddly resembling modern-day bikinis, performing various Olympic activities such as the long jump, discus throwing, and running. With their fitted garments and various contortions, they bear a notable resemblance to Greco’s bathers. Further inspiration for his series can be found in the popular motif of bathing figures in modernist painting, along with the Mannerist tradition which, in an attempt to convey elegance, often resulted in elaborate or strained compositions of elongated bodies and overly stylised poses.

Emilio Greco (1913-1995) was born in Catania, Sicily and began an apprenticeship under a stonemason and sculptor of funerary monuments at the age of 13. He pursued formal education in the arts at the Academy of Art in Palermo and took inspiration from Etruscan, Greek and Roman art. He gained recognition following his first solo exhibition in Rome in 1946, thereby collecting numerous accolades and earning his place as one of the prominent figures of 20th-century Italian art. His work can be found in museums across the globe such as The Hakone Open-Air Museum in Japan, The State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, the Hishorn Museum in Washington, DC and the Tate Modern in London. Two museums dedicated entirely to his sculpture and graphic work can be found in Orvieto and Catania.

Greco’s body of work is categorised by female nudes and portrait busts, alongside major religious commissions such as the bronze doors for the cathedral of Orvieto, commissioned in 1962, and a monument to commemorate Pope John XXIII in St. Peter’s Basilica. While most recognised for his sculpture, he also maintained a prolific drawing practice. Ranging from simple line drawings to dynamic and distinctly sculptural forms, his graphic output balances the delicacy of line with a palpable, arresting presence.