New Year’s card 1998. Homage to Alfred Stevens

1998

‘Le Bain’ by the nineteenth-century French artist Alfred Stevens is a painting of a woman sitting in a bath holding a white rose and daydreaming. Her book is open next to her on a lace bath sheet (photo 2).

That was the inspiration for this postcard. After many attempts at evoking the right atmosphere (photo 3), Ivan and I tried a different tack. With a more contemporary image by the American photographer Nan Goldin in the back of our minds, we eventually came up with a portrait of a woman reading a book while taking a relaxing bath.
The photograph was printed with a black grain, creating a sort of impressionist haze.

The text on the back of the card:

‘Even an hour in paradise is priceless’, Yiddish saying