American Art Collaborative

Kenyon Cox’s image of the classical nymph Echo is from a series of poetic paintings set in the green fields of New Hampshire. Although Renaissance nudes inspired these paintings, Cox updated his versions of the theme. Here, for example, he did not smooth the model’s dimpled flesh or frizzy hair, making her more natural and less idealized. The female nude was Cox’s favorite subject, despite his mother’s objections. When she complained to him that such paintings were “not pleasing,” he responded adamantly: “It is just such a feeling that makes great art impossible in this country . . . The nude is pure.” (Morgan, Kenyon Cox, 1856-1919: A Life in American Art, 1994