An artists’ model is a controversial subject, often portrayed as a sexually available muse. The artists’ model is a crucial but ignored element in figure painting. Yet it is the model that can either make or break the artist and his or her art. The visual representation and the execution of form, realistic or abstract, all spring from the relationship between the artist and the model.
Here is a book that gives a fantastic account of a much loved and respected artists’ model, “Bobbie”, characterized abundantly through the eyes of 56 artists.
The drawings and paintings reproduced here span Bobbie’s 30 year career as an artists’ model. She started working as an artists’ model in the mid 1980’s and continues to do so in her private studio and art venues in Bergen, Hudson, Morris, Essex Counties in New Jersey. Bobbie has also modeled in New York State in Rockland County, Woodstock and Manhattan and also in Silvermine, Connecticut.
These works present periods of her life, gathered from a recent exhibition documenting and celebrating Bobbie’s career. The exhibition was held at the Art Center of Northern New Jersey in March 2013. Here are artists from all walks of life, from award winning artist’s, art instructors and also artists as young as five years old, all responding to Bobbie.
I met Bobbie in 2006 in the Art Studio at the Art Center of Northern New Jersey and I was surprised that I knew her name and face from a painting on the cover of a book I owned by a fine watercolor artist. I was excited to have met the muse behind those beautiful works of art and delighted to be able to share our muse with the wider world.
In this book you will see the inspiration Bobbie has given to her artists.
Bhavna Singh
The Artist 