Euan Uglow’s Georgia, 1973. — Rock the body... Euan Uglow’s Georgia, 1973 (detail; full image below). Photograph: © The Estate of Euan Uglow /British Council Collection

Euan Uglow’s Georgia: style and luminous eroticism

This article is more than 6 years old

The British painter with a meticulous approach to depicting the human figure pushes Cézanne’s methods to extremes

Blinded by the light …

If this 1973 work were the only Euan Uglow painting you ever saw, you might think him an artist of stylish, luminous eroticism. Against soft mauve, the shining white Manchester United shirt-turned-minidress catches its wearer’s curves and protuberances.

So solid …

The pleasure is matched by a seriousness. His subject’s head has a nobility worthy of a classical hero. The planes of colour, light and shade from which her legs are fashioned recall Cézanne’s remark about approaching nature through the cylinder, the sphere and the cone.

Work it out …

In fact, Uglow pushed Cézanne’s empirical methods to new extremes. He was known for chilly, overly precise and unsettling work, and typically took years to realise his paintings. Reminding us of this, the dots and crosses that formed their architecture are left visible.

A different kind of tension…

While the pose seems casual, Georgia Georgallas, who began sitting for Uglow as an art student, hints at a strange tension by holding her forefingers to her thumbs.