The Artist and the Model: Notes
The Model grows during the piece. There is something of the ingenue about her, especially at the start, but there is also something scrupulously professional about the way she behaves. She lives on her own; she is open-minded and imaginative.
We see in Act One the first meeting between the two. A central theme in the play concerns the ways in which the mutual co-operation between artist and model provides the creative electricity in art.
It soon becomes clear that the Model is a strong-willed character, confident in herself and able to match her employer in conversation. Despite the subtlety of its presentation, there quickly develops a rapport between the two which is close to love.
A key moment, recalled in the play, occurs when the artist calls for her just after dawn, early one morning - because the light is perfect - and she comes as requested. In this gesture, the personal relationship between the two becomes significant, more important in the end than a purely artistic or ‘professional’ relationship.
The Model is sensitive and intelligent; she understands the Artist’s work, albeit that her way of articulating her understanding is almost deliberately naïve.
The Artist is witty and a divergent thinker. He is lonely, and has mixed feelings about the success he has enjoyed. He is older than the model by about fifteen years. His mode of address shows he feels himself, initially, to be superior to the Model; his language tends towards the pompous and self-conscious. These observations shed light on his underlying character.
He is experiencing a ‘creative block’ and he overcomes this by exploring the history of western music with the Model, whom he wants to win over to an appreciation of such composers as Janácek and Hindemith. “What’s this?” asks the Model one day: “It’s Hindemith,” he replies. “It’s horrible,” says the Model.
The Artist uses his high status position in the first act to lecture the Model on art and music (amongst other things); as the play develops, as time passes, we see how this status is equalised. In the final act, we see the two confirm their relationship on a shared holiday in the south of France, near Aix-en-Provence, the home town of Cézanne. The mood is voluptuous and hopeful.
The gallery opening is an opportunity again to interweave the personal and the artistic: in this environment, the Artist appears re-invigorated and confident and the Model has become his colleague and co-worker. Their friendship permeates not only the mood of the gathering and their relationship with their friends but also the artwork itself.
The Artist begins the play with a desire to teach and impose his views on others: he ends the play as a pupil.