Florine Stettheimer's 1915 Nude Self-Portrait Reclaimed as Feminist Milestone

Completed in 1915, Florine Stettheimer's "A Model (Nude Self-Portrait)" is among the earliest full-length nude self-portraits by a professional woman artist, predated only by Paula Modersohn-Becker's semi-nude works. The painting, held at the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library at Columbia University, shows Stettheimer at 45, lounging on pillows with a challenging gaze and red pubic hair, referencing Goya's "The Nude Maja" (1797–1800) and Manet's "Olympia" (1863). Unlike Olympia, she holds her own flowers and crosses her ankles in mirroring pose. Born into an affluent German-Jewish family, Stettheimer was a painter, poet, and designer who hosted salons for artists and patrons in Jazz Age New York. Her bright, packed canvases celebrate women's bodies in parties, swimming, and shopping, and she painted LGBTQ friends when they were not welcome in polite society. Though dismissed as an eccentric old lady, her contemporaries rated her art and loved her company. She attended the Art Students League of New York, where she painted female nudes in preparation for this self-portrait. Stettheimer never sought to sell her work, preferring to keep her personal record close. Her works are featured in Women Artists postcard sets and a print of "Sunday Afternoon in the Country" is available.