Alfred Stieglitz. "Under Postage: [Letter] to the Art Editor." New York Times (December 24, 1939), p. 91.

Standing Female Nude’ by Carol Ann Duffy speaks on the role of the artist model in the studio of a cold, and unfeeling painter who sees her only as a means to an end. The model’s focus on money brings up the relationship between art and money. We might think that the artist has more money than the model. After all, artists can make a lot of money selling their work. Yet this artist doesn't appear to have a lot of money. The model says: "Both poor, we make our living how we can." Duffy’s poem “Standing Female Nude” is a masterful example of the use of imagery and metaphor to convey complex emotions and ideas. Throughout the poem, the speaker describes the model’s body in vivid detail, using metaphor to explore the themes of beauty, vulnerability, and power. For example, the line “Your skin soft as paper, pale” compares the model’s skin to a delicate material, emphasizing her fragility and the ephemeral nature of beauty. Similarly, the line “Your eyes dark large delicate” uses metaphor to suggest the model’s sensitivity and emotional depth. By using these powerful images, Duffy creates a rich and nuanced portrait of the model, one that invites the reader to contemplate the complexities of the human form and the ways in which it can be both beautiful and vulnerable. The Poem’s Tone and Mood Yve-Alain Bois et al. "The Semiology of Cubism. Discussion." Picasso and Braque: A Symposium. Ed. Lynn Zelevansky. New York, 1992, p. 212, fig. 3. The structure and form of Carol Ann Duffy’s poem “Standing Female Nude” play a crucial role in conveying the themes of beauty and vulnerability. The poem is written in free verse, with no set rhyme scheme or meter. This allows for a sense of fluidity and movement, mirroring the movements of the model as she poses for the artist.New York. Museum of Modern Art. "Picasso: Forty Years of His Art," November 15, 1939–January 7, 1940, no. 92. Objects Promised to the Museum during the Year 2012–2013." The Metropolitan Museum of Art, One Hundred Forty-third Annual Report of the Trustees for the Fiscal Year July 1, 2012, through June 30, 2013 (2013), p. 47. The "bourgeoisie" is a Marxist term. It'd be interesting to analyze this poem in a Marxist framework. For example, Marxists talk about alienation. How is the model detached or separated from her body? When she sees the finished work, she says, "It does not look like me." Anne Baldassari. Picasso photographe, 1901–1916. Exh. cat., Musée Picasso. Paris, 1994, pp. 119–21, figs. 90–92. New York. 291. "Exhibition of Early and Recent Drawings and Water-Colors by Pablo Picasso of Paris," March 28–April 25, 1911 (extended to May 1911), no catalogue.

John Richardson with the collaboration of Marilyn McCully. A Life of Picasso. Vol. 2, 1907–1917. New York, 1996, pp. 144, 300, 312, ill. Marius de Zayas. How, When, and Why Modern Art Came to New York. Ed. Francis M. Naumann. Cambridge, Mass., 1996, pp. 24, 26, fig. 28. Pepe Karmel. "Appendix 2: Notes on the Dating of Works." Picasso and Braque: A Symposium. Ed. Lynn Zelevansky. New York, 1992, p. 336, as [Cadaqués or Paris, summer–autumn 1910].New York. Museum of Modern Art. "Pablo Picasso: A Retrospective," May 22–September 16, 1980, unnumbered cat. (p. 122). Barbara Rose. "Jasper Johns: The 'Tantric Details'." American Art 7 (autumn 1993), pp. 52–53, fig. 7. The poem comprises four stanzas, each of seven unrhymed lines. Duffy uses a technique that involves regularly running clauses and sentences between lines and even across stanzas, which creates a form of poetic prose that is relaxed and non-formal, thus allowing the reader to concentrate on the words and phrases themselves. She only uses words that are likely to be familiar to her audience, and on occasion these are slang or with sexual overtones. She has a directness of style that readers of poems by Philip Larkin would recognise. All these elements are present in the poem under review. The speaker, through a stream-of-consciousness style narration, explains how the artist directs her “Belly nipple arse” into the “window light.” It is the artist’s goal now to take her “color” and move it to the canvas. He directs her to move right and to “be still.” The speaker attempts to reconcile her situation and how she feels about the position she is in.