Fancy Dress, Miss Beerbohm

This is one of a cluster of small paintings of nude and clothed women which Sickert made in the spring of 1906. It is set in the artist’s Fitzroy Street studio in London. The model is probably Alice Mary, sister of Max Beerbohm and a friend of Sickert’s who had already sat for him some years earlier. The term ‘Fancy Dress’ was included in the title when it was exhibited in 1908. It may be a polite way of disguising the actual nature of the subject matter.The erotic pose and dress would have been shockingto a contemporary audience.