My latest painting, The Waiting Game (2020), depicts silent film star, Theda Bara, in the 1917 hit production of Cleopatra. Unfortunately, the vast majority of her films were lost in a fire. However, many production stills remain in circulation.
Theda Bara was born Theodosia Burr Goodman in 1895. Although she was American, her parents were not. Her father was a Polish Jewish tailor and her mother was Swiss. In order to promote her exoticism, Theda was said to be born in Egypt and raised in France.
The Vamp
In her day, Theda Bara was considered the vamp of the silver screen. Her costumes were notoriously revealing as censorship laws had yet to pass. Furthermore, Theda Bara had the most outfit changes for any silent film in Cleopatra. Yet even for the time, many outfits from this film were risqué.
I adore painting period costume pieces. In Anna (2017), I depicted an old Russian costume. Equally, I love to paint jewellery and other accoutrements, such as in Gloria (2017) and Liz (2018). In The Waiting Game (2020), I first wanted to capture Theda’s expression. For me, it was an intriguing mélange of wistfulness and ennui.
But it was the intricacies of the costume that really captured my eye. In particular, I liked the snake anklet, the beading of the dress and the ornate headpiece.
For this painting, I used a palette of black and white, with a grey containing warm undertones. This is like other large scale pieces I have completed, namely Family (2014) and The Faces of Marcel (2018). However, this painting is differentiated by the full body being present and seated on a blanket adorned throne. It was challenge for what has been a challenging year.
The Waiting Game (2020) is a tribute to the art of patience, which pays homage to spectacle of the 1917 silent film, Cleopatra. The Waiting Game (2020) reflects the waiting game the world has been playing throughout the global pandemic and shows that stoicism and beauty can co-exist while the world stops.